After a recent technological disaster, I realized that there really is a HUGE difference between skill and luck (and I’ve been lucky A LOT).

I took on a project for a local Doctor and I came up severally short! I was asked by this doctor to JailBreak his iPhone (allowing it to work on a competitor to AT&T’s phone network)…
This is normally no big deal and I’ve ALWAYS come out ahead on technology projects like this, without a flinch! To help somebody Jailbreak their iPhone, I charge $150 for the knowledge, actually  JailBreaking it, and filling in the voids that Jailbroken software has for the iPhone; I make them work like they should.

For people that understand technology, especially when it comes to iPhone Jailbreaks, this is NOT a very complicated task. The really smart people out there are the ones that come up with the Jailbreaking software in the first place, guys like me just use their knowledge to benefit from (of course I am actually providing a good service to people that don’t feel comfortable doing it to their phones in the first place).

So why did I find out that there’s such a big difference between skill and luck? Well, I’ve always taken for granted the skills that goes into creating this Jailbreaking software (A new jailbreak is created every time a new version of the iPhone software comes out…that’s how it works, they stay in sync). I’ve always assumed that whenever a new version of the iPhone software comes out, there will always be people smarter than Apple and they will go ahead and create a iPhone fix for us everyday folk.
On this day, my mindset was no different and I decided to upgrade this customer’s iPhone to the latest Apple Software. I figured that a Jailbreak had already been created and it would be pud for me to go to the next step. I upgraded the iPhone to 3.1.3 and then proceeded to look for the matching Jailbreak software…I started having trouble finding the appropriate software I needed, so I dug a little deeper. Before I knew it, I’d been researching on the internet for 2 hours for a fix and I realized a fix DOESN’T EXIST!

No problem right? I can just undo what I’ve done and go to an older version of this fix…right? WRONG! This particular iPhone software upgrade changes things inside the phone that CAN NOT be undone! THERE IS NO FIX OUT THERE! Even the biggest brains in the iPhone tech world are saying that they’re not sure if this version of the iPhone software will ever be able to be Jailbroken.

What does this mean to me? What does this mean for this Doctor who put the fate of his iPhone in my hands?
It means that I fucked up…big time! I made a completely Rookie mistake by upgrading the iPhone before knowing if there was a fix out there! This Doctor CAN NO LONGER use this $600 phone for an unknown amount of time…it is essentially an iPod now. All because I thought I was skilled in iPhone Jailbreaks, because I’ve never messed before, I thought I was invincible!

At that moment I realized there’s a BIG difference between Skill & Luck!
I had been extremely lucky at every point until that moment. Luck, that relied on other peoples skill to make the impossible possible!

I still am not able to fix this guy’s iPhone, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to. I may have to buy this $600 piece of equipment from him (because I jumped the gun on a very simple thing)!
I learned a very important lesson that day, Never jump into something just because you haven’t failed at it before…Make sure to do your research, which allows you to under promise and over deliver!

Please learn from my mistake(s): Know what you’re talking about and know what process goes into accomplishing ‘your goals’…before you find yourself in a sticky situation!

Thanks for reading and hopefully learning!
Have an Awesome Day!
~Chais Meyer

I’ve often wondered to myself if it would be possible to start a business that just sells business ideas.

I am in love with the thought process of our current market (whenever the market changes) and what types of businesses could succeed within it. I like to push the envelope with outrageous business ideas just to see if they would work, as well as solving solutions to common everyday problems.

I’ve started an idea list of possible businesses and possible products that could and help and/or entertain people. I don’t have enough minutes (or energy) in one day to accomplish all of these ideas at one time…so, they remain on the list.

Now here comes the questions:

• What if I could sell these ideas?
• What if I could provide a single person (that has time and money) with the ins and the outs of my business idea and the ways that they could attempt to make it successful?
• Could I sell these business ideas?
• How much could someone make on a business idea?
• Could I give the idea away and get royalties on any success that was made because of it?
• How would I build my reputation to the point where people who don’t even know me, know I have a money making idea that they would be willing to buy and run by themselves?
• Would it be more advantageous for me to hire my own team of people that would essentially facilitate and operate all of my ideas for me?
• If I sell an idea to someone with money, would they be capable of making it successful? After all, they couldn’t think of this idea…
• Is there a business model out there like this already that I don’t know about?
• If so, how did they get things started?
• Is it worth selling ideas? I mean if they benefit society they shouldn’t just be sitting on my notepad, should they?
• Could I give the ideas away (open source) and have them benefit others without myself getting any $$ or recognition?
• What should I do?

As you can see, I have a bunch of questions and would love to have answers for them, What are your thoughts?

Just a bit to think about…Let’s make something happen with unused ideas!

Keep pushing your mind to the limit, nothing is unattainable!
Have a Great Day!
~Chais Meyer

Being that I am just coming out of a rut, I felt like writing a blog post again! So…here it is! My process of getting into a rut and my way of getting out of them (until I find a better way…any ideas would be great).

I have been living my life these past few weeks with a mixture of being overwhelmed, nervous, and uncharacteristically dreadful of the next thing (what ever that might be). I am excited about the next stages of my life (the good ones and the ones that will help spice up of the ordinary items), but I’m not so excited about the monotonous shit.

I believe that I am (or was) in some what of a rut, and this happens to me about every 3-6 months. I get bogged down with my businesses (there are too many, and that might be the problem), family situations, friends that just seem to spin their wheels and never go anywhere, and…did I say businesses? I think my doctor would say I have caught ‘doingwaytomuchandtryingtobeamazingatallofthemosis‘! It is really hard for me to pick just one thing and work with that to its fullest. I want to make every idea I think of be the best it can.

What do I do to fix this problem when it pops up about every 3-6 months? Usually…I do nothing. Literally, I avoid all responsibilities possible in life for about a week (besides the mandatory things my wife says I must do - showering, lifting the lid to the toilet, etc.). It usually gives me a nice taste of bordem, self pitty, self loathing, and a surprisingly renewed energy that I didn’t have before. It somehow also allows me to see what things are really important in my life and what things I can put on the back burner or just get rid of.

This system may not be the most healthy, but until I figure out the root reason all of this happens, I will use my week of nothingness meditation.

As far as right now goes…Well, I’m writing this blog post aren’t I?
Maybe (not maybe, for sure) tomorrow I will get 3 things done on my to-do list.
Until next time, Have an Awesome day and try to avoid the rut.
~Chais Meyer

P.S. I find Hockey amazingly boring and at the same time intriguing and exciting (maybe that’s because of the beer?).

We finally sold our home…well, sort of. (This picture is of our ‘home purchasers’ and myself, my wife couldn’t attend the key hand off).

About 3 Months ago, we wrote a post about our home and how we couldn’t afford to own it anymore. We had the choice of finding some way to sell it or have our mortgage company foreclose on us. My wife and I didn’t want to go down without a fight, so we took the drastic measure of moving in with my ‘rents (that’s the cool term for parents), staying in their basement and out of our home that we loved so much.

We had to call our mortgagor and tell them that we were unable to make our mortgage payments and we needed some help. The gave us a 3 month break from payments so we had some time to try to solve our problem (come up with our unpaid mortgage amount or sell our home…or else). During that time, Shawna and I have been racking our brains to try and figure out a solution that would not only get us out of this mess, but hopefully put some money into our pocket as well (we did put tons of hours into our home, fixing it up from when we originally purchased it 3.5 years ago).

What we did (with the help of God) was have a lawyer draw up a ‘Lease to Own Contract’ (that we are giving to you for free at the bottom of the page) and found a married couple that was interested in having their monthly rent payments go towards the purchase of a home. Along the way I believe we found a short term market niche for real estate investments.

The Details (let’s call the person paying us the TENANT):

• the TENANT will pay a monthly payment to us, (which will include $ that will go towards the principal for them to purchase the house from us, the interest for us taking the risk and acting as their bank, homeowners insurance in case the house catches on fire and the property tax)
• When we receive that monthly payment, we will then pay the bank that we have our mortgage through, which will cover our principal, interest, homeowners insurance and property tax
• The official home ownership (the paperwork that says Shawna and I own the home) won’t change until the TENANT decides to pay us outright for the home or goes through the 20 years of payments as we’ve set up.
• Why would the TENANT want to do something like this? Well, first off there is no need for them to get a mortgage from a bank (which is nice if you currently don’t fit the criteria to get a mortgage). They don’t have to do anything different from paying rent like they normally would (it’s easy). It is their home unless they decide to move or not make their monthly payments (all the money that they’ve payed every month does not go back to them if they decide to terminate our contract).
• Why is this good for us? We make positive cash flow every month $60 a month extra we can apply towards our home principal. We can pay our bills. If the TENANT carries the payments to the full 20 years without paying the home off in advance, we will make $40,000 extra in interest (that’s a nice little investment). We don’t have to do any of the landlord responsibilities because it is their home and they are responsible for everything that breaks down, etc.
• We also had them pay a $3,000 (non refundable) down payment to start this process. This payment goes directly towards the principal of their home and we get enough up front money to pay off our past mortgage payments (the bank won’t foreclose)!

How is this a market niche? When our nation is going through home sale hardships (because it’s hard to get a mortgage), why not purchase 10-20 forclosed homes and duplicate this process? be a landlord without the responsibilities of fixing up and maintaining the property. And if you really wanted to protect yourself, you could create something about a pre-payment penalty in the contract. It could say, if the TENANT pays off the total home value before 50% of the contract term has been complete, there is a penalty of “BLANK” %. Something like that.

We just wanted to let you in on how we got ourselves out of a sticky situation. If you would like to download this contract in an editable (Microsoft Word) format, Please Click Here. Also, if you would like to use an Amortization Chart (like what we used to help create this contract) Please Click Here.

Please note, this document was designed and created specifically for our situation, so not everything will apply to you. We still recommend having a property lawyer look at this contract after you have edited it. It will still be considerably less expensive having them proof it than creating a new contract.

If you can benefit from our experiences, please take advantage of them.
We are thanking God and Enjoying the day! Have an Awesome day yourself.
~Chais & Shawna Meyer

PS. If you don’t have Microsoft Office which is needed to edit these document types, go to Open Office’s website and download their Open Source program for your computer. It’s free and does the same things Microsoft does.

Okay, this is going to be a little bit of a rant along with some praise (just a little fore warning).

I installed Quickbooks 2009 for windows on my mac today (that right there is ironic). The install went great and the video demonstrations were pretty cool. They taught me how to do all the basic crap, customize Quickbooks for myself, blah, blah, blah… The part that I had a really hard time with (meaning I was super annoyed) was registering my product.

I know, I know…registering my product? I’m really growing up in the world aren’t I…no more pirated software. I now have software that I can actually register (without any sort of crack). “Since I have this legal software, the registration process will be a breeze” I thought.

As it turns out, the registration process was harder than setting up my entire company file in Quickbooks and 5 times more time consuming. Here were the steps:

1. You must register to use quickbooks past 30 days, otherwise it won’t function anymore
2. To register you have to call into quickbooks, no more online simple registration (it requires an authorization code or something).
3. I make a call into quckbooks to their “Product Registration line” (a special number for ONLY product registrations…if that’s true why did I wait 20 minutes on hold?)
4. Wait 20 minutes on hold while listening to pleasant Intuit advertisements
5. Finally get through to their AMAZING India Phone support and the man greets me, “Our Ju Habbing A Goojd jDay!?!
6. He and the conversation are very pleasant (despite me having to ask him about 15 times, “can you repeat that please?”).
7. Until…He tries to sell me some additional support options…
8. …He continues to try to sell me additional support options…
9. …He keeps trying to sell me additional support options (I am not even screwing with you).
10. Literally, 5 minutes later (Chais, calm down and take a breath…the phone call is over), he gives me my Authorization #.
11. YAY!!! I Cheer because I can finally hang up!

Wow, I just spent 30 minutes on a phone call trying to register my $199.95 retail legal product (no wonder people steal software, it’s cheaper and they don’t mess with phone crap. By the way, I don’t agree with software piracy!). What has happened to customer service? Oh, I forgot…Customer service is always a phone call away with Intuit, for $69.95 a phone call (or just $39.95 a month)!

Now that I’m registered, I am going to use quickbooks for my sole proprietership business as well as my other businesses. Well it is a pain in the ass the figure out the sole proprieter part of things if you use only one checking account for your business and your personal bills and expenses. I did a little research and found 2 good links that helped me out, hopefully it will do the same for you. Here it is! (the 8th one down)! And here is a link to explain how to set up an owners draw.

I love the product, not the customer service. I love having my finances being organized in such a friendly way, I hate that I rely so much on my computer system. I will do my best with what I have and share what I learn along the way!

Have an awesome day and a great night, and don’t let the Intuit bugs bite. (wow, that was an awesome ryme!)
~ Chais Meyer

Sorry, I can’t show you or talk to you about my new design until I have applied for my patent!

I can tell you that there is a lot of work that goes into researching and protecting an idea that you might come up with. My recommendation, take a little more time than you think it would take and do it right. Save up a little extra money and get a patent attorney (someone you  can physically talk to). None of this online B.S.

I’ve also learned a lot about different types of plastics. Who would have thought that there were so many types and varieties of plastic products? Not me!

My current status on the Coffee Cup Patent:
Writing my description about my product for my patent application. If anyone else wants to apply for a patent, here is the link for the “provisional application for patent” PDF.

I’ll keep you updated as I go.

Have an awesome day and keep thinking of more you can do and become!
~Chais Meyer

P.S. I would strongly recommend this book(or audiobook…it’s more my style), if you want to increase your knowledge in the financial areas of your life. There is some good stuff about protecting the money you will have someday!

First off, I love this photo! There were so many cliche “invest in people” type photos on the web, I just couldn’t use them. I don’t want to be a sales person (you know the picture of the group of people huddling together and touching hands…Yipee!). I want to be real, and this lady is definitely real!

The real reason!
I met up with a buddy of mine yesterday night, his name is Mike Nyffeler. Mike is The Man for a few different reasons. The main reason that I have such a high respect for him is his view point on people in his life and how he wants to help impact them in a positive way whenever he can. Every time I meet up with him, he opens up my eyes to what an individual can do and become by pushing themselves to be their best and challenging themselves to break out of their shell.

He believes in the individual person and last night told me that people are the only true investment that pay back in the end. It may sound like mumbo jumbo to some of you, but to me it strikes a cord. So many times in my life, I catch my self being completely selfish and almost childish about helping others out (I DON’T WANT TO!). Slowly that is starting to change. I know that Mike has been a giant influence in helping me grow that area in life (it is a conscious thing, I have to challenge myself to be better).

It’s so true that when you give someone your time, energy, knowledge, or even money that it will come back to you with interest. The positive return that you get back doesn’t have to be from the person you helped out, it could be from someone you just met or someone that you’ve known your whole life, one week from now or 10 years from now. I’ve noticed during the times that I help someone and “try” to benefit from that situation, I don’t seem to be rewarded like I do when I’m being genuinely kind.

I am pushed to a new level of person when I hang around people that are constantly improving their own lives (or at least trying to make improvements). So, thank you all of you progressive friends out there! Thank you for pushing yourselves to be better and in turn helping me push myself! Thank you Mike, I know you will do and be whatever you dream to become, and you will change the world along the way!

Invest in people with a genuine heart and try not the think about what you might get in return. See what happens, I’m sure we will all be surprised.

Have an awesome day, and if I can help you with anything within my power, feel free to let me know.
Thanks for reading!
~Chais Meyer

Once again www.Lynda.com impresses me!

This time it is not the tutorials that caught my attention, it is their business model. After my last post about Lynda.com, I received a comment from a guy named Steve. Wouldn’t you know it that Steve worked at Lynda.com, Amazing!

This company not only realizes that if they have a great product people will spread the word, but they also know that the more they get their business name (and URL) out on the internet with keywords like www.linda.com, tutorial, etc. they will become much more search engine friendly (which = a higher ranking in search results, which = the number one tutorial site, which = more customer sign ups).

Don’t get me wrong Steve from Lynda.com, I am not saying this is a bad thing. I am saying exactly the opposite of that, you guys are doing a great job with the most inexpensive, global reaching marketing medium available, the internet. By the way, the personal touch about thanking me for being a customer, is pretty good too. You just may have my vote as number #1 Lynda fan for your site and business model.

Keep up the good work!

~ Chais Meyer

P.S. The real test will be to see if "Steve" or someone else responds again with a different message, or if it was a robot or a script the first time around. We’ll find out! Lynda.com we are testing you!

Now that we’ve been doing this, “working on our own”, thing for a few weeks now, I’ve determined that there has to be a perfect [cash work v.s. building work] ratio.

This may sound a little confusing so let me explain. Out of every day my wife and I work on our own, we have 2 major objectives and goals we need to accomplish:

1) Do things that will bring in Cash [hereinafter known as "cash items"] (If we don’t have Cash, we don’t have possible business growth, but more importantly we don’t pay our own personal bills [or eat]).

2) Do activities that are geared towards growing our businesses for the future [hereinafter known as "growth items"] (not necessarily providing funds for us on a daily basis, but making our businesses more complete.)

Now that you can see our daily goals objectives, what do you think our daily schedule should look like?
-Do we spend 50% of our day on cash items and 50% on growth items (50/50 ratio)? How can we make enough cash if we only spend 50% of our day on cash items?
-Or do we spend 80% of our day on cash items and only 20% of it on growth items (80/20 ratio)? How can a business grow if you only spend 20% of your days on growth items?

Remember out of every dollar (USD) we make, we only get to use 40% (this is explained in “The 30% Rule” post) of it (.40 cents) on our businesses and ourselves personally (after withholding income tax).

We don’t know what the perfect ratio is and would love to hear from someone that has a better idea.
Please post your comments if you have them, we would love to hear from you.
~Chais Meyer