Negotiating Purchases

For someone who frequently gets incredibly good deals when buying things, I am usually a terrible negotiator.  I used to estimate that I saved my company an average of $1000/day in purchase price discounts, for months before and after an office move.  We needed to buy a ton of equipment, and I was good at sourcing it cheaply.  My boss's specialty on the other hand, was in getting things for free, usually in exchange for feedback or joint PR.  That involved much more negotiating than the approach I took, but my deals were usually no strings attached, based entirely on comparing prices, and knowing where to look.  I built three editing facilities primarily out of parts I found on eBay.  But very little actual negotiating was involved in that whole process.  Most of the negotiating I did, was with our operations and finance officer, convincing him that I needed the funding, for things the company actually did need.

In my own personal finances, I am fairly thrifty as well, without being cheap.  My onne big extravagant “habit” is always having a nice laptop, but I usually get good discounts on those, and still no negotiating involved.  I usually attribute this to the idea that the only deals I bother pursuing or ones that are already so good, that they can't expect to be improved.  That assessment is probably fairly accurate.  My first three Craigslist purchases, I made half hearted attempts to knock down the price.  But all of them were already ridiculously, low as a prerequisite for me following up on them.  In two of those cases I had people with me, advising me on how to negotiate, but it was still a no-go.  And even without negotiating at all, I got great deals each time, on relatively large items.

So today was a new experience, starting with pursuing a deal that was merely good, instead of incredible.  And I had the right mindset going into it, being prepared to walk away.  Being in the process of rebuilding a house, I am buying a lot of things, and learning about them at the same time.  I found a matching set of high end kitchen appliances on Craigslist a while back, and since they were more expensive than I was originally planning, I wasn't sure whether to pursue them.  When they were still available two weeks later, and I was scheduled to drive within 10 miles of their location an hour away, I took that as a sign that they were worth looking into.  I had to learn a few things about high-end appliances in order to evaluate the deal, but that was good knowledge to acquire.  I ended up talking the price down from $1600 to $1250, which is not too bad, and makes what was previously a good deal into a great deal.  Now I just have to finish building the kitchen that I want to put them into.  And I still need to find incredible deals on a fridge, water heater, and washer & dryer.  Maybe I will even have to negotiate a bit more.

Feeling Pain and Pleasure

My body has taken a good bit of abuse recently, leading to experiencing pain in a variety of places.  Remodeling work takes a toll, from basic cuts and scratches on my hands, leading to wear gloves more, to banging my head enough times to prompt me to wear a helmet.  Spending three days doing plumbing and wiring in my attic was the worst, between the excessive heat, the fiberglass insulation getting everywhere, and maneuvers in tight spaces hurting my back.  Besides my gloves and helmet there where a variety of other pieces of gear I used to protect myself from pain, both immediately and in the future.  I had a respirator to protect my lungs from fiberglass, mold and asbestos, and goggles to protect my eyes and vision.

Regardless of all of those preparations, I have found myself in a lot of pain the last few days.  Pain is a strange phenomenon, in that it is a strongly negative sensation, contained entirely in our head.  It appears to come from other areas of our body, but in reality, it is just our brains giving us conscious warnings, based on signals it is receiving from those places.  Pain also doesn't need to have a physical source; it can be entirely emotional or spiritual.  One of the reasons the heart is associated with feelings, is that is the primary place people experience the sensation of pain, when their "wounds" are entirely emotional.

The actual sensation of pain is strange, in that it is hard to bear, even though it is just a feeling.  That is the whole reason it exists, as it provides the motivation for the reflex to protect our body.  Pain is usually perceived as a very bad thing, and while it is in a way, it serves an important warning system to prevent or minimize actual damage to our bodies.  Simple things like shifting our body weight are done subconsciously to avoid pain, but serve an important purpose.  Paralyzed people who have no feeling are not prompted to do that, and can wound themselves with there own bodies as a result.  Pain is a strongly negative sensation that serves as a motivation to action.

So that description of pain serves as a starting point for an examination of pleasure.  The concept of pleasure has been on my mind for a while, but I wasn't sure how to examine it in a post until I got the idea for this perspective:  Pain is the opposite of pleasure.  In the same way that certain things can feel "bad" to us, other things can feel "good" to us.  The broadest form I can think of is eating.  Eating can satisfy hunger, which can otherwise be a source of pain.  But eating can also be a true source of pleasure, based on flavor and texture.

Certain foods are more pleasurable to eat than others, depending on one's tastes. Frequently, it feels like the things that are the most pleasurable to eat, are the things that are the worst for our health.  Why would God set things up that way?  I believe that is an illusion in most cases, and that unless you are just eating Twinkies, most things are good for us in moderation.  It is only when that pleasure causes us to want to eat far too much of something, that it becomes unhealthy.  The other potential issue is eating far too much in general, but I suspect that lack of exercise probably plays a bigger role than excessive diet in most cases, at least in America, where the farthest anyone ever walks, is to their car.  Even fats and sugars are healthy for the human body, at least in limited quantities.  We would die without them.  They only get a bad reputation, because they tend to occupy a higher percentage of people's diets than they should.

The most extreme form of physical pleasure that I am aware of, is sexual pleasure.  Now this just as much "all in one's head" as pain is, if not more so.  But these sensations are strong enough to motivate people to do all sorts of crazy things, occasionally at great risk to themselves, in order to experience them.  And all for a "feeling" they experience for a few seconds, and then it is over.  There is no persistent result, requiring the experience to be repeated in order to feel it again.  The same is true for eating, which is what leads to that being a problem of excess for many people.

Pain on the other hand, is much more likely to be persistent, unless the source of the feeling is dealt with.  Imagine if pleasure operated more that way.  I don't know why it doesn't; maybe that is a result of the fall.  Life would probably be very different if pleasure was more frequently a persistent sensation.

Key People in the Inner Circle

My post on keys led me down a rabbit-trail about key "people," which I ended up putting off at the time.  I then happened to read CS Lewis's speech "The Inner Ring," which basically presented a similar idea to the one I was developing.  He focused primarily on the social dynamic of an "inner ring" developing in any large group situation, and discussed the ethics of the existence of that exclusive group, and the desire to be in it.  He also pointed out that because of that trend, the actual leaders in an organization may not be the ones at the top of the official hierarchy.  As someone who is less conscious of the social dynamics going on around him, the unofficial leadership part is the aspect I most related to.

A key can also be the most significant part of a larger whole or the foundation of something much bigger than itself.  The keystone is at the top of an arch, and the key to an idea, is the premise it is based on.  A key person fills an irreplaceable role in a group or organization.  The leader of an organization or the president of a company may not be the key person that makes it function successfully.  I am usually a key person where ever I am working, regardless of the fact that I am not usually technically the leader.  Frequently I am not even officially an employee, but my broad range of experience, understanding of logistical processes, and passion for maximizing efficiency, lead to rapidly finding myself in a key position, where ever I am working.

My uncle probably represents the pinnacle of the opposite approach.  He is a CEO, and therefore a technically the leader at whatever company he is working for.  But the leader of what?  That changes every year or two, which means he is technically a replaceable part.  Once he has made a few changes in direction that the board was looking for, he is on his way to another company.  Now don't get me wrong, he is "successful" and well compensated for his work for multi-million dollar publicly traded companies, but he does not become a "key person" in those organizations while he is there.  (Because the organization continues to function once he leaves, although he usually makes some "key changes.")

Firmly on the other end of the spectrum, any organization I have ever left, has taken a few tries to fill the role I has previously assumed, usually eventually with a team of people.  I do everything I can to make the transition as seamless as possible, but even with months of training, and hundred's of pages of documentation, no one can be expected to be able to operation and maintain a complex system better than the one who designed and created it.  I spent months transitioning out of the two positions I held at the university, and years transitioning out of my full-time job in Hollywood.

Similarly, my company has gone through many receptionists over the course of my time there, but one of those individuals became the office manager, and is still there.  The difference between her and all of the others, is that she managed to make herself an irreplaceable part of the organization, which led to a position that she is much happier with, and we all appreciate the role that she fills.  So now we are back to having a new face by the door every time I take a trip down south, leading me to need to introduce myself every time I show up at my own office.  And it is always amusing to observe the process as they figure out over the next few days, that I am a "key person" in the company, regardless of how little time I manage to spend there.

Collecting Favor

I am not exactly sure how “favor” works from a spiritual perspective, but I know it is a factor at work in our relationship with God.  It is much easier to see how favor affects practical interactions in the physical world.

I have a pretty good reputation for helping other people out, and it has been that way for a long time.  Back when I was in high school, by the time I graduated, nearly anyone in the school who I regularly interacted with owed me a favor, which I never really took advantage.  By my sophomore year of college, I was in the same situation, but over the next two years, most of those favors got cashed in to support the overly ambitious endeavors of one of my multimedia professors.  I don't think he really understood the full scope of the logistical details I took care of that way, until after I was gone.  On the other hand, in return, over the following seven years, he has sent his absolutely best students to come work for me, which is more significant than it may first appear.  (Good help is hard to find.)

Being a technology expert is helpful in that regard.  That can go two ways in a work environment: the IT guy can be the solution to everyone’s problems, or the source of them, by “implementing policy” to control end users, instead of supporting their needs.  I have always been one to find ways around problems, even if it bends the policy rules on occasion.  But while I am well liked in my office, the favor does not accumulate the same way in my work environment.

Outside the office, since graduating, I have helped more than my share of people move, because no one else in LA drives a full sized truck around.  I will probably never see some of those people again, but that is okay.  I wasn't helping them in order to get something back in return, but if I someday do, I am not going to feel guilty about it.

Now that I have recently become a home owner, many of the favors I have done in the last few years are beginning to be returned, which has been great.  I don't think I have spent a whole day working on my house alone yet, and have hardly had to pay anyone for their assistance.  I will start to do so pretty soon, as we get more involved with installations requiring skilled labor, but so far, it has been a very budget friendly endeavor.

With a recent issue disabling my truck, my family has been very supportive in solving that problem, to the tune of alternate vehicle use, space and tools to work on it, and hopefully, assistance in finishing solving the problem with a fairly major repair.  It definitely is bringing into balance a scale that has been severely lopsided for quite a while.

It is very helpful to have favor from others when you really need it.  I haven't felt that in quite a while, possibly just because as a fairly independent person, I haven't really needed and practical support in quite a while.  Emotional support is a little harder to come by, and isn't directly exchangeable.  But fortunately God has recently favored me with the right people being available at the right times, to repay those favors.

To Have a Key

Keys are interesting, in that a small key can grant access to a large space.  The book of James talks about small rudders steering large ships, in comparison to the human tongue, and keys can be similar.  They are also a symbol of control for the item they represent.  Parents may give their teenager the keys to the car, granting them a new degree of freedom. Something similar is at work if you are given keys by your employer.  The opposite of that, would be a key card, which says: “we are going to track every time you enter and leave, and count the Post-It notes after you’re gone.

A relationship threshold is reached when you give someone a key to your house.  It represents a significant level of trust and openness.  It means they don't necessarily have to knock before entering.  My travels lead me to trust my property and belongings to others on a frequent occasion, for maintenance and safekeeping.

Getting the keys is usually the last step in buying a house, representing the act of turning over the property, more so than re-deeding it does.  That step was skipped in my recent purchase, which was a bit inconvenient.   But I am a resourceful guy, in possession of  a cordless grinder for cutting steel cables in trees, so that was re-purposed to gain access to various locked doors on my new property.  The result was, that I had to replace all of the exterior locks and door handles, but because I had damaged them, but because even once I had gotten in, I still didn't have keys available to re-lock them.  So now I have a collection of keys, some of which open multiple doors, which I will distribute to different people in my family and such.

The Value of Work

People like to say that "time equals money," which I would argue is more true in the reverse.  Time is the fundamental unit being measured; money is just a way of representing it.  But the bigger question is: what should the exchange rate be?  That depends on who is willing to pay you, to do what.  I have been fortunately enough to have more work available to me than I am able to or willing to do, so it is fairly simple to establish a value for my time.  I have to calculate the time consumed when doing something for the purpose of saving money, because I could have been working instead.  This is especially significant for tasks I could hire someone else to do for me. (As opposed to things I have to do for myself, like sleeping.)  Unless I enjoy doing a particular task, it would probably be cheaper in the long run to be working instead.

If one is having trouble finding people willing to pay them for their time, it is a bit more complicated.  Time "wasted" on tasks couldn't necessarily have been converted to revenue, so it makes more sense to do things for yourself.  Some people are limited to 40 hour weeks, or even fewer based on when their employer schedules them.  Entrepreneurs are at the mercy of their potential customers, as far as how much money they have the opportunity to earn.  Anytime they can spend saving money on their expenses, is less money they have to find a way to earn.  “A penny saved is a penny earned,” but how long does it take to earn it?

In the process of rebuilding my house, I will probably "make money," in that if I sell it when I am finished, I will probably get more back than all of the money I spent on it combined.  But if I factor in the amount of time I will have spent on it, compared to how much I would have made spending that time at "work," I will most certainly come out behind.  But I will have spent that time in NorCal, doing something new and exciting, and learning all sorts of new things.  So how much is that worth to me?  And it is also nice to have something tangible to show for your work at the end of a long hard day.  It is easy to see the progress we have been making on the house.

I also have many people helping me on various aspects of that project.  (At least seven this week)  Figuring out the value of their assistance is an interesting challenge.  Some people are helping me based purely on our existing relationships, while others specifically owe me a favor.  One will be trading his construction time for my video editing time.  Others are being given things, or opportunities, in return for their support in this process.  Eventually I might even have to pay someone.  But the barter economy is an interesting process to be a part of, and we all are, whether we are conscious of it or not. (Unless you are by yourself on a deserted island.)  Those other people all have to figure out how to value their time, but in a way that others are willing to accept.  So how much is your time worth to you?

Life is Getting too Complicated

In America, we have made everything so complicated, that we are suffocating growth and progress.  I am just finishing the process of buying a house.  The amount of paperwork required for that process is absolutely ridiculous.  There are hundreds of pages of documents to fill out, disclosures to read, and releases to sign.  All this administrative work requires the employment and oversight of real estate agents, title companies, appraisers, bankers, loan officers, insurance agents, accountants, lawyers, clerks, and a variety of other positions.  A hundred years ago, buying a house probably involved paying a couple hundred dollars, and signing a deed.  We have added way too many steps since then.

I didn't even get a mortgage, but if I had, there would have been even more paperwork.  Just the initial pre-approval required me to submit hundreds of pages of information.  That is all tied to one's taxes, which is a whole separate over-complicated process.  I had a 133 page tax return last year, and that is not counting state forms.  It will probably be even longer this year, since I will now be a first time home buyer as well.

It is said that the only people who can get loans are those who don't need them.  It turns out that even those of us who don't need them can't get a loan, courtesy of all the new government regulations.  And the Federal Reserve is competing for that money, with federal guarantees, so what bank wants to loan money to John Doe, with all the paperwork and labor required, when they can get just as good a return on their funds by leaving them deposited in the Reserve.  One more step in the wrong direction, in the name of helping the economy.

I have this theory, that no one actually comprehends numbers over $1million dollars.  Showing the average person an article about $50Million dollars in government waste or debt, will get no different reaction than one describing $50Billion dollars.  And now that we are in the trillions, no one can even tell the difference.  Our nation's problems are so removed from the average American's comprehension, let alone awareness, with everything virtualized and aggregated to a scale that can no longer be intuitively related to.

Similarly, we are about to see the medical world make a serious change, compelled by the government.  In the last four years, my monthly premium has nearly tripled, and my deductible has doubled, with no improvements to my actual coverage or benefits.  My plan, where people take some level of responsibility for their own health, is one now prohibited by the government, unless you are grandfathered in.  And if I was to add my wife to that plan in the future, the monthly cost would triple for some reason.  So guess who isn't going to hear about me getting married?  I will insure my wife independently if necessary.  But all of the proposed changes to the system don't improve or affect actual healthcare, it only affects who will pay for it, and how much.  And don't forget of course, the added paperwork.

So what should we do about this disturbing trend?  Well we could complain to the government, which would probably involve filling out some more paperwork.  Moving to a third world country looks more tempting every time I turn on the national news.  There are problems there too, but they are less complicated, and easier to understand.