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Tonight I visited Gusto‘s brand new office space in downtown Denver during Built in Brew‘s monthly start-up focused happy hour/meetup. It was an awesome time to see a thriving start-up at it’s next phase in the start-up life cycle. From a firm of 20 employees a couple of years ago to a firm over 300 and growing, this is the entrepreneurship Israel Kirzner would be proud of.

Entrepreneurship means “to do something”. Gusto’s founders discovered something they could do. They saw the market (small to midsize companies with 1-100 employees/busy business owners not wanting to get stuck in the minutiae of payroll) and they grabbed a hold of it.

Business owners focus on building their passion, but no business can operate without dealing with a web of government protocol (at least for now). Gusto saw the headaches owners were having dealing with poorly filed state and federal tax returns. They were able to develop the skills to deal with these issues and gained trust in their customers. With those skills they created a platform to replicate the process and expand to over 30,000 customers and growing.

Companies don’t grow from 20 employees to 300 in two years without tenacity and development. The entrepreneurial spirit is apparent from a visit to Gusto’s office. They approach the mundane task of payroll with ferocity. It’s not a job, it’s a means to make their client’s life easier. Instead of the coffee roaster wondering how to file a sales/use tax form for the city of Denver, they can focus on the arabica beans from Colombia that just arrived. This is what Gusto thrives on. They’re inspired by the business owners who can now do their passions.

Another aspect of entrepreneurship is developing the skills necessary to fill the market void. Becoming experts in payroll tax filings allows Gusto  to provide a service to customers and create a means to the end for themselves. Skill development in this area is no easy task. Payroll laws are dense, vary federally and by state, and don’t provide much leeway for mistakes. Becoming an expert in such a tedious trade has allowed the owners, and employees, of Gusto to, in the words of Dr. Thomas Rustici, “Do what they do best and trade for the rest”!

Stepping into the world of start-ups gives a fresh breath of life to what it means to be humans. These are people who want to make a difference, saw the opportunity in the market, and are improving the lives of others with a profit-creating business. Entrepreneurship is beautiful and it’s good to see it alive and well in the heart of the place I call home.

 

 

Money wasn’t created by government. Money comes from cooperation. I am not going to go through a history of money, Nick Szabo does an excellent job of this in his post Shelling Out — The Origin of Money.

Fiat (paper) money was used in Europe as a means to protect assets while merchants traveled. The idea was simple: I have two ounces of gold, I want to travel across Europe selling my goods but there are burglars, I’m going to leave 1.75 ounces with a trusted group (lets call them a bank), in return I get an IOU slip that says I own 1.75 ounces of gold and the bank gets to use that 1.75 ounces for investments. The burglars can’t steal all my money, the bank has collateral and the right to invest it however they see fit. It’s a win-win.

Today’s economy works nothing like that. Banks aren’t in control of our money. They’re ponzi-schemes hoping not everyone with money in the bank will decide they want it at once. And when that does happen the government can print more currency, wizardly execute some balance sheet magic, and wa-la, everyone gets their money.

However, that money is now debased. No good, not even money, can be created out of thin air. Today’s fiat currency has no backing. There is no proof that a government actually has assets to cover the IOU slip they are handing out.

That’s where bitcoin comes in. The cryptographic, blockchain-enabled, beauty of bitcoin pails to compare to the beauty that is the economics of a controlled supply of money. There will be, and only ever will be, 21 million bitcoin in circulation. Much like gold, only a finite amount can be mined and only a finite amount can be added to the money supply at a time. This backing system is what is missing from the legal-tendered fiat monies that all national governments run on.

The gold standard was a great system because government’s couldn’t print money without the gold to back it. It kept the supply steady and inflation minimal. Money was printed when (a) they recalled out money to circulate crisper bills and (b) when more money was mined and added to the vaults. Doing away with the gold standard has escalated the spending habits and eliminated all backing of paper monies.

Whenever I talk with someone who doesn’t know anything about bitcoin the conversation always escalates to “But bitcoin isn’t backed by anything and the US Dollar is!” Which then has me asking, “Well do you trust the US government to back your dollar” and I’m greeted with “Of course, they’re the US government!”

Basically they are saying that a piece of paper from a coalition 18+ trillion dollars in debt is better than any other form of currency.

Here’s another scenario: You have a friend who is a mooch. She constantly says she’ll pay you back. Every time you go out, you end up covering her tab. At what point do you say “Hey, I’ve covered you enough times, I’m not giving you more money”? $10 indebted, $50 indebted to you, $100? Yet people are willing to trust the government when they’re $18,000,000,000,000 indebted to others.

I’m not saying bitcoin is the best solution to current monetary problems. But to write it off as something with no backing is absolutely absurd and you are living under the government’s propaganda bubble.

Governments have no right to control our money supply. It is a good like everything else.

 

21 – A naive college kid following the sheep.

22 – A recent college graduate lucky enough to get a “great” job only to find my life incomplete.

23 – Trying to find my way through the big city life of DC and NYC.

24 – Waking up to realize it’s all a waste. Quitting my job, quitting DC, traveling the country for my new home.

25 – This was my year of self-discovery. Settled in my new home, discovering the things that make life great, building on a solid foundation.

For my 26th year I am going to dedicate myself to improving on every aspect I have developed. Challenge myself to be the person I want to see in the mirror.

Blogging on a daily basis will be one of my goals. Even if no one reads this, modernheretics will be my outlet for 26.

Cheers!

The “priviliged”, those who are surrounded by society’s support system, are told from the youngest age the goal of education is to make it into college, become a working adult, find a spouse, buy a house, have kids, send the kids to school for education, continue working, financially support the kids, hopefully retire, and then spend the money remaining on whatever leisure you can afford.

But what happens when you are one of the “lucky ones” and you go through the education system, kindergarten to senior year of high school, get into a good college, graduate with a degree, find a job in your field of study, and find out you hate the job. You can’t follow the traditional path. For this you are looked at as though you have five eyes and an extra limb. Like you are not fit for society. No matter how hard “they” try, they cannot figure out why you cannot conform to their lifestyle. They have sacrificed their entire life to live the aforementioned script of life. They are toiling to make ends meet, to live a society-deemed fulfilling life and they do not understand why you do not grasp this idea. It is the way it has always been. Work, even if you do not enjoy it, even if it compromises your health, even if it takes you away from your child’s greatest moments, even if it leads to divorce, you are supposed to work.

Not only are you compromising all of those things, you are putting a veil on your mind to only focus on the work at hand. Work is an escape from reality. It is an addiction much like heroine. Druggies are ostracized from society, but workaholics are crowned and admired. Workaholics are druggies. People who work within society’s norms are the same as druggies. They might have an excuse. They work to feed their family. But work turns into an addiction. In pursuing salary, workers disregard all sorts of other important things in life. They sacrifice their minds.

Thoughts do not make it past the morning cup of coffee. That run, which keeps you healthy, never gets ran. The chance to watch your daughter’s t-ball game gets obstructed by a last-minute “emergency”. Your spouse’s anniversary goes forgotten. The mind that got you to where you were, which is smart, well-educated, a treasure to the world, gets wasted.

And it is under this veil that allows sheep to be prodded by the shepherd. For people to become part of the herd and unable to get out. The veil ensures thoughts get covered up. That we become sheep. Instead of having our own thoughts we conform to society and do what is “right”. But is it not one’s moral duty to do what is best for society? Is not society better off with the thoughtful, innovative, never-miss-a kid’s event adult than with a work-addicted adult? Can work not be partaken as both a means to feed the family and a way for that mind to make contributions to society? Why do people have to toil at work? Society needs the best and brightest to think for themselves and improve the lives of others. They do not need more sheep. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep.

I woke up this morning, got my running clothes on and went for a jog around the park. I didn’t first brew a pot of coffee or even think about caffeine. I don’t need the “daily fix”. Yet, as soon as I got back, I brewed a pot. Why? Because it keeps my “internal systems” regulated. I know 30-minutes following my coffee sipping a cleansing movement will follow. Poop is why I drink coffee.

There are plenty of studies that drinking coffee is unhealthy, plenty claiming coffee is healthy and some claiming moderation is key. I’ve read various studies to learn more about coffee drinking. I don’t want to drink something that might result in long-term health issues like cancer or heart disease, however, I find my daily couple cups of coffee are necessary for cleansing reasons. I know how my body reacts and no study will change my habit.

That is also why I have taken up an interest in diets. I’ve tried the typical American diet, vegetarianism, veganism, and am currently trying Paleo. None of these diet attempts are for losing weight, an environmentalist heart, or the desire to become a caveman. I can read studies, find success stories, read about the failures of the diet, but without knowing how it will interact with my body, I have no idea what is best for me. Choosing a diet isn’t about the latest fad but what works best for you. It’s much easier to find that out by figuring out how your body reacts to certain diets.

Next time someone tells you they’re on a diet ask them questions about why they’re on it and how they feel. Be inquisitive instead of making a snooty comment. Maybe try a “fad” diet yourself. It could turn out to have benefits you weren’t expecting.

The average amount of decisions an adult makes each day is about 35,000 (according to a quick Google search). Decisions as simple as the nine-to-fiver hitting the snooze button for an extra five minutes of sleep to the NASA physicist deciding the proper trajectory for a rocket launch.

Whether simple or complex these decision require Cost-Benefits Analysis (CBA). For the cubicle-dweller it is a decision between the costs, maybe skipping breakfast or taking a hurried shower, to the benefit of five more minutes of sleep. For the physicist the decision is based upon the costs of the lives of the astronauts on-board compared to the benefits of meeting a deadline.

We are going to look at a few conclusive CBA results as they relate to minimum wage, sleep deprivation, and unhealthy eating and how cost-benefit analysis can relate to your life.

Cost-Benefit Basics

Cost-Benefit Analysis broadly has two purposes:

1. To determine if it is a sound investment/decision (justification/feasibility),
2. To provide a basis for comparing projects. It involves comparing the total expected cost of each option against the total expected benefits, to see whether the benefits outweigh the costs, and by how much.

Seattle’s Minimum Wage Problem

The noble goal of minimum wage is to provide employees with a living wage. Basically, living wage means hard-working individuals, who spend most of their waking hours working (40 hours per week), should be able to live off their income. There is plenty of literature on the problems with minimum wage that can be read here and here, or simply by googling minimum wage fallacy. Our focus, however, is on CBA and the fallout of Seattle’s minimum wage

Decision: To raise Seattle’s minimum wage to $15/hr

Expected Costs: The expected costs of the minimum wage program were supposed to go to the employer. Instead of taking in more as profits owners would disperse some of their profits to their employees.

Expected Benefits: Employees were expected to benefit from increased wages because instead of making at a minimum $9.32/hr (roughly $1,680/month before taxes) employees would be making $15/hr ($2,600/month before taxes). Indeed, given the right circumstances, $2,600 per month would be a living wage.

Results: The results weren’t as Seattle expected. There were only 1,500 people (yes, 1,500) affected by the minimum wage rise in Seatac (Seattle-Tacoma) most of which were presumably minimum wage restaurant staff. When restaurant staff costs go-up so do the costs of operating a restaurant. The minimum wage led to a likely outcome, a trend of restaurant closures. According to a Washington Policy Center post from March 2015,

Advocates of a high minimum wage said businesses would simply pay the mandated wage out of profits, raising earnings for workers.  Restaurants operate on thin margins, though, with average profits of 4% or less, and the business is highly competitive.

Instead of the desired outcome – employees making a wage large enough to support themselves and/or a family – some employees have found themselves without an employer and thus without a job.

Sleep and Business Ownership

A business owners’ life is hectic. Whether working your current 9-5 and running a start-up on the side or committing yourself full-time to a small business, there are tons of tasks to get done and so little time. One solution might be to take a few hours of what would-be sleep time and turn it into productive time.

Decision: To go to sleep or continue working on fumes.

Expected Benefit: The expected benefit of working longer hours on less sleep is getting more stuff done.

Expected Cost: A couple hours of sleep deprivation that can be “made up” later with some high quality sleep.

Results: Over time, sleep deprivation can become a serious problem. Per the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, “Insufficient sleep increases a person’s risk of developing serious medical conditions, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease… [and] has been associated with a shortened lifespan.”

Interestingly enough, the trend to get a good-night’s sleep is shared by Jeff Bezos, LeBron James, and Arianna Huffington. Although the “burning the candle at both ends” mindset seems to be fading, the results of studies, and successful business owners/athletes, should reinforce the benefits of focusing on sleep instead of work. And according to John Medina, author of Brain Rules, “A business of the future takes sleep schedules seriously”.

Costs of an Unhealthy Diet

Choosing a healthier diet can seem costly, and according to studies this mindset is right, eating unhealthy saves you $550 per year. While shopping, other costs creep into your mind too like student loans, car payments, utilities, a future (or maybe present) mortgage and that concert your friends are going to.

Decision: Go to the produce aisle and hand-select ingredients for tacos or pick up a couple packages of hamburger helper.

Expected Benefit: Having money to spend elsewhere.

Expected Cost: Feeling “like a fatty” for eating less-healthy food.

Results: There are hidden costs to not eating healthy. Although you might feel the effects of gorging on McDonald’s later in the evening, long-term health problems may not be as apparent, and are far more dangerous. Per Dr. Mark Hyman:

When you eat unhealthy foods… the costs of medical visits, co-pays, prescription medications, and other health services skyrocket. There are other non-economic costs of eating poorly as well. You reduce your ability to enjoy life in the moment due to increased fatigue, low-grade health complaints, obesity, depression, and more.

The costs of eating unhealthy put yourself and pocketbook at greater risk. Instead of focusing on the cost of buying fresh, healthy food the focus should be on the benefit of increased energy-levels and lower health-care bills. Like the Huffington Post article concluded, “$550 doesn’t seem like so much money at all.”

Using Cost-Benefit Analysis in Your Daily Life

We make 35,000 decisions a day. That means we go through a very quick Cost-Benefit Analysis over-and-over almost constantly. Some decisions are so simple, like typing a word in the keyboard, we don’t have time to think about CBA, but as demonstrated above, some of them can have a long-term impact.

Even if you don’t agree with the conclusions drawn from my analyses it would be prudent of you to think about some of the costs and benefits to the decisions you make on a daily basis. Being aware of the costs and benefits of certain political or economic stances, health related issues, or a life-changing decision about to be made will help you to think out the expected benefits, the expected costs and the expected results this decision may have.

Making this practice part of your daily routine will help in leading you to a more-desirable, well thought-out conclusion.

Fooled Once

I was a naive college student graduating in the post-Great Recession job market who thought landing any job was the goal and landing one that was applicable to my degree was a success. “Lucky” for me I was able to snag an internship at a top-15 public accounting firm. Unlike some of my peers who weren’t sure if they were going to go onto graduate school, extend their undergraduate education, or work at a job far-below the degree they had earned, I was going to use my accounting degree in the “real world” as a public accountant.

The internship went well. I learned about accounting, met a lot of people, and got offered a full-time position. The first six months flew by and before I knew it was busy season.

Although I had heard horror stories about busy season, I was excited. It seemed fun to work hard, build camaraderie with co-workers while “burning the midnight oil”, and all while having the limited responsibilities of a first-year associate. I had a nice routine. Went to the gym at 6 am before work, got into the office, chatted with a couple of co-workers, then put in an 11 hour workday. I remember thinking “Busy season isn’t so bad”.

The first warning signs… Now the warning signs are clear but back then I thought I was the crazy one, the one who wasn’t quite like everyone else.

Summers in public accounting are BORING. Everyone is burnt-out for April and May. Then partners, managers, associates start using vacation days in June and July. Projects sit until the manager gets back. By the time they’ve returned the projects have been forgotten by both yourself and your manager. Suddenly, it’s mid-August and shit’s about to hit the fan. The work that was put off all summer is finally due. Here come the HR emails demanding 55 hour work weeks, vacation freezes, and Saturday’s in the office.

After a summer escaping from work with Thursday night’s out, crazy Saturday nights, and Sunday brunches, I had to rev my engine back to 100 mph. Since poor habits had been developed all summer, my body no longer craved exercise as an escape, but fireball shots. I managed to get through second busy season. And went right back to coasting…

Remember those bad habits? Well they now controlled my life. And as a second-year associate the responsibilities had increased. Instead of 55 hours per week it was closer to 70 and up to 80/85 hours per week right before March and April 15. It was difficult to wake up. My days were spent in the office eating whatever shit food the firm ordered. My diet out the window. My gym membership going unused. And my only free night, Saturday night, I spent getting wasted only to feel the pain come Sunday. Busy season turned into a three-month nightmare.

After putting on 10 pounds, losing time with friends, and going about as a zombie, busy season was finally over. April and May were spent burnt-out. Then the burn-out trickled into June, July, August. In September HR finally noticed (yes, it took them 5 months to determine that I had been slacking all summer) and a three-page write-up of my “infractions” were handed to me. Since I had already been thinking about it, I decided to go to my manager’s office and tell him I was giving two weeks.

I quit. October 15, 2014 was the last day of public accounting for this guy (so I thought…). I was going on a flying cross-country trip, hitting all the cities millennials are attracted to: Austin, TX -> Denver, CO -> San Diego, CA -> Portland, OR -> Seattle, WA. My goal? To find my new home. Washington DC was great but not a sustainable living situation.

Success! After two and a half months traveling, meeting new people, and couch-surfing at friend’s places, I had decided on a new city: Denver, Colorado. Regretfully, my budgeting for the trip went out the window pretty early on. I didn’t realize paying rent in DC while traveling, eating out, and drinking a bit too much craft beer along the way (What? I was in heavenly craft beer cities!), would take such a toll on my modest savings account.

Fooled Twice

Needing money to pay for my travels and the move to Denver, I had been roped into public accounting once again. This time I thought I was getting into a much better situation. Going from a firm of nearly 2,000 people to a firm of 50. Small business was what I wanted to focus on and I had heard that smaller accounting firms acted more like small business partners. Yes, I was hired to prepare tax returns, but I was excited about the opportunity to give small business advice.

The main drawback of a smaller accounting firm quickly became obvious. Upper-management sets the rules and the lower-tier follows, technology hadn’t caught up with the times, and we were forced into inflexible work schedules.

During busy season my sister was visiting from Maine. She had gotten in on a Sunday to stay at my apartment for a couple of weeks. Since I had been working a lot and didn’t have much time for her during the week, I decided the following Saturday we were going to spend the day together. However, it was busy season. I figured I’d go in on Sunday and put in a good day’s work, which I did, I ended up putting in a 13-hour Sunday. Nevertheless, my boss came to my desk Monday morning to tell me how Saturdays are mandatory and not to miss a Saturday again without approval.

Beginning to unravel, again… My fuse was shorter since I’d already been fooled once. After busy season I almost stopped working altogether. My month of May had around 55 charge hours. That means I worked on client stuff for only 55 hours the entire month. Part of it was burnout, part of it was vacation, part of it was impromptu visits from friends, and part of it was I didn’t give a shit. I also wanted to see how management would react.

Well, all of June went by going about my business as usual and my hours were up, not spectacular, but acceptable. At the end of the month my boss called me into his office to discuss my May hours. Exactly what I thought. A talking to, a little pep-talk, and a “please get your hours up”. Only it had been nearly two months, why wasn’t this pointed out within a week? How does someone do close to no work for an entire month and nobody notice until two months later?

Not two weeks removed from this “stern” talking to my boss called me into his office. It was bonus/raise time. My boss started talking about my progress, what he wanted from me in the coming months and years. How he wanted me to start interacting with clients more, to go to networking events. Plus a bonus and raise! A bonus after being scolded about my poor performance. And that’s when it happened.

Carpe Diem

My carpe diem moment happened right then and there. It was natural. It felt right. I had an unexpected confidence, almost swagger, in my voice. I said “Stop right there, I have something to say”. That’s when I told my boss I was quitting. Gave my two weeks. Dropped the mic. I didn’t need a bonus, a raise, or a pat on the back for doing a sub-par job. I knew I wasn’t giving it my all and needed a change.

Life Lessons

Three years in public accounting wasn’t all for not. I learned I really enjoy working with clients, working for small business owners, helping make financial plans, and the feeling of accomplishment after doing a stellar job for somebody. That sense of pride, however, gets slowly sucked out of you by the fakeness of public accounting, by the arbitrary rules that ruin your life, by the zero to 100 back to zero back to 100 momentum killing machine.

I quit. I am not sure what my future will involve but it will not be in public accounting. I am taking time off to clear my head, re-develop good habits, spend time outdoors, travel, and set goals for who I want to become. I am 25. I have so much time to achieve great things. I know I will achieve great things. Why waste my day-to-day activities doing something so far from the ideal? Eventually I will start working again but this time it’ll be on my own terms doing something I WANT to do.

I have been fooled enough.