Jan '24 (edited) • General discussion
Skrewed, Blued and How To'd...
I love me a good "how to".
I made $2,000 a month in the US Navy because I knew "how to" fix radars and stuff.
I also gave them every minute of my life for that $2,000 a month.
I don't have a calculator close by, but that's not a great return on energy.
I was born and raised blue collar boy.
Blue Collar boys are supposed to learn "how to".
Learn "how to" do something valuable.
Do it. Get paid for it.
Don't forget to STFU. Obey orders. Don't ask for too much.
Be a GOOD Blue Collar Boy!
Well, I did that for 3 decades which felt like 3 centuries.
There were always fifty-eleven other Blue Collar Boys and Girls who knew "how to" do the same shit I knew how to do.
Then I had to "compete" and "prove" I was better than the next good boy or girl.
I once had a salaried position at $17,000 a year.
I was kinda stoked it was salary.
STEADY paycheck for the good Blue Collar Boy who knew "how to".
But then...
I learned...
...salary is an efficient way to pay your "slaves".
If I worked 40 hours a week - I got a paycheck.
If I worked 60 hours a week - I got THE SAME PAYCHECK!
70 hours?
Same!
Guess what my average hours per week turned out to be?
60 to 70!
Salary was the "reward" of knowing "how to" and not rocking the boat like a good Blue Collar Boy.
Now, I'm not against "how to" or Blue Collar.
I think they SHOULD be respected (and paid) MORE!
The temperature is 2 degrees F outside.
I am sitting comfortably in my heated home office because a gem of a blue collar fella fixed my heating and air unit last year.
THANK YOU!
But how I think the world SHOULD work...
Doesn't make it so.
I had to take a hard look at reality to break out of the chains of "how to" I to which I found myself torturously shackled.
I can wish Blue Collar Boys got paid big bucks in one hand...
And poop in the other...
I know which one would fill up first!
(Sorry, that was a saying my dad loved!)
Now...
I had started (and crashed) several "side hustle" businesses in all my "spare time".
I really thought "being in business" was the answer.
The problem (which I didn't know at the time) was I took the Blue Collar "How to" Boy with me into all the businesses.
I was trying to get paid for my "how to".
And being a good boy.
Now, I did get paid.
But I was still trading my time, energy and "how to" for dollars.
The competition was brutal.
It was the same Blue Collar problems I had as a salary slave.
I traded one boss for several bosses.
It was a nightmare.
I soooo wanted it to be true that if I were GOOD and knew "how to" I'd succeed.
But I'd been playing this game programmed by the Blue Collar rules for 30 fucking years!
One day...
On a long drive home from a work site...
An hour or so after I found out my father passed away...
As I drove home to be with family...
I was so frustrated with my life and the death of my dad made it REALLY sink in how short life was...I was questioning EVERYTHING.
Now...
I don't know if it was my pops speaking to me from the above...
A recent book I'd read...or show I'd watched...
or all of the above...
But...
I heard a big deep voice say in a chuckle...
"IDIOTS get RICH all the time."
The truth of it walloped me.
My bosses weren't smart.
They did idiot shit all the time.
What did they have that I didn't?
Like REALLY????
Here's the light bulb that came on for me that day, which has never gone dark...
They had CONTROL of something other people wanted.
They also had EXCLUSIVE CONTROL.
Lemme break it down...
They were a point-of-sale dealer for Micros.
We installed and serviced fancy computers for restaurants all over the state of Arkansas.
Micros would only allow ONE dealer in Arkansas.
This means if a restaurant owner, bar, nightclub, country club, etc wanted a Micros system.
They were the ONLY GAME IN THE STATE!
Same for franchises.
When Cracker Barrel corp decided to go Micros...
We got all the business in Arkansas.
IQ not required.
"How to" could be purchased from dudes like me for $17,000 a year.
(The Micros system pricing would range from $25,000 to $250,000 for ONE SYSTEM. Paying $17k a year for "how to" was a drop in the bucket.)
An idiot with the EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENT and CONTROL...was going to bank that cash.
The REALITY of this changed my life.
I realized that 100s of years ago...
It was the same shizz.
The most valuable thing to control was LAND.
Then it was factories (still on land).
Some land, factories, and control of assets were taken by BRUTE FORCE, legal subterfuge, and inheritance, and then there were extremely resourceful peeps, too.
Now...
I looked at my life.
I didn't have control of diddly squat.
All I had was my "how to", time, and energy.
Which paid awfully, sucked me dry (not in a good way), and robbed my family of my time.
I needed CONTROL of something other people wanted!
Better if I had EXCLUSIVE CONTROL!
(I later call this a MINI-MONOPOLY.)
If there were 3 oil magnates lost in the desert...and they hadn't had a sip of water in 3 days...
And I came along with a canteen of ice water...
They don't want me to explain the atomic makeup of water.
They don't want a "how to".
They will gladly pay me to DRINK the water I have in my control.
Now...
Frankly...
Victim Blue Collar Boy reared his head.
"But you don't have the money to get control of anything."
Luckily, with my father's post-death clarity...
I interrogated that question like a homicide detective with a murder suspect.
What if I reversed that?
"I don't NEED money to get control of something other people want."
"How can I make that possible for me?"
Now...
I didn't figure THAT out on the drive home.
But...
I did figure out how an Arkansas Blue Collar Boy could get CONTROL of valuable stuff other people want...by being RESOURCEFUL.
(I later named this Sago's Law. More soon.)
And I started getting control of small things at first...
What I realized after a few years of getting control without money...and with more ease than I ever thought possible...
Resourceful people HAVE so many resources that sit there doing nothing.
And because they are resourceful when a chap makes them the RIGHT OFFER using Sago's Law and something I call a risk-free proposal.
They often turn OVER control to me.
I don't need to know "how to".
I'm not saying there's no place for "how to".
Obviously, me learning Sago's Law and "how to" get control of something other people want without money is kinda good.
But...
The question isn't "how to" but WHAT?
"What do I have control of and do other people want it? Do I have a mini-monopoly?"
The question also isn't "how to" but WHO?
Who do I get control from?
Once I have control, WHO can do the Blue Collar stuff?
(You don't need to know copywriting or even what a T3 or G3 is, there are people who know that already.)
And here are 2 Ws that made me a fortune.
"WHEN?"
Changing the WHEN of control of a resource and...
"WHERE?"
If I am selling water in a bar...
The TIMING is wrong and nobody is thirsty.
Do ya see what I'm saying?
"How to" has its place.
But it's NOT what will save a Blue Collar boy or girl from running out of money BEFORE they die.
Now...
Question for ya.
Thank you for reading this far.
I hope a "light" came on.
If it did...
I'd love for you to share any "takeaways"...
And would you be down for a PART 2?
Where I give you examples...
And go deeper into Sago's Law to get control of valuable stuff other people want? (Even if you don't have a lotta loot or a rich dad?)
...or are you good and I can skip it?
Rooting For Ya,
Travis
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Skrewed, Blued and How To'd...
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