How To Have The Best Day Ever

When I heard not one, but two podcast interviews of Hal Elrod on his book "The Miracle Morning", I had a couple thoughts:

1. Wow - he clearly targeted people like myself in his marketing effort. And,
2. It's working because now I want to know more about this "Miracle Morning." 

As a natural morning person, I'm already pre-disposed to wanting to know how to make my mornings more effective. Interestingly, I actually think it's better for someone who ISN'T a morning person. I'll get more into this at the end.

Why Mornings Are So Important

Hal is a classic sales person where everything sounds plausible, but also slightly over the top. Still, the information is solid and can be truly transformative if followed. For example, in chapter one Hal lays out the case for why mornings are so important:

"How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days— which inevitably create a successful life— in the same way that unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre mornings generate unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre days, and ultimately a mediocre quality of life. By simply changing the way you wake up in the morning, you can transform any area of your life, faster than you ever thought possible."

See how it it feels a little over the top? Yet, I still agree. This is the idea of Keystone Habits which are habits that create positive momentum that increases your ability to achieve other goals. That's what having a solid morning routine does. Hal goes into a lot more details into building the case for morning routines in the book.

Here's a quick-ish overview.

Defeat Your Snooze Alarm

Getting up early can be tough (ask Jessi). Here's how to make it easier.

1. Set your intentions before bed. Either write out, or say out loud what you want to accomplish tomorrow. This gives you a reason to get up early. Personally, I review my todo list before going to bed and say the very first thing I'm going to do out loud.
2. Move your alarm clock across the room. "This forces you to get out of bed and engage your body in movement. Motion creates energy, so when you get up and out of bed it naturally helps you wake up". In my case, I have an alarm where the light slowly turns on next to my bed and makes the sound of birds chirping quietly and then gets louder. It makes it a little more natural and helps to naturally bring me to the proper sleep stage for waking up. Then my phone is across the house that's set to go off 5 minutes later. I also make it a point to stretch a little in bed before getting up.
3. Brush your teeth.
4. Drink a full glass of water. I fill up my cup the night before and leave it right next to my phone. So as I'm grabbing my phone to turn off the alarm I'm also sipping on water.
5. Get dressed or jump in the shower. 

Since I'm naturally a morning person (and work from home a lot), I brush my teeth and shower in the middle of the day to give myself an afternoon boost. Plus, it's an opportunity to take a break from what I'm doing. Though, if you're not a morning person, this a great way to get going. Jessi does parts of this on days when we need to be somewhere early. The first step is key. On days when I don't identify something specific to do, it's harder to get up.

S.A.V.E.R.S.

This is the heart of the book. Hal breaks his Miracle Morning into six parts. The story in the book of how he figured these out is pretty good. I highly recommend reading the book. The idea is to spend time doing each of the six activities. If you have an hour, spend 10 minutes on each. If you only have 10 minutes, spend a minute on each.

Silence:  Most successful people meditate. It's not a woo-woo mystical experience either. It's purposeful thought to calm your mind instead of being in a state of constant rush. I use the Calm app on my phone and either spend my time in prayer or following one of their guided meditations. The days I do it genuinely do feel better and more on purpose.

Affirmations: The idea is not just to state a far off goal, but to affirm the way you'll achieve it. So start out by answering these questions: What do you really want and why? Who are you committed to being to create it? What are you committed to doing to attain it? Hal includes a bunch of extra tips in the book to help make this fun and exciting.

Visualization: This is the "practice of ... using your imagination to create mental pictures of specific behaviors and outcomes occurring in your life. ... imagining exactly what you want to achieve or attain, and then mentally rehearsing what you’ll need to do to achieve or attain it." Here's an example, when I eat out with friends, I tend to go too far in the amount and type of food I consume. So I've started visualizing myself ordering a salad and finding it delicious and filling. I also visualize how good it feels to make a wise food choice. It works.

Exercise: This one is pretty easy. Spend 10 minutes getting your blood pumping. You can use something like the 7 Minute Workout App. I also like the Deck of Cards Workout because of the game of chance element to it.

Read: This is pretty easy as well. Find a book and read it. 10 minutes a day conservatively is 5 pages. That's a 300 page book every other month and can really start to make a difference. In another good book "The Slight Edge" the idea is that over time these books and ideas start to compound and build on each other. I also count audiobooks when reading. I read the Bible and memorize scripture in the morning and then read instructional books in the evening.

Scribe: I started keeping a journal this year and find it fun to track what's happening. I'm also looking forward to reviewing it at the end of the year to re-live events that happened and see how much I (and Elinor and Jessi) change. Usually I give an update on big events that happened yesterday or will happen today. I'll also write what I'm grateful for and write down questions or thoughts I'm mulling over. You can use any medium you want to keep a journal, but there's something great about physically writing your thoughts down. Since I'm on a computer all day, it's keeps it "special" and not like I'm writing another email. There are tons of choices for journals. Here are some of the best physical journals. If you want more structure, check out The Five Minute Journal.

At this point, you know enough to get started. So as you get going, read The Miracle Morning as your first book to get all the details and refine your routine.

Who Is This For?

Hal would probably argue the miracle morning is for everyone because he's in sales and not marketing (which is about defining your target audience). Though, clearly in his advertising effort he's targeted people who listen to business podcasts. So if you own a business and/or have a side hustle (or want one). The Miracle Morning is definitely worth reading and implementing.

Also, if you're someone who hates mornings, you should at least take Hal's 30-day challenge. According to case studies in his book, you'll learn to appreciate and look forward to waking up because you know you're doing something worth while.

As for myself, my absolute best time of the day is first thing in the morning. Like this morning, I work up, stretched, drank some water, sat down and started writing. I don't need extra motivation or a calm mind first thing in the morning. However, around 2pm I start to fade. And by 8pm I don't want to do anything productive. So for me, it would work best as a "Miracle Afternoon". The problem is that I don't have nearly as much control over my afternoon schedule. So to be honest, I'm still figuring out the best time to do this. I've experimented with a couple different times and am still searching for one I can keep consistently while not feeling like I'm giving up my most productive part of the day.

Still, the habits are good and I intend to keep doing them. You should try it too.

Monopolies Are Better Than Competition

Competition is good.

Right?

That's what I was taught in economics. Competition leads to lower prices and better products, otherwise you'll go out of business.

Well... Maybe not...

Maybe... monopolies are better than competition

According to the book Zero To One by Peter Thiel & Blake Masters, a book on entrepreneurship, the goal of companies should be to create monopolies. Monopolies are actually what lead to lower prices and better products (and are generally better for the economy). If you fail to create a monopoly, you'll go out of business.

Let's start with their definition: "by 'monopoly,' we mean the kind of company that's so good at what it does that no other firm can offer a close substitute." It's a monopoly that, based on creativity, created a better product; not because of some law or unnatural barrier. This is a really important distinction. It also means that if a company stops being creative and relies on past ideas, it won't be a monopoly for much longer. See Kodak & Blackberry for examples.

How do monopolies lead to lower prices and better products?

Creative monopolies give customers more choices. Sometimes is saves money: like taking an Uber instead of a taxi, which many would argue is also a better experience. Same thing for Airbnb. Or how Facebook makes it incredibly cheap and easy to stay connected with friends.

Other advantages are more subtle: Apple makes a lot of money from each iPhone. Not only do the profits allow them to invest in new features and new product categories. It also allows them to reinvest that money into pre-buying materials and fabs. This lowers the overall cost to manufacture an iPhone and allows them to lower the price of older generation phones over time.

Contrast this with Android where almost all manufacturers are breaking even or losing money. That makes it much more difficult to add new features. Thankfully, Google makes monopoly level profits from their search ads, and is able to spend the money creating better Android operating systems. Just think, if Google barely made any money because of search competition, Android most likely wouldn't exist. Neither would their autonomous vehicles.

And a final example: if Paypal didn't make monopoly level profits, Elon Musk would not have been able to use his money to start Tesla and SpaceX.

So you see, competition is good. But it's only really good in the long term to the extent it pushes companies to find creative ways to do something that no other company can do and therefore become a monopoly. If a company can't escape competition, it'll eventually die. That won't help create jobs, create better products, or help the economy.

As for me, I find myself asking this question for my website ProDIYLandlord. How can I offer a creative product or service that other real estate websites can't copy? I started by interviewing other landlords to learn about their pain points. I now have a few areas of focus and am investigating different product offerings. It's certainly difficult to create a unique idea that will also help people, but it'll be worth it when I find it.

If you're looking to create a new company, product, or service, I recommend reading the book. It'll get you thinking about creative offerings that customers happily pay for because you're the only one that offers it.

2016 Goals: The Year of Growth

2016. The year of growth!

Usually I talk about consistency, patience, focus and hard work. Not this year. This year I want to grow. I want to grow spiritually, my business, my knowledge, my gratitude. I walked into the year with a cold and as a result had a really downer attitude as well (the stock market's going to crash, interest rates will rise, VR will be ho-hum, etc). Let's just say it made for an interesting prediction show on our podcast where I didn't see many bright spots (P.S. We have a new parallax site design, check it out).

But now I'm feeling better and ready to grow! First up, my verse for the year.

Verse
My Aunt Valerie and Uncle Bob came to visit Elinor last year (and me too, but mostly Elinor). During their stay we got into a great discussion about the nature of God. Most likely because of that conversation, they shared a verse with me in December which I'd like to adopt for this year:

Psalm 119:68: "You are good and do good; teach me your statutes."

It's a great reminder that God is good and that I also need to grow in my understanding of His desires for me. Which leads me right into my first goal...

Faith Focus

1) Memorize 52 Bible verses
Last year I memorized 52 verses, and I'd like to do that again. The trick is finding the time to do it now that I'm coming into the office more regularly.

Health Focus

2) Weigh 160
I guess this is a negative growth goal... I'd rather set a % body fat goal, but I don't own one of those fancy scales. So, for now I'll stick with weight. I'm currently hovering around 175. So 15 pounds. To accomplish this I have 2 sub goals:

• Jessi and I are going to complete 1 P90X cycle (it's 90 days). A friend (thanks Lee!) gave us the DVDs and booklet. We're currently getting the needed equipment and will start in February.

• During that time I also plan to count my calories each day. That way I'm paying attention to what I eat at the same time. This will set me up for my next goal. If it goes well, I'll look to do another cycle during the fall when cookies and desserts start to become regular occurrences.

3) Fast for 1 week (water only)
I'm fascinated by fasting. I know there are health and spiritual benefits to doing it, which I hope to reap, but that's not the main reason if I'm honest. It simply sounds like a fun challenge. I currently skip breakfast every morning and will regularly forget to eat until 3 or 4pm. So I think I can do this. Of course, when I do eat, I tend to consume more than I should (especially in social settings).

According to the very limited research I've done, I'll want to get my body into Ketosis before starting the fast to help reduce the hunger pains the first couple of days. During the fast I'll want to take it easy on exercising and working. Afterwards, I'll need to ease back into eating a normal diet.

If you have any suggestions (like giving my co-workers a heads up I might be hangry all week) or resources, I'd like to hear about them. I'm aiming for summer time (I think?).

Business Focus

4) Grow ProDIYLandlord
Professional DIY Landlord is my website that helps landlords manage their rentals professionally: to maximize long term cash flow and minimize headaches. I want to grow it's impact. To do that, I have 3 sub goals:

• Write 1 post  every 2 weeks (26 total). Creating new content will help attract new readers. I have plenty of topics to cover and need to carve out time to write regularly.

• Grow the email list to 1,000 subscribers. I plan to do this by regularly promoting my new posts.

• Research what product/service/class I can provide. I started talking to other landlords about their struggles and plan to use those insights to test new ideas. The books I plan to read will help with this goal.

Social Focus

5) Send 1 thank you note each week (52 times)

I'm excited for this goal. One personal growth area for me is gratitude. I take too much for granted and don't say thank you enough. So this year I want to get more comfortable with regularly saying thank you and genuinely improve the way I say thank you. 

I'd like to send actual cards, but I don't know many people's physical addresses. What do you think? Should I stick to email/Facebook/text or go for physical cards?

Education Focus

6) Read 12 books

Jim Rohn famously said "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." This is so true. My plan is to spend 10-20 minutes each evening with an author who took the time to record their knowledge on paper. Specifically, I'm focusing on starting and running businesses so I can grow in my knowledge and confidence.

Those are my goals. Feel free to ask about them any time during the year.

Image inspiration: riversideconnect.org

2015 Goals Review: Transformation

(I carried this piece of paper in my wallet. Every time I opened it to pay for something, I got a quick reminder. Being able to check things off during the year is also fantastic.)

The whole family is ringing in the new year sick as dogs (actually, Vinnie seems to be totally fine). I finally mustered up the energy to focus on this post and will ignore the, now impossible, todo list I created for this extra long weekend. So, in the face of plans disintegrating in front me, let's focus on how plans worked out.

It turns out having a baby completely rocks your world. No amount of warning, planning, learning, etc can prepare you for it. It's really hard. Everyone keeps saying it's worth it and I'm just starting to see glimmers of that truth.

My focus last year was to transform my life for this new reality: to become a better dad and husband. It's hard to say for sure if I did since I still very much feel I'm in the middle of it all, but I do notice differences in the way I react to situations. So that's good.

OK. Let's get to it.

1) Memorize 52 Bible verses - YES

That's a picture of my wall next to my computer. I wrote the first letter of each word on an index card and stuck it on the wall. I had a another set which had the verse written out. That way I could look it up quickly when I forgot. I found that I would memorize a couple verses in a row (often to complete a thought) and then spend the following week reviewing all the previous ones.

I loved doing this and hope to continue. It was nice to focus on a small part of the Bible to truly understand each word and deconstruct what the writer said. Plus, it's a ton of fun when someone starts to read the verse and you know it already.

2) Run a half-marathon - YES

I wrote about my knee injury earlier and my decision to walk. I do really enjoy these types of events and want to do one again (Though probably not this year). When I do, I'd like it to do it with a partner.

3) Do 100 push-ups and 200 Crunches - YES

I'll be honest, I'm tired of push-ups and crunches. 2 years every single day, especially when the numbers started to get high, got old. So once I hit my goal in September, I went back to lower reps to just get it over but say I did something. This year I'll be looking to do something different.

4) Earn $1,000 from Pro DIY Landlord - NO

I was right, one of our streams of income dried up this year (Yay for Jessi being able to take care of Elinor full time!). Thankfully the apartment building, now called The Lyon Apartments, helped to offset it.

So, I didn't earn $1,000... but I still wouldn't call this a failure. I do have the website built, started to create content, and am at the beginning stages of building my email list. I've taken a couple copy writing courses and a product development course. So I would really describe this as a year of learning.

My focus so far has been on tenant screening, which if done right, solves 99.9% of the problems landlords experience. I also spent four months (way too long) putting together a deal with TransUnion. Normally they work with larger online properties and I had to demonstrate my "worthiness", which is hard to do when you're new. Plus, they rebuilt their backend system which slowed everything down. But now it's set-up. So when people use TransUnion's service to screen tenants, and they go through ProDIYLandlord.com, I get a commission. I have a new path to revenue which is pretty cool, right?

I'm also in the process of interviewing other landlords to discover their pain points. Based on those conversations I'd like to create a course/product/service to help them. These conversations have been a lot of fun.

5) Improve eye contact - MAYBE

The hardest part about trying to improve eye contact is remembering to do it. So, at least once a week I would go back to my goals and write each one down 10 times. That helped it stay top of mind. I'll have to go back and ask people if I still seem shifty eyed.

6) Watch only one show / movie per day - NO

I was awesome the first half of the year. Then when Elinor was born things changed (and every parent reading this just went "Yep"). It's hard to type and work with a baby in my arms. She also really likes my bouncy ball chair which is next to my computer. So boredom naturally gave way to regularly watching TV shows. Then once that momentum started, in addition to general tiredness, it was hard to go back.

Still, I did get to spend some fun time with Elinor. And even though she didn't understand anything from my copy writing classes, she willingly snuggled with me during them.

7) Read 4 books - YES

I mentioned in August that I made a small change to where I put my books, and it made all the difference. By August I only read 1 book: Landlording on Autopilot. Once I made the change, here's how I finished the year:

• The Reason For God by Tim Keller
• Graphic Design for Non-designers by Tony Seddon
• Be Prepared by Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden
• Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper and Justin Taylor
• Ask. by Ryan Levesque
• 57% of the way through Zero to One by Peter Thiel

It's amazing how one small change (the location I keep my book) can have such a profound impact on my life. Once I started getting into the flow, I got a Kindle using my "Fun Money" savings account. Those are pretty slick devices. I like being able to read at night without a light, and without the distractions offered by my phone.


So there you have it: 4, maybe 5, YES. 2 NO. Thanks for reading and thanks for the encouragement.

What Star Wars Can Teach You About Focusing On The Customer First

To fully prepare for later this month, Jessi and I are watching all 6 of the Star Wars films in their optimal order (4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6 - We like #1, so it stays in the line-up). We're also watching most of the special content that goes with them.

One of the extra videos really struck a cord with me. It was a 26 minute video that described the immense steps LucasFilms took to add a couple Dewbacks to the scene in "A New Hope" where the Storm Troopers discover that the escape pod carried droids in it. The picture is above and here's the video clip of the scene (the link opens in a new tab).

When first released, the Dewback in the background didn't move. The scene was also much shorter. In the video, they explained why they made the changes:

1. Lucas didn't like that the Dewbacks didn't move because they didn't look real.
2. It shows more Storm Troopers which heightens the sense of danger for Luke and Obi Wan.

To make the changes created a TON of work. They had to find the original film (which wasn't easy). Then clean it. Then model out EXACTLY how the new scene would be shot so it matched the old scene perfectly. They added different filters to the new film to match the look of the old film. They also studied all the notes from the shot to make sure they got the lighting exactly the same. There were multiple story board and conference calls. They eventually sent a team out to do the shoot over two days. Then they edited, and edited. Oh yeah, don't forget about the artist who came up with the initial drawings of the Dewback, and the CGI specialist who brought it to life, and the multiple reviews that happened before getting signed off.

Are you getting a sense of the time and effort spent on such a small scene?

Here's the deal: The entire time, everyone is talking about why they're taking so much care to get it right. It's not about preserving the film's rich history. It's not about filling up time. It's not even about fulfilling a 20 year dream.

Their sole motivation for caring about every single little detail is you and I. They want you and I to watch the film and believe it was part of the original; that it fits perfectly.

It's a fanatical focus on the customer that all companies should strive for.

There's an interesting wrinkle though: it's not about actually creating whole scenes/props and filming it. Instead, their goal is to do just enough to make us believe what we saw actually exists. For example, they only physically made half of the Millennium Falcon. That's all that was needed to convince us it was real. So they stopped. Again, it's not about making the Millennium Falcon. It's about us, the viewers, the customers.

Often times companies lose sight of this. They might make something cool, but it's done for themselves (and taken too far), or done in a way that customers can't appreciate.

This is a reminder I need. I sometimes get caught making amazing spreadsheets... for myself... and lose sight of the purpose, which is to answer a question. As a result I spend too much time on one activity instead of refocusing on my customer (which for me, also happens to be my manager).

If you have a chance, I recommend watching the special features for Star Wars: A New Hope. You'll get a perfect example of what it looks like to fanatically focus on the customer.


Image: starwars.com

Organizations & Products With A Clear Owner, Passionately Promoting A Vision, Leads To Success

Back on October 5th Seth Godin wrote a blog post called "Peak Mac". I've been mulling it over this last month and find his thoughts really resonating with me. He goes on a rant about how software on the Mac isn't getting better and offers an hypothesis. The hypothesis is what I care about:

"Software like Keynote, iMovie and iTunes that doesn't get consistently better, but instead, serves other corporate goals. We don't know the names of the people behind these products, because there isn't a public, connected leader behind each of them, they're anonymous bits of a corporate whole...
Mostly, a brand's products begin to peak when no one seems to care. Sure, the organization ostensibly cares, but great tools and products and work require a person to care in an apparently unreasonable way...
The best strategy for a growing organization is to have insiders be the ones calling it. Insiders speaking up and speaking out on behalf of the users that are already customers, not merely the ones you're hoping to acquire."

The issue is ownership. Organizations start to flounder when nobody steps up and takes ownership. They need someone who says, "I'm responsible for this. It's success and failure is on me - And I deeply care about the outcome."

Sports teams, and especially coaches, know what this means. You can see it on their face during the post-game interview. And you know what? Customers can tell if passionate ownership exists as well. They see it in the product, the sales pitch, the packaging, and the customer service.

This is one reason why start-ups do so well. They're fueled by a single vision with enough passion for the idea to start a company and risk their time/money/reputation on the idea. You may not agree with that person's vision, but you can sense the passion behind everything they do. Once start-up had the vision to put a computer on every desk. That vision, owned by Bill Gates, fueled Microsoft's growth for many years.

A lack of ownership is why larger companies struggle: they tend to make decisions via committee. Just yesterday I was listening to HP Inc's CEO talk about the company's vision and mission (disclosure: I work for HP). It's essentially: we want to be amazing at everything for everyone.

The problem is that it's too general to actually guide any decisions. His committee obviously skipped that part of the MBA class that talks about picking a niche and targeting customers.

But that's OK if the vision doesn't resonate because the CEO doesn't own the vision. He started out saying that the vision had been focus-group tested with multiple customers and partners. Therefore it must be good one. It didn't stem from a core belief and passion.

Contrast this to another vision set within Hewlett-Packard's LaserJet division a few years ago. The VP said "We want to be the intersection of the digital and physical world for an enterprise's paperwork. We will create the on-ramps and off-ramps for enterprises to seamlessly transform digital paperwork to physical, and vice-versa."

Super specific, and easily actionable. Out that statement flowed a natural product road-map and ecosystem. It also made a market that had been ignored (large copier machines) an obvious extension for growth. A specific statement like that is powerful and can't be created by a committee.

I get that the CEO is at a higher level and should therefore be more general. But one of the reasons Hewlett-Packard split into two companies was gain a clearer focus and vision. To say we want to do everything really well for everyone makes no distinction between the old HP, or any other company for that matter.

One recommendation for HPI would be to do what Apple used to do: Steve Job took ownership of every single product. You may not have agreed with his vision, but was clear that Apple had one which informed what products it created and what features they focused on. He eventually articulated it as Apple focusing on "the intersection of technology and the liberal arts while owning both the hardware and software." Very clear. A explains why their Numbers application is horrible.

I know that HPI is heading down the 3D printing/scanning path and has a tag line about a "blended reality." Something along those lines which also captures our current printer and PC businesses seems much more appropriate. Or, how about a vision that describes at actual attainable/measurable goal? I could also get behind a philosophical statement which describes how we approach business.

For the record, I think HPI will be fine. Overtime, my guess is that the new CEO will get used to being the CEO and most likely create his own vision that he's passionate about.

As for me, I describe my job as creating the most accurate forecast of ink cartridge revenue as possible. That's my responsibility. It's also very specific and guides my activities each day.

What do you take ownership for? Can you say it in a couple sentences explain why it's important to you? If you can, others will notice and start rooting for you to be successful in attaining that vision.

32 Things I'm Grateful For

I'm grateful for...

1. My wonderful wife who takes care of Elinor, Vinnie and me.
2. My beautiful daughter who smiles whenever she sees me.
3. That Vinnie is recovering from his back problems (and that we don't have to help him go potty anymore!)
4. Morning showers.
5. Wednesday's synergistic synergy meetings.
6. Macaroni and Cheese.
7. My mom who makes time to chat with me on the phone on Wednesdays.
8. Podcasts and audiobooks made by people willing to share their knowledge with the world.
9. That my job is back to normal working hours and I genuinely like the projects I'm working on.
10. My dad who knows he can call to chat with me in the morning when everyone else is still asleep.
11. Richard & Hope's work at Willamette and Chemeketa.
12. A church who loves us and supports us in times of need.
13. Our small home.
14. My brother for being an excellent podcast host.
15. My iPhone.
16. Steve & Mary's guidance and friendship.
17. That my sister still talks to me despite being a "mean older brother" while growing up.
18. Christ's sacrifice on the cross for my sins.
19. Taking walks along the waterfront.
20. Excel.
21. The wonderful people living in our rentals.
22. Lee & Michelle's enthusiasm for our current phase of life.
23. Space heaters that are perfect for cuddling with Vinnie in front of.
24. Naps.
25. Working from home most of the time.
26. Man Club on Friday mornings.
27. Matt & Cam's friendship and investing encouragement.
28. Our Community Group who came to our rescue during a tough pregnancy and first couple of months.
29. Swapping foot messages with Jessi.
30. Wifi.
31. My health.
32. These last 32 years!

AT&T's Next Program Explained for iPhone Owners

My mom is ready for a new iPhone. She almost went out and got the current generation, the iPhone 6, but I convinced her to wait until September 9th when Apple will refresh the line up. So she's waiting.

At the same time wireless phone carriers are going through their own set of changes, which raised some questions around what type of plan she should get.

A Quick Economic Lesson

The wireless industry is an "oligopoly" which means there are only a few dominant companies in the market. Usually this happens because the cost of another company entering the market is really high. In this industry, a new company would have to build out a new wireless network. That's probably not going to happen because of how expensive it is, and so the existing companies are safe from someone outside coming in and stealing their customers and profits. As a result, their incentive to have the best products/services at the lowest prices is pretty low.

(BTW, if there is only one company, that's a "monopoly." An example is your water/sewer provider. The cost of digging multiple holes to lay multiple lines of pipe is huge and so one company offers water to the whole area. The solution to protecting customers with these types of monopolies is to regulate them (or just let the government run it) and require a certain level of service and/or price.).

Back to phone carriers. Another general characteristic of oligopolies is that companies tend to make changes together. When you see one company changes, you can bet that the rest will follow because customers will quickly start switching. Since it's so expensive to change prices and/or services, it usually doesn't happen that much (new marketing, new training, new backend systems, etc are all expenses they'll have to take on). However, sometimes customers get lucky and one of the smaller players gets tired of being small and decides to go rogue. That's what happened to T-Mobile.

T-Mobile Changes The Nature of Wireless Phone Plans

T-Mobile radically changed their plans and explicitly attacked the bigger players. As a result, we've seen two dramatic reactions in carrier plans that are increasing transparency and plan flexibility. The first big change happened a little while ago: Texting and talking are now unlimited. Now you pay for a different levels of data and share it with everyone on your plan.

More recently, phone subsidies are switching to payment plans. You used to pay a smallish up front fee, sign a two-year contract and the rest of the cost of the phone was built into the wireless plan. Now it's more transparent. The wireless plan rates went down and now you take the full cost of the phone and split it up into monthly payments just like you would with a car or house. So when you pay off your phone, the payment goes away. So far, no carrier charges interest on these payment plans which is nice.

The AT&T Next Program

So, my mom is looking to get a new iPhone and we're on AT&T. Given all the changes, we wanted to know if she should switch over to AT&T's Next program (which is the payment plan instead of the subsidy). The short answer is yes. AT&T is so keen to move everyone over that it's significantly cheaper than the subsidy plan. I sat down with a sales rep and did the math for each scenario. First, you don't have to make down payment if you don't want to and save $200. Then the Next service plans drop $25-$15 each month compared to the subsidies. So it's worth switching.

The next question: which payment plan should you choose? AT&T has 4 options which they named based on when you can upgrade, NOT based on how many payments you'll make. Way to make it confusing AT&T. Here they are:

• AT&T Next 24: 30 payments; trade in and upgrade after 24 months.
• AT&T Next 18: 24 payments; trade in and upgrade after 18 months.
• AT&T Next 12:  20 payments; trade in and upgrade after 12 months.
• AT&T Next with down payment: 30% down, then 28 payments; trade in and upgrade after 12 months.

So, the equivalent of the two-year subsidy is AT&T Next 18. With Next 18, you make 24 payments. Once those are finished, you can do whatever you want with the phone, just like with a subsidy. The big difference is that after that last payment, you're costs will go down.

Now clearly AT&T doesn't expect you to actually pay off your phone. That's why the plans are named based on the upgrade cycle. Sticking with our Next 18 example. If you get a year and a half in, and want to upgrade. You can! You give your phone back to AT&T and they'll start you on a new payment plan. If the phones are priced exactly the same, your monthly costs won't change at all (except for some inevitable taxes you'll pay). AT&T will then take the phone you gave them and sell it to someone else to recoup the rest of their money. That seems fair.

If you wait the full 24 months before switching up phones, you could sell it yourself since you'll no longer be tied to the payment plan.

If you didn't get that, go back and review each plan type and the example. It's worth understanding.

By the way, AT&T is fine with you paying off early too. So if you planed to trade it, but a company like Gazelle is making a great offer on your phone. You could pay off your phone early and sell it. Then when you buy a new phone you'll get back on a payment plan. It's extremely flexible and much more transparent.

Speaking of Gazelle...

With September 9 coming quickly, it got an email from Gazelle telling me I can lock in the price of reselling my phone today in advance of new iPhones being announced (and subsequently dropping the value of my existing phone). I'm on the old two-year contract, so I'm not selling, but it didn't stop me from doing some math.

I have an iPhone 6 Plus with 64GB of storage in good condition. Unlocked, it costs $850.

Gazelle is offering me $336.

If I outright paid for my phone, that means my total cost would be $514 (850 - 336).

If I did Next 12 (20 payments, upgrade after 12 months) here how it would look:

$850 / 20 payments = $42.50 per month. Since it's been a year, I'll have made 12 payments, my total cost would have been:

$42.50 x 12 = $510

Well. Well. Well. Would you look at that. Clearly AT&T did their homework (or Gazelle? Not sure). I don't know how this holds up to other devices, but for iPhone, it doesn't seem to matter which route you take.

For completness, the other option is "AT&T Next with down payment"

30% down x $850 = $255

Plus 28 payments on the remaining balance of $595: 592 / 28 = $21.25 each month. After 12 months, when I could upgrade, my total cost would have been:

$21.25 x 12 = $255 + the down payment of $255 = $510

Ah. I love it when numbers work out like that.

What if you wait a month? Or Apple delays a month?

Now it gets interesting. Here's how much more it will be each month:

• Gazelle: I'm not sure, but it's probably between $20 and $45. Apple had lots of delays last year and Gazelle extended the turn-in period to accommodate people. So depending on the reason, it could be zero.
• Next 12: $42.50 (only 8 more payments until fully paid off)
• Next Down: $21.25 (16 more payments)

Great. What Should I Do?

OK. Mom. I hear you. That's nice information and background, but what option should you choose?

First of all, let's be clear. We're talking about optimizing an expensive purchase. If you want to actually save a significant amount of money, go with Republic Wireless. Their plans are amazingly priced. The only catch is that they only offer 2 phones: The Moto E and Moto X. I actually think the Moto X is a good phone. If I was an Android user, this is exactly what I would get.

But I'm addicted to Apple. And so instead we're talking about optimization and saving less than $50 instead of hundreds with Republic Wireless.

If saved up the full price, should you pay for it all up front? There are some nice benefits: It gives you instant flexibility to switch carriers and gives you flexibility on when to upgrade. Waiting an extra month or two will only cost you on the resale side. If you have the money. Go for it.

As for the Next Program: Do you want to upgrade every year? Or can you wait two years? If you plan to wait two years, go with Next 24. Then actually upgrade on schedule. Don't wait around.

If you want to upgrade every year, the down payment option strikes a nice balance. If you need to wait a month or two, the addition cost isn't too bad. If you follow the schedule, it doesn't cost extra.

Fundamentally, follow whatever plan you choose. If you choose, Next 24, upgrade in 24 months. If you choose Next 12/Down payment, upgrade after 12 months.

If, for some reason you can't upgrade when planned, but still plan to upgrade before you finish making payments, then you'll want to pay off your phone on the upgrade month. Then sell it like normal on eBay or Gazelle. That'll save you a little extra money.

Next 18 doesn't make much sense if you're an iPhone user. Apple releases new phones at the same time once a year, so you're not going to upgrade after 18 months. If you're on Next 24... and get to month 24, but you don't want to upgrade but do want your phone paid off, just pay it off and it's as if it was the Next 18.

Final Thoughts

AT&T's Next program is actually a good alternative to the subsides (except for those of you still on the unlimited option). It's worth switching. Then decide when you want to upgrade and choose the plan that goes with it. If you have the cash saved up, consider paying for it up front. This obviously isn't the most frugal option (that would be picking a cheap plan and phone and using it until it breaks), but it does optimize your dollar while giving you the latest products from Apple.

Hopefully that was helpful. Feel free to ask questions below or talk to an AT&T rep.

Running Towards My 2015 Goals

One of my 2015 goals included completing a marathon/2. The reason for the goal was to get in shape and generally feel healthier. I was well on my way with a training schedule that increased by 1 mile each week. Then...

Around the 6 mile week, my left knee started to hurt near the end of the run. Thinking nothing of it, I pushed through. By the time I hit the 9 mile week, it was hurting 3 miles in and making the rest of the run impossible. Not good.

After some research and talking with a friend who's a physical therapist, it became clear that I over stretched my IT band and it was pulling on my knee, which was where I felt the pain. It's strange how you can hurt yourself in one way, but feel the symptoms in a completely different place (this must be a good analogy for something in life...).

All that to say, I threw my training schedule out the window and played it by ear. So, when the day came for the Albany Half Marathon, I decided to walk and finish instead of push myself and get seriously injured.

I've also decided that it's much more fun to participate with a friend (I'm actually a social runner). So when I complete another one, I'll be looking for someone to run (walk?) with.


OTHER GOALS

2) I'm happy to share that I'm on track to memorize 52 Bible verses. This is what the wall looks like above my desk. Each card is a different passage with only the first letter of each word. That way I can quickly look up and review one of them. I'm not nearly as artistic and Jessi, but it works for me.

3) I can do 100 push-ups and am now focusing my efforts on the crunches. At first I thought I could ramp up both at the same time, but that didn't seem to work because I would be too tired from the first set.

4) I launched a website called Professional DIY Landlord that's dedicated to teaching new landlords how to manage their property professional: to maximize long term cash flow and minimize headaches.

My current focus in on content creation and promotion to build up a mailing list. To be honest, it's been a struggle to find the time to write regularly, especially with a new member of the family. So far the best solution has been to wake up at 5am and write for a couple hours before starting my official morning routine (verse memorization, working out, etc). However, I find that I can only wake up that early a few days per week before I start dragging and need to catch up on my sleep.

This is a project I'm committed to, and so I'll need to keep experimenting to find a sustainable solution.

5) My "improve eye contact" goal was never really track-able, so I'm not really sure how I'm doing. My guess is that it's hit and miss. Still, I'm continuing to practice.

6) I was doing great and only watching one show / movie per day... and then Elinor came along. It's simply easier to watch a show while holding her than doing anything else. I'm still watching less than I used to, which is good, but I'm off track on this goal. Any suggestions on things to do when you're on baby duty?

7) I'm a little behind on the book reading goal. I read Landlording On Autopilot and it's pretty good. There are definitely some good tips, like his new tenant introduction package, that we'll be implementing.

I'm currently in the middle of two books: The Reason For God by Tim Keller and Graphic Design for Nondesigners by Tony Seddon. One is for a new men's group I joined and the other is fun. I'll let you guess which is which.

I also recently made a small change with is having a dramatic impact on how much a read: Instead of keep my book on my desk, I put it next to my bed. Now, when I'm going to bed I see the book and remember to read. This is what I used to do growing up and in college and I read all the time. By simply changing the location of the book, I'm back to regularly reading 20-30 minutes each day. Amazing.

So there's a mid-year check-up on my goals. If you run into me, feel free to ask how I'm doing and hold me accountable.

(BTW, like the photo at the top? It's a free iOS app called Color Splash Effects.)

Happy 7th Wedding Anniversary (Lots of Fun Pictures!)

7 years... How time flies when you're having fun. :)

Enjoy a trip back down memory lane!

Thanks everyone for all your support and friendships over the last 7 years. Here's to many, many more! :)

Moving Beyond Apple iPhone's Tap & Hold of an App Icon

I love my iPhone and generally wouldn't change anything about it. However, there is one highly under-utilized feature I would like to see re-purposed.

Tap and hold an icon: It starts to jiggle and you can move it.

It's a neat visual experience and genuinely useful to be able to move icons around. However, here's the deal: I RARELY use it. My iPhone comes with a super convenient action (tap and hold an icon) that I don't use very often. That was the right move (pun intended) when the iPhone launched, but it's time to evolve in the direction of the Mac's icon right click menu.

What if tapping and holding an icon instead...

• Brought up an app-specific settings menu. Let me quickly change my app settings (like notifications and privacy) and developer specific settings. I don't change these often, but it's a pain to hunt down an app's settings in a long list of apps.

• Showed my current notifications and/or widgets that are in the main pull down menu.

• Gave me a option to move the icon which then goes back to the home screen with a jiggly icon like today.

• Let me read the latest app update notes, read about the developer, view other apps they created, and similar apps I might be interested in.

• Kind of silly, but it would be cool to choose different icons the developer makes available (maybe for free... maybe as an meta-app purchase).

• Obviously, an option to open the app.

There you go Apple. Those are some ideas to get you started. Tap and hold (or Force Touch in the likely near future) is a fantastically convenient action which can, and should, be used to do more than move icons around.

Elinor Ruth Furlo

Well, well well... It's been a little while since my last post. But it's for good reason! As you know, we had a daughter on the way. Due to Jessi developing Cholestasis, we decided to induce and deliver 3 weeks early and avoid trouble when going full term.

So, at 9:00pm on May 28th, 2015 Elinor Ruth was born weighing 6lbs 4oz at a height of 17.74 inches.

We are so thankful for everyone who supported us with prayer and support. It's been a long three weeks and I finally feel like I can barely bring my head above water and admit the rest of the world exists.

OK. Now for the part you really want: pictures! :)