The Bush Brothers

Well, I’ve been noticibly absent from the blog scene over the last week.  I’ve been conflicted as has happened many times before.  Here’s why:  In my heart the spirit of entreprenuerism burns deep.  I simply have no doubt that working for me is for me.  In my head, there is common sense and another sense - that of responsibility.  I have a family and a rather large mortgage that must be satisfied or things much worse (to me) than working for somebody else will happen.

About a month ago, I began listening to Dave Ramsey on my Sirius Satellite Radio.  He’s a straight-shooter that preaches every day about completely taking care of yourself financially.  He always starts his show by saying that it’s “where the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW.”  I love listening to his monologues about what makes sense and his advice to folks that call in non-stop.  He’s also the author of Total Money Makeover.  This is a man that has totally made over his own money.  He was a millionaire at age 26 and owned over 1000 properties in Real Estate before he went bankrupt.  He teaches with passion and from the heart of his experience.  He’s a man of faith and also of practicality.

I’m saying all this about him because his radio show and the book I’m reading called Fooled By Randomness together have helped to convince me that I need to take care of what I can take care of, sooner rather than later.  David Bach contributed to this too with his book called Start Late, Finish Rich but I have to say that Dave Ramsey is the most motivational person I’ve paid attention to lately.  Dave Ramsey has inspired my wife and she’s now reading Total Money Makeover with my hopes that she’ll become the practical general manager of our family.

Currently, I’m in the mode of regrouping.  It’s been sort of like a woman in labor for me.  That is, my regrouping is happening closer and closer together and something’s about to give birth   I’m working on taking care of the responsibilities I have and along with that, my desire for independence.

Stay tuned!  One of my next posts will answer the question, “Is he giving up on the million dollar challenge?”  Hint:  no.

Could you say that David has distinguished himself from others by scraping a few extra pennies together here and there?  (OK – Maybe he’s “earned” a few extra dollars…).
 
I say yes.  I say with confidence that David has distinguished himself from one group of people and will soon distinguish himself from even more people.  You might consider reading further since this may apply to you too.  Please allow me to explain my assertion.
 
My brother (David) has been trying to incite some friendly and positive competition between two siblings.  He says “First one to a Million Wins!”, but I call it the “Who can get the most the fastest?” competition.  I believe that he wants to get me involved in this competitive quest towards financial independence because he’d like to have someone to help hold him accountable for his accomplishments or lack thereof.  In other words, he’d like me to be there to give him another reason to “get busy” when he needs it most.  Not to mention, he’d hate for me to beat him at yet another competition.  I could be his motivation for succeeding whenever his internal motivation is waning.  This works for me as well.  I have accepted his challenge.  I’ll beat him to $1M in typical older brother fashion (I choose not to say “big brother fashion” since he’s ever so slightly taller ).  A positive side effect of his defeat will be a much-improved portfolio of both financial wealth and knowledge.  I can live with that.
 
David and I are significantly different creatures with an appreciation for similar things in life.  As you might expect, our means to accomplish an end will undoubtedly be different.  When it comes to business and the entrepreneurial spirit, I’d say that David’s biggest fear is inaction.  This seems like a reasonable fear to me.  Especially for a fellow who has spent most of his life effectively avoiding major changes.  He realizes that if he keeps doing what he’s always done, he’ll keep getting what he’s always gotten (to paraphrase someone’s brilliant observation).
 
My fears are different when it comes to business.  I tend to fear making decisions without enough information, education or experience.  I’ve been programmed by my profession and society that I have the ability to make better decisions when I have better information to base them on.  Most of us have heard that one of the most common reasons for the failure of a business is from “lack of planning”.   Geez – That’s true for just about anything, isn’t it?  Regardless, I believe that a person who does something with a plan is much more likely to succeed than a person who simply does something (a.k.a. “anything”).  The person with a plan is even more likely to achieve their goals if they have education, experience and believe they can achieve what they set out to do.
 
There you have it – Two different people both wanting to greatly improve their financial position while improving the relationships and the world around them.  Knowing these differences help explain why we have different approaches towards achieving the goal of our first $1M .
 
For David, motion in a new direction is progress (most any direction, as long as it’s “action”).  He’s excited to sell $100 of household items on eBay in one evening.  He may even pick up a few tables and chairs with the hope of selling them at an auction for some extra money.  His enthusiasm is enviable.  He’s adding on to his “$1M Pile” most every day.  I’m more of a pragmatist.  I’ve done the math and evaluated my level of interest in selling my household items on eBay and hauling furniture to the auction house every Saturday.  If I were to make $100 profit each day (7 days/week), it would take me over 27 years to get my first $1M.  Yuck!  Not to mention that I’d be trading my time for peanuts and doing something in which I had little interest. 
 
I don’t have a “need” for more money.  I have a “want” for more money.  Therefore, I choose not to pursue ventures that appear to have such a low yield.  Instead of “earning” some more money, I’d like to “create” wealth.  I’m keeping my eyes and ears open.  My wheels are continuously spinning.  I’m in search of ways to create new wealth and my next passion (my passion serves as my muse).  In the meantime, I’m traveling through a state of preparation for opportunity.  I’m learning about business, entrepreneurial mistakes and success, investing, real estate, and personal development in general.  “When” I launch a business venture that I’m passionate about, I’ll be successful.  Not from passion alone, but from education/information as well.  Didn’t someone once say that success is where preparation meets opportunity?
 
I’m not afraid of “inaction”.  My life has been one action after another.  I’ve made a series of big changes in my life that leave me considering myself a “change junkie” with some significant self-inflicted experience in change.  I’m consciously working to moderate this behavior by doing the same thing for an extended period of time.  I have kept the same job for 3+ years, I’ve lived in the same country (and state) for this period of time and I’ve only lived in two homes…  This is an improvement for me.  My wife and I miss our ever-changing life together and are in search of the next passion that will make the fork in the road on which we are traveling.  I believe that action will be taken once we’ve created the right opportunity.  This is when and where our preparation meets opportunity.
 
Back to brother David - He’s afraid of inaction, yet he’s hitting eBay with some frequency, searching for the next set of auction items, and letting it all hang out on this web log.  The world will know if he meets his goal or not.  That’s OK, because he believes that he’ll reach his goal.  He’s eating the proverbial elephant “one-bite-at-a-time” ($100 on each good night).  I mentioned that one of the most likely reasons that people fail in business is because of lack of planning, but what I didn’t mention is that most people likely fail to enter the world of entrepreneurial business because of their lack of “start”.  Their fear of the unknown requires a leap of faith to overcome.  David is taking this step and has distinguished himself from people who have not.  He’s working on his $1M pile and will soon further distinguish himself from others by having a plan that facilitates his achieving this goal within the next 11 months.  Couple this experience developing action with his belief and he is a distinguished gentleman indeed.
 
As for me, I’m not yet distinguishable from the crowd, but I am doing what I feel is necessary for my success.  Stay tuned to see how this competition unfolds.  It’s sure to be interesting!
 
Cheers,
 
Michael  (Big Brother) 

Just posted 9 more magazines of the football variety on ebay.

During the course of my career, I’ve often found myself telling people aloud (and myself, quietly) that if they’d leave me in a room with a door for 6 months and nothing else to do, I could do that and save us tons of money.  Never once have I lobbied seriously for that position and I think there are two simple reasons:  1)  If someone were to say, “you’re on,” I’d have to give up a job I know and don’t mind for a new one requiring yet-unknown skills.  2)  I might fail.

I might have to learn something new and I might fail…

Wow…

Most people know that know me would not be surprised to hear me encourage them to try something new.  And, I might tell someone not to worry about being wrong, or failing from time to time.  I’m inclined to tell them to go ahead and fail but make sure they try.

But I just said that “I might have to learn something” and “I might have to fail” are the two reasons why I, myself, have not pursued opportunities that I believed in.

Is it time for a gut check?  I’m not sure.  I’ve challenged my brother to join me in a race to $1,000,000.  I did this without a well-thought-out plan.  So how do I get from there to here?  For starters, I realize that every single day is important.  I’m trying not to go through a single day without attempting to set wheels in motion or at least throwing a little money in my “Million Dollar Pile.”  As I sit and think of other ways to get from here to $1,000,000, I think about what I might need most.

Time.  It’s relentless and we all have the same amount of it but we don’t all make the best use of it.  Thinking about those that impress me, people that are financially independent, I believe they all have something in common - they don’t have day jobs.  Mine’s a commitment that remains necessary.  I don’t even dislike it but in order to reach my first million dollars, I have to make the best use of my time while I’m not there.  Those people that spend their days and nights working from home and hanging out with family, or travelling, or learning, have it good, don’t they?

Well, “leave me in a room with a door for 6 months and nothing else to do, I could do that.”  It’s not different in life.  I might have to learn something new and there’s a chance I might fail.  Look - I earn about $70,000/year working at my job.  It sure feels like if I didn’t have a job to go to but the paychecks continued rolling in for six months, I could produce new systems of earning.  My work would be near family members and perhaps it’s not 8 hours in a row but two hour spurts, 4 times a day.  Give me a year, instead.  Now it seems even more feasible - and more risky - and a deeper hole I’d find myself in if I fail.  But why not try?

Right now, it’d be a leap of faith but my confidence is only sprouting.  I’m growing every day.

Have you earned any money today?

I’ve been doing things I said I would do long ago.  Tonight I listed three of the four fax machines that I bought in December with a plan to make enough money to pay for the one I kept.  I don’t know if it will work or not but every penny goes into my pile of $1,000,000.

Coming soon - “Why One Million Dollars, Why Money at All, Why Me Rather Than Someone Else?”

A couple of nights ago, I set out to make some money at my computer.  Not knowing how this would happen, I read a little bit of Steve Pavlina’s blog about his wife’s new blog and got up.  I stood there, motivated by Erin Pavlina’s motivation, and noticed a box in my bedroom.

This was not a box that was recently put there.  It was placed in the same spot at which it rested only a year and four months earlier when we purchased our home in Calvert County.  I was trained by this week not to notice it.  What was in it?  35 Sports Illustrated magazines from 2000 and 2001.  I invested three hours in describing them the best I could before posting them for sale on ebay.  What do I need them for?  They should bring someone else joy (or more money, hence joy).

If I only make what it costs to ship them plus $10, I still got them out of the house and I’ve cleared out another square foot.  I can either utilize that square foot to make more money, or take pleasure in my simpler living   More likely, I’m expecting to sell these magazines for $15 or $20 but the demand may be higher.  There were some very current names of athletes in there who, at the time, were still in college.

When I set out to rid the house of some “stuff” and make a few bucks ($99.00 Buy it Now), I didn’t know what else I might accomplish.  I discovered (for myself although it’s certainly not a new phenomenon) that businesses can draw traffic from one another very easily.  Most obviously, I included tons of names in my ebay post which I’ll do on this site gratuitously   That reminds me, do you think Disney PAYS for those commercials during the Superbowl between the Seahawks and the Steelers?  It also helped me that some of the issues were on the Olympics (albeit 6 years ago).  Including names of folks that people have a healthy interest in will draw people to my listing.  I may not have the goods they searched for but they might like what I have.  The businesses in which these sought after celebrities thrive (or blunder) will have been the source of my income, unintentionally and harmlessly.  I love how that works!

As I sit here and write, I think I could link just about every one of my sentences to something I’ve read somewhere else.  I’m planning to go back and add some links in here now just so that you can view my SI collection and buy if you like!

Next up, what I think are the first 12 months of NFL Insider magazine.  Keep checking my ebay listings! 

I think I’ll suggest that people post ebay listing questions on my blog since I spend most of my time HERE

I went on ebay and listed the last little bit of inventory from a venture with my brother earlier this summer.  If it sells, I get 1/2.  It took a few minutes and I stand to gain a small part of my million dollars.  You can follow my ebay listings in “David’s Opportunities” now, and in the future if you choose.

I’m thinking of changing my email address on ebay to my email here - david.bush@bushinvestments.com.  That will surely draw attention to our blog.  I see that four people have viewed my auctions in the last ten minutes.  Nice.  I think I look forward to seeing that sort of traffic here, at least!  Perhaps to do that, I’ll start sticking the blog in my ebay listings

Perhaps I’ll start charging people on ebay to join the Bush Brothers in our quest for financial gain.  Fun stuff!  Prosperous dreams to you…

It’s the first day since my new-found enthusiasm.  This evening after the kids went to bed, my wife and I filed for $420.72 worth of Flexible Spending Account reimbursements.  This represents some Explanations of benefits dated as far back as February 2005.  Given that we haven’t missed the money, we decided that we’d contribute that toward our first million dollars.

It is my intent to open up an ING Direct account into which we’ll start plopping our earnings on the way to one million dollars.  When I do, if I can, I’ll post a link by which you can open an account of your own and credit me with a referral bonus to help me reach my goal

$420 dollars isn’t bad for 2 1/2 hour’s work but technically, that money was already mine, I just didn’t claim it too quickly.  Nevertheless, my objective is to have one million dollars in cash reserves or equitable assets by January 24th, 2007.  $420.72 gets me 0.042072% toward my goal.  I’m pleased with tonight’s efforts.  Unfortunately, $420 is the “slow” part of the race even though it’s more than I typically earn in a day.  With that, I need to contribute $2,746.10 per day for the last 364 days of my million dollar year, ending at 11:59pm on January 24, 2007.

It’s nearly that time now so I need to recharge my earning power for more tomorrow.  I have some irons in the fire…

Here on January 24, my wife’s birthday, I sit with a lot of excitement.  We had dinner with some of our friends this evening and we had a really nice time.  Our children enjoyed each other’s company and our adult conversation was fun, too - albeit abbreviated because of children’s bedtime requirements.

I sat and thought how nice it was and if it hadn’t been a work night, I might have celebrated a little more.  What’s a worknight?  Is that a night where you have to get up early the next day for work?  What defines one?  Who says that working between 6am-4pm is best?  Why 5 days/week?  Why 40 hours?  Why not 6 hours, 7 days/week?  Or 12 hours 3 days/week?  Imagine if you could choose.  I say we can and I plan to.

Please don’t get me wrong.  I have a day job and I like it.  I’m good at it.  I’m not unhappy when I’m there.  Still, the irrepressible urge to “non-conform” is driving!  My family comes first.  That’s natural for most of us.  Anyway, this is not the place for philosophy.  If you want that, check out some of the other categories or just look at our recent posts from other categories and you’ll find plenty.

From here on, I’ll be reporting on progress (and, occasionally lack, thereof).

I’ve been dabbling in “free” lately.  http://freecycle.org/ is a large group of people that post items online that they do not want.  Items must be free.  Members of FreeCycle can also post when there’s something they want for free.  When an item is taken, the offeror posts as much.  It’s really quite simple.  I was unable to find anywhere in the rules that says you can’t sell that which you receive for free - you just can’t sell things on the website that offers them for free.  They also like you to offer items of your own so that you’re not just “taking.”  I can do that, right?  Well, I began “taking” things.  I now have a wooden table made of pressboard and laminate, a phone stand that wobbles more than Weebles, and four antique chairs, three of which I wouldn’t trust to hold me up.  Oh - the other thing about FreeCycle is, they don’t take too kindly to “shoppers.”  If you say you’ll take it, it’s advisable to take it.  Otherwise, I might have left most of the above upon seeing it.

My plan for all this stuff was to take it to the auction and sell it but I have a couple of reservations:  1) I think the concept of FreeCycle is sort of “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” but I don’t believe they mean “after converted to gold.”  2)  I know that I’d feel funny running into the previous owner of something that I got for free under the guise of using it myself.  I’m more likely to hand them “their” money and apologize!  That said, I’m not throwing the idea away.  I don’t think it’s immoral - just a little deceptive if you can have one without the other.  I will take my items to the auction and see if they fetch me a penny or two.

A penny saved is a penny earned - but a penny earned earns many.  I think Ben Franklin’s credited with the first part of that even though he probably took it from a Babylonian.  The second part of that is all mine

Happy earning.