Also, System, how's the training for your ring return coming along?

I've failed you as an accountability buddy by not keeping tabs. Sorry, brudda!

Lockdown and two bouts of pneumonia coupled with long hours and me eating like the piece of shit that I am has lead to no lifting and a weight gain of 5kg.

Now 115kg (only 92 if I rest my penis on the bathroom vanity while on the scales) time to get serious about my weight loss... Like Steve Blackman on aderall serious.

It's only Thursday night here and I have worked 68hrs in 4 days.

Sept 17, 2020 15:31:11 GMT iNCY said:

It's only Thursday night here and I have worked 68hrs in 4 days.

Damn that's a lot. What do you do?

Sept 17, 2020 16:48:38 GMT Gyro LC said:

Sept 17, 2020 15:31:11 GMT iNCY said:

It's only Thursday night here and I have worked 68hrs in 4 days.

Damn that's a lot. What do you do?

I run a small business selling, installing and servicing machinery.

Sept 17, 2020 21:33:25 GMT iNCY said:

Sept 17, 2020 16:48:38 GMT Gyro LC said:

Damn that's a lot. What do you do?

I run a small business selling, installing and servicing machinery.

But WHY do you have to work so many hours?

Do you do all the sales, installations, and service yourself?

If you're trying to grow the business, at some point won't you have to hire on others you can trust to help out?

Or, if bringing in others is a no go, wouldn't it be worth a bit of work-life balance to pull back and limit the growth? Surely there's only so much money that NEEDS to be made, right?

I always feel bad hearing about the God awful hours my favorite nephew keeps.

I've run the most mileage per year this year than I have in the last 4 years. A couple weeks ago I did a 'socially distaced' 50 km race (staggered start times and masks in the start finish area) and I ran my fastest 50 km race in 7 years. We're getting hit with smoke from the Oregan fires now, so boring treadmill time instead of running on the trails. But I"m stoked my fitness is back high enough that running feels easy and fun again.

Sept 17, 2020 23:33:34 GMT 🤯 said:

Sept 17, 2020 21:33:25 GMT iNCY said:

I run a small business selling, installing and servicing machinery.

But WHY do you have to work so many hours?

Do you do all the sales, installations, and service yourself?

If you're trying to grow the business, at some point won't you have to hire on others you can trust to help out?

Or, if bringing in others is a no go, wouldn't it be worth a bit of work-life balance to pull back and limit the growth? Surely there's only so much money that NEEDS to be made, right?

I always feel bad hearing about the God awful hours my favorite nephew keeps.

I don't want to bore everyone but it is not that straightforward.
My business is in capital sales, which means in one year you could sell $5 million work of equipment or $50 thousand.
This year we are heading towards $16 million, that's sale value, not my income.
My job is complicated and I wear a lot of different hats.
To hire somebody to wear one of those hats costs me about $120k a pop minimum.
With capital sales being so lumpy, I could employ them this year and then next year have nothing to do.
The other issue is that no one task occupies enough of my time to sub out to somebody else, if it made sense I would do it.
Next person I will employ will be a PA.

Sept 17, 2020 14:39:13 GMT 🤯 said:

Also, System, how's the training for your ring return coming along?

I've failed you as an accountability buddy by not keeping tabs. Sorry, brudda!

Nonexistent, not that the crowdless shows are happening now anyway.

Sept 18, 2020 4:56:03 GMT iNCY said:

Sept 17, 2020 23:33:34 GMT 🤯 said:

But WHY do you have to work so many hours?

Do you do all the sales, installations, and service yourself?

If you're trying to grow the business, at some point won't you have to hire on others you can trust to help out?

Or, if bringing in others is a no go, wouldn't it be worth a bit of work-life balance to pull back and limit the growth? Surely there's only so much money that NEEDS to be made, right?

I always feel bad hearing about the God awful hours my favorite nephew keeps.

I don't want to bore everyone but it is not that straightforward.
My business is in capital sales, which means in one year you could sell $5 million work of equipment or $50 thousand.
This year we are heading towards $16 million, that's sale value, not my income.
My job is complicated and I wear a lot of different hats.
To hire somebody to wear one of those hats costs me about $120k a pop minimum.
With capital sales being so lumpy, I could employ them this year and then next year have nothing to do.
The other issue is that no one task occupies enough of my time to sub out to somebody else, if it made sense I would do it.
Next person I will employ will be a PA.

PA as in personal assistant? Someone to essentially shadow you, be the gopher, learn how to do all, become an iNCY Jr. so to speak?

Or PA as in production assistant... Like you're finally attempting to get that long rumored YouTube channel off the ground!?

Even if that's just sales volume, I imagine your margins must still be pretty decent. As far as I've pieced together, employee-wise it's just you and your dad and perhaps your wife on payroll? Surely your direct labor costs are baked into what you quote customers, right? Based on an hourly billing rate that presumably includes overhead? So the margin is profit to go straight into your pocket, or perhaps more realistically back into the business as a bucket to help bridge the gap between awarded jobs to ensure your salaries can continue to be paid regularly? You're set up as an LLC, I presume? Or is payroll variable and based purely on whatever profit is cleared with each job?

Sept 18, 2020 4:56:57 GMT System said:

Sept 17, 2020 14:39:13 GMT 🤯 said:

Also, System, how's the training for your ring return coming along?

I've failed you as an accountability buddy by not keeping tabs. Sorry, brudda!

Nonexistent, not that the crowdless shows are happening now anyway.

Well, even better if the return to shows is indefinitely postponed... Just more time for you to prep that hot bod!

Even if training hasn't kicked into gear yet, how's the nutrition aspect at least? I've been eating increasingly like shit lately, so I can't cast any stones. Maybe we can help encourage each other on that front too. For instance, no more Hungry Jacks!

Sept 18, 2020 6:39:28 GMT 🤯 said:

Sept 18, 2020 4:56:03 GMT iNCY said:

I don't want to bore everyone but it is not that straightforward.
My business is in capital sales, which means in one year you could sell $5 million work of equipment or $50 thousand.
This year we are heading towards $16 million, that's sale value, not my income.
My job is complicated and I wear a lot of different hats.
To hire somebody to wear one of those hats costs me about $120k a pop minimum.
With capital sales being so lumpy, I could employ them this year and then next year have nothing to do.
The other issue is that no one task occupies enough of my time to sub out to somebody else, if it made sense I would do it.
Next person I will employ will be a PA.

PA as in personal assistant? Someone to essentially shadow you, be the gopher, learn how to do all, become an iNCY Jr. so to speak?

Or PA as in production assistant... Like you're finally attempting to get that long rumored YouTube channel off the ground!?

Even if that's just sales volume, I imagine your margins must still be pretty decent. As far as I've pieced together, employee-wise it's just you and your dad and perhaps your wife on payroll? Surely your direct labor costs are baked into what you quote customers, right? Based on an hourly billing rate that presumably includes overhead? So the margin is profit to go straight into your pocket, or perhaps more realistically back into the business as a bucket to help bridge the gap between awarded jobs to ensure your salaries can continue to be paid regularly? You're set up as an LLC, I presume? Or is payroll variable and based purely on whatever profit is cleared with each job?

Sept 18, 2020 4:56:57 GMT System said:

Nonexistent, not that the crowdless shows are happening now anyway.

Well, even better if the return to shows is indefinitely postponed... Just more time for you to prep that hot bod!

Even if training hasn't kicked into gear yet, how's the nutrition aspect at least? I've been eating increasingly like shit lately, so I can't cast any stones. Maybe we can help encourage each other on that front too. For instance, no more Hungry Jacks!

You have pieced things together well, but that's not how business works. Shops don't get to sell a can of coke based on how much they need to pay rent, to an extent the price is the price.
I don't want to employ people and then have to let them go, employees are dear as hell here and hard to sack.
The key to my business has been to keep a lot of irons in the fire at the same time by having multiple agencies. Sometimes you end up with nothing, ideally a couple are going at the same time and at other times like now they all get hot...

My plan is to make enough money that I can purchase realestate investments for passive income, once I have done that to the point I don't need to work I will either slow down or show up at a poorly attended funeral in a pine box.

Sept 19, 2020 4:09:06 GMT iNCY said:

Sept 18, 2020 6:39:28 GMT 🤯 said:

PA as in personal assistant? Someone to essentially shadow you, be the gopher, learn how to do all, become an iNCY Jr. so to speak?

Or PA as in production assistant... Like you're finally attempting to get that long rumored YouTube channel off the ground!?

Even if that's just sales volume, I imagine your margins must still be pretty decent. As far as I've pieced together, employee-wise it's just you and your dad and perhaps your wife on payroll? Surely your direct labor costs are baked into what you quote customers, right? Based on an hourly billing rate that presumably includes overhead? So the margin is profit to go straight into your pocket, or perhaps more realistically back into the business as a bucket to help bridge the gap between awarded jobs to ensure your salaries can continue to be paid regularly? You're set up as an LLC, I presume? Or is payroll variable and based purely on whatever profit is cleared with each job?

Well, even better if the return to shows is indefinitely postponed... Just more time for you to prep that hot bod!

Even if training hasn't kicked into gear yet, how's the nutrition aspect at least? I've been eating increasingly like shit lately, so I can't cast any stones. Maybe we can help encourage each other on that front too. For instance, no more Hungry Jacks!

You have pieced things together well, but that's not how business works. Shops don't get to sell a can of coke based on how much they need to pay rent, to an extent the price is the price.
I don't want to employ people and then have to let them go, employees are dear as hell here and hard to sack.
The key to my business has been to keep a lot of irons in the fire at the same time by having multiple agencies. Sometimes you end up with nothing, ideally a couple are going at the same time and at other times like now they all get hot...

My plan is to make enough money that I can purchase realestate investments for passive income, once I have done that to the point I don't need to work I will either slow down or show up at a poorly attended funeral in a pine box.

Apologies, I feel like I never communicate as articulately as I'd like. Regarding price being the price, I assume that's much more the case wttg component sales. Especially depending on the customer and the T's & C's of the contract; i.e., if a certain fixed profit margin is stipulated and customer has right to audit price backup. So I guess I was getting more at the installation and servicing services, which I presume can have much more room for price padding... especially if you bid and are awarded work with lump sum deals versus T&M... where you're just a one man army and but also have more control over cost (you have more control over your internal hourly rate and hours worked, for instance, than you do over what a manufacturer/subsupplier prices a component you'll be reselling upstream to your customer).

Anyway... I should explain, I was framing some if not all of my line of questioning around my buddy Ed's dad, Ed. Ed Sr. runs his own one-man HVAC business. Ed Jr. helped as occasionally hired labor in high school and college but never really got into the family business. Now Ed Sr. is retiring and thus winding the business down. They'd offered to bring me on to learn and take over the business and help provide some continuity until Ed Jr. was finally ready to join in. But I guess Ed Sr. realized he no longer had the time, energy, or inclination after all to essentially train up an apprentice in a new trade. So the idea kinda fell to the back burner.

In saying all this, the thing I was getting at I guess is based around Ed Sr.'s apparent business model. Over the years he'd apparently drifted more toward maintenence contracts with a select handful of clients for their HVAC needs in commercial and industrial real estate. I guess this translated into lucrative service agreements that required relatively little labor effort on Ed Sr.'s part... Occasionally check and service systems, and handle component replacements on an ad hoc basis through essentially change orders I guess (since the service agreements sounded like they were just to maintain but not replace existing systems).

This setup wasn't growing Ed Sr.'s business much, nor was it making him filthy rich... But enough to clear the bills while also still having some decent work-life balance with his family. What I conveniently forget are the first 20 years of his 30 years in business, when he was killing himself trying to take on any and every HVAC job to initially grow the business and establish client relationships and make ends meet for his family. I guess this is what I conflated with your situation. It's always sounded like you've already put the blood, sweat, and tears in to have that foundation to theoretically rest on if you so desired. This is also rooted in me admittedly not knowing how much profit it takes to help make ends meet for you and your family.

/////

Speaking of that RDPD strategy of real estate investing for that glorious passive income... Would that be purchased by you as an individual, your machinery company (for a lack of a more concise name to call your business), or a secondary LLC? Just curious what the most tax-advantaged approach would be to simultaneously get the most bang for your buck while also protecting against the most liability.

My dad and his buddy, my godfather Buddy, has an LLC for their rental property side hustle. If nothing else, it allowed him to deduct and depreciate certain business expenses on items that surely also saw plenty of personal use (tools, truck, etc.). I think it also offered my dad some protection when my mom went for the divorce; she had no claim to the rental property or the income it generated because that was all the LLC's business... Not my dad's, even though by that point my dad WAS the LLC (since Buddy had died). Although, my dad ended up having to sell off his properties anyway to buy my mom out of our house and pay for other divorce-related expenses. I think that's his biggest regret about the dissolution of their marriage... Giving up on all those properties.

ANYWAY...

Where were we? Oh, yeah. Can I apply to work for you? Help expand your company's reach into the U.S. market east of the Mississippi perhaps?

:$

I don't factor in my hourly rate Uncle 🤯, I just sell things for as much as I can and as much as people are willing to pay.
My real estate strategy isn't so much RDPD it's more my own strategy.

My business is the Australian version of an LLC. I also have a family trust for distributing the income of my business. I have a separate LLC that is use as a holding company for funds I don't want to take as income but don't want to leave in the business. We also own the warehouse our business works out of through our self managed 401k. Our holding company has lent money to us personally which means we pay the bank no interest on our new house. For additional real estate investments I would set up a separate trust.

I could employ more people, but I would rather do the extra work than manage people which I would find terrible because I hate people

Sept 19, 2020 7:30:27 GMT iNCY said:

I don't factor in my hourly rate Uncle 🤯, I just sell things for as much as I can and as much as people are willing to pay.
My real estate strategy isn't so much RDPD it's more my own strategy.

My business is the Australian version of an LLC. I also have a family trust for distributing the income of my business. I have a separate LLC that is use as a holding company for funds I don't want to take as income but don't want to leave in the business. We also own the warehouse our business works out of through our self managed 401k. Our holding company has lent money to us personally which means we pay the bank no interest on our new house. For additional real estate investments I would set up a separate trust.

I could employ more people, but I would rather do the extra work than manage people which I would find terrible because I hate people

Bolded for realness. People are the fucking WORST.

Covid put paid to organised sport here, so in the absence of playing soccer which is my usual outlet I've been doing a variety of workouts at home as well as running. It's been making me feel a lot better mentally, and my abs are starting to come in!

Started to do some yoga too in an attempt to improve my significant inflexibility, and make up for sitting (probably with poor posture) at a desk for eight hours a day.

Yoga is great for flexibility. I'm on and off with yoga, there are times I do it every day, and times like now where I don't do it at all for months. But when I am in a yoga phase, I notice the difference in my body. Small difference, but significant.

@admin, how are you doing yoga? What style of yoga?

Sept 23, 2020 11:53:09 GMT Emperor said:

Yoga is great for flexibility. I'm on and off with yoga, there are times I do it every day, and times like now where I don't do it at all for months. But when I am in a yoga phase, I notice the difference in my body. Small difference, but significant.

@admin , how are you doing yoga? What style of yoga?

The service that I subscribe to for football streaming added a bunch of fitness videos to their platform. The Yoga ones I've been doing are a guy called Richie Norton if that name means anything to you.

If the novelty doesn't wear off I think I'll look into doing some in person classes when that sort of thing is possible again, as I feel like I'd benefit from some instruction. Even breathing is a lot more difficult than you'd think!

I went to a few yoga classes, enjoyed it..then they made you do group exercises which involved touching/holding the other person so I stopped going.

Thankfully that won’t be a thing during the Covid era when classes come back

Never seen a yoga class with group exercises. I'd rather not do that either.

Don't know Richie Norton. Indeed, yoga style breathing is very different to normal. We normally breathe in a shallow way from the chest, yoga encourages deep breathing from the abdomen. Took me a month or two to get used to the breathing technique, but once I did, it became very easy.

Might be thinking of acroyoga, which I haven't gotten into but I know people who have.

I'm more in on Yoga with Kassandra on Youtube -- I did enough classes in the before-Covid times to have a solid grasp on many of the basic poses (Warrior 1/2/3/reverse, side angle, triangle, chaturanga) to not need someone to talk me through how to do them, just an instructor to say do this and this and this with minimal one-with-the-earth chatter.

Deadlifted for the first time since son was born.

Fucking invigorating!

Accountability check: Fergus "Broken System" Ferguson, how's the return to ring shape coming along?!

Oct 17, 2020 14:01:11 GMT 🤯 said:

Deadlifted for the first time since son was born.

Fucking invigorating!

Accountability check: Fergus "Broken System" Ferguson, how's the return to ring shape coming along?!

How heavy?
I dropped dead lifting I found it left me too cooked for my rows. Plus I got to 4pl8 easy and didn't want to go much heavier.

I was pretty keen to get to the 1/2/3/4 lifts. Not sure I will ever hit a 2pl8 bench I think my arms might be too long.

Oct 17, 2020 23:50:48 GMT iNCY said:

Oct 17, 2020 14:01:11 GMT 🤯 said:

Deadlifted for the first time since son was born.

Fucking invigorating!

Accountability check: Fergus "Broken System" Ferguson, how's the return to ring shape coming along?!

How heavy?
I dropped dead lifting I found it left me too cooked for my rows. Plus I got to 4pl8 easy and didn't want to go much heavier.

I was pretty keen to get to the 1/2/3/4 lifts. Not sure I will ever hit a 2pl8 bench I think my arms might be too long.

Is pl8 abbreviation for plate? Since I'm an American, I use pussy 45 lb plates. I'm assuming your plates are heavier kgs?

Anyway, fair question. Here's what I did since it had been 2+ months since the last time I deadlifted:

8 sets, rep until I couldn't keep strict perfect form, pyramid up just slapping on next plate size down
135 lbs
205 lbs
255 lbs
275 lbs
285 lbs
290 lbs
Drop back to 225
Drop back up 135

Then rows, shrugs, pullups and chinups until gas tank depleted.

This was also second workout of the day, morning was pyramid up to 275 lbs squats.

Needless to say, my back is super cooked today.

4pl8 is the same everywhere, 4x45lbs on each side, so 360lb for reps.

Oct 18, 2020 1:58:23 GMT iNCY said:

4pl8 is the same everywhere, 4x45lbs on each side, so 360lb for reps.

Wait, what?! Places outside the U.S. use our stupid measures!?

Also "pl8s"... You iron nerd.

But also, easy repping 360. Nice! I haven't done that since my 20s. I'd be content with getting back there, but also wouldn't care to go too much heavier.

What's the 1/2/3/4 lift?

Oct 18, 2020 2:04:43 GMT 🤯 said:

Oct 18, 2020 1:58:23 GMT iNCY said:

4pl8 is the same everywhere, 4x45lbs on each side, so 360lb for reps.

Wait, what?! Places outside the U.S. use our stupid measures!?

Also "pl8s"... You iron nerd.

But also, easy repping 360. Nice! I haven't done that since my 20s. I'd be content with getting back there, but also wouldn't care to go too much heavier.

What's the 1/2/3/4 lift?

I'm strong fat not real strength...
I did 3pl8 on my first attempted deadlift...but I prefer bent over rows.
The plates are the same all over the world whatever you call them.

1/2/3/4 is plates on each side:
1pl8 shoulder press - 80lb
2pl8 bench - 160lb
3pl8 squat - 270lb
4pl8 dead - 360lb

I got the shoulder press and squat, but the bench I hit once but it was a fluke and only for almost a single rep.
I have a huge chest too, it's really weird.

Oct 18, 2020 2:29:46 GMT iNCY said:

Oct 18, 2020 2:04:43 GMT 🤯 said:

Wait, what?! Places outside the U.S. use our stupid measures!?

Also "pl8s"... You iron nerd.

But also, easy repping 360. Nice! I haven't done that since my 20s. I'd be content with getting back there, but also wouldn't care to go too much heavier.

What's the 1/2/3/4 lift?

I'm strong fat not real strength...
I did 3pl8 on my first attempted deadlift...but I prefer bent over rows.
The plates are the same all over the world whatever you call them.

1/2/3/4 is plates on each side:
1pl8 shoulder press - 80lb
2pl8 bench - 160lb
3pl8 squat - 270lb
4pl8 dead - 360lb

I got the shoulder press and squat, but the bench I hit once but it was a fluke and only for almost a single rep.
I have a huge chest too, it's really weird.

I know this should be simple, so maybe if course I'm still confused? Lol

You mean to tell me your 45 lb plates are just labeled 20.4 kg? Making them the same as U.S. weight plates? But then how are you getting 80 and 160 instead of 90 and 180? Just typos?

Anyway...

Thanks for explaining the 1/2/3/4 lift.

My lifting buddy and me used to just call it the 1,000 lb lift or something silly stupid like that. Poundage included bar weight, which weighs 45 lbs here. So for me weighing ~180 lbs it was aiming for 135 lbs overhead press, 225 lbs bench, 275 lbs squat, then close the gap with deadlift.

Bench and squat were (and still are) my biggest struggles. I think it's more mental than anything though. Terrified of being pinned by the bar.

Anyway, these days I don't actively count reps or even pay attention to weight amount. Overhead a YouTube guy say something that resonated. Your muscles can't count, so reps and weight don't matter to them. All they know is time under tension and intensity of contraction.

So I've bastardized that into slap whatever weight on, rep until it burns but I can still keep proper form for whatever I'm trying to hit, then call that a set. Rest and repeat. Makes tracking progress a bitch, but right now progress to me is just getting into the basement and moving any weight more than once or twice a week.

I screwed up the maths 🤯, sorry about that!

Are you lifting to build muscle or to increase strength? The reps and weights matter depending on what your goals are.
I have no time for the meme training schedules like starting strength.

I started out on Bro splits before going to a PPLRPPR schedule but I'm back on the splits because I enjoy it.

Oct 18, 2020 12:52:51 GMT iNCY said:

I screwed up the maths 🤯, sorry about that!

Are you lifting to build muscle or to increase strength? The reps and weights matter depending on what your goals are.
I have no time for the meme training schedules like starting strength.

I started out on Bro splits before going to a PPLRPPR schedule but I'm back on the splits because I enjoy it.

Lifting with a purpose? Lol, who's got time for that if you're not being paid to train for a Hollywood role or sports performance?

Right now goals are just trying to reestablish routine. If I'm only getting into the basement once or twice a week, the big compound lifts seem to give me most bang for my buck.

Think I'm familiar with bro splits, but what's PPLRPPR?

Oct 17, 2020 14:01:11 GMT 🤯 said:

Deadlifted for the first time since son was born.

Fucking invigorating!

Accountability check: Fergus "Broken System" Ferguson, how's the return to ring shape coming along?!

Non existent, the dynamic situation of Covid has made it really frustrating for me to get motivated but supposedly it’s in 2-3 weeks but I have no details at all as to when/where nor do I have gear. Thinking of even passing on it until I’m in better shape and in right headspace.

Oct 18, 2020 13:20:41 GMT System said:

Oct 17, 2020 14:01:11 GMT 🤯 said:

Deadlifted for the first time since son was born.

Fucking invigorating!

Accountability check: Fergus "Broken System" Ferguson, how's the return to ring shape coming along?!

Non existent, the dynamic situation of Covid has made it really frustrating for me to get motivated but supposedly it’s in 2-3 weeks but I have no details at all as to when/where nor do I have gear. Thinking of even passing on it until I’m in better shape and in right headspace.

You should give me 10 pushups and 25 bodyweight squats for every post I like. Same for quote. Same for tags.

You'll be ripped before you know it!