2016/02/11 – Panic sets in, Trash

Tomorrow is opening day for my new home business. That’s the plan, anyway. I will announce it on our community NextDoor web site this  afternoon. 72 families in my small community are active users of the web site and I’m hoping that through them word spreads to the other 88 families not on NextDoor.

My goal is to sell 21 packages a weekend.

Up until now my biggest obstacle has been my pride. Do I really want the neighbors to see me as the "cookie guy", or worse, the "delivery guy"? I felt a little better when I realized that I will be wearing my cycling outfit which covers a good part of my features, and is more consistent with my current neighborhood image; the "bike riding guy". 

But now I’m worried that I may have committed to more work than I want.

I just wanted an easy, part-time, work-from-home, 10-hours/week job that I really enjoy doing. I'm not trying to become the next cookie magnet, I just want to make a few extra bucks so that I don't feel guilty buying a new high-end bike, or any of the other toys I've gotten used to before retirement. 
.....

My dad was a gambler. He never had a problem with it, but he loved to gamble as a hobby. His idea of the perfect Saturday afternoon was to take $20 to Aqueduct Race Track, pay the $2 entry fee, and have enough money left to place a $2 bet on all 9 races. He also had a “system” to predict the winners, which he worked on for hours the night before scratching away with a pencil in one of and his little black notebooks.

When he would win on a $2 bet, he let the winnings roll, and come home with a pocket of cash, or nothing at all. Most of the winnings went back into the cigar box that held his gambling money, which was kept separate from the family money. And he was a winner! I know that because he never dipped into the family funds. He always has at least $20 in the shoebox to go to the track next week. I though this was so cool.

I’m not a gambler, but I love my toys. Maybe the cookie business will pay for them using the same model my dad used for his gambling hobby. 

I love making cookies for the family every day, but will I enjoy making 7 batches 3 days a week? And what if I get busier than that? I’m starting to panic!

Today I have to make dough for 384 cookies. Let’s see how that goes. I still have time to back out.

…..

I was listening to a podcast recently that was talking about trash. Do you realize that almost everything you ever owned in your lifetime is still somewhere on the planet? That old teddy bear, or those rollerblades, your first baseball glove, or Barbie Doll, those old cowboy boots, or maybe all the plastic soda bottles you drank from, are somewhere swirling around in the middle of the ocean, or under someone’s house, or under the airport. Now multiply that by everybody that’s been alive for the past hundred years. That’s a lot of trash!

Later,

Steve