tax on stores that allow you to roll you own tobacco
I recently read an article about tax issues on stores in the northeast that allow customers to use machines and roll their own cigarettes. I am not a smoker. I actually really dislike smoking. But that has nothing to do with this issue. My problem is how complicated our tax system is in the US and how we are literally taxed on everything.
The article was describing a major issue of how these stores were taxed. Currently they sell raw tobacco and the customer uses a machine to roll the cigarettes. This is taxed significantly less than manufactured cigarettes so there is a significant savings for the customer. I believe the state wanted to change how it was taxed because they feel like the state is being cheated out of revenue.
The company argues that the taxes should not be changed for them because the customer really is producing their own, they just provide the means to do it. The store also argued they were a niche industry and few customers are willing to take the time it takes to make your own just to save a few bucks. By taxing the store at the rate of manufactured cigarettes, they would not be able to compete.
Regardless of the fact that I hate smoking, I also dislike taxes. I understand we need taxes for certain things. We do need government in order to maintain our military, maintain our roads, provide police and fire services, and many more things. But the system is extremely flawed and out of control when it comes to taxes or the fact that our government does not have to truly operate on a balanced budget like normal people or businesses.
While reading the article, I was reminded of how difficult government can make it for small businesses to operate. Again, I understand certain needs, but there are too many government workers and people that don't understand the choking effect government can have on business.
I don't know what it will take in the future to bring about effective changes. Part of me thinks there isn't any hope for real change. The machine is too big to change. Just like our auto industry was too big to fail (that's a whole different post). But I really do hope we can make progress in the future and create a government that helps the people rather than sucks the life out of them so that others don't have to work.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Fondue Fun
My idea was simple. I had a college friend coming into town with his wife and I thought it would be fun to have fondue. My sister serves my family fondue a few times a year. It is normally around 8 people when she does it. So I figured we could invite a few other couples over as well. We would all enjoy a fun evening of fondue.
I chose the day after Thanksgiving. All of us married couples without kids need things to do because we aren't stuck at home with kids. Well, then old friends started calling. Everyone was coming back to Nashville for Thanksgiving and we all wanted to get together. Well a bunch of people were already coming to our house and word spread.
Basically we ended up with 16 people at our house Friday night. It turned out great. We still served cheese fondue with all kinds of items to dip. Bread, apples, chips, etc. And we had chicken marsala served with salad made by my beautiful wife. But dessert was the highlight. In full fondue fashion, we served a fondue pot of milk chocolate and another of dark chocolate. We had a ridiculous amount of items to dip in the chocolate, rice krispy treats, pound cake, cheesecake, apples, pineapple, bananas, marshmallows, etc.
It really was a great night and I was happy we could host everyone at our house. It's always fun to get friends together and enjoy good food!
Thanks to everyone that made it out! It was the start to what will be a busy, party-filled December. I believe we have a party or holiday event every weekend for the rest of the year.
I chose the day after Thanksgiving. All of us married couples without kids need things to do because we aren't stuck at home with kids. Well, then old friends started calling. Everyone was coming back to Nashville for Thanksgiving and we all wanted to get together. Well a bunch of people were already coming to our house and word spread.
Basically we ended up with 16 people at our house Friday night. It turned out great. We still served cheese fondue with all kinds of items to dip. Bread, apples, chips, etc. And we had chicken marsala served with salad made by my beautiful wife. But dessert was the highlight. In full fondue fashion, we served a fondue pot of milk chocolate and another of dark chocolate. We had a ridiculous amount of items to dip in the chocolate, rice krispy treats, pound cake, cheesecake, apples, pineapple, bananas, marshmallows, etc.
It really was a great night and I was happy we could host everyone at our house. It's always fun to get friends together and enjoy good food!
Thanks to everyone that made it out! It was the start to what will be a busy, party-filled December. I believe we have a party or holiday event every weekend for the rest of the year.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant
Just finished reading The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant. It reminded me of Og Mandino and his scrolls. The author is Terry Febler and has a great message in the book. I try to be objective with each book I read and make sure I get the most out of it. Personally, most of this book was too religious for me. I do believe in giving back but I don't think it revolves around giving money to a church.
What I didn't like was that I felt like I was being preached to for most of the book. If I was going to write a book for a church congregation that encouraged them to give to the church, it would be similar to this book.
What I DID like was some of the messages related to business. I'll mention two that I especially liked.
1. Take responsibility for problems that are the result of your own bad decisions. Don't displace the blame.
This message was appropriate to me because I have made some mistakes over the years. Specifically, I have made many mistakes in the past year and have lived by this principle. My business has grown and overcome obstacles because we always take accountability when we cause problems. Sometimes we lost money. Sometimes we lose a customer. But many times I have found that we develop a stronger relationship with the customer and they appreciate us not trying to displace blame. A powerful message and a task that is often times harder than it sounds to actually do.
2. See challenges at stepping stone, not as obstacles.
I feel like I have faced more challenges in the past year than in the other 26 of my life! I'm sure that is perception but it has been exciting for me, because it means I have a lot going on. If I wasn't working hard and trying to grow a business. If I wasn't working hard to develop myself. If..... I wouldn't have many challenges at all. And I would be in the same place 5, 10, 15 years down the road. And I know that's not what I want!
So for those of you with more of a traditional church or religious belief, this is a great book and you will really enjoy it. For an agnostic business owner like myself, you will appreciate the principle taught in the book!
What I didn't like was that I felt like I was being preached to for most of the book. If I was going to write a book for a church congregation that encouraged them to give to the church, it would be similar to this book.
What I DID like was some of the messages related to business. I'll mention two that I especially liked.
1. Take responsibility for problems that are the result of your own bad decisions. Don't displace the blame.
This message was appropriate to me because I have made some mistakes over the years. Specifically, I have made many mistakes in the past year and have lived by this principle. My business has grown and overcome obstacles because we always take accountability when we cause problems. Sometimes we lost money. Sometimes we lose a customer. But many times I have found that we develop a stronger relationship with the customer and they appreciate us not trying to displace blame. A powerful message and a task that is often times harder than it sounds to actually do.
2. See challenges at stepping stone, not as obstacles.
I feel like I have faced more challenges in the past year than in the other 26 of my life! I'm sure that is perception but it has been exciting for me, because it means I have a lot going on. If I wasn't working hard and trying to grow a business. If I wasn't working hard to develop myself. If..... I wouldn't have many challenges at all. And I would be in the same place 5, 10, 15 years down the road. And I know that's not what I want!
So for those of you with more of a traditional church or religious belief, this is a great book and you will really enjoy it. For an agnostic business owner like myself, you will appreciate the principle taught in the book!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Zipline Time
My parents so kindly gave me a birthday gift- tickets for my wife and I to go ziplining!!! We had done this before while on a trip in Mexico, so both of us were pretty excited about it. With my knee injury and going into winter we didn't know if there would be a good opportunity to use it. But this weekend the temperatures were in the mid to high 60's and we headed out to Adventureworks!
Two friends decided to join us and we had a great time. Advetureworks has apparently been around for a while in TN and has mainly done team building and leadership activities. They have low ropes courses, high ropes courses, and other team building activities. They have also added a course of 9 zip lines and we went on one twice, so it was a total of 10 zips!
Highlights-
After two short 'warm up' ziplines we moved on to some really good zips. I think the 4th or 5th was a good distance but also had a max height of 85 feet in the middle. You are just wearing a harness and clip onto the zipline with one rope. It feels amazing to soar throught the sky!
One of the ziplines was actually two side by side, so you could race or battle another person. Happy to say I won my race/battle. Yes, you are close enough to hit and kick each other the entire time. Yes, we did hit and kick each other the entire time.
One zipline allowed me to get pushed off the platform backwards. The rope attaching you is long enough that this was a scary/fun experience. I'm sure bungee jumping or skydiving is much better though.
The longest zip was 450 ft and we supposedly got up to 40 miles per hour. Awesome!!
The only negative was that my wife rolled her ankle about halfway threw while walking on the trails in between. She had to sit down for a minute but was able to finish and enjoy the last few ziplines.
All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better day to go. Thanks to my parents!
Two friends decided to join us and we had a great time. Advetureworks has apparently been around for a while in TN and has mainly done team building and leadership activities. They have low ropes courses, high ropes courses, and other team building activities. They have also added a course of 9 zip lines and we went on one twice, so it was a total of 10 zips!
Highlights-
After two short 'warm up' ziplines we moved on to some really good zips. I think the 4th or 5th was a good distance but also had a max height of 85 feet in the middle. You are just wearing a harness and clip onto the zipline with one rope. It feels amazing to soar throught the sky!
One of the ziplines was actually two side by side, so you could race or battle another person. Happy to say I won my race/battle. Yes, you are close enough to hit and kick each other the entire time. Yes, we did hit and kick each other the entire time.
One zipline allowed me to get pushed off the platform backwards. The rope attaching you is long enough that this was a scary/fun experience. I'm sure bungee jumping or skydiving is much better though.
The longest zip was 450 ft and we supposedly got up to 40 miles per hour. Awesome!!
The only negative was that my wife rolled her ankle about halfway threw while walking on the trails in between. She had to sit down for a minute but was able to finish and enjoy the last few ziplines.
All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better day to go. Thanks to my parents!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Networking
Networking. Some people love it, some people hate it. I know it can be very powerful if you do it correctly. I also know it takes time to do it correctly. And when you run you own business sometimes networking isn't at the top of your list. But should it?
I'm officially joining a local BNI group to represent our technology services company and I'm excited about getting the most out of it. I'm not really excited about a meeting every week, but I do know it can expand my circle of influence pretty significantly. I wanted to share quickly how networking can be beneficial.
Our technology company has been in downtown Franklin for close to 5 years. We get plenty of solicitors and you cannot talk to all of them. Standard protocol is to take their information but most of the time it doesn't get farther than the garbage can. Lot's of people call us. We politely take their information and that doesn't normally make it farther than the garbage can. After attending the BNI group, I connected with two people.
They both wanted to try and work with us. They had both tried to get in our door. They had called. It just didn't work. It wasn't anything personal. We didn't know too much about them and we didn't have the time find out. But now, it's a priority to start networking. And by learning more about these individuals at BNI, they were able to teach me about themselves and get in our door.
Now I'm not saying both will end up selling us something, but they were able to make a contact that they had been completely unable to make before.
As I get back into networking (I have done it before), I am going with an unselfish attitude. I want to serve others and help them be successful. Because I have learned over and over that the more I help others, the more I will gain. It is difficult as an ambitious salesperson to always put other peoples needs first, but I will do my best!
I'm officially joining a local BNI group to represent our technology services company and I'm excited about getting the most out of it. I'm not really excited about a meeting every week, but I do know it can expand my circle of influence pretty significantly. I wanted to share quickly how networking can be beneficial.
Our technology company has been in downtown Franklin for close to 5 years. We get plenty of solicitors and you cannot talk to all of them. Standard protocol is to take their information but most of the time it doesn't get farther than the garbage can. Lot's of people call us. We politely take their information and that doesn't normally make it farther than the garbage can. After attending the BNI group, I connected with two people.
They both wanted to try and work with us. They had both tried to get in our door. They had called. It just didn't work. It wasn't anything personal. We didn't know too much about them and we didn't have the time find out. But now, it's a priority to start networking. And by learning more about these individuals at BNI, they were able to teach me about themselves and get in our door.
Now I'm not saying both will end up selling us something, but they were able to make a contact that they had been completely unable to make before.
As I get back into networking (I have done it before), I am going with an unselfish attitude. I want to serve others and help them be successful. Because I have learned over and over that the more I help others, the more I will gain. It is difficult as an ambitious salesperson to always put other peoples needs first, but I will do my best!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Personal Development
For most of us, personal development starts around the age of 5 when we enter school. Then we spend all of our childhood and into early adulthood learning and developing ourselves. Then, for some reason, many people just stop developing. We get jobs and decide that we've learned about all we need to. We slowly progress as our bosses allow/force us to and we spend all of our freetime on meaningless things.
Personally, I want to continue to develop and learn throughout my entire life. I believe that I will always have room for improvement or growth, no matter how successful I become. The truth is that this is much harder than it seems. I tend to go in cycles, part of the time I am very motivated and devote time to learning while the other part of the time all I want to do is sit down on the couch and watch tv. I have not completely learned the secret to always motivating myself, but I have learned that you have to form the habits of doing the activities you don't always want to do.
A few weeks ago I re-dedicated myself to reading books that help me develop. My business partner loves listening to books, and while I think it is a great way to be exposed to more books, I am still partial to sitting down and reading a physical book. I believe I absorb a lot more then when I listen. So I have set aside time to read each morning and try to make sure it happens at least 3-4 times per week. So far so good! But I know I will start to slack off and it will be up to me to stay with it. To make myself spend the time even when I really, really don't want to. If I can do that, I know I will continue to be successful and continue to develop.
I don't want to be stagnant. I don't want to peak before 30. I believe the best is still to come. And it has been pretty good already!
Personally, I want to continue to develop and learn throughout my entire life. I believe that I will always have room for improvement or growth, no matter how successful I become. The truth is that this is much harder than it seems. I tend to go in cycles, part of the time I am very motivated and devote time to learning while the other part of the time all I want to do is sit down on the couch and watch tv. I have not completely learned the secret to always motivating myself, but I have learned that you have to form the habits of doing the activities you don't always want to do.
A few weeks ago I re-dedicated myself to reading books that help me develop. My business partner loves listening to books, and while I think it is a great way to be exposed to more books, I am still partial to sitting down and reading a physical book. I believe I absorb a lot more then when I listen. So I have set aside time to read each morning and try to make sure it happens at least 3-4 times per week. So far so good! But I know I will start to slack off and it will be up to me to stay with it. To make myself spend the time even when I really, really don't want to. If I can do that, I know I will continue to be successful and continue to develop.
I don't want to be stagnant. I don't want to peak before 30. I believe the best is still to come. And it has been pretty good already!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Plunge
For a little over a month, I have been contemplating purchasing a new car. Not just any new car, but a base model Toyota Prius. The Prius is rated to get an average of 50 mpg and I drive between 25-30k miles per year. So compared to my economical Saturn Ion, I would save $1200-1500 per year on gas. I could only imagine if I was using our Grand Cherokee on a daily basis. My savings would almost double.
I have always been a car guy, in fact I have posted the ridiculous list of cars that I have owned and I am only 27. I think 1 for every year at this point. And I have always said that I would never buy a new car. As soon as you drive that car off the lot you immediately lose value. So how in the world did I convince myself to go against everything I have ever believed in and buy a new car?
Let's start with the Saturn first-
1. It would randomly not start. Wait 10-15 minutes and then it would start. You can search online and this is a common 'quirk' from these cars. People have replaced batteries, starters, etc without any improvement.
2. It needed new tires.
3. It needed windshield wipers.
4. It had a bad strut or struts that needed to be replaced.
5. The mileage was 131k miles, plenty of life left, but with more issues.
The Prius-
1. No maintenance for 2 years or 25k miles.
2. Everything is already new.
3. I negotiated such an amazing deal that I couldn't have bought a used Prius for the same price.
The Prius is also a business expense because 95% of all driving I do is work related. And I don't intend to sell or trade the car within a couple of years. I will keep the car until it just won't go anymore or at least 150k miles. In other words, I am definitely going to get my moneys worth.
I do like the look of the new Prius, but I wouldn't exactly say it is an amazing looking car. I'm more of a Cadillac CTS guy if this was just about having a nice car. But for me it really was a practical decision. I finally got over driving a 'nice' car and thought about what I really need. I need a car with amazing gas mileage that is dependable. Yes, I could have gotten a cheaper car and picked from a dozen other options. But now I have a great warranty, the highest mpg you can currently find in any car, and no maintenance for the next 25k miles. Plus, with the business deductions the car will pay for itself.
Last night, I bought the Prius. I went with silver because I happen to think that is the best color in the world. 150k miles later, I'm not sure what I will do. But mark another notch on my experience belt.
I have always been a car guy, in fact I have posted the ridiculous list of cars that I have owned and I am only 27. I think 1 for every year at this point. And I have always said that I would never buy a new car. As soon as you drive that car off the lot you immediately lose value. So how in the world did I convince myself to go against everything I have ever believed in and buy a new car?
Let's start with the Saturn first-
1. It would randomly not start. Wait 10-15 minutes and then it would start. You can search online and this is a common 'quirk' from these cars. People have replaced batteries, starters, etc without any improvement.
2. It needed new tires.
3. It needed windshield wipers.
4. It had a bad strut or struts that needed to be replaced.
5. The mileage was 131k miles, plenty of life left, but with more issues.
The Prius-
1. No maintenance for 2 years or 25k miles.
2. Everything is already new.
3. I negotiated such an amazing deal that I couldn't have bought a used Prius for the same price.
The Prius is also a business expense because 95% of all driving I do is work related. And I don't intend to sell or trade the car within a couple of years. I will keep the car until it just won't go anymore or at least 150k miles. In other words, I am definitely going to get my moneys worth.
I do like the look of the new Prius, but I wouldn't exactly say it is an amazing looking car. I'm more of a Cadillac CTS guy if this was just about having a nice car. But for me it really was a practical decision. I finally got over driving a 'nice' car and thought about what I really need. I need a car with amazing gas mileage that is dependable. Yes, I could have gotten a cheaper car and picked from a dozen other options. But now I have a great warranty, the highest mpg you can currently find in any car, and no maintenance for the next 25k miles. Plus, with the business deductions the car will pay for itself.
Last night, I bought the Prius. I went with silver because I happen to think that is the best color in the world. 150k miles later, I'm not sure what I will do. But mark another notch on my experience belt.
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