It seems so far away, but I am hoping that July proves to be a calmer month than these last few. Even though it seems afar off, I know it will be here and gone before I know it. Things seem to keep getting tougher and tougher while the future keeps simultaneously looking brighter and brighter. It’s just a question of how to stay afloat until the good times come –assuming nothing stands in my way again.
I hesitate to even write in my blog (been almost 2 weeks now) simply because my life is nothing but work lately. I have managed to spend more time with Leah lately –which is very much needed downtime. However, between work and spending precious little time with her, I have zero time or energy left to write, hang out with friends, or do anything really.
I have to work 7 days a week just to stay afloat and try to make enough to pay the bills while I’m investing everything (and more) into my ventures that should pay off. The question is how long until they do and can I make it until then.
I keep finding creative ways to stay afloat and then people keep letting me down.
I have helped a lot of people over the years but no one seems to come to my aid when I desperately need it. Even my previous landlord borrowed some money from me and then only repaid a portion of it.
Then, I found out last week that my client who agreed to provide me a draw against future commissions is just BS’ing me and never intended to give me more than $500 per month. You can imagine how far that goes (or doesn’t) towards the bills.
It’s really sad.
I’m hoping that something positive will happen to help take some of this intense pressure off of me that has been bearing down for so long. I will push on as I always do and I won’t look back, but it would certainly be nice to not have to worry so much each month and put so many people -like my current landlord- in a bind.
If I wasn’t a victim of the system and unduly tagged as a criminal, I would’ve gotten a job a long time ago and used those proceeds to fund my ventures and pay the bills. I’m long out of practice in my field, but I figure my skills should still command at least a low 6-figure salary or very high 5-figures. However, none of that is an option to me, thanks to a couple of crooked cops. Ah well.
No matter. I will not let that get me down and I will continue on.
I am close to something big. I can feel it. This is how it was just before the first time I made my million (or close enough… hah). Too many people are backing what I’m doing and I have thousands of people pulling for me to succeed. So, I am hopeful that things will continue the way they did years ago when I first hit it big.
The only difference this time is that I will keep a low profile (sad that I have to) and not buy an exotic sports car, big house, or throw elaborate parties. That way, perhaps I won’t have stupid crooked cops, FBI, and GBI knocking down my door thinking I sell drugs like last time. At least now I know the truth about how the system works and I am prepared. I won’t be blindsided like I was back then.
Anyway, I feel like I’m just rambling now. So, I’ll end on a not-so-brief recap of recent events since my last post:
- I put my Drivetime and Progressive lawsuits on hold to focus on work to pay the bills.
- I finished building out my data center to reliably house the ten(10) dedicated servers for my “Shrink The Web” project.
- I modified ShrinkTheWeb’s forum template to be more user-friendly.
- I initiated and completed the ShrinkTheWeb logo contest.
- I ordered a new MEGA-server at Rackspace to migrate “Shrink The Web” over to. This will handle an enormous amount of growth.
- Mike, Frank, Caitlyn, and I managed to get six(6) out of the ten(10) servers up-and-running. One has a defective part, two have network card issues, and one I broke the primary battery connector on (oops).
- I managed to work a few days at a client site (some paid; but most not).
- I optimized my ShrinkTheWeb code to operate 600% faster and be more portable and reliable across OS platforms.
- I added several new ShrinkTheWeb features for users and my admin interface.
- I locked in a plan to resolve the last two, lingering and crucial issues with ShrinkTheWeb that will be fixed before the June 6th go live date.
- I performed a lot of competitive research and also pricing analysis and research to come up with a viable path-to-profitability for ShrinkTheWeb.
- I completed one website design and received payment and made significant progress on two others.
- I made two proposals for a client of mine’s clients that are very promising and should be accepted soon.
- I wrote quite a bit of content for pages on ShrinkTheWeb. Two examples are the thumbnail provider comparison page and the site thumbnail uses page.
- I updated my Imagion Web Design RFP client interface to allow an optimal mock-up presentation and approval process that will help me streamline web design projects moving forward.
- I kicked off the process of requesting approval to travel to Paris to provide consulting services to the European client I’ve been working on for months. They are finally ready to buy and that will help a bit -provided that the government doesn’t stand in my way.
- I managed to jump through a few hoops to get a free annual membership to PRNewswire -which will save some cash when we begin promoting ShrinkTheWeb.
- I signed up for Google checkout but it doesn’t support recurring payments. What the?? It’s freakin’ Google… and they don’t have the resources to support recurring payments? Lame.
- I met with William for a few hours to discuss French lessons for when my clients sign on the dotted line and give me my first check. Once finalized, I have committed to learn French by the end of the year.
- I ran my billing/invoicing for the month and budgeted.
- At the request of a LinkSmile customer, I spent quite a bit of time fixing some lingering errors with the automated online system that will now make it useful again. This was necessary but I had no time. However, this user was desperate and no other system besides LinkSmile can handle what she needed.
- I finally resolved an on-going Comcast issue where I lost more than 15 hours of work over the month due to Internet downtime. It took me awhile but I finally proved that the power levels coming into the house were too high. So, finally, after MONTHS, I have a stable Internet connection again.
- I then was able to finally get ShrinkTheWeb migrated to the new server and overcame several issues with the new server and platform.
- I made a quick, make-shift index page for ShrinkTheWeb that incorporates the new logo design.
- I went to see “Iron Man” with Leah… not bad
- I met up with Jojo to get her laptop and some pics for a website I’m working on for her dad.
- I fixed her laptop -as it was incredibly slow due to a failing webcam driver.
- I designed and sent the April newsletter for ShrinkTheWeb.
- Leah helped me greatly by getting my oil changed for me.
- I got my merchant account back up-and-running so that I can use for ShrinkTheWeb’s recurring billing.
I think that just about covers it.
Now, I know you just scrolled past most of that and that’s OK, because it even bores me! lol. I only note in that detail to give an idea of what I’ve been up to for the past couple of weeks and to make the point that Progressive and Drivetime say I have NO EXCUSE for not moving forward with settling with them.
They claim that I cannot possibly be as busy as I say I am.
Well, in general, millionaires are not made overnight.
So, yeah… disbelief. I get that a lot.
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