The last two years or so of what all has happened with the economy really rattled around some long term fundamental things. Real estate was supposed to be the best investment ever and increase in value from 4% to 10% every year no matter what. Fail. It became evident that all the big banks are leveraged out 32:1, just how global the economy has become is unraveling every day. Even big money players had their big investments they were all braggy about crash to it's original dollar figure from 10 years prior. All retirement plans are being questioned and under attack as non sustainable.
There is a silver lining to this. The spend it now crowd that spends money to somehow make a job or opportunity for someone else wins. Those that hoarded money got a spanking and the taxes will change to spank them in the future. Still there are literally 10,000 different haunt stories out there and just duplicating one version of it seems to limited. You have to determine what social networks and advertising works for you in you specific area. If I start giving away everyone's secret formula for success it will just cause problems. Those that are tageting 3 or 5 towns with big private investment groups they fashioned for themselves verses the village idiots of the world who have somehow paid for everything themselves and they aren't on anyone else's schedule of when things get done or to what extent they have to get done to look cool. Still there are benefits to being small and there is a coolness to not having corporate feel behind it.
Plan 22, starts getting into danger zones of having a back up plan. Kelly Allen's book describes Team building. I'm saying the crew from the movie from Armagedon is assembled when volunteers and employees attempt to show you how so dependent you are on them. Even volunteer haunts, no one shows up when it is time to tear things down and someone has to go in and get the haunt and package every thing up and haul it out. Once I began doing this entirely by myself and of all people my secretary came later in the evening and helped put walls on trailers and props into hearse and get it out. I described this to a haunter friend a year later or so and he remarked "she's a keeper". While stupid people stood and watched like it was none of their business or they had somehow paid for this. Of course the last time I moved the haunt, it was a big surprise. Me and a helper went in and disassembled it in about half a day and 6 people from the new owners and I moved it outin abot 2 hours. Every year the charity would bring up the idea of them providing storage for it. Well, if they had the whole thing in their possesion what do they need to pay me for? I have heard lots of when the parties over stories.
Plan 23, suggests watching the last 20 minutes of the Willie Nelson movie "On the road again" Sometimes everyone takes what they see as the goal of the day and the real pros have a bigger goal.
Plan 24, wonder why there aren't a bunch of infomercials anymore about how you can buy real estate for no money down, find deals to lip and take advanta of owner financed deals, you don't even have to speak the language! It seems the borrowing money thing and not really having earned what you have means filing bankruptsy at some point, not paying a bunch of debts and taking what ever is liquid to live your life in Venesuala where it is worth 10 times what it is here. Don't drink the water.
Plan 25, there used to be a for $300 you can learn about all the credit unions and become a credit card millionaire and buy houses and sell them before intrest is due for a profit, you can buy cars at a deal what ever and flip it. So what happens to the poor sucker when there are no buyers out there? Some stocks have dropped just because of this. They put up a sale order and there aren't the hoards of buyers holding up tickets or poised on the internet buying program so the stock just goes down as it is apparently not in demand and thus a lower value. However if you have equipment and skills that can go to work they seem to command the same amount of money. What I'm saying is a haunt investor I know explained what they were doing to a financial advisor and they were stunned and told them to keep doing that. In lue of having an investor because they work mega population areas, investing in yourself is cool. Despite what someone with only a 2 year economics degree has been lead to believe.
The old dudes I used to ask advice had stupid things to relate. Instead of saying they don't know, they would have little ben franklin phrases to whip on you like the early bird catched the worm, the sun is up, if you aren't true to your teeth they will be false to you and the mega fail advice, that making a business out of hobby is very difficult. This is where they screwed up being in some form of business poised waiting for those hobbies to all in decades later to become billion dollar plus markets. Yeah enjoy you social security grandpa.
Plan 26, don't stress, or like the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, don't panic. I have wandered into many haunt planning meetings and war rooms and watched the flurry of stress and making sure things are done a specific way. Just like every year about this time I see waitresses stressing filling out their tax returns to make sure their part time $2.65 is reported SO correctly and hope they are doing it all right. The customers to a haunt have no idea of what to expect and are generally smiling by anything you have to offer. The happier and less waves put toward the customers the better. No move it along bouncers or self appointed crowd managers with made up rules. Unless there is a problem, then it is full on storm trooper action. Sweep up the debris and it never happened. The IRS isn't going to go crazy on you unless $40,000 seems to have been reported due to them. They will be glad to use federal funds to help you get that together. Just don't owe money.
Plan 27, I have actually sat in the hearse with a cell phone and called people and told them it was time, right now, a good time to come. Kind of dialing for dollars. You develop a list of people who said they would come and call them on it. Don't tell me you would like to come and think I will forget. Bring money. Then there is the balancing act too of knowing where semi drivers are to move a trailer for one reason or another at any hour of the day or night. If a haunt other than your own owes you money this is an intresting collection technique. That and having a hearse so you can collect anything. Unfortunately this is what it gets down to when dealing with people who use buzz words like "budget" early in conversations and "partners" is another one to watch out for. It all starts to sound like a used car lot, she was supposed to make the payment! I thought he made the payment! Yeah, well we have your car so get together and talk about it. And it doesn't matter where you go, there are repo men 3,000 miles away that will answer the phone. After many years of this, you begin to recognize when someone wants YOU to be the one to do something for them, you are that special person they have been looking for. Really, why me?
Plan 28, Hearses are cool for stubborn collection days, making sure you get paid just prior someone turning themselves into the loony bin and closing their business for ever. However, they don't really work driving around askng customers to come to yor haunt. Maybe an art car is better. A hearse sitting at the haunt is great but it weirds people out that are potential customers out in the real world or the waitress you kind of are wondering where they are, they are hidding in the kitchen waiting for the serial killer to leave the parking lot. I had no idea serial killers were so up front like that. I always though like in the movies they all drive a dodge van. So that's what I drive now. You can still move a coffin if you have to, move the occasional dead werewolf or bring bicycles to little children. The first day I bought the hearse and was driving it home a little white car with some chick came up around me and waved all happy. I thought wow, this is going to be great? A hearse is a chick magnet! That never happened again for decades of driving around a 7800 pound 10 mpg car. One time I pulled up to the haunt and a girl came up and was super excited jumping up and down with long black hair to tell me what a cool car! She had 5 kids already.
Usually the only ones that think driving a hearse around are in the lane next to you, at speed, in the middle of a Molly Hatchet CD on their 2nd trip back from the beer store and they aren't really the desired haunt demographic. Don't be fooled by who thinks you are cool.
There is a silver lining to this. The spend it now crowd that spends money to somehow make a job or opportunity for someone else wins. Those that hoarded money got a spanking and the taxes will change to spank them in the future. Still there are literally 10,000 different haunt stories out there and just duplicating one version of it seems to limited. You have to determine what social networks and advertising works for you in you specific area. If I start giving away everyone's secret formula for success it will just cause problems. Those that are tageting 3 or 5 towns with big private investment groups they fashioned for themselves verses the village idiots of the world who have somehow paid for everything themselves and they aren't on anyone else's schedule of when things get done or to what extent they have to get done to look cool. Still there are benefits to being small and there is a coolness to not having corporate feel behind it.
Plan 22, starts getting into danger zones of having a back up plan. Kelly Allen's book describes Team building. I'm saying the crew from the movie from Armagedon is assembled when volunteers and employees attempt to show you how so dependent you are on them. Even volunteer haunts, no one shows up when it is time to tear things down and someone has to go in and get the haunt and package every thing up and haul it out. Once I began doing this entirely by myself and of all people my secretary came later in the evening and helped put walls on trailers and props into hearse and get it out. I described this to a haunter friend a year later or so and he remarked "she's a keeper". While stupid people stood and watched like it was none of their business or they had somehow paid for this. Of course the last time I moved the haunt, it was a big surprise. Me and a helper went in and disassembled it in about half a day and 6 people from the new owners and I moved it outin abot 2 hours. Every year the charity would bring up the idea of them providing storage for it. Well, if they had the whole thing in their possesion what do they need to pay me for? I have heard lots of when the parties over stories.
Plan 23, suggests watching the last 20 minutes of the Willie Nelson movie "On the road again" Sometimes everyone takes what they see as the goal of the day and the real pros have a bigger goal.
Plan 24, wonder why there aren't a bunch of infomercials anymore about how you can buy real estate for no money down, find deals to lip and take advanta of owner financed deals, you don't even have to speak the language! It seems the borrowing money thing and not really having earned what you have means filing bankruptsy at some point, not paying a bunch of debts and taking what ever is liquid to live your life in Venesuala where it is worth 10 times what it is here. Don't drink the water.
Plan 25, there used to be a for $300 you can learn about all the credit unions and become a credit card millionaire and buy houses and sell them before intrest is due for a profit, you can buy cars at a deal what ever and flip it. So what happens to the poor sucker when there are no buyers out there? Some stocks have dropped just because of this. They put up a sale order and there aren't the hoards of buyers holding up tickets or poised on the internet buying program so the stock just goes down as it is apparently not in demand and thus a lower value. However if you have equipment and skills that can go to work they seem to command the same amount of money. What I'm saying is a haunt investor I know explained what they were doing to a financial advisor and they were stunned and told them to keep doing that. In lue of having an investor because they work mega population areas, investing in yourself is cool. Despite what someone with only a 2 year economics degree has been lead to believe.
The old dudes I used to ask advice had stupid things to relate. Instead of saying they don't know, they would have little ben franklin phrases to whip on you like the early bird catched the worm, the sun is up, if you aren't true to your teeth they will be false to you and the mega fail advice, that making a business out of hobby is very difficult. This is where they screwed up being in some form of business poised waiting for those hobbies to all in decades later to become billion dollar plus markets. Yeah enjoy you social security grandpa.
Plan 26, don't stress, or like the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, don't panic. I have wandered into many haunt planning meetings and war rooms and watched the flurry of stress and making sure things are done a specific way. Just like every year about this time I see waitresses stressing filling out their tax returns to make sure their part time $2.65 is reported SO correctly and hope they are doing it all right. The customers to a haunt have no idea of what to expect and are generally smiling by anything you have to offer. The happier and less waves put toward the customers the better. No move it along bouncers or self appointed crowd managers with made up rules. Unless there is a problem, then it is full on storm trooper action. Sweep up the debris and it never happened. The IRS isn't going to go crazy on you unless $40,000 seems to have been reported due to them. They will be glad to use federal funds to help you get that together. Just don't owe money.
Plan 27, I have actually sat in the hearse with a cell phone and called people and told them it was time, right now, a good time to come. Kind of dialing for dollars. You develop a list of people who said they would come and call them on it. Don't tell me you would like to come and think I will forget. Bring money. Then there is the balancing act too of knowing where semi drivers are to move a trailer for one reason or another at any hour of the day or night. If a haunt other than your own owes you money this is an intresting collection technique. That and having a hearse so you can collect anything. Unfortunately this is what it gets down to when dealing with people who use buzz words like "budget" early in conversations and "partners" is another one to watch out for. It all starts to sound like a used car lot, she was supposed to make the payment! I thought he made the payment! Yeah, well we have your car so get together and talk about it. And it doesn't matter where you go, there are repo men 3,000 miles away that will answer the phone. After many years of this, you begin to recognize when someone wants YOU to be the one to do something for them, you are that special person they have been looking for. Really, why me?
Plan 28, Hearses are cool for stubborn collection days, making sure you get paid just prior someone turning themselves into the loony bin and closing their business for ever. However, they don't really work driving around askng customers to come to yor haunt. Maybe an art car is better. A hearse sitting at the haunt is great but it weirds people out that are potential customers out in the real world or the waitress you kind of are wondering where they are, they are hidding in the kitchen waiting for the serial killer to leave the parking lot. I had no idea serial killers were so up front like that. I always though like in the movies they all drive a dodge van. So that's what I drive now. You can still move a coffin if you have to, move the occasional dead werewolf or bring bicycles to little children. The first day I bought the hearse and was driving it home a little white car with some chick came up around me and waved all happy. I thought wow, this is going to be great? A hearse is a chick magnet! That never happened again for decades of driving around a 7800 pound 10 mpg car. One time I pulled up to the haunt and a girl came up and was super excited jumping up and down with long black hair to tell me what a cool car! She had 5 kids already.
Usually the only ones that think driving a hearse around are in the lane next to you, at speed, in the middle of a Molly Hatchet CD on their 2nd trip back from the beer store and they aren't really the desired haunt demographic. Don't be fooled by who thinks you are cool.
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