Rowing the ducks

Response to Rowing the ducks

Jenn and I are in the process of rowing our ducks.  The plan for this year is not only to scrape by, but to get ahead, maybe even to prosper. I am planning my resume writing business.  I have a friend who owns several properties who, once we get planted on our feet, will entertain the idea of selling one of her houses to us.

The house is on Aragon Way.  It's perfect for us, by the name of the street alone.  Then there's the house itself.  Two story, two bedrooms, a kitchen and living/dining room on the lower level and three bedrooms, kitchen, living/dining room, laundry and a garage well converted into a large bedroom which will serve as our game room.  It also has a fairly large deck and a view, albeit a far away view, of the downtown skyline.  We have every intention of renting out the lower level, cutting our mortgage by as much as half.  It is so awesome, we will have a game room and each of our kidlets will have their bedroom.  It will be so great to be in a house, not an apartment, where I can crank my music without worry of angering the neighbors.  But the trend will continue of living in a place with no garage.  No huge loss.

I think we're close.  I should be making more in the coming months with my regular job, and if we can get our side projects going, we should be doing real well.  I know where I will have an office once I really get going.  La Jolla, overlooking the cove.  I cleaned a carpet this morning at a restaurant next to an available office.  It's right on Prospect, great view of the shores, cliffs, and a pier.  I will have the business offices in the back, overlooking all of that, and on the frontage part of the property I will have a photo gallery displaying - and hopefully selling - my photographs.

Then, the next duck to row will be to open my own carpet cleaning/stone restoration company.  It will be called Finest City Surface Restorations.  Jenn and I are excited.  I know where I went wrong the last time I had a carpet cleaning company.  Advertising.  I knew I lacked it, but didn't know where to put my money.  I know now.  AdWords.  Last month marked the start of the slow season for carpet cleaners.  My boss spent close to $4,000 in pay per click advertising.  What was the return, in a down economy, for a small company with only two trucks, in the uber slow time of year?  Almost $30,000.  I can do that.  I have great client service, do great work, am no longer afraid to charge high prices to high end clients, and all around have a good sense of what I will do to make my company as successful, and more so.

All in all, the new year, like they mostly do, offers great promise for me and my family.  I'm excited for the future, it's bright, I'm on my meds, Jenn and I are happy together.  All is right, and getting righter with our world.  The ducks are in sight, and I'm going to row the hell out of them.