I just had a meeting with my CPA and his report is showing that my monthly profit this year is stabilizing at a solid three to five thousand dollars a month. I’ve only had a day to absorb the deeper meaning of this number. It has been three years since I started my business and I almost completely forgot that I had written a goal of five thousand dollars a month and I’m pretty much there. I should be celebrating. I’ve only found the metaphorical rescue line to get me out of my pit of debt. I still gotta put in the work to pull myself out. But I am so lazy, it hurts.
I’ve always been a lazy worker. I never really enjoyed work in the service industry. I enjoyed moments with people that I worked with, but the job itself always sucked. Nothing really changed with nursing. I was just a cog in the turn stile machine of the emergency room. I have a problem with authority. I absolutely despise micro management. I hate the industrial age model of a forty-hour workweek. I failed to comprehend the meaning of working harder when we are all imprisoned for the same amount time. My philosophy of work is that if I find a way to do it quicker and more efficiently, then I deserve a break. My other qualm is the filler layer of the middle management sandwich that tries to make a 20% worker do 40%, a 70% worker do 90%, and a 100% do 200%. It’s a never-ending cycle of allowing the unenlightened to use their administrative whips to force more than we think the company deserves.
When I first started the business, everything felt like play. I was doing things within the rules of the system. Testing it here and there. Experimenting with ideas like some man-child monkey that discovered tools. Technology has been a blessing for me. It has allowed me to eliminate the human aspect of running a business. I outsource everything I can. I pay for help when I need it. At the end of the day, I own everything and feel in control of my outcome. My laziness came in very handy when coming up with business models that required the least time and effort. Although the time spent in the initial stages of an idea is greater, the benefits of the end product pays in multiples for years on end. During this time I refine and automate the processes. One day, hopefully in the next couple years, I’d like to automate the entire operation and have other people run it for me.
I believe you do have to put in the elbow grease for any endeavor to understand how to do it better. This also allows me to troubleshoot things when things go wrong. I’m currently dealing with the stress of running 3D printers 24 hours a day and the repairs & maintenance required for mass production. My optimistic side is telling me that I’m collecting valuable skills for a future where I think every home will have a 3D printer. Companies will be selling 3D printer licenses for an item at a marginal cost. This eliminates manufacturing, shipping, and logistical costs of everything and putting it on the consumer for materials. I see this benefit as inevitable. The cost of 3D printers are coming down with more mainstream models coming into market. The 3D printing materials and quality is good enough for basic parts. The ease of use is coming into the realm of children. Combined with a skillset of computer-aided drafting, any idea imaginable can come into fruition. People will no longer be inhibited by mold costs and minimum order quantities and have a place to create prototypes for experimentation and marketing. The power will return to the lazy people.