A couple weeks back, JoAnn and I were talking about how, when you get the right idea, you get obsessed. I sorta thought to myself that I'm not really that kind of person, that kind of person who gets really focused and just does one thing. You know. I'm a generalist.
Well, who knew?
I'm obsessed. I'm getting a truck, making it a kitchen, and selling soup, and all I can think of is truck, spot to park truck (the laws are crazed), menu, sourcing, license, sell my house to finance business, old chip truck or renovate delivery truck, really, sell my house?
So I'm a little spinny, cuz it's all decisions all the time, and the house thing makes sense since:
a) the house is a four hour drive away and requires regular work, which I won't have time to do
b) it would give me some financial breathing room and mean I wouldn't have to borrow for the business
c) if I want to avoid capital gains taxes, I have to sell it by Dec. 2011 anyways
d) My friend Jer and Brad, both of whom are pretty darn smart and into economics, think that we are heading for some kind of serious deflation that will make credit unavailable and lead to a precipitous drop in housing prices, which would mean I had no equity.
e) it's springtime, and houses sell well in the springtime.
But then
a) the house brings in money on a monthly basis, and I can use money coming in on a regular basis
b) I like having a connection to Peterborough. I love Peterborough.
c) even if everything collapses, i can go live in my house. But I guess I could buy another house with the money I make from the house sale.
d) if the economy doesn't collapse, I am still making money from my house and it's value continues to rise slowly the way house values have for a long long time.
e) isn't there enough chaos in my life?
I think I'm leaning towards selling it and buying a delivery truck with the cash, then making a ton of money and buying a little land in Wakefield. Brokeness is getting really old for me. I should probably number crunch first.
That said, I also got recommended to the Self Employment Benefits Plan today (yay!) which will probably get me a course and extend my EI benefits, plus had a very informative conversation with Brad Campeau, who runs a cookie truck called B. Goods about getting it up and running and making a truck, and making a living being a mobile food vendor. So I'm back to the idea of wholesaling and delivering, which is good, and will be in addition to the street vending/ festival vending, which will be irregular. And a space. I have to find a space- so some phone calls tomorrow, and some sleep tonight, possibly without the sudden awakening with a menu idea or a way of contacting vendors or the jaw clenching realization that I need to write a business plan right NOW and get a cell phone (oh god, but I'll need one) and the desperate question of location, without which all else falls apart... before the apocolypse even hits.
I suppose it's not THAT urgent, but it feels that way. I've gotta make some money.
Maybe the house sale is the best way to go? You never know about decisions, except in retrospect. And with the root word spect, try to keep it in perspective. I had a visit with a friend today who's daughter is quite ill, and it really does remind me of what's truly important- and it ain't making money...
3 comments:
Such a hard choice. We hash around similar ideas about our loft. Do we pay it off, and go sailing on the income? If we keep it, what happens if it loses value or doesn't rent. We have not really made any choice, but to keep doing what we are doing. With a house you at least have a bit of land. The loft offers us fewer options.
Also, I just finished "The Year of the Flood." Thanks for that, and Ari is reading the squeal.
I think the risk of any deflation at all is small, and the risk of serious deflation is pretty remote. As far as problems go, deflation is remarkably easy to solve: print money. In terms of recent experience with it: Japan had slight deflation throughout the 90s but never experienced any kind of the awful side effects you used to have. Lithuania, Spain and some of the other Euro countries are facing a bad couple of years of deflation, but the primary reason for that is that they're locked into the Euro and can't adjust their currency with respect to that of their trading partners. Really, you have to go back to the late 19th and early 20th century to see really awful periods of deflation, when everyone was tied to the gold standard.
btw, some time soon I'll remember to come by and pick up the iLife software from you.
Thanks Sara and Paul- I have decided to leave out any of the macroeconomic forces in my decision making process as there are completely well-researched and well-supported opinions out there that are completely opposed. I'm going to go and talk to the bank and see what they say... there's not a HUGE urgency except I'm looking for tenants.
Sara, glad you liked the Year of the Flood- is Ari reading Oryx and Crake? I've been wanting to reread...
And Paul, I just have to make a trip and bring it to you! Where is your workplace?
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