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 started this blog with the mindset that I would tell everyone about the good, the bad, & the dirty of business (starting a business specifically). This blog slowly developed to much more than that. It started containing stories about our life and our connections with businesses and people. The tough part about sharing situations from OUR life is what people in our life think of when they read a story that may have to do with them (or at least a situation that involved them). And let’s face it…There is irony in honesty! Most people can’t handle the truth.

If I choose to be completely honest about any situation or real life example, some part of me chooses not to care about how others (the people that are in the stories) are affected or what they’re feeling. If I’m not completely honest with myself or you, why even have a blog in the first place? I’m not the national media that filters what they do or don’t say (sugarcoating or distorting the truth). In fact, I despise national media just for that reason. I am sharing my true situations with you, no matter what the comfort level.

So…for any or all of you out there that would prefer not to read a story that references you or a situation that involves you, it may be best if you stop reading from here on out. This blog is about my wife and I, and how we go through OUR lives, personally and professionally.

For Everyone Else…
…Have an Awesome Day & we’ll talk soon!
~Chais Meyer

When we go through life, every positive situation that happens with individuals or groups of people (AKA Businesses) helps build bridges that connect us together. Social Networkers (among other types of people) know that this connection is extremely powerful and sometimes even leads us to places or people we would never imagine.  We hear about people that burn bridges (sometimes on a weekly or daily basis) and these people are eventually left alone (in every aspect of the word). This brings a question to my mind, What does it take to keep our bridges strong?

Some relationships, business and professional, can be very poisonous to our life and they can actually harm us more than they can help us. In these cases, I completely agree with nuking the bridges and burning all connections to the poisonous people. The majority of the time however, I have noticed that it really pays to invest in people and see how we can help benefit them to help create a solid connection. Maybe that’s the answer for keeping the bridge strong (helping others, without bad intent).

I’ve been working with the company Computer Hardware for the past year as a contract employee. Whenever they needed assistance on random projects, I would help them out and bill them at a rate of $15 an hour. For them, this was a blessing, having extra help when needed but not requiring me to be on the payroll and to be looked at as an employee. Also, I ONLY billed them for the time I actually worked. Probably one of the most efficient business relationships that a business owner can build.

I’ve recently been asked to help Computer Hardware in a way that could dramatically impact their future and my wife’s and my short term life. They’ve asked me to assist them as the Head of the education sales for the state of Nebraska. Why is this such a good opportunity? Several Reasons:

• Because of the money they will be paying me - It is not a huge amount in its own right but it does include 20% commission (of all profits) from  every sale I make.
• Because of what I’ve learned in the last year - I’ve learned to batch my tasks and get a lot more things done in less time.
• Because I make the rules within the education sales - I decide what I focus on, I decide on the hours I work, I decide on the best solutions for the Educators problems.
• Because of the potential for long term reward - I will get rewarded with a part ownership or a percentage of my final results. (an investment of my time and creativity)

What this equals for me is an opportunity that will pay me well (subsidizing the hours I would’ve been working to pay the bills), while putting very little time in (comparatively, it will be between 10-20 hours a week), and giving me the freedom to focus my remaining daily energies on our other businesses that need to have time spent on them in order to grow. Because I’ve kept this business relationship strong, I’ve been given an opportunity that will put me months ahead of schedule of where my businesses would have been (since I can now invest the extra time needed). [Side note: I also have to the responsibility to avoid abusing or damaging any/all of the connections that will come along with this. I will be meeting with hundreds and possibly thousands of educators during this 1 year time period and these connections could very well benefit my own businesses.]

By helping to benefit others, I in turn will be rewarded. It has paid to keep this bridge strong, just think about that the next time you want to avoid helping someone in your life.

Work Hard, Work Smart, Work for Your Future.
Oh ya…Have an Awesome Day!
~Chais Meyer

I was watching a video on TED.com today where Tim Farris talks about smashing fear and ‘how to feel like the incredible hulk’.

See this video below:

His talk started to get me thinking about how, so many times in my life I end up over-complicating things (as many of us do). And It is really interesting to me that we believe ‘what we have always done, has to be the right way’, just because we don’t know another way. Like…Who says having a cell phone with the ability to check/respond to my emails actually makes me more productive? Maybe I’m just wasting more time than anything. If I set up a one hour segment to read and respond my email a day (and that’s it), maybe I would get a lot more done because I would be focused to accomplish the task at hand.

I just love that Tim’s thoughts and ideas have helped me see that not everyone is supposed to follow the status quo, and not everyone has to fit into a mold. Identify your loves to live them, identify your fears and conquer them. I think we all could get a little inspiration from Tim.

Have an Awesome Day!
~Chais Meyer

…we started doing things with our day (small things) that could really change the way we live our life?

Like:

• Stop watching standard TV programs during the day and replace that same time with informational videos from TED.com.
• Stop eating on the go, and replace that with making meals together and investing in relationships while we eat.
• Start to writing letters again instead of only communicating through our standard form of electronic communication (email, facebook, twitter, etc.).
• Deciding to actually listen to people for one day & not be so concerned with having our own voice be heard.
• Befriending an individual that people seem to avoid, just to get their side of life.
• Dedicate an entire week to donating our free time to help others and/or organizations out.
• Take a summer job in another state (or country) just because it’s something you want to do.

We only have one life, so why don’t we do what we want to with it? We have to decide what type of person we want to be (and hopefully we won’t look back on our life and say “What did I do with my life?”). Live with inspiration!

I love to talk to my Friend Zach Liibbe about what he is doing in his life. He inspires me by never letting fear get the best of him and actually doing the things he wants to do. When someone like Zach talks about spending his summer taking a tracking course just for fun, and spending a month assisting at a wilderness treatment camp , he is showing us the types of things that we can & should do with our own lives to make the most of it.

Another person that inspires me to live with excitement is Mike Nyffeler. By surrounding ourselves with these types of people in our life, we can see how goals can become reality. Because of this, my wife & I have decided to move to Key West, Florida for a month and work remotely, because we can! Our businesses our being built to be operated anywhere, so why not ‘operate them from anywhere’ (especially a place as gorgeous as Key West)?

If we don’t spend our lives enjoying our talents, living for our dreams, or working for more, where does that leave us? I always challenge myself to be the best that I can be, and I want to challenge you! Make your own list of things you might be able to do or change for this summer and make it a reality. Who says you can’t work in Hawaii for the summer, at a job you might love? Just because you live in Kearney, NE (or whatever that place is that seems boring to you right now), doesn’t mean you have to work their for the next 4 months. Call around and make your own life happen, don’t expect something to just ‘fall in your lap’.

We’ll be pushing ourselves, we hope you do the same!
Have an Awesome Day!
~Chais & Shawna Meyer

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

I’m doing side jobs for different businesses (contracting) to fill some empty holes in my own businesses schedules (and to help pay the bills). As I am working for someone else, for a billed hourly wage, I get to thinking about the actual value of the money I’m earning (the $15 an hour).

After income tax is taken out, I really only get to keep $11.50 for an hours worth of work! Don’t get me wrong, I really deeply appreciate having the option to earn extra cash! I’m not thinking about this to belittle the people I’m doing jobs for, or to abuse myself emotionally. I’m thinking like this because I need to challenge life.
So…is “this job” (whatever job I’m currently working on) worth $11.50 an hour? Or should I be trying to do something else?

I don’t think this quesiton has a black or white answer (yes or no). I think there are a lot of variables that come into play, and no instance will be exactly the same. What do I mean? Well…If I’m working on tearing apart computers for the local business Computer Hardware, I am getting paid $15 an hour and most people would feel like that’s all they are getting. But what about all that time that I get to listen to financial audio books, (growing my financial IQ) while I’m tearing apart computers? Can I put a price on that? If you look at it that way, I am actually getting paid to do a brainless activity and at the same time my brain power can be put towards growing my future successes!

Wow! This $15 an hour job isn’t so bad! So maybe I shouldn’t be looking at any job in just the term of ‘how much per hour’, but instead, look at the entire intrinsic value (what else goes into it, or what else can I get out of it). This way of thinking has really opened my eyes to the types of jobs I take and turn down. In certain cases, it may be worse for me to take a job that pays $25 an hour (where my brain must be used on that project fully) than it is to take that $15 an hour job (where I can work on my own growth at the same time).

Remember to dig deeper into life, and don’t just take the yes or no answers. Push yourself to become better at whatever you want to become, & have an Awesome day!
~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!

This post title is kind of harsh. Last night, for the first time I thought of this and how real this is, let me explain:

I want to become a man that has a high financial IQ, and that is able to help people learn how to take control of their finances as well as their own businesses. For this to happen, people have to change the way they think before they can change the way they act. Poor People are poor because they have a poor mindset.

This is such a real thing, but the majority of people don’t stop to think about it. People don’t stop and say "It is my fault that I am broke, It is my fault that my money disappears every month because I spend it on useless stuff." I have even fallen into this category through the majority of my life. Do I believe that I am poor today? No, I am broke today working on gaining wealth.

What’s the difference between being poor and being broke? Poor is a lifestyle/mindset, broke is a temporary financial status.

I have struggled spending my money on liabilities (items that won’t put money in my pocket on a monthly basis and will just take it out), toys that I think will make me have a better and happier time. It is really hard not eating out every day, and not buying the latest techy gadget. I mean it’s my money, I deserve to have a lifestyle where I can spend my money on what I want and be happy. This is the thought of the majority of society today. We believe that ‘things’ make us happier, and make us who we are. This is why the poor people are poor.

Without poor mindsets, a lot of businesses would have a very hard time succeeding. Do you believe that if we lived in a world where everyone had a wealthy mindset, had the right spending habits, and knew how to run a business, the cash advance shops down the street would survive? If the majority of our population knew they couldn’t throw their money away on useless stuff in order to become really wealthy and have a secure future, what percentage of businesses would disappear because they would lose their customer base. Would your business die, if our society changed their way of thinking in order to gain personal wealth? If that is the case, it might be a good idea to switch to another business model.

Another way of saying this is, "do something worth doing". Don’t just make money because you can, if it doesn’t benefit someone in a positive way.

I would love for you to think to yourself, what type of businesses would die if people changed their negative habits? Make a list, and try not to be like those businesses. I would love to see the list that you come up with, I will start it out with #1 Cash Advance shops…

Keep Growing and Have a Great Day,

~ Chais Meyer