Tag: Life’s Journey

The living room glowed with excitement. They had bought bagels and cream cheese. It was a historic moment.

Two weeks ago I had walked into my job, poured a cup of coffee, and been escorted out the door. Now I’m sitting on a couch.

As Matt went around the room he mentioned each of the team members. Jennifer and Joy were sales. Michael was outreach and product development. Marcella was wholesale. Madeline was Marketing. Madeleine was finance. Joseph was logistics. And I was IT.

“If you’ll have me!” I said, immediately embarrassing myself. Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut? Turns out it didn’t matter.

I worked there full-time 6 weeks while I continued to look for another job. Eventually the job ended and I was still looking.

But the bagels were good.

Winter is Coming

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. -2 Chronicles 7:13-14

2013 was a time of contraction, but I failed to grow in 2014. I was in the summer of my life, but winter was coming. This is a story of what I learned and how I was redeemed in 2014.

Highlights of the Year

• Attended the annual New Year’s Day Game Day at Jason’s house with Cullen and friends.
• In February I began going swimming at the YMCA in Fishers.
• One of my clients, Skinny Coconut Oil, had their first $10,000 day in March.
• My youngest daughter, Amalia, started walking in April. By December she was getting her molars in.
• I joined Launch Fishers and went to King’s Island in May.
• In June, Kevin completed soccer at White River Christian Church and he created KevinTheRockStar.com.
• I attended MixWest in July, the Global Leadership Conference in August, and the Storyline Conference in October.
• My wife made Silver in her Young Living essential oil business in November.
• I started a new job at GoServicePro on December 1.

In January my family and I got the flu. This time of year is normally populated with client requests for web changes, but I ended up doing a lot of IT work instead. One client upgraded 5 Windows XP computers to Windows 7 to avoid the end of Windows XP Support in April of 2014. I renewed my contract with the Han Institute and increased my contract with Indianapolis Dentistry and Skinny and Company.

In February, Jason, Justin, and I started a book club and corresponding podcast. I started learning more about web automation systems from IFTTT and Zapier, which I used to help automate marketing at Skinny and Company. This allowed me to do a presentation on the topic at the Indianapolis Quantified Self Meetup and planted the seed for a possible future podcast about information systems. Unfortunately the podcast was short lived and did not continue.

In March my family and I started playing Minecraft together. It helped my wife and I get to know our kids better because we could see how they interacted with their friends and the “world” through Minecraft. But the kids were learning too. They were learning about math, how to solve problems, and how to work with other people. There were also business lessons like, ‘you have to work for something of value’.

In April I started learning about making online courses and used Learning Sets as the project name, but after Jason and I made our first online course on Saturday, April 12, Jason convinced me to name the project Bold Bros instead. I purchased a membership to Launch Fishers and we had our first meeting there on May 3. Launch Fishers is a coworking facility that gave me a place to work outside of home. With the kids taking over more of the computers at home, it was easier to work in an office building.

In May, side work began increasing. My wife’s business selling essential oils was taking more of my time and I still had client work outside of my day job at Worksmart. I decided to take a break and so Jason and I took a day off to go to King’s Island like we used to do when we were in high school. The park seemed much smaller now and the rides left us feeling old. We left early in the afternoon for home, exhausted. Between playing video games and riding roller coasters, I was starting to regress in life.

In June I worked less on Bold Bros. and began working more on my wife’s business with her. Kevin was in soccer and there was grass to be mowed. I started going to Launch Fishers after church on Sundays a few times I took Kevin. He wanted to create his own website called “Kevin the Rock Star”. Kevin and I were also working the Tipton Farmers Market selling bread on Saturdays. I tried to use it as an opportunity to teach him about sales and business. This was the summer before the fall, but I didn’t know it yet.

In July instead of learning new SQL skills, working on a business, or investing in time with my kids, I began playing Civilization V with my co-worker and friend from Worksmart, Andy Rose. In the hundreds of hours of play that month, I only won 3 times: twice a Scientific Victory and once a Domination Victory. I was determined to do better. By the end of the month Worksmart put me in charge of social media right before I headed off to Mixwest, a local conference covering Marketing, Technology, and Design.

When I came back from the conference I was laid off from my ob at Worksmart, but that same day I got invited to attend the Global Leadership Conference in Indianapolis for free. This was something I would not have been able to do if I still had a day job so I was happy to go. Meanwhile, I began working full time temporarily at Skinny and Company helping their digital marketing team update their website and push forward on marketing projects. All the while I was still applying for jobs and going to interviews.

In September I helped Jason and Justin launch Sycamore Creative. Jason and I traveled down to Justin’s house in Kentucky with an aspiring film producer, Chris. I was his production assistant. After the video shoot, we all drove to Madison, Indiana to eat at Harry’s Stone Grill. The Colts were playing their first game so we asked if we could sit in a room with a TV. They cleaned a room with TVs just for us. At the end of September, Skinny and Company laid me off from full-time temporary work. I was out of a job again.

In October I continued applying for jobs, had several interviews, but no job offers. Things were starting to look bleak. I still had client work to do, which I did, but it wasn’t what I was making before and so I was starting to run a monthly deficit. I began reaching out to dentists for new client work and began actively reaching out to network with others. At the end of the month I attended the Storyline Conference in Chicago with my friend, Jason. That’s when I realized that playing games instead of learning skills was a mistake.

In November I started rapid skill-building to help my job-hunting efforts. I was learning JavaScript, SQL, Business Analysis, Regular Expressions (RegEx), and XML. I started wishing I had spent some of the time I spent playing Civilization in July or Minecraft in March upgrading my skills instead. While Warren Buffet does play Bridge every night, he didn’t start out that way. I was worth exactly how much my bank account said it had, so I had to work on improving my skills. The winter was starting to get cold.

On December 1 I started a new full-time job at GoServicePro in Indianapolis. It was the answer to a lot of prayer – from me and others who had been praying for me. I am thankful for the friends and family who helped give me part-time work and for all of the lessons I learned. The biggest lesson I learned this year was that God is in control and that it was necessary to obey his commandments. In 2014 winter started early for me, but I’m hopeful for an early spring in 2015 as I continue to follow God and work on my skills.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God. -Deuteronomy 8:10-20

2012-11-01

I got up at 5:30 this morning to be at Tea’s Me Cafe at 22nd and Pennsylvania in Indianapolis by 7:30. I’m currently sitting at the McDonalds at 96th and Meridian. I got the Big Breakfast, Biscuits and Gravy, and a small orange juice. There were three guys here having a Bible study or talking about their church – I’m not sure which. They all had beards.

I may be starting up at AllThingsIT this coming Monday, which stresses me out. I may be meeting up with Joy this afternoon which stresses me out. I just want to curl up on a couch and sit a spell. I’ve been going at it pretty hard for a couple of weeks. It might not look like it, but I’m having to push myself to even keep doing the normal stuff I’m doing now.

I’m still working at Dr. Reese’s office for now and am attempting to keep employed there in the afternoons after working mornings at AllThingsIT. My wife wants me to make more money. She wants the money as soon as possible and to spend it before I even make it. I guess that’s what wives do. She’s pregnant. Again. Last night was Halloween. Kids had fun.

Erich

2012-11-05

I started working at AllThingsIT again doing marketing work. I had to go to work at the Reese office after that. I’m pretty tired right now, but am experimenting with Shopperpress for WordPress to import in Amazon items into a storefront.

Erich

2012-11-06

I finished filming at the Reese Office and am copying the raw video onto my hard drive. It’s almost 10 GB of video. I’m really tired. Today was the election. I think Obama will win, but not sure yet.

Erich

2012-11-07

I had a meeting with a new client and he said he wanted to go forward, but he hasn’t yet replied to the proposal I emailed him. I asked for half-down before going forward, but didn’t give him instructions on how to do that, nor did I mention it in our initial meeting at Starbucks at 55 Monument Circle downtown Indianapolis.  When I met with Joy later on that day she hit me like a tornado by immediately asking me to do 3 things all at once while I was already in the middle of doing two things for her. Barack Obama won the election. Carmina and Kevin got new patches on their vests for Awana. I’m still pretty stressed non-stop all day and still going to bed at 9 and waking up at 5:30.

Erich

2012-11-08

I went over web content with Andy, then drove to meet Joy. She has company over working for her. The house was a mess and she was stressed. Her sons keep her awake at night with requests from the other side of the world. She’s been saying “shit” a lot lately, which bothers me. I walked out on her twice. The first time I had to come back, but the second time she called and I waited for her and her son to figure out the problem over the phone. It was rude and unprofessional of me, but I didn’t like the way I was being treated or how my time was being spent. I’m not a tool – and if I lose the Reese’s because of the breakdown in my relationship with Joy, there are other things I can be doing than her son’s homework or her other son’s business.

Erich

2012-11-11

I was tired most of the day, but we went to church this morning, ran errands, then went home. Suzanne fixed ham for dinner last night and for lunch this morning. This evening she made one of my favorite meals, blackened chicken pasta. It was good.

I didn’t want to work on my work, but forced myself to attempt to create and edit a Shopperpress child theme. I then took a nap, watched some Glee, and then worked on Teas Me Cafe’s WP-Ecommerce website. That took all I had to finish it.

Suzanne says I have a fever. Maybe she’s right. I do feel hot. It’s back to AllThingsIT tomorrow morning to write up content in the new ‘containers’ I created last Friday. After that I’m headed to Reese office for IT work. Should be a challenge.

Erich

2012-11-19

Oh man, today was a doozie. I had an emergency domain transfer of teasmecafe.com and couldn’t figure out how to get his email working again. I finally just set him up with Google Apps and trained him on how to use it. He was stressed and I was stressed. That was on top of working 4 hours at AllthingsIT and 4 hours at Reese office before heading home to try and fix the https:// redirect to the subdomain problem I was having with teasmecafe.com. I ended up redirecting the subdomain back to the primary domain as a workaround, but users will still see an error page during the redirect process. John Chalfant mailed a check and AllthingsIT paid for the first time. I guess it was a good day overall. I’m thankful for the work.

Erich

2012-12-02

I went and saw James Bond, Skyfall this evening. I had to walk to CVS to get the cash first. I bought a Snickers and withdrew $20. I walked the Snickers back to my car and put it in the console for those times when my sugar gets out of whack and I need something quickly. I wore a white t-shirt, but I wasn’t cold. It’s a warm December again, just like in 1998.

Erich

2012-12-10

Today I woke up at 6:24, 6 minutes before my alarm was to go off. I went to work at AllThingsIT and then went to the chiropractor. Today was the first day of exercise therapy. I found out my gluts are really tight and need stretching. I ate the chili Suzanne packed me at Jason’s house. Krista gave me some bread and water. I drove to Shelbyville to recycle the ewaste. The same lady greeted me and the same guy brought out the same trash can he brought out before. I listened to the “One Night” musical I made in the car. I drove to the Reese Office and used WD-40 on the chair in room 1 and on the back door. Brandon had a stiff neck. I installed the Apteryx license codes finally and tried to get their Tumblr account unblocked. I threw the big trash from Suzanne’s bathroom remodel in the dumptster. I drove to Jason’s house and ate dinner after helping him buy and move a loveseat. It was heavy. I got my saws back to work on the upstairs bathroom and the downstairs bedroom. Now I have to work on Tea’s Me’s stuff so I can go to bed. I have to take out the trash in the morning.

Erich

2012-12-16

The whole family went to church at White River in Noblesville and then me and Magdalena went to Starbucks for hot chocolate, we went to Barnes and Noble for 39 Clues #5, ate lunch at Paradise Bakery, went to the park on College across from Park Tudor, fed the ducks on Westfield Ave in Broad Ripple, walked around Circle Center Mall and up the Monument Circle, toured the University of Indianapolis, worked at Dr. Reese’s Office, then went and saw The Hobbit at Landmark theater with Jason and Silas.

2012-12-22

I took Carmina on a date. We went to breakfast with the family at Jim Dandy, then drove to the bank to deposit a Christmas bonus check from Dr. Reese. I thought about buying a laptop with it, but decided to pay bills instead. Carmina and I then went to Jason’s house to play the new Catan game Jennifer got me for Christmas. Jason won by one point. This was slightly intentional as it will persuade him to want to play again. We ate lunch at Jason’s house then went to Joy’s house to decorate gingerbread men and cupcakes that were left over from last night’s Christmas party. Finally, we drove home, stopping at Marsh to buy her and her mom some flowers. I then went to sleep for the day.

Erich

2012-12-29

I wrote a blog post on Warby Parker and Google Glass then went to Jason’s house. We drove to JC Penny and other stores to do  research for #highfive.

2013-01-05

I drove to Lafayette and met with Angelica, Sharon, Georgia, and Charlie to go over Angelica’s new business plan. We ate dinner and she paid me $1000.

2013-01-19

I got sick. My whole family got the flu. Some also got pneumonia and ear infections. I’m still sick.

2013-02-02

I read So Good They Can’t Ignore you, then wrote a blog post about it here: http://erichstauffer.com/self-development/how-to-work-a-life-of-purpose

2013-02-09

I was sick. Again. Some sort of stomach bug. I’m getting tired of this. And scared.

2013-04-06

I took a nap today. I tried to get caught up on email and side-work. Patty O’Banion stopped in this morning and bought a website for her friend for $200. I’ve contacted him by phone and text, but so far have not got a reply.

Angelica is getting ready to go to China for the Han Clinic/Institute, AllThingsIT is getting ready to move into it’s new building, and Jason and Justin have started doing freelance work for me with Reese and INSBC respectively.

Erich

2013-06-08

Bought a used bike yesterday from the garage sale across the street. Suzanne and kids brought all of the bikes down to Strawtown park and we rode bikes together. Carmina and I went on a bike ride this morning and I went on one again this evening. Carmina and Magdalena had their dance recital today. They did good. I was there to watch. Amalia is almost 4 weeks old now. Samuel likes trains. Kevin wants a basketball. Carmina wants a phone.

2013-06-15

Went to Phoebe’s concert and to Superman, Man of Steel. It was Carmina’s birthday. She wanted to go to McDonalds. We went there for lunch.

2013-06-22

Went to Chicago with Jason and walked around, saw Lake Michigan and the “bean”. Ate at Harry Carray’s restaurant for lunch and at a pizza restaurant for dinner before going to watch World War Z. We then drove to Wisconsin to visit Madison and the University of Wisconsin. We went to the farmer’s market there, took a tour of the campus, checked out the lakes and the trails, and then went to New Glarus Brewery, then home.

2013-07-06

I had a morning meeting at EMD. It was a good meeting to go over his website. He wants videos made. I then went to Zionsville to meet with Angelica and Linda. It was an uncomfortable meeting because Linda was putting down the work I had done and trying to take it from me, but I couldn’t help but think she wasn’t actually better than me, just more vocal than me. I then went to the Reese’s house to work on their computers and meet Christopher for the coconut business. We ate dinner and took a walk.

2013-07-20

Went on the Color Run today with kids. Went to Launch Fishers QS meeting with Jason. Had first web dev meeting with Justin to redesign erichstauffer.com.

Erich

2013-07-27

I was sick with a cold, but went to watch the WordPress Conference, Wordcamp, at Jason’s house with Cullen. We then took a trip through Little Eagle Creek road and West Carmel. I went to be early, around 7 PM. Today I’m having a Coconut meeting about Skinny Coconut Oil.

2013-08-03

Started looking for houses.

2013-08-10

Spent some time with Suzanne for our anniversary. We went to Chili’s. The kids went to her mom’s house. She got a flat tire, but we were at home.

2013-08-17

Went to shoot video at Angelica’s then spent some time with Jason Duncan, which I later wrote a blog post about: http://www.erichstauffer.com/technology/jobs-grants-and-everything-else

2013-08-24

Went to Missouri with Mom, Dad, Kira, and Keilan to see Peggy for her birthday. Spent the night in Missouri on the way there and then arrived at Peggy’s house 5 minutes before she was about to leave for lunch. We went to Belton to eat lunch at The Log Cabin. On the way back we stopped by Price Chopper to get groceries for shishkabobs. That evening we grilled dinner. The following morning we had eggs for breakfast with Peggy then headed home. On the way home I told dad about http://ohlife.com/.

2013-08-31

I edited together “The Dogs of Windfall” and published it on Amazon Kindle. I had a geeks call with Angie Wylde in the morning. I played Catan with Carmina at night.

2013-09-07

It was the pork festival (2013) and we celebrated Kevin’s birthday. Mitch and his family; Jason Duncan and his family; Gaby; Kathy; and my mom and dad came up. Carmina and I rode the Ferris wheel.

2013-09-14

It was the day before Kevin’s birthday. We went to the park at the school.

2013-09-28

I had a meeting in the morning with Wayne Ashford of Tea’s Me Cafe, then Dan Hoffman at Bonzi Sports, and Angelica Kokkalis for Han Institute. I came home late and watched two movies in bed before going to sleep. The next day (Sunday) I went to church with the family then we went to Chili’s and out for frozen yogurt.

2013-10-05

From email to Skinny Team:

It’s in the beginning – a shout out to Erich Stauffer for a recent first sale at Skinny Coconut Oil – he also put a link to Skinny on the podcast page! I thanked him by leaving a comment on the blog post, liking it on Facebook, and mentioning it on Twitter and Google+.

 

I gotta admit, it felt like I was in a band and our song had just been played on the radio. I’m not going to lie – it felt good.

 

We all worked hard today. I’m not only looking forward to big paydays in the future, but I’m also enjoying the journey.

 

Erich

Blog post about first sale:

e-Commerce Metric: Time to First Sale

October 5th was a rainy day. I had to get up early in the morning to be in Richmond at 8 AM. At the same time, Matt and Chris were up early getting ready for the Gluten Free Living festival in Carmel. We had recently hired two interns, Michael and Stephanie, but only Michael was there that day. Rachel from the dentist office also stopped by to help sell. We sold almost 50 jars and I got my first check after 2 years of work. On the drive home Andrew Youderian gave me a “First Sale Shout Out” on his podcast. It was a good day.

Andrew’s Podcast that mentioned me and Skinny Coconut Ol:
http://www.ecommercefuel.com/going-viral-michael-dubin/

Thanks for mentioning me on the show for our first sale. I was driving home from an all-day convention selling coconut oil and was thrilled to hear it. It was like having my song played on the radio or something. It was a great memory that I’ll remember for a long time. Thanks again for all you do for the e-commerce community.

2013-10-19

Skinny Coconut Oil had its third event, but the second one I had been to.  It was the fIndy Family Fest in  Indianapolis at the State Fairgrounds.  Ate dinner with family in the park. It was starting to get cold. Worked on Moto Menswear.

2013-10-26

Jason Cobb and I went to Reese office for video prep work and then to downtown Franklin. We stopped at Long’s bakery in Southport. We walked through the Willard but ended up eating at the Duck restaurant. We both had cheeseburgers and fries. We went to the Artcraft to watch Young Frankenstein and then got some candy on the way home.

2013-12-14

Spent the afternoon with Kevin watching movies and then took Magdalena to see the second Hobbit. Jason, Silas, and Calvin also attended.

2014-01-18

I got the flu.

2014-01-25

I was still a little sick from the flu, but I got to hang out with the family more as I didn’t have to go anywhere. We had bacon quesadillas for lunch and broccoli cheese soup for dinner.

2014-02-01

Played with Kevin some. He wanted to work in the woodshop. He wanted to use his hammer. He practiced nailing some boards together and then he helped me glue the broken stool together.

Later on Kevin asked to see what was up in the attic. I got the ladder out and showed him. I then showed him what was behind the attic access in his bedroom behind his bed. He was thrilled.

Erich

2014-02-15

2/15/2014:

I met with Jason for our second book club on All You Need is Kill and recorded it as our first podcast*. We ended up talking equally about Groundhog Day (the movie). On the way over, I told Jason I texted Jason that I was “thirsty for coffee” and he replied, “Well good. Cause I’m drinking some of the finest coffee I’ve ever sipped in front of a lovely fire reading Felton annual reports.”

When I arrived, Jason was indeed sitting in front of the fire – his two boys, Silas and Calvin, sitting by his side reading their Kindles. We talked about my ideas about information management systems and then got up to do the book club podcast. Afterwards, we all went to Launch Fishers (a coworking space under the Fisher’s Library) for the Quantified Self Meetup (via Burger King).

Jason was presenting a report on Personal Annual Reports**. The audio of it was also recorded via a failed Google Hangout On Air attempt*** and pictures of it were stored on Dropbox****. After the presentation, the Meetup group went to Texas Roadhouse and we went to Twenty Tap in Broad Ripple (Krista was headed back from having breakfast with her parents in Trafalgar with the girls).

Right before I left the Meetup I saw that most of the files I had uploaded to Skinny and Company’s dropbox account had been deleted. This upset me. There were hundreds of files deleted. I emailed Matt, who didn’t know what happened or why. Matt and his brother Luke were on their way up to Canada to pick up more coconut oil after having been out for over two weeks. The orders were piling up.

After 20 Tap, Jason and I went to the Hubbard and Cravens in South Broad Ripple for coffee and conversation about 2014 goals*****. I revamped the 5 goals I had sent Skinny and Company in January and gave Jason feedback on his. Jason encouraged me to get better about overcoming my fear of confrontation with finances and emails I don’t want to respond to by practicing.

On the way home I stopped by Lowes to pickup wood to build a rocket with Kevin and by Marsh to get ingredients to show Jason and Krista how to make salsa******. When I got home Kevin helped me bring in the wood and carry it downstairs. Suzanne made pizza and the family played Minecraft together. Suzanne and I left the main village to start a new village farther inland beyond the snow-capped mountains.

“I enjoyed our day together. Thanks for coming.”

“Me too, thanks”

*https://www.dropbox.com/s/hj2sde1114diypc/Podcast%20002.mp3
**http://slid.es/jasoncobb/personal-annual-reports

***http://youtu.be/BqQy7fUrBhc
****https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x3e2vj96fkkgufq/N9GInxmfY4
*****https://docs.google.com/a/watershawl.com/document/d/13Bue_YgB8MsYamw8fsjohrPoeVPjtgSSW_sCbKBzQ2c/edit?usp=sharing
******http://instagram.com/p/kdNxvmCYPM/

2014-03-01

I went to The Arnold in Columbus, Ohio with Matt Geddie, Luke Geddie, Joy Reese, Marcella Hoard, and Michael S. I took some pictures and posted them on social media. We stopped at Starbucks and Chipotle on the way there and at Outback on the way home. It took all day.

Erich

2014-03-08

Played Minecraft with the family.

2014-03-15

I met Jason in the morning for breakfast, prayer, and a walk around his neighborhood. We then went to Foundry Provisions coffee shop in Indianapolis before heading to the Quantified Self Meetup in Fishers. I gave a presentation at the meetup about QS web apps (http://slid.es/erichstauffer/quantified-self).

After the meetup, I dropped Jason and Calvin off at their house, had lunch at Chipotle alone, and then went to the Reese’s house to meet Joy, Luke, and Kim for a trip to Angelica’s house to discuss her buying velvet antler for her Han Institute business she’s trying to get started.

Angelica agreed to get hanrx.com started with existing products supplied from Luke Geddie. Matt & team will run logistics ala the dentist ecommerce idea and I will handle marketing. They will give her a percent of the store revenue each month. I’m calling it “a reverse affiliate relationship”.

When I got home I played Minecraft with Suzanne and went to sleep.

Things I’m remembering lately:

The Kansas City Zoo – our vacation there early on in our marriage

Meeting Vineet at Subway that one time for lunch at IUPUI

Sunday school at Pittman Road Church of God (white walls)

2014-03-29

Today we went to church at White River Christian Church in Noblesville. Magdalena sat in church with me instead of going to her class. After church we went to The Roost in Fishers for breakfast and to the YMCA to swim. After that we went home to get essential oils and then drove to West Lafayette to see Grandma O’Banion at the Soldiers and Sailor’s Home. Kevin, Carmina, Samuel, and Magdalena rode their scooters and played with the soccer ball. It was 50 degrees outside and sunny. Afterwards we went to Angelica Kokkalis’ house so Suzanne could meet her for the first time. Angelica enjoyed seeing all of the kids. She made them Tontino’s Pizza Rolls and orange juice. It was a good day.

2014-04-05

I got a new web client, Jim Nelson, and Jason and I set a date to start recording our first online course.

2014-04-12

Met with Jason to create our first online course. Decided on the use of Bold Bros. for the name of the project. Decided to start a podcast. I forget what our first course is going to be about. We recorded 3 videos, 1 screencast, and 1 audio recording. #learningsets #boldbros #onlinecourses

2014-05-10

I went to King’s Island with Jason on Friday and then to EMD on Saturday morning. When I got back I took a nap then played Civ5. On Sunday (Mother’s Day) I went to church with the kids. For lunch we went to Qdoba and then I went to Launch Fishers to work on Bold Bros. I finished phase 1 of the first online course on business blogging/content marketing. The next step is either to turn it into an ebook or start making the videos.

2014-05-17

I met with Suzanne about finances at the house and then she made me biscuits and gravy for breakfast before I left to get adjusted at the chiropractor in Carmel. My neck was hurting from King’s Island.

After that I had planned to meet Jason at SOHO to work on Bold Bros and prepare for the meeting with Debbie at Yokohama in Greenwood on Sunday at 2, but since Jason couldn’t meet I watched Kevin’s soccer game.

After the soccer game we all went with Grammy to Qdoba where Suzanne and I attempted to teach the kids how to set the table both at a restaurant and at home. We also discussed new home schooling curriculum for the kids.

That afternoon I went to Launch Fishers to work on posting Reese Office blog posts for the month of May that Aggie had written. Today I’m typing this again from Launch Fishers on my way to meet Jason on the way to Greenwood.

2014-05-24

I spent the day resting after getting run down at work. And then on Sunday I got sick with a sore throat and spent another day resting. I felt bad because there is so much self-imposed work to do creating the course or re-building up the consultancy – and the weather was so nice – but I just couldn’t move. It was like everything was ‘gray’.

2014-05-31

I mowed the yard and trimmed trees. I then went to Kevin’s soccer game and then home. We had bacon lettuce and tomato sandwhiches for lunch and biscuits and gravy for dinner. I played Civ 5 in the afternoon and evening and went to bed at 9.

2014-06-07

I worked at Dr. Richard Gillum’s dentist office setting up the new Server 2008 domain for Practiceworks. About 2 hours in I realized the RAID 5 wasn’t setup so after researching and calling Dell, we realized the RAID wasn’t setup and had to be rebuilt, which meant reinstalling Server 2008 and re-doing the updates. This wasn’t that bad aside from the slowness that an initializing RAID causes, which slowed everything else down. I worked from 8 AM to 7 PM with no breaks for $1200.

2014-06-28

I stayed in playing Civilization 5 except for mowing the yard. It was hot in our bedroom despite having air conditioning in the rest of the house so Suzanne went and bought a fan from the store. On Sunday I trimmed trees in the yard and worked on Skinny Coconut Oil’s website some. Suzanne made waffles, salsa, and chicken tortilla soup.

2014-07-05

I went on a walk to the baseball diamond park with Kevin and Samuel, then we went to see the trains, went to White’s Meat Market for drinks and candy, and then went home where I played Civ 5 until it was time to get ready to go to Angelica’s for a Han meeting. The day before was Suzanne’s birthday and we went to Texas Roadhouse with Gaby and Scott.

2014-07-12

I helped Bill Heath with an IT issue and then worked on Jason’s landscaping with Jason. I had asked him if he’d buy me a tank of gas for helping me because we’ve been trying to get ahead on some bills and he agreed. When I got home I played Civ 5 and played football with Kevin and Samuel. Camina and Magdalena had 4H with Grammy and Suzanne.

2014-08-09

On Monday, August 4 I was laid off from Worksmart Systems due to a consolidation of the IT department for budget reasons. My boss, Aaron Matlock, said, “I can do what you can do, but I can’t do what Andy can do.” It is true that I was underutilized there, but the lack of income and suddenness of the event was and is traumatic. I am currently looking for new income by applying for jobs and servicing the existing customers I still have. I am still trying to decide whether or not to go full-time consulting or go back full-time as an employee. I am attending a job fair at Apple tonight in Indianapolis and have had one phone interview for a SEO specialist position in the Castleton area. I am trying to get a Digital Marketing Manager job at One Click Ventures – even going as far as to make a special video sent via a VHS tape with the domain “oneclickVHS.com”, but so far have no news on that front. Today is Suzanne and I’s 12-year anniversary.

2014-09-13

I laid in bed all day working on Skinny and Company stuff to pay for working on Simplicity Hollistic Health stuff on Tuesday. I think I’m getting sick.

It was unusual for only two of us to be at the lodge at any one time, and strictly speaking, it was not allowed, but that’s the predicament Denise and I found ourselves in that weekend.

The year was 1999 and gas was high at $2 a gallon. We were both working at Michiana Christian Summer camp and while I lived there full time, she was only there during the day.

I worked in maintenance, which meant that I not only had to clean the cafeteria/gym and bathrooms 3 times a day, I had to fix whatever broke, and do all of the landscaping work.

Denise worked in the office on a computer. It was air conditioned. I would see her when I went into the office to take out the trash and vacuum the carpet. She was always nice to see.

We would all eat together in the staff area of the cafeteria. Some days I’d pour my water on her head just for fun. It was fun. At night she’d run the concession stand near the pool.

That Saturday morning I asked her if she wanted to go to the beach. To my surprise, she said, “Yes”. We drove up from Niles to St. Joseph, Michigan where US 31 ends, and Lake Michigan begins.

There was a bend in the road near Berrien Spring where Denise made a cross sign on her chest as we passed. Her friend had died there the year before. She wanted to stop to test drive a new vehicle.

I helped her look at the SUV she had been eyeing and then we continued on to Silver Beach. When we got there I realized I didn’t have any swimming trunks so we went to a shop there on the beach.

I picked out a green pair of swimming trunks and asked Denise what she thought. She didn’t care. I asked her if she was going to swim. She was not. She sat on the beach while I plunged into the water.

On the way back to the car a train came. I asked her if I ran to get on the train if she would go with me. She said she would. I didn’t run.

We stopped at McDonalds on the way back to camp, but she wouldn’t let me buy her lunch. “It wasn’t a date,” she said. And I knew that.

After making fun of his mom (like kids in 6th grade do) he stood up, pushed me, and we both ended up in the principal’s office. That summer Joey Harless stole his dad’s car, wrecked it, and killed himself with his dad’s gun.

My sophomore year of high school Molly Gibson dug her fingers into my arm after she found me looking at the brush she’d left outside the pool locker room. Driving home one night our senior year she was hit by another car and died.

On August 11th, 2011, I took this picture of my daughter Magdalena in front of the Hardee’s in Tipton that had been there 20 years:

A month later, it was torn down and a Casey’s General Store was being built there. This is what it looked like in December of 2011 (with Carmina and Samuel):

That same day (August 11, 2011) I took this picture of a window in a home in Tipton:

By April 21, 2012 it looked like this:

On January 7th, 2012, I took this picture of my son, Samuel in front of a building at the corner of Main and Dearborn in Tipton, IN:

The next month (February) the building was demolished:

In the summer of 2012 I walked through some woods behind Starbucks on Old Meridian in Carmel by Meijer:

The next time I drive by, bulldozers have tore everything down to bare ground and they were putting in a new apartment complex.

One night when I was running the paper route in 2010 I took a picture of an old farm house in the middle of a corn field. The next morning (around 3 AM) a semi-tractor trailer had wrecked right in front of the old house – police cars were everywhere.

Last fall (2013) I was driving on 96th Street in Indianapolis across from HH Gregg headquarters and thought, “I should take a picture of that scenic, tree covered drive,” but I didn’t stop. The next time I drove by, the trees had been bulldozed to put in a parking lot.

I learned from my mistake. When I saw this house along US 31 in Westfield I pulled over and took this picture.

The next time I drove by it was gone.

I walk on a strip of grass in Greenfield, Indiana for the first time, the next month they pave over it with a brand new sidewalk. I update a customer’s website copyright date as a courtesy, only to find out hours later they are closing their business. I think of a coworker I haven’t thought of in a while and email my boss about him – he gets fired hours later.

None of these things are related. Things change. People die. Old buildings get torn down. Businesses close and people get fired. That’s life. Sometimes you’re there to document it one last time before it goes. Sometimes you get to have a visceral interaction with someone before they go so you remember them longer. I still think about Joey and Molly sometimes.

I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good ole’ days before you’ve actually left them.” -Andy Bernard

Epilogue

Being that Joey Harless died before the World Wide Web (<1993) and that he was a minor at the time, I couldn't find any information about him online, but you can donate to Molly Gibson's memorial, Pooh Bears for Molly. It still makes me sad to this day. Whenever I have a life event I think about Molly. At first it was the senior prom. Then it was graduation. Then it was going to college. Then getting married, graduating college, and having children. She is missed and still thought of. As the father of a daughter getting ready to be Joey’s age I can’t imagine losing her and I can’t imagine what it would be like for his parents – or Molly’s parents – and I hope I never have to find out. All we can do is love the people we’re with while we’re with them and pray for the best.

Sometimes I worry about people. There was a guy who went straight into the military from high school. I think about him every now and then and wonder if he’s okay. Today I looked him on Facebook. He’s got 4 kids and he looks like he’s doing okay. Now I don’t have to worry about him anymore.

Sometimes I think about how much time I spent making movies, music, and writing stories when I was younger and how little I do that now. I literally have a video camera in my pocket and I never make movies. What was different about my life then vs. my life now? I’m not busier. I’m less busy now.

Sometimes I wonder why I wasn’t friends with more people who were geographically close to me growing up. There were two girls who lived relatively close to me, but their houses were on the other side of the highway and it was hard to get to. How can I be friends with the neighbors I have now?

Sometimes I wonder what impact I’m having on the world and how I’ll be remembered by my children when I’m gone. I wonder how they’ll think of me and whether or not they’ll remember me or only remember the pictures they took of me and the words I wrote on my blog. I’m glad they took pictures of me and read my blog.

Sometimes someone you thought was no longer your friend reaches out to you to reconnect and sometimes someone you thought would always be there leaves your side. These things happen more often than they told you it would. But what they also told you was that it will be okay. And it will.

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. – Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

2013 was a time of contraction. It was a time to uproot, tear down, gather stones, give up, throw away, and be silent. I was going to take a step back and reflect.

Consolidation

In January I quit going to all of the meetups I was a part of, quit BNI, and quit Rainmakers. I started consolidating my websites and on January 1, 2013 I publicly announced I was closing my web design and IT business and came up with 10 new business ideas. Despite all of those ideas, I decided I would not start any new businesses in 2013. Instead I devoted my time to helping two other organizations (1,2) start new businesses while working full-time doing IT work (1,2). This was very hard for me to do and it had some unfortunate side effects that I wasn’t expecting:

• Identity – I started operating as “Erich Stauffer” instead of as “Watershawl” and I went through an identity crisis. I didn’t know who I was anymore. I threw away all of my business cards, but never bought any new ones for “Erich Stauffer”. When people asked me for my business card, I told them I didn’t have one and most of the time they just sort of shrugged and looked away. I consolidated all of my web content down into one site and began to steadily make improvements. Eventually I paid a Kentucky graphic designer to help me design something more professional.
• Longing – I really missed the lifestyle I had in 2012. When I look back at my Dropbox Camera Upload folder and see how much time I spent with my family and all the different experiences I had outside of a normal work environment, I really missed it. When I say I had a good time, it was probably the best year of my life. I went to conferences, hung out at coffee shops, met a ton of new people, and did a lot of great work. It was fun. I truly liked my life. That said, 2013 turned out okay and I got happier.
• Confidence – I lost a lot of confidence by not having my own “business” identity. Even though I was still officially in business as “Erich Stauffer” it didn’t feel that way. And when the majority of my income was coming from one client, my full-time employer, it was hard to say that I was anything other than an “IT guy”. When I would introduce myself to people at meetings and social events, I would struggle with what to say. My struggle with identity was overflowing into my impressions of myself.
• Branding – I didn’t realize the value of the Watershawl brand that I ‘threw away’. Everything I had been building up as Watershawl/Telablue for the last 5 Years (since October of 2007) was thrown out. While I continued to operate as “Erich Stauffer”, the person responsible for doing the work most of that time, there was a loss of something greater than myself. There was also a loss of professionalism that I didn’t expect – from both sides. I acted different and clients treated me different. SEE Stop Freelancing.

Asah Shamah

In January, my church started a series called “asah shamah” which means “we will do, then we will understand”. The pastor said that this would be a year of bounty. I wrote a blog post called How to Work a Life of Purpose in February, the month I started working full-time. Since then I’ve made more money than I’ve ever made in my life. God has truly blessed me, but I wasn’t thankful. I had achieved what I had started seeking back in 2009, but I wasn’t happy. So I started practicing an attitude of gratitude. I started thanking God for what I had. I started appreciating my children more. I started enjoying the weather more. I started to be more happy.

Diet and Physical Health

In 2012 despite exercising and watching calories I reached a high of 275 pounds. Despite Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Body coming out in February of 2011 and in August of 2012, my friend, Jason, starting the slow-carb diet, it wasn’t until April of 2013 that I started eating differently. The moment I began this diet I began losing weight and since then I have lost over 40 pounds with little to no exercise. I began to go on long walks and one day after walking in an old pair of dress shoes, I hurt my right knee. I threw the shoes away, but it still took me several months to fully recover. My next door neighbor had a garage sale and I bought a used bike for $30 that I began riding around town and to parks.

My Newest Daughter

In May, my newest daughter was born. She is our fifth child, the third girl. She weighed 8lbs 9ozs. She was our biggest baby by weight and she’s been the tallest baby as she’s grown (she’s in the 97th percentile for height for her age). Around four months she started a 6-month trait which is to smile at you to see if you’ll smile back. That’s fun. In October she started to blow ‘pop’ kisses, whose sound surprised her at first, but she quickly learned to enjoy and deploy to other’s pleasure. In November she started to be able to sit up on her own and just started to act like she might want me to hold her. I December her first word was “dada.”

Education and Learning

In June I took a “man-cation” to Chicago and Wisconsin. During this trip I discovered the usefulness of podcasts. I have had an iPhone for over five years, but never listened to one podcast. The moment I realized it was just like the radio, but without ads – and it was only about the topics I cared about – I was hooked. I started listening to podcasts on web analytics, business consulting, and ecommerce. I would listen to them on the way to work and on the way home. I started learning Ruby on Rails and joined Treehouse. This was one way I extracted value from my long commute (~50 minutes one-way) to Indianapolis everyday. I listened the equivalent of 15 credit hours of college.

Jobs as Biggest Clients

When I worked at First Merchants Bank from 2008 to 2011 I started thinking of my primary employer as my biggest customer. This was a mindset change for me that I struggled to continue thinking in 2013 even after having two of my biggest clients hire me full time. This was partly because my mindset was shifting back to that of an employee from being an entrepreneur. I was losing confidence daily, which affected my ability to sell, and my lack of brand made it hard to self-identify and market myself. I decided that something needed to change before I completely lost my confidence so I decided to start looking for a different job. In August of 2013 I was offered a job doing IT work at Worksmart, where my boss encouraged me to continue working on my entrepreneurial pursuits. He believed that my IT/web consultant work helped me to be a more valuable employee because the skills I was developing were useful in my day job. This began boosting my confidence and I started to begin thinking of myself as an entrepreneur again.

The Perfect Day

In August we launched SkinnyCoconutOil.com and when our “community development” guy began working on our About page, he asked a series of questions to help write the staff bios. One of the questions was, “Describe your ‘perfect’ day?” This is what I wrote on September 5, 2013:

Wake up naturally around 8 AM. Eat breakfast with my family, and then head off to a coffee shop to write. I’d take a walk on the Monon, catch lunch with a friend, and then head home for an afternoon nap. Just before dinner I’d work in my woodshop until dinner. Afterwards I’d go check on the garden and play board games with the kids before grabbing a glass of wine and having a fireside chat with my wife before bed.

On August 31, 2013 we had our first sale online, 5 days after launch, and on October 5 I got a shout out from Andrew Youderian and got my first paycheck on the same day. It was a good day.

A Happier Life

In September I was listening to a Smart Passive Income podcast with Noah Kagan where Noah said, “A big realization I’ve had lately is that when people are unhappy, it’s because they’re not doing what they really want or they’re distracting themselves with other activities. And honestly, I think I’m at the happiest point in my life now in this moment, and that’s really because I’m talking with you and I was very nervous and I was excited to talk to you and share this with your listeners. And I’m working on something like this How to Make Your First Dollar, I love it. I love seeing people get their businesses that they want. The relationships with people I have, it’s exactly what I want, it’s with the people I want. I’ve cut out the people I don’t want and it’s really put me in a happier life.” And that’s what I started to do.

Killing the Cash Cow

Guy Kawasaki and Richard Bliss often talk about Clayton Christensen’s original idea of “Killing the Cash Cow”, which involves stopping the most profitable part of your business in order to support and grow a less profitable part that has more future potential. It’s long-term thinking versus short-term thinking and it’s very scary to a lot of managers. On paper, it doesn’t always make sense, but take just one of the most often cited examples: if Apple hadn’t devoted energy to the Macintosh, they’d still be selling AppleIIs and they’d be out of business.

On October 15, 2013, exactly 6 years since I incorporated Watershawl, Inc., I told my biggest client that I wanted to help them replace me. Why? I wasn’t providing them the value they needed at the time and in order to put the client’s needs above my own I proposed switching vendors so that I wasn’t the one holding their company back. The other side of the coin is that I was spending more time building something that would provide more income and working for that client was actually hindering me from my higher future earning potential. I killed the cash cow.

The Han Institute

In January I started meeting with one of my clients about an idea she had to start a chain of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinics around the United States. This idea became the basis of The Han Institute, an organization comprised of a clinic, a research institute, and educational materials centered around utilizing TCM in Western medicine. On October 29 I attended the Indiana-Zhejiang Trade Seminar to network with Indiana and Zhejiang government officials and businesses.

Act Like Men Conference

The Philippines Super Typhoon Haiyan landed on November 8, 2013, the same day the Act Like Men Conference started in Indianapolis. I waited too long to sign up for a ticket and it sold out. However, I was able to volunteer as an usher and was still able to attend. On November 1 I had hired my first VA (virtual assistant), who happened to live in the Philippines. She emailed to say that a typhoon was coming and she might not be able to get to the work that day. We told her not to worry about it, to stay safe, and that we’d be praying for her. She ended up okay, but 10,000 of her countrymen did not. On that Saturday, Lacrae played a concert, which I got to attend with my friend, Jason.

Looking Forward to 2014

In 2013 I started out wanting to start an e-commerce company, learn Ruby on Rails, and do less IT consulting as a service. My goals in 2013 were to move towards a location-independent income, to future-protect my career by learning more programming, to continually seek ways to add value and help people, to spend more time with friends and family, and to attend conferences/events as a form of community. I learned that “conservation” was one of my core values. It’s the reason I value trees, productivity, recycling, and electric cars. Overall, 2014 was about fine-tuning my attitude about work.

On Christmas of 2013, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty came out in theaters. To me, the movie was about breaking out of the life you’re in now and turning your life into an adventure. That spirit is the same struggle I’ve been in for the last 3 years and is similar to the vision I have for Outure.  In 2014 I’d like to keep working on developing Seektivity (my activities/events web app), Outure (my outdoor adventure ecommerce company), and Content Motors/Content Market Fit/AB Insights (a SEO/Content Marketing/Web Analytics company). I’d also like to attend more conferences, run the Glory Trail, and continue to help my existing clients.

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart. – Ecclesiastes 5:18-20