I'm not posting a title (or, the essence of not doing)

I am losing focus of my entrepreneurial goals.  I said it.  I don't make excuses for my actions (or inactions) whether they are at the office or in the home.  And it's easy to be distracted.  We have so much to compete against.  I don't have to go through the list of our daily distractions.  I've shared them in earlier blogs (see https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2474698936458418914#editor/target=post;postID=3174183968777868833;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=16;src=postname). IT'S SO EASY.  I've read articles on how to combat these distractions.  I've meditated (and continue to meditate; here's another shameless plug https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2474698936458418914#editor/target=post;postID=7334310094380346452;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=10;src=postname).  But we succumb.  It's not always media driven distraction.  Sometimes it's just life.  Maybe you're dealing with serious personal issues at home.  Or pressures at work.  Maybe you're drinking too much (or not enough; there's some duality for you.  That's what yin-yang is all about.  Don't be so hard on yourself).  Or maybe you're looking for a place to live (like I am). Pick a time of day, and you'll likely find more distraction than you care to even deal with anymore.  Focusing on finding a home where I don't have to pay property tax would make this process so much more pleasurable (one more https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2474698936458418914#editor/target=post;postID=5805356391740649090;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname).  Just another distraction..the fact of the matter is, we are here, right here, right now.  Regardless of where "here" may be.  And in this presence, we should do by not doing.  That's right.  Doing by not doing.  I love this concept.  And when I apply it, it never fails.  Never.  Do you need help understanding this?  Simple concept.  The Tao Te Ching is full of simple concepts, many of which I don't understand, after reading them dozens of times.  I have a copy on my desk, and I refer to it often. So I keep reading it.  Over and over.  Some concepts are easily grasped.  The rest I'll understand once I'm enlightened, but by then I won't care anymore that I never understood them.  Anyway, here you go..

Chapter 63

Act without action
Manage without meddling
Taste without tasting
Great, small, many, few
Respond to hatred with virtue

Plan difficult tasks through the simplest tasks
Achieve large tasks through the smallest tasks
The difficult tasks of the world
Must be handled through the simple tasks
The large tasks of the world
Must be handled through the small tasks
Therefore, sages never attempt great deeds all through life
Thus they can achieve greatness

One who makes promises lightly must deserve little trust
One who sees many easy tasks must encounter much difficulty
Therefore, sages regard things as difficult
So they never encounter difficulties all through life

If this is too much, try this condensed interpretation by Oasis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8DRI-D7-WQ

"Be Here Now"

Wash your face in the morning sun
Flash your pen at the song that I'm singing
Touchdown bass living on the run
Make no sweat at the hole that you're digging 
Wrap up cold when it's warm outside
Your shit jokes remind me of Digsy's
Be my magic carpet ride
Fly me down to capital city in the sun

Kicking up a storm from the day that I was born
Sing a song for me one from 'Let It Be'
Open up your eyes get a grip on yourself inside.....

TAXES! (you will be intrigued, I assure you)

Let's talk taxes (I'm not kidding).  I'm not an expert on the subject.  As I may have mentioned in past blogs (if I didn't, I will tell you now) one of my dreams of entrepreneurship is in the arena of being a nomad entrepreneur.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it is essentially an internet-based business endeavor that can be run from anywhere with an internet connection.  Now, this is a simplistic description; there must be much more to it.  But I discovered tonight through the Nomad Capitalist (http://nomadcapitalist.com/, one of my LinkedIn connections) that there are many benefits to being a nomad businessperson.  For starters (and for the sake of this blog, in conclusion) there are many tax benefits, depending upon where you decide to base your business.  Like I said, I am no tax expert.  My tax return should take me 15 minutes to do on Turbotax, but last year it took me 3 hours (this may have been because I was about to shut down the plant I was running in Connecticut, to move to upstate NY-aka, Canada-and the wine was flowing as my attention span deteriorated).  This year I went to H&R Block, paid the $275, and hit a pothole, blew a tire, wrecked my bearings, and did $800 damage to my car.  Anyway, my point is that my forte is not in the tax arena.  But some recent events got me thinking, and drew me to this subject.

As I stated, I want to be a nomad entrepreneur.  Very romantic idea.  In one of my earlier blogs (https://theperpetualwantrapreneur.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=saLx90cBAAA.3lYHRxF_CvooyeGa3FvcCA.tiiCqnwLSFzOrF9SfECGUw&postId=6319805919763263002&type=POST), I've decided to stay put for the time being here in upstate NY.  I want to continue to generate a good income from my present position as I continue to pursue the dream of entrepreneurship.  When I'm ready, I will jump in.  But where to?  The world is our oyster; but is it?  Where would you want to live, if you made the choice?

We started looking for home this past weekend.  With a 7 month old baby who continues to eat, crawl, and grow, it was time to dip our toes into the real estate market.  And it was sobering.  We are in sub-arctic Canada (it's really cold up here).  You would hope that real estate is cheaper, relative to say, the tri-state area of NYC, New Jersey, and Connecticut.  And it is.  But taxes are outrageous!  How much do we really have to pay in property tax to justify a child's education?  It's ludicrous.  Regardless of your mortgage amount and how long it takes to pay it off (many of us take on 30 year mortgages), you will continue to pay PROPERTY TAXES.  And in our area, we are looking at 9-10K/per year, minimum.  Surrounding suburbia around here is even higher, in the 12K range/year.  And property taxes don't usually fall; they continue to climb, year after year.  So essentially, you may eventually own your home (when your 60+, provided you bought your home at 30), but think about those taxes!  Over that period, you may end up paying 200-300K in property taxes!  So, you may own your home, but you are paying rent to the local authorities FOR ETERNITY.  You might as well keep renting until you can buy a house in say, Fiji, where there are no property taxes.  Or Croatia.  Or Malta.  Or Liechtenstein.  Or Israel.  Not to mention the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, where there is no income tax.  Now, stating all of this may be controversial.  This is a hot button topic, politically.  But the rich have known about these havens for a very long time.  Do you want to think like the rich, in the knowledge that you will soon be one of them with a successful business, or do you want to whine about how the rich aren't taxed enough?  I'm not financially rich, but I plan to be.  Don't you?  Isn't that possibly one of the reasons why you are reading this and so many other blogs, geared at ramping you up for success?  I'll be damned if I piss my money away.  I've done enough of that.  So, in my dream scenario, I launch while still employed by my employer, ramp up, and jump in, leaving my employer for good.  Then get out of Dodge.  And save MY money for MY own personal use.  I don't want to rent a house, or the land that it sits on (Hungary fits this bill very nicely).  Just to reel it back in a bit, this is my vision.  Not everyone wants to live the nomadic life (most of us probably don't).  But regardless of what opinion you hold, this is valuable information.  There are choices, if you dream a little bigger, outside of your little box (I live in this box, and sometimes it is very comfy).  We all work hard for our money.  Whatever you decide, don't piss it away.

Momentum, redux..

I recently wrote a post about momentum, and how important it is to maintain it in life.  If you haven't noticed already, I AM FLAWED.  I know, how is that possible?  I mean, I write my own blog (on average, probably about once every two weeks; hardly a regular contribution to my work).  I came home from Hungary with all of the inspiration I thought I would need.  But wine will only take you so far (maybe I should reconsider this particular inspiration; your thoughts are welcomed).  This particular hiatus lasted three weeks.  Hardly a case for maintaining momentum.  I've been relaxed, to be sure.  Very relaxed.  So relaxed that the thought of putting my fingers to the keyboard has been an afterthought, by the time my son has been put to bed.  Eight o'clock PM used to be prime time (actually, 10 pm is prime time)!  It's not like I haven't had any material; I've had plenty.  And it hasn't all been inspired by the idea of winemaking (but much of the inspiration has come from wine drinking).  And here I am, once again.  Wine glass in hand (on the high chair, in this case; don't judge me.  Or go ahead and judge me; I won't care anyway.  I learned that from my father.  Thank you, Apu).  Actually, I will spare you the trouble.  I will go ahead and make some judgments of my own.

It isn't easy to maintain momentum.  In the period following Lance Armstrong's fall from grace, I got to thinking about his rise.  I was a huge fan; the battle back from cancer, the 7 straight yellow jersey finishes in the Tour de France, the LIVESTRONG foundation for cancer research and support.  Nearly all of my father's side of the family (he had six brothers and two sisters) died from cancer, including his father.  Not to mention my mother's sister and mother (seven girls and two boys on her side).  Cancer has had it's way with my family (my mother, father, and sister have had it and survived; my father has had three different cancers, not to mention his aortic valve replacement..82 years old, and still kicking ass).  I read Lance's autobiography (despite his decline, it's still an inspirational story.  As controlling as he was, I have to believe that he still beat the cancer that spread from his testicles to his lymph nodes to his lungs to his brain, etc.).  We are all flawed, and I won't judge him.  After that battle, he admitted that he still took for granted the fact that he had cancer and survived.  He never wanted to forget the fact that he was almost dead, and he wanted to live every day like it was his last.  But we all do this, every day.  And most of us haven't had to contend with such pain and suffering.  It was an important truth that he shared with the world.  We all want to live our life that way, even if we haven't been struck with potentially terminal cancer.  He survived it all, and still took his life for granted.  So do I.  And so do you (it's ok to admit it.  Can you imagine if we all did that every day?  I'd be Bill Murray in Groundhog Day..).  The fact that he beat this cancer, as advanced as it was, is far greater an accomplishment than any Tour victory.  It doesn't matter that he doesn't live every day like its his last.  He's alive to face his charges, pay his price, and move on.  I don't follow anything about his life anymore.  But honestly, who cares about the yellow jerseys.  HE'S ALIVE.  And so am I.  And so are you.  

So I slipped.  I let three weeks go by without a blog to write.  It's not a proud moment, but life is full of questions and complications.  It's what makes it fun to be alive.  Who the hell wants to be predictable?  I've predicted the behavior of way too many people (some of which have had way too much influence over my life, for way too long).  I like being unpredictable.  It's not by choice, it's my nature (and Mum, if you're reading this one, you know better than anybody).  There is no hook to this blog, so don't look for it.  I'm not going to tie it up with any words of inspiration.  On this one, fill in the blanks.  I plan on providing inspiration to the people who are reading my blog, before and after this one (and I am grateful and humbled by this, every day.  I do NOT take that for granted, I promise this).  Take this moment to do a little introspection, and take a hard look inside of yourself.  I don't care what you find.  But pull it out, and shake it off.  Kick it, shuffle your feet across it.  It's time for a self examination.  There is a danger in writing a transparent blog.  But in the end, you have to be true to your message.  I'll stand by you on this one.  And with that, a great song that has been a regular part of my repertoire as of late...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maTP315XZCQ