NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

Brainstorming Investment Ideas

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I like to brainstorm investment ideas, and I always end up with these two in the pile.

I’ve always liked solar power, as I think it’s the simplest form of free energy. I did a partial post about Austin’s solar incentives a while ago. It explains how Austin will write checks up to $5,000/yr for individual households and $100,000/yr for commercial real estate to utilize solar energy. Not to mention the mass amounts of money saved on electric bills.

The Austin Convention Center has solar panels on one face of the building….

Austin Convention Center Solar Panels

….and they don’t look half bad.

I did some research a while back, and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) seems to be a big, publicly traded player in the solar market. I also want to find some other contestants in the solar game.

I already bought and sold ESLR a few days ago, selling because high oil prices are drawing attention to alternative energy companies. I plan on buying and holding the company again when the price goes down a bit.

Another technology I REALLY like is physical media cards.

SD Card

They can often be boiled in water, survive a plane crash and hold a lot of information. They are the size of postage stamps and can currently hold 4+ gigs, and within two years that number will go up exponentially.

They have no moving parts and require no maintenance or special care-taking. This is the perfect technology for the new, fast and small devices to come. I’m thinking SanDisk (SNDK) will be the biggest player in this market. I’ve bought and sold SanDisk stock in the past with success, hopefully a longterm hold will prove the same.

Hurricane Katrina Emergency Identification

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Situation: In Austin there are approximately 4,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees living at our convention center in Downtown.

Problem: Most evacuees have lost all forms of identification. Certain logistics are preventing the DMV from responding to this situation.

Solution: Create Katrina Emergency Cards for evacuees.

One of my business friends and I decided to donate our time in a unique way: Create a full-fledged operation in two days to assist the city of Austin in providing identification cards for the evacuees from New Orleans.

We have already had discussions with the head Austin city planner in charge of the evacuees, and he loved the idea and wants us to start soon as possible. Robert will further explain in this video:

Hurricane Katrina Video

Robert owned several ID companies in the past, therefore he has experience in the identification industry. He still has much of his equipment, including $20,000 ID card printers and a $35,000 holographic film generator. He also has hookups like you wouldn’t believe.

One business idea I had come to Robert with just possibly got a big jumpstart. ExpressID’s might now become a reality faster than I expected in order to help the Katrina evacuees staying in Austin. However, instead of being for profit, Express ID’s will be for charity.

To get a better idea of the situation, we decided to volunteer inside the Austin Convention Center which is hosting the evacuees. Video:

This was one snapshot of the inside:

Robert has already spoke to the to the decision makers to make this a reality, so Saturday night we started taking care of some smaller things things like business cards:

I usually party on Saturday, but instead Robert and I will work through the night to get the smaller details out of the way: Business cards printed, signs made, ID card design finished, contacting people and configuring the ID equipment.

We had a friend of Roberts whip up a few sample cards, this was the first he gave back. This most likely will not be the selected card:

If this is going to happen, it will be a combined effort of many people donating their time, talent, money and resources. We are aiming to roll out 2,000 ID cards by Monday.

In a matter of 24 hours, we have:

  • Come up with an idea
  • Talked to the right people – Several major banks have agreed to endorse the card for check-cashing and we already have approval from the guy running evacuee operation.
  • Created a Project Image – Things run a lot smoother when you’re organized.
  • Got Website Up – The ExpressID’s website is by no means perfect, but it’s up.
  • Got donors – Robert obtained donors willing to fund the project. If we end up replicating this process in Houston and other places, it will cost a significant amount.

I decided to document this whole process. Even though this is a volunteer effort, in many ways it is much like starting up a company. We’ve been taking video with my Casio Exilim EX-S500 at every step:

We’ve recieved the permission from the proper authorities and we have the resrouces to carry this project out quickly. It will be interesting to see how it goes!

Dalai Lama Line – Stock – Advertising

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Since I really want to take a picture with the Dalai Lama, I camped out to get tickets. I already applied for press access, but I’m uncertain if that’s going to be sufficient enough. I also need about 10 extra tickets to give to some non-UT friends.

I waited with friends in a gigantic line from 3:00am till 8:00am…..

….so I could get these two tickets:

It made me laugh when I saw the back of tickets say you CANNOT bring cameras. I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that, and bring my camera (which is also a video camera) anyway. This just adds more fun to the challenge!

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On another note…
I sold my holdings of ESLR today, the gain was over $480 in about two weeks. I expected to hold this stock long term, but the quick rise in price prompted me to sell. I will buy again when this ESLR mini-rally stops.

ESLR was held in my ROTH IRA account, therefore I will not consider the profits as income.


9-6-2005 holdings.

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Also, I saw a really creative way to advertise while partying on 6th Street this weekend:

This truck simply parks on 6th street before they barricade it off to accommodate the large party-going crowds. The truck then raises a large, rotating cylinder with advertisements on it. For relatively cheap they appeal to a young demographic in a heavy traffic area for hours at a time. Brilliant! However, I wonder if it violates any city advertising laws.

Make More from First Online Business

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A business associate and I were speaking when he asked about my first online business, House Of Rave.com.

I told him I started it in high school and it had consistently made an average of $800 or more per month for the last 5 years, I don’t keep any inventory and all the shipping is done in California.

He then asked me, “Can you make more?” The answer was a simple yes. I spend less than 20 minutes a day on it, and if I spent a little time upgrading the whole operation, I could bring in about 50% to 100% more money. I know what works and doesn’t work with this particular business, I’ve just somehow always been satisfied with the money it brings in.

He told me, “This is low hanging fruit for you,” and that sentence re-sparked my interest in the business.

Over the month of September, I am going to enact the following items to improve the business:

-Add 1-800 number – I already have a VOIP phone for the business, so a 1-800 number is only $5 more per month.


Add my own pictures – I never see most of the products I sell, so I want to order select popular items for myself, take my own pics and write my own descriptions. I’ve done this before and it was very successful.

Make contact form – An online contact form would allow customers to ask questions without having to physically send an email with their own account.

Put tracking system on my own server –I currently have an order tracking system, but it is hosted elsewhere. Customers do not see it is hosted elsewhere, but it costs more money to host with someone else.

Get exchange server for mail – I use webmail for the business right now, so I cannot keep long term track of old mail/sent mail.

Offer Gift Certificates – My shopping cart software allows for gift certificates, so there is no harm in offering them.

New SSL certificate – I just didn’t want to pay for it, so the user-end shopping cart system has not been on an HTTPS connection for about a year now. I need to get a new certificate now as they are not expensive, and they give customers a better piece of mind.

Updates every three days – This rule would make me update either the main page or the blog at least twice a week. This lets users know there is someone on the other end.

These are just a few of the updates I am going to make. Hopefully within the next few months I can increase net profits by at least 40%.

1st Attempt At Buying Used Fails

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I want to buy an Aprilia Scarabeo 50. $3,400 new after tax, title, insurance. So I am looking to score a used one.

I placed a Want Ad on Craigslist and a guy Charles e-mailed me saying he had a blue 2001 Aprilia Scarabeo 50 for $1,000. He knew the scooter was jet-kitted to 70cc, but was very shady about other details.

Charles wanted to meet at 5:00pm today in a Chili’s Restaurant parking lot. That was shady also. 30 minutes before our meeting I went to the small shop he said he bought it from, just to ask them a few questions about what they sell, and I happened to see Charles there, riding the scooter and trying to fix it with a mechanic! I overheard him say, “Why the hell does it always smoke so much?” He didn’t know I was in the parking lot until I got out of my car.

I took the bike for a 5 minutes test drive, and everything worked OK, but the bike was smoking a lot. His response was, “Ohh, those two stroke bikes always smoke.”

He was trying to “patch up” the problems with the scooter before our meeting. He was also playing dumb on all the questions I asked, and I could tell something wasn’t right. I eventually found out the engine was rebuilt, it had 7,000 miles on it and it was used by motorcycle racers to get around the track.

After talking to him, I could easily spot he was hiding something. I don’t want an unreliable scooter, so I told him thanks for the test drive and I walked away. I will eventually buy one, but for more money and in better condition. The test drive however was fun! I took a short video clip before turning onto a main road:

Aprilia Scarabeo Test Drive Video

It looks like I’ll have to wait for another opportunity to buy this scooter.

Oh yea, today was also the first day of my last semester here at UT.

Quitting Law School Job

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As things get busier for me, my time has become more valuable. I currently work at the UT Law School in the 5th floor computer lab. I got the job to do precisely nothing, which allows me time to do homework, business etc.

It’s a do nothing job so long as I work night hours. You can see how empty the 5th floor gets at night in this video clip:

do nothing job video

My evenings have become my primary time to run errands, meet people, get work done etc, so my work schedule is becoming an interference.

To solve this, I am quitting. On average I get a $250 paycheck every two weeks, less than a single, low maintenance business of mine brings in. It wasn’t bad pay, considering the most I’ve ever done at the job was this:

I will now have to live without that extra $500 per month, but I will make up for it with some upcoming businesses (One of which I missed the launch date of August 28th).

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In other news, I turned in the Dalai Lama Press Application in preparation for my attempt to take a picture with the Dalai Lama. I had a very busy morning, so I scribbled down some information using NevBlog and Weblogs Inc. as publishing editors. At the office, I told them I was a freelancer. I’m sure they will check this site out and see what is REALLY going on!

Also, my next personal business has a new launch date of September 9th, 2005. I am currently outsourcing some writing and doing the proper research to get it up and running.

Moving Fast

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Things have been moving at a million miles per hour lately, and I’m loving it. School doesn’t start till the 31st, so I am focusing on business only. Things are starting to get REALLY exciting.

The amount of reading and “studying” I’m doing right now for various businesses is more than I’ve ever had in school, but it’s all for business so it’s much more fun. The reading is mainly for another personal business project I’m launching soon. I’ve got three full books to read and take detailed notes on. It has something to do with:

I’ve got TONS of stuff on my plate, and recently we just added more projects to the table, but More Work = More Money. The problem here is not spreading resources too thin at the moment.

Speaking of moving fast, I saw my first on-the-road Ford GT during a business meeting at a hotel. This thing will set you back something like $180,000:

If only I had the keys…

After paying $13 for 2 hours of parking, I’ve decided to step-up my efforts to buy a new form of easy-to-park-for-free transportation.

For about 2 months I’ve been seriously thinking about purchasing a new Aprilia Scarabeo 50 scooter. Everything I do is within a 4 mile radius of my new apartment, and parking before 6:00pm is the most frustrating thing around campus and all over downtown Austin.

After doing the research, the Aprilia is by far the best (and most expensive) 50cc scooter I’ve seen. It gets 122 miles to the gallon because it’s the only fuel-injected 50cc scooter in the world. I’ve spoken to people who own them, and the consensus say they can hit a top speed of about 50mph with ease…..fast enough to be safe in traffic, and slow enough to keep me out of trouble.

A brand new 2005 model out the door after tax, title and 1-year of insurance is around $3,400.

-Nev

Picture with the Dalai Lama

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I want a picture with the Dalai Lama.

He is coming to speak here at UT in September with an audience of approximately 13,000 people. Tickets are free to UT students, but with 13,000 people it will be difficult to meet Lama.

Why a picture? Because he’s the Dalai Lama. Enough said.

I’ve been working on business projects all day, everyday, so I haven’t had too many mini-adventures lately. My next plan is to disguise myself as a member of the press and get close enough to take a picture with the Dalai Lama.

Ticket information is available here…..
https://dalailama.union.utexas.edu/main.php
…..press access is my ticket to get close enough….hopefully.

I must fill out a form, get a background check from the U.S. State Department and receive press approval. I might have to remove this post when I submit my information, just in case they Google my name (I’ve got no clue how extensive their search will be).

I plan to either make up a fake publication or claim I am a freelancer for The Daily Texan, the largest college publication in the country which I used to write for. I may need to pull some strings to get editor-approval for this (J. McNamara, can I call in a favor??).

I might even make a bogus ID card to wear. I’m thinking something along the lines of:

I might also learn how to say “May I take a picture with you” in Tibetan.
This page has a few other Tibetan phrases I could learn.
https://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/9594/tibet.html

Who knows, it may not be that hard, or it may be impossible to snap a pic with the DL. September 20th will be show time.

Stuff Going On

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I set a limit buy price of $6.00 on Evergreen Solar (ESLR) a few months ago, and just found out it triggered, buying 330 shares. This is the first buy in my Roth IRA account. Now I need something other than common stock in this account.

An even bigger surprise was the addition of Acco Brands (ABD) to my regular trading portfolio….because I’ve never heard of it. Apparently Fortune Brands spun off their office supplies division, so now I own 7 shares of Acco at around $26 per share.
I’m going to list this $183 as income.

I’ve got a new side business on the way, hopefully launching by my goal date of 8.28.2005. It will be a low maintenance operation once setup, but there is a lot of reading and researching to first be done on my part.

I won’t give away details just yet, but it has something to do with:

I am working on much larger projects with some business associates, making this one look like pennies. However, there is nothing wrong with having several small side incomes.

New Place On The Lake

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School is out till the 31st of August, meaning I have about two weeks to concentrate on business projects big and small. It’s time to stop spending time on school and start dedicating full days to business projects.

I’ve also moved out of my old apartment……

…..and moved into a bigger, 2-storey apartment on the lake. I’m less than half a mile from the freeway, and I still get great views like this from my balcony:

So far I plan on spending $0.00 on furniture. Our living room is already stocked, and I’m not too picky about what’s in my room. I’m an awful decorator anyway.

I’m hoping to score a free mattress somewhere around Austin, so I’ve been cruising CraigsList quite often. I might eventually take a trip to WalMart or Fry’s for a small computer desk, but for now I’m going to play it cheap.

The lake is a 10 second walk out my door, and I met my new neighbors, these gooses and ducks!

The move hasn’t been bad so far. One of my roommates has a hookup for free moving trucks, so we’ve spent literally nothing the entire time.