Neville's Financial Blog

Problem:
Nearly every day I get emails or questions from people I know about how House Of Rave .com works.  To some, it’s unfathomable that I run a rave company, yet never have been to a rave.  I can show only so many people how it actually works (literally show them on a computer).

Solution:
I’m currently doing a whole guide (like a “course”) on how my drop-ship business works.  It’ll show all the stuff I generally don’t just “put out there” because of privacy and competition issues.

Question to those interested:
Look at the below list and let me know if you have further questions than what’s covered here.  Or let me know what you’d be MOST interested in hearing about.

You can simply comment on this post or email me:
nevmed ( a t ) g m a i l . c o m

Course Outline:

Question to those interested:
Once again, let me know if you have further questions than what’s covered here.  Or let me know what you’d be MOST interested in hearing about.

I’ve already got a lot of this already completed, but I really want to make this a TRULY informative “course” I can refer people to whenever they start asking me a million questions about HoR.

You can simply comment on this post or email me:
nevmed ( a t ) g m a i l . c o m

Thanks for your time!  :-)
-Nev

I’ve been no stranger to people not liking me online (normal person + ability to anonymously comment = jackass), but generally in person I ain’t so bad (or so I think…)

I randomly remembered this hilarious exchange I had over Facebook with a newly met acquaintance in 2007 (not sure why I never posted it on my blog back then).

Her scathing words made me laugh so hard I printed it out and posted it on my wall at the time.  I also forward to some friends and it “went viral” within our friend circle!

Just so I don’t forget about my #1 fan in the future, I’m memorializing it here:

I won’t use her actual name in the text of this post (being nice so her name doesn’t come up in search results), so we’ll call her ManPoop (that’s what her name sounds like spelled backwards).

After a fun dinner meetup we were all at, some friends told me “ManPoop REALLY hates you…what did you do?”  I had no idea, and the only interaction we had was at the same table as 10 other people.  I quickly found her boring and hard to talk to, so we hardly even spoke one-on-one.  I dismissed any thought of ManPoop until I was later told she so thoroughly hated my guts.

Since this was a family friend of a friend…I decided a quick little message would clear the air (otherwise I wouldn’t have cared at all).  I wasn’t prepared for such a well thought out message.  This verbal diatribe reminds me of those online commentors that bad-mouth everything someone does…when all they have to do is stop reading.

I still laugh every time I see this :-)

*This is kind of like my Best things about YouTube post.

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.

–Zig Ziglar

Since I work at home, during my “lunch break” I can do whatever I want whilst stuffing my face, and that generally involves something passive like watching Hulu or YouTube (I don’t own a TV).

If a new episode of Family Guy or The Office is out, I’ll watch that, but generally I watch something on YouTube which can be considered either educational or inspirational.

Something I’ve LOVED to watch over the years is Inside The Actors Studio.

They bring in a big celebrity and ask them personal questions about their journey to the top.

I don’t watch these interviews to become an actor, but rather for inspiration. Almost everyone on the show is considered “at the top of their game”, and you get a fantastic inside view of what makes them tick and how they got there.

If you watch a few of these you’ll see some clear trends most of the people at the top have had:

• Work ethic – Being consistently good.
• Some sort of strife in their life that makes them “prove” themselves to others.
• To them a loonng time to get to top.  Their success was many years in the making.
• Constantly making new things (movies, shows, books, projects etc).

The host, James Lipton, does a tremendous amount of research and knows everything about the person before they get on stage…then he just shuts up and lets THEM speak! Because of this, I’ve seen some of the BEST interviews with celebrities on this show.

To find something that inspires you, try going to YouTube.com and typing in:

(Name of some show biz person you admire) + Inside Actors Studio

If that doesn’t give good results, try the same thing on Google.com (some of the good interviews can’t be found on YouTube).

Here’s some interviews of people whom I learned something from:

• Conan O’Brien
• Chris Rock
• George Carlin
• Steven Spielberg
• Dave Chappelle
• Will Smith

I randomly got interviewed on the BBC today on the program World, Have Your Say:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2010/12/on_air_extreme_world_-_rich_an.html

It was for a series about extremely poor countries and extremely rich countries.  Which is AWESOME because of my harsh views on “homeless people” in the United States.

At 10:00am in the morning, a call woke me up, and it was from a BBC producer who had saw my blog and homeless experiment, and thought I’d have a unique opinion on this subject.  Our conversation was along the lines of:

• Does money make people happier?
• Are people born in some countries luckier than others?
• How does money impact lives?
• etc etc….

So I agreed to be interviewed over Skype within the next few hours.  I really had no idea what they would ask, or what format this was in, but it sounded fun.

FAST FORWARD AND CUT TO THE PROGRAM…..

I’m sitting at my computer, on Skype, wearing headphones to hear, and a studio condenser microphone to speak (the technician for the BBC was amazed at how much clearer I was coming in than the other guests, thanks for the gift Ashdin!)….

…and I can hear the program being broadcast live.  After a minute or two, I learned the whole program was literally being broadcast from Sierra Leone (An African country which is considered one of the poorest countries in the world)!

The BBC crew was holding up torches because there was no electricity, while the people being interviewed were cooking on a fire for the nights meal.

They wanted the people in Sierra Leone to speak to people in “rich” countries.  So it was a man from Australia, a woman from Norway, and a bratty little kid from America (me) who were going to speak to them.

So the interviewer introduces me, but didn’t ask me a question, so there is an awkward silence for a while.  Then he says, “What would you like to say?”

In my head I’m thinking, “Uhhhhh…..I didn’t want to say ANYTHING, you people brought me here to ask me questions!” But instead I kind of went with the theme of the show and started saying that I had more opportunity by growing up in America than most people in the world yadda yadda.

When I was done, I had pissed off at least ONE guy in Sierra Leone!!

I said something I knew might rub someone the wrong way, and that was that “I am luckier than they are.”

The one ultra-religious die-hard-Sierra-Leone-Guy being interviewed said exasperatedly, “NO, I am luckier than HIM!” He kind of reminded me of how the news tends to interview only the wackiest of people just to make it more interesting.

But at least he was the only nutjob in the group.  After going on my rant of how crazy-lucky I was to grow up in America in a good family etc….The other people being interviewed said in response to me:

“I feel UNLUCKY to be in Sierra Leone.”

“I do NOT consider myself lucky to be born here (Sierra Leone).”

“If I could, I would leave and go to America.”

IN YO FACE Nut Job Sierra Leone Guy!

RESOURCES:

The article about this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2010/12/on_air_extreme_world_-_rich_an.html

Listen to the entire program:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00c344s
(My segment starts at 43:30 and ends aat 46:50)

Download the mp3 of just my segment:
http://www.nevblog.com/audio/bbc-interview-neville.mp3

Listen to my segment:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(I come in slightly after 1 minute)

*NOTE: Like my What Would Happen If I Die post, I’d like to say this isn’t some weird online suicide note…it’s just my online will in case something were to happen.
Hey, I was an Eagle Scout: “Always be prepared”!

—————————————————

11-13-2010.
Saturday.
6:24 PM.

I write this on my laptop, sitting cross legged on the floor, leaning against the foot of my bed.

Just 5 minutes ago a very close friend of mine who’s a doctor called me.  She was getting ready for a party and got a call that an unidentified 27 year old male was in some sort of “bike” accident, and had arrived at the hospital with bad brain damage.  Most likely it’s irreversible and he will likely die in the next few hours.  She had to cancel the plans and come into the hospital.

I could hear the relief in her voice as I picked up my phone.  She knows I’m not in the same city, and even if I was, I wouldn’t have my scooter there….but it reminded her of me.  A 27 year old male who owns a scooter.

Her call reminded me how quick I can go from happy-go-lucky Neville….to a dead lump of cells splattered on the pavement.

I then thought about how freakin cool it’d be if I was dead, but had a post explaining to EVERYONE IN THE WORLD what to do in that situation!  Like I was still blogging from the afterlife!

Oddly enough I don’t care about dying.  If I’m dead…that’s it.  I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

What worries me is the impact my burden would have on my family and friends if I’m still alive…but severely damaged.

Not quite dead….but sort of.

So I’d like to make a public, online living will.  In the event of my death or serious injury, anyone in the world can look at what I’d have wanted for myself in different events.

Hopefully this never has to be done…but hey, shit happens.

In the case of my death:

• I would want all of my liquid assets to be transfered to my family.  This would be wired over to my parents (whom of course would use it to pay off associated costs, or share it with my brother).
• Donate every organ and usable part of my body.  Rip it all out and give it to people who need them.
• If I have some sort of funeral, I’d like this statement to be read:
• “Hello everyone, thank you for being here today….I am talking to you from beyond the grave, spooOooOOOoOOoky huh (in a ghost voice)!  I’d like to say something as my last words: I was lucky.  I was REALLY lucky.  I was born in one of the best countries in the world, at a time and place where rapid technological change and innovation was taking place, into an uncommonly happy marriage between my parents, with a great brother, into a small but tight and highly successful Zoroastrian community, and had a fantastic upbringing.I’ve been lucky to have influences on my life that allowed me to never have a job, wake up whenever I want, live wherever I want, do whatever I want….anytime I wanted. I was able to “stay young” through this and have an incredibly fun time on Earth. That being said, that is now all gone.  It is gone, but was thoroughly enjoyed wilst it was had.I was here…and now I am not.

  This is neither joyous or sad.  It just is.

  I would like to say I’ll “always be looking over you guys”…but I won’t.  I will simply be gone.  The sack of cells previously known as Neville Medhora which evolved from billions of years of small genetic modifications and selections has been irreversibly removed from existence.

  I am reminded of a quote I heard Jerry Seinfeld say about why he was shutting down the most popular show on television at it’s peek.  He said, “After years of going on stage and entertaining the audience, I’ve developed a sense for when to get off stage.  Stay too short, and they’ll want more. Stay on too long, and it can leave a bad taste.  Now is the time.”

  I may not have “stayed on too long”….but it was a great run while I was here!

  And look on the bright side: Now that I’m gone, someone else can finally have the distinction of being the best looking human in the world ;-)

  (insert raucous laughter and applause here).

  I love you all.

In the case of serious brain damage:

• Pull the plug.  If that doesn’t work, hold a pillow over my face.  If that doesn’t work, inject me with something that’ll kill me.  If they don’t allow that kind of thing…ship me somewhere they do, and get it over with.
• I’d like to make it absolutely clear I refuse to live as a vegetable.  I will actually be ANGRY if someone decides to keep me in this state. If I need other people to take care of me in order to simply exist…it’s my turn to exit the stage.

So there you have it!  In case something happens, at least people will sort of know what to do.

…now let’s hope no one ever has to search for this post :-)

Have you every wandered what it looks like to see me work?

Of course you have!

Enjoy 5 hours of me working on a computer condensed into 1 minute and 20 seconds.  EXCITING isn’t it!

You can actually see it start to get dark around the 1:00 minute mark:

It’s a little funny how many people would LOVE to work at home…little do they know, it’s just you sitting at a computer for hours on end.

…but I love it :-)

Those October 2010 Goals got finished nicely, so it’s time to move forward with November 2010:

1.) One CWPCT every week (you won’t know what that means so don’t try to guess).

2.) Promotion on House Of Rave.

3.) Handstands: Every morning when I wake up I should do four laps back and forth in my apartment walking on my hands.

I should also then do 2 minutes of still handstands.

I can already walk on my hands pretty well and even turn around.  I can also hold a still handstand for about 45 seconds.  However I like being able to do them well, so this will be good endurance training (and it’s also a way to trick me into gym-mode in the morning)….sneaky sneaky!

Still handstand, legs spread:

Still handstand, legs together:

Walking on hands:

4.) House Of Rave Christmas Season Preparations

All of these goals are reasonably attainable within the next month, so no excuses….including Thanksgiving and other festivities (which there are MANY of this month).

Cheers,
ɐɹoɥpǝɯ ǝllıʌǝu   <– It’s upside down in honor of the handstands!

I’m getting slightly better at finishing off my monthly goals.

And I must attest it mainly to the negative ramification aspect of the goals.

For October 2010 I stated the negative ramification of failing to complete all four goals was:

I was asking my brother and roommate how to keep accountable this month and I randomly spurted out this gem:

“If I don’t accomplish my goals this month, I’ll give away my bike to this particular crack-head bum I see on the street corner all the time.”

I met this particular bum doing The Homeless Experiment and personally know this guy is a huge druggy and alchy. I will be DAMNED before I give that (insert lots of derogatory words here) bum gets my mountain bike.  I ride that bike all the time and love it (I actually bought it from Lance Armstrong’s bike shop here in Austin)!

So there you have it.  If I don’t have those four goals crossed off  on Oct. 31st, 2010….I’ll give my beloved bike away to that bum.

On October 29th I worked furiously all day to make sure I’d be done with work in time for the arrival of guests in town.  It would also be Halloween, so many festivities were in store.

I then gasped in horror as I noticed the LAST GOAL on my October 2010 Goals was not going to be completed.  CRAP!

I immediately went through the list of excuses I could give on this blog (or maybe slyly avert the subject altogether) in order to not really give away my bike.  However I also thought to myself, “I’ve officially procrastinated work again, and surely this weekend I’ll be in a bad mood because I didn’t finish it all…why don’t I just stop complaining and DO IT?”

I had till Oct. 31st to finish this.

However the last goal “Redesign NevBlog” involved getting a bunch of weird formatting errors solved on my template, adding custom sidebars to WordPress and all sorts of stuff I really didn’t know how to do.  A programmer would be needed. I immediately started calling around, and fortunately I got Ray of WiredHive to come out to my apartment on SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

During the 6 hour period I spent with a programmer, my friends went out for brunch, drank mimosas, visited places in Austin, went to the pool and hot tub….and I was sitting inside with a programmer.

Was I happy about this?  No….because I was missing out on fun.  But YES….because I was accomplishing what I said I’d do.

I ABSOLUTELY 100% KNOW I would NOT have made such an effort had I not had a negative ramification linked with that goal.

October 2010 goals completed?  CHECK!

I definitely sucked at my September 2010 Goals.

…this was in part to moving to a new apartment and not having internet or a proper place to work….checkout my view of the sunset!!  (Both taken with my iPhone):

…however that’s just an excuse.  It was mostly laziness.

Anyhow, I’m all setup again and learned a hell of a lot from blogging everyday.  Particularly the best way for me to accomplish something is by creating a negative consequence I won’t be happy with.  I feel like if I do this for several months in a row, it’ll become a habit.

So I planned out my October 2010 Goals, and reluctantly made only four goals (I’ve found out when I put too many things on there I rarely end get them all done):

#1.) Great customer service on HouseOfRave.  This will be a daily thing.  It will consist of spending 20-some minutes in the morning, and 20-some minutes before 5pm on handling all customer service requests.

This often isn’t even that much work, and it has many benefits:

• Happy customers
• Less stress from piling up customer issues
• Less charge backs
• More return visits.

All of these things all = more $$$$$$.

#2.) Two HoR pics/video sets per week.  Basically it’s this. I used to do nearly ONE A DAY at some points.  I’ve literally just been lazy and not doing them.  BAD NEVILLE.

#3.) Four HoR Emails & Promos.  I just need to remember to send out newsletters.  Simple as that.

#4.) NevBlog fully re-designed.  I already implemented this new WordPress theme…I just need it cleaned up.  I’ll be hiring a WordPress designer and get all the funky formatting corrected.  Preferably I’ll find someone in Austin who can help me with a few simple fixes.

———————————

OK, so how am I going to keep accountable for these four goals??

I was asking my brother and roommate how to keep accountable this month and I randomly spurted out this gem:

“If I don’t accomplish my goals this month, I’ll give away my bike to this particular crack-head bum I see on the street corner all the time.”

I met this particular bum doing The Homeless Experiment and personally know this guy is a huge druggy and alchy. I will be DAMNED before I give that (insert lots of derogatory words here) bum gets my mountain bike.  I ride that bike all the time and love it (I actually bought it from Lance Armstrong’s bike shop here in Austin)!

So there you have it.  If I don’t have those four goals crossed off  on Oct. 31st, 2010….I’ll give my beloved bike away to that bum.

Writing everyday