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

We’ve created a new business!

It feels so good to think of a business that fits in perfectly with the five main items I talk about in the post "Always Thinking Business… ". This new business [Control Yours] is a web development business (obviously you either have to know a little something about web design, or you need to learn [like me] to start this business [or you hire someone that doesn't want to work for himself] ). At first it sounds kind of geeky and complex, well, yes, maybe a little bit. But it is an amazing idea that we (David Lano and myself) haven’t found anywhere else, and there is a HUGE market for. Best of all, it fits in with our 5 categories we think about when starting a business:

1) This is a passive income crazy business. In fact, that is all it is, no upfront cash. (after the initial sweat equity and signing up 200 businesses, we will be bringing in about $8,500 a month, Passive).

2) We can get this business started in about one month, and that is what we are shooting for.

3) The upfront cash required is going to need to be around $10,000 from an investor for living expenses. Without this upfront funding, we would not be able to go into it 100% (8-6PM everyday).

4) This business type fits in a smaller niche category (small to medium businesses that want static informational websites only). In a giant market place, a lot of potential clients.

5) This business will benefit the customers so much. It will allow them to take advantage of a business tool that they haven’t been able to in the past.

The elevator pitch :

Control Yours is a company that puts online editing and control of any website back into the business’s hands. The majority of the time, websites are created with the ease of use for the end consumers, not taking into consideration who will be editing and updating the website. This creates a giant burden for a business owner that has purchased the look and feel of a website, and it turns out that they are not able to update it or maintain it without IT management or hiring specific staff. With the use of an online Content Management System (CMS) that is either retrofitted into an existing website or custom configured into a new website, editing a webpage is as easy as sending an email, for any member of the staff.


Mission Statement :

“Giving website control back to the business.”




Maybe you’ve heard of companies using CMS or Content Management systems before, and yes, many companies do. Where we are different is practically everywhere else, We don’t charge any upfront fees to build a website, we only charge a monthly rate of $35 a month for retrofitting an existing website with the CMS or $50 a month for creating a new custom site. Every Company that says yes with us will sign a 2 year contract (like a cellphone company), to insure our CMS service use,providing them with support for their site and any web question that they might have. These prices include up to 20 web pages on their site, if a business needs more pages than that, we charge $1 for each additional page (super cheap) and for every 5 pages they add on past 20, we charge an extra $10 a month (for storage and emplimenting the CMS).

I need to clarify that we are not dealing with customers that want e-commerce sites, flash sites, or dynamic sites. We are only focusing on small to medium businesses that have the need for static informational websites.

Click Here to see our current web project for Barista’s Daily Grind Coffee Shop. This is only a test, not the approved site yet.

Tell us your thoughts,

~Chais.

Warning: This may sound kind of Geeky for those non business lovers out there!

In my spare time, I like to develop possible business models and brands as a hobby, and while some people might think this sounds like work, I really enjoy challenging myself and experimenting with what my mind can come up with. When I am working on and creating business models and fictitious brands, I try consider a few things to make sure my idea is even worth my time.

1) Does this business/brand have the possibility of having passive income from the beginning? If it doesn’t, how long will it take to create passive income (either through subscriptions, investments, services, etc.)? [Note: Passive income from the beginning is not a requirement, but there has to be an investment account or a way to create it later on. Why do I think it is so important? Because wealth is not measured in the amount of $$$$ a person has in one day, it is measured in time; if I stopped working today, how many days can I live forward (with my same lifestyle expenses) with my current income, liquid assets, savings, etc. - Example: I have $2,500 in monthly expenses, if I have subscriptions or memberships coming in from a service I provide of $4000 a month, than I am infinitely wealthy (as long as my passive income doesn't decrease or my expenses go up). Every month I would be netting a $1500 profit and I wouldn't every have to work again.]

2) What is the length of time it will take for me to get this business started? I ask myself this because I don’t want to spend 6 months on something if I could have done something else (with the same benefits) that would have only taken 2 weeks. (That is pretty much common sense, but I have to ask myself anyway so I don’t start on a rampage working on one project without thinking.)

3) How much upfront cash is required by myself or an investor to get this off the ground? I love the businesses that require my sweat equity (many bootstrappers have no other choice but to spend there own time and money in the beginning, Including me) and not much more. The only disadvantage of Sweat Equity is that time is precious and if you can’t make money right away than you need to divide your time up with something like my cash/growth items ratio (like what I talked about in a previous post “The Perfect Ratio, What is it?”).

4) Does this fit a niche or does this business fall into a huge market category? There is not a right or wrong answer here, I just prefer the niche Markets. For me the smaller markets are easier to access with advertising (more specific), and they take less time to get input from the consumers, as well as there are less products/services you need to create or develop (allowing us to become more of an expert in less amount of time).

5) Will this business/brand benefit who I want to sell to (my target market)? If it won’t, why spend the time (or you can change your target market)? Unfortunately, if I have an idea, decide on my target market, and then realize, “oh, I don’t think this will benefit them that much”, it is probably better to just drop the idea or put it on the back burner for future reference. Why try to force someone to spend money on something that they won’t utilize or love, It is a losing battle. Like Seth Godin Says in The Dip, Sometimes it is okay to quite. [My Soap Box: I don't want to become another company that sells Shit on an infomercial that no one needs. I might even make a little money right away from those out there that are addicted to buying, but are they going to tell their friends about my product if no one needs it? Probably Not. Are they going to shout to the world how great our product is if no one actually NEEDS it? NO! Okay, I'm done]

If anyone has a better start up question list, please let us know about it. Maybe we are missing something very crucial. Thanks for your time and have an awesome day. [By the way check out this great day to day blog I found by Angelo Bell]

~Chais

We are following this rule with our finances that we call the 30% rule. 30% of all income we bring into our household (after we take out our Personal income tax) goes into 3 different areas:
10% goes into an Investment account [look for a blog later about high interest/low cost investment accounts], this account is designed to be put towards investments that bring in Cash flow.
10% goes towards tithing/charity. We are believers that if don’t give when we are small, we won’t give when we are big.
10$ goes into a (money market 5% return) savings account that is designed for Emergencies or other investment opportunities where we need up front cash.

Now the rules to this sound pretty simple, take the 30% out of all income before you do anything else with it & Do Not Take Money Out Of These Account When Times Are Tough (except for the Emergency Savings account of course). That is probably the most challenging part.

Q: What do I do if my bills are more than the money I have left over after I take my 30% out?
A: Well, you can either find a way to Make more money, or pay what you can to the bill collectors. We are not telling you to not pay your bills, we believe that it is very important to pay your bills and on time (be responsible and at least contact the businesses you owe money too). But if it comes between being able to purchase investments (that will feed you for the rest of your life with passive income) or paying every single bill the full amount, we would choose the first. This is designed to challenge us & you to push harder to make things happen faster, for us, it is a much needed exercise.
By the way, the term “Pay Yourself First” comes from the book:

~The Meyer’s