Four Winds N Fast Company by Carel Two-Eagle

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Finding New Product Uses

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives. I believe I've said before that I take no salary from my company in order to give it more to build with, & instead, I work outside jobs. Among my many skills is that of carpentry - master level, frame to finish including cabinet-making. Today, I rode along with someone to install a window in (shiver!) a trailer house. I think they're called "mobile homes" now, but they're 'trailers' to me. Anyway, like most "trailer homes", this one had substantial rot around the window. We had no way to fix it short of inserting pieces of wood to fill the space, caulk heck out of it, then hand-nail the new window trim in place. This is the tried-&-true way, especially since people who live in 'trailers' seldom have much money. If they did... etc. But - we had no suitable wood with us. My company makes a product from chopped flax straw. I have been experimenting with this material since I first got a bale ground, & have found many interesting uses for it. Today, I came up with one more, & the copyright application is in the works now. I had a bag of "Golden Dawn" in my pickup, along with a certain kind of glue. I mixed the 2 together & stuffed the space left by rot removal with this mixture, & we waited. It took a few minutes, but the mixture hardened & gave us a material we could nail into to attach the trim. No "custom sawing", no hassle. I'll be refining this product & process, & in the near future, I expect to have another product to offer - in this time of lousy economy when supposedly there is nothing going on but "gloom & doom". It occurs to me that perhaps my current often-scary lack of ready cash for anything & everything is not entirely 'bad' (although I would cheerfully {ecstatically!} trade it for a pocket full of cash any time..) - because 'necessity being the mother of invention', I am always on the lookout for something that will make a product inexpensively & quickly. I can't afford to have a lazy attitude, any more than I can afford more than the bare essentials right now. And maybe that's the secret to success in micro-business in a nutshell as much as anything. You think?

02:37 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

We Are Now 28 of Us

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives. The title says it all. 28 being 4 * 7, 2 holy numbers in the Lakota Way, 28 is, too. We're growing, & this is good. Interesting this should happen when U.S. political history - & perhaps, world political history too - are being made with the election of a mixed-blood, Barack Obama, to the U.S. Presidency & a white man, Joe Biden, to the U.S. Vice-Presidency, instead of the other way around. And, they got elected by a landslide margin with few (no?) questions of legality in the vote-counting and tabulating as happened in 2000 & 2004. I see this as a major shift toward the "good" end of the scale, and I pray it means we all are going to see new "good"s happening in / to the world we share. Mitakuye oiasin - All (are) my relatives, after all.

12:55 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Talk About Nerve! A Business-Political Rant

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives.

 I received an email recently that claims Wal-Mart senior management has been calling mandatory meetings for the company's employees in which the employees are told they "cannot" vote for the Obama-Biden ticket "or any other employee-friendly, union-friendly candidates for political office". It's not an urban legend, according to the sources I checked.

 This makes me so angry I just boil. When it comes to the Constitution, I am a rabid supporter.

  Moreover, a person's vote is their own business, bumper stickers & shop talk notwithstanding. No one has a right - or even, the privilege - of telling another how s/he should or should not vote - even less how s/he can or cannot. Period, no discussion.

<< To complain, go online & send emails to the company's contacts; & / or call 1-800-Wal-Mart & raise stink via phone. Better yet, do both. Then boycott Wal-Mart if you don't already, & be sure to tell them you are doing so. The concept of the Land of the Free particularly includes one's voting preferences; & keeping one's job is never contingent on one's vote.. nor should it ever be. >>

<< And while we're on the subject, I want to get some things about Sarah the Bimbo off my chest. (1) She IS NOT representative of women in general, and women like me in particular. (2) Should you be one of those who thinks she's somehow unique because she hunts, let me tell you she isn't. I've hunted for over 35 years. Took 32 deer in 24 of those years & the guys I hunt with call me "Deadeye". I just don't make a big stink about it, & neither do most of the other women I know who hunt. We just get the job done - without trying to be so damned perky while we do it, as if we were trying to recapture our 6-year-old year. Makes me want to barf!, does Sarah the Bimbo. (3) Sarah the Bimbo is anti the following: (a) Freedom of Speech, religion, and privacy; (b) woman's right - not privilege - to choose whether or not to remain pregnant - which put Sarah the Bimbo in the same camp with rapists, since Gross Sexual Imposition is, by definition in law, the imposition of one person or group's preferences or desires on the sexual organs of another; (c) sex education other than abstinence - we've seen how well that works; she has a pregnant 17-year-old daughter; (d) stopping global warming; (e) preserving the Arctic, polar bears, and wolves (Sarah the Bimbo supports aerial alughter of wolves & promotes a $150/right foreleg bounty on wolves). I got the "anti" facts about Sarah the Bimbo from an email from Republican women who also want to make it abundantly clear that Sarah the Bimbo does not represent them, either. (4) I am utterly offended and repulsed by Sarah the Bimbo's continually referring to the general run of Americans as "Joe and Josephine 6-pack". This promotes the concept that alcoholism is normal for the general run of Americans; that the general run of Americans are more concerned with their (apparently-daily) 6-packs of alcohol than they are with issues; and that this is somehow acceptable. NOT! A! CHANCE! >>

 This being a business site, and you having an interest in micro-business, it is my hope that you will raise hell with and about Sarah the Bimbo and vote for any other candidate other than her & John the Jerk. This pair have less than no interest in micro-business; & less than that when it comes to women & minorities.. I'll leave you to look up the facts on their track records on this.

 Let us not forget that this patronizing old man had an affair with a rich heiress before divorcing his disfigured wife of dona-hey years - and then married the rich heiress a week or so after the divorce.. and then has the gall to claim he's a religious man. As a Spiritual Person of my People, I'd like to know what religion that is.

 Let us also not forget that this patronizing old man said "I don't think women need more Affirmative Action.. They just need more education and training." Like dogs? Hm? I'm no great supporter of Obama; I admit there's something too slick about him I just can't get near; although I like Joe Biden. But I'll vote for my dog before I'll vote for Sarah the Bimbo & John the Jerk - & we haven't gotten anywhere near my rants on the ability of either one of them to improve the business climate in an environmentally-friendly way, yet; or her potential to take over "in a good way" if/when John keels over..

 Thank you for hearing me in a good way now.

12:40 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Talking About Nerve!

Hanh mitakuyapi.  Hello my relatives.

  I received an email recently that claims Wal-Mart senior management has been calling mandatory meetings for the company's employees in which the employees are told they "cannot" vote for the Obama-Biden ticket "or any other employee-friendly, union-friendly candidates for political office".  It's not an urban legend, according to the sources I checked.

  This makes me so angry I just boil.  When it comes to the Constitution, I am a rabid supporter.

  Moreover, a person's vote is their own business, bumper stickers & shop talk notwithstanding.  No one has a right - or even, the privilege - of telling another how s/he should or should not vote - even less how s/he can or cannot.  Period, no discussion.

<<  To complain, go online & send emails to the company's contacts; & / or call 1-800-Wal-Mart & raise stink via phone.  Better yet, do both.  Then boycott Wal-Mart if you don't already, & be sure to tell them you are doing so.

  The concept of the Land of the Free particularly includes one's voting preferences; & keeping one's job is never contingent on one's vote.. nor should it ever be.

  << And while we're on the subject, I want to get some things about Sarah the Bimbo off my chest.  (1)  She IS NOT representative of women in general, and women like me in particular.

(2) Should you be one of those who thinks she's somehow unique because she hunts, let me tell you she isn't.  I've hunted for over 35 years.  Took 32 deer in 24 of those years & the guys I hunt with call me "Deadeye".  I just don't make a big stink about it, & neither do most of the other women I know who hunt.  We just get the job done - without trying to be so damned perky while we do it, as if we were trying to recapture our 6-year-old year.  Makes me want to barf!, does Sarah the Bimbo.  (3) Sarah the Bimbo is anti the following:  (a) Freedom of Speech, religion, and privacy; (b) woman's right - not privilege - to choose whether or not to remain pregnant - which put Sarah the Bimbo in the same camp with rapists, since Gross Sexual Imposition is, by definition in law, the imposition of one person or group's preferences or desires on the sexual organs of another; (c) sex education other than abstinence - we've seen how well that works; she has a pregnant 17-year-old daughter; (d) stopping global warming; (e) preserving the Arctic, polar bears, and wolves (Sarah the Bimbo supports aerial alughter of wolves & promotes a $150/right foreleg bounty on wolves).  I got the "anti" facts about Sarah the Bimbo from an email from Republican women who also want to make it abundantly clear that Sarah the Bimbo does not represent them, either. (4)  I am utterly offended and repulsed by Sarah the Bimbo's continually referring to the general run of Americans as "Joe and Josephine 6-pack".  This promotes the concept that alcoholism is normal for the general run of Americans; that the general run of Americans are more concerned with their (apparently-daily) 6-packs of alcohol than they are with issues; and that this is somehow acceptable.  NOT! A! CHANCE! >>

  This being a business site, and you having an interest in micro-business, it is my hope that you will raise hell with and about Sarah the Bimbo and vote for any other candidate other than her & John the Jerk.  This pair have less than no interest in micro-business; & less than that when it comes to women & minorities..  I'll leave you to look up the facts on their track records on this.

  Let us not forget that this patronizing old man had an affair with a rich heiress before divorcing his disfigured wife of dona-hey years - and then married the rich heiress a week or so after the divorce.. and then has the gall to claim he's a religious man.  As a Spiritual Person of my People, I'd like to know what religion that is.  Let us also not forget that this patronizing old man said "I don't think women need more Affirmative Action..  They just need more education and training."  Like dogs?  Hm?  I'm no great supporter of Obama; I admit there's something too slick about him I just can't get near; although I like Joe Biden.  But I'll vote for my dog before I'll vote for Sarah the Bimbo & John the Jerk - & we haven't gotten anywhere near my rants on the ability of either one of them to improve the business climate in an environmentally-friendly way, yet; or her potential to take over "in a good way" if/when John keels over..

  Thank you for hearing me in a good way now.

03:02 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Two-Eagle Re-Post of Excellent Article

Homeless Entrepreneur Shares Office With Millionaire| posted by Francisco Dao

I recently read an article that said a recession is a great time to start a business because when times are tight, deals can be found on many of the goods and services needed to grow a company. While this might be fundamentally true, I wondered how many entrepreneurs actually felt the same way. Economic realities being what they are, people still need to eat and pay their rent. With the economy in shambles, how many entrepreneurs would take a chance on a start-up knowing it might be nearly impossible to get a job if things didn’t work out? I decided look for an entrepreneur who was actually doing it.

My first challenge was figuring out where to start my search. There was always Starbucks, but living in Los Angeles all I found were struggling screenwriters. I decided to try a co-working space called BlankSpaces. If you’re unfamiliar with co-working spaces, they are apparently the new trend for people who got tired of working alone at home. After chatting with a few of the usual suspects, I met Edward Lujan, a recently homeless entrepreneur, and Firas Bushnaq, millionaire and executive chairman of eEye Digital Security, working together on a new company. At the very least, they were an odd couple so I had to find out how they ended up together.

I often meet “wannabe” entrepreneurs who say things like “If I just had a million dollars then I could start my own business.” Obviously these aren’t the kind of people who would start a company in a down economy. Edward was just the opposite. A one-time Wall Street trader with a big paycheck, Edward gave it all up to start something on his own. After an earlier partnership went awry, Edward found himself living in his car. I asked him why he didn’t go back to a job and he said, “I just knew in my heart this was going to work.” When he took a part time job to get back on his feet, Edward did something extraordinary. Instead of renting a place to live, he spent his first paycheck on office space at BlankSpaces. Most people, including me, would think this is crazy, but in Edward’s case the decision to rent workspace would result in an amazing turn of fortune.

Firas Bushnaq is a curious man. How else would you explain a millionaire serial entrepreneur who leaves his company to incubate start-ups in a shared office? Someone like Firas was the last person I expected to find in a co-working space, and yet here he was looking for entrepreneurs to help launch – entrepreneurs like Edward Lujan. Because Edward put his start-up dreams even ahead of his own well being, Firas took a chance on him and Setstr.com was born. It’s early, and Setstr still has a long way to go before making money, but Edward Lujan and Firas Bushnaq are doing something most people find terrifying. They’ve started a company during a recession.

When I started my quest for an entrepreneur willing to risk it all in a down economy, I never expected to find one who was so dedicated to his goal that he would pursue it in the face of homelessness. Nor did I expect to find a millionaire incubator willing to give a shot to a guy sleeping in his car. Instead, I found them sharing an office and starting a business together. For Edward, the economy was irrelevant to the pursuit of his dream. For Firas, the trappings of success were no replacement for the thrill of mentoring an eager entrepreneur. Recession or not, it seems true entrepreneurs are willing to put it all on the line and go forward come hell or high water. With no end in sight to our economic woes, I wish Edward and Firas the best of luck. We may need more such visionaries to get us out of the current swoon.

02:40 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Amazement is Magical

Hanh mitakuyapi.  Hello my relatives.

  I amaze myself every so often, and that's both fun & magical.  Then again, sometimes things happen that amaze me, and I have few complaints there, either.  This last happened recently again, to me.

  I am in the midst of renovating an old building that was essentially abandoned for nearly 20 years.  The landlord/mortgage-holder and I go around annually - he's mainly concerned with whether the grass is cut & the front looks like a pool table than with innovation and creativity that result in betterment of the planet.  I'm of the opinion that: (a) there are 360 degrees in a circle, so if people don't like the looks of the yard, no on forces them to look at it; (b) they are driving at 60 mph so they should be watching the road & traffic, no lollygagging at 'yards' they pass by; (c) it's in the country, if that makes any difference, and (d) experimentation results in improved conditions, while mindlessly doing the same thing repeatedly is stagnation, & stagnation equals death - of a lot of things.

  This year, the front is 'overrun' with a plant that is regarded as "a weed", although it is planted in its native Asia as a forage plant.  This plant caused my latest episode of amazement.

  When I transplant, I water with "manure tea" rather than plain water, to minimize transplanting shock & to encourage a fast growth start for the plant.  Needless to say, the manure tea bucket smells pretty unique, & I've never been able to get it to smell "passable" after even 1 day of making manure tea.  Until a few weeks ago..

  I was pulling said "weed" out of the 'yard' preparatory to planting buffalo grass.  Buffalo grass is pretty drought-tolerant, makes a dense mat of fine-leaved rosettes, and doesn't grow more than maybe 4" - 5" tall.  I will never waste time and fuel mowing again, once this project is finished.  I was putting the pulled "weeds" into the manure tea bucket when the phone rang.  I set the lid lightly on the bucket, and answered the phone.  When I came back a few minutes later, the manure tea bucket smelled sweet!  Fresh!  Like new!  Duwahleh!  This is noteworthy!  A-maz-ing!  And my business-oriented brain pounced on the concept that this could be a whole new use for this "weed", called "a product".  As in "yields income, improves the environment, and decreases pesticide use".  I'm an organic farmer/gardener since childhood.  It's a Traditional thing, after all, that we do not poison our Holy Mother the Earth, and then ask her to feed & clothe us.

  I tested this "weed" both fresh & dried with the same odor-eating results.  I made some sachets of it & put them in sneakers & had good-smelling sneakers in less than an hour.  I was almost bouncing off the walls from excitement.  Magic does that to me, even after dona hey years.  Hope I never lose that....

  So now I'm really fired up to get a web site up & running (any angels out there who would like to help us with this??  Let's talk!).  And in the meantime, I've gone to a couple of friends who farm thousands of acres about this and was told, "If you want this stuff, we'd be happy to go out with the corn chopper and fill a chopper wagon with it for you."  I wonder how many gadjillion yards of fabric we'll need to put this out as sneaker-sweeteners, cab fresheners, and so on..  You get the picture.  Comments?

07:27 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

We're Twenty-One (of us) Again. Ahhh!

We're back up to 21 members. I like this. I still don't know why we lost that member, and may never, but I'm not a happy loser, especially when I don't know why; because if you don't know why you lost, you can't fix what needs it. I'm a big believer in failure analysis, and have been since college. Back then, I read that Corning Glass's research lab did such unique things as Failure Analysis, on the premise that you are likely to learn more from analyzing your failures than from your successes. It has stood me in good stead over the years. For example, when I was doing blacksmithing for a living, I & my help put Nice Metalwork in 12 countries. We did real blacksmithing, not cold-bent-and-arc-welded stuff. We also worked in forgeable brass, copper, and bronze. I competed in Open Competition, and at my best, stood 9th in the world by 1/2 point from the guy who took 1st. There were 49 of the best blacksmiths in the world in the arena that year, and I was one of them. 9th by 1/2 point from 1st is hair-splitting, in my estimation, and I'm proud of having done that well. Failure Analysis was very helpful to me in getting there. After every competition, I would replay it in my mind; evaluate my work in the competition and pick it apart mercilessly, so I could invest more time and effort in what needed work, and just practice whatever I already did well, in order to not lose my edge there. Minority Micro-Business Development being dear to my heart, when someone leaves our group for whatever reason, I want to know why; so if it's something I did, I can - perhaps - not do it again. I've been up to 'there' recently in fund-raising activity for one of my micro-business projects. With luck, we will have something to discuss about that. Regardless, welcome to our new 21st member! Thank you for joining us!

07:57 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Oops and Ouch! and We Don't Know Why

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives. I got a notice from Fast Company that they removed one of our group's members "for activity deemed inappropriate to the group and/or Fast Company". That's the whole notice. While I, at least, appreciate that Fast Company checks to see that illegal activities aren't going on on the site, I also want to know when one of our number is suddenly whisked off-site. The reason given is seriously lacking in details, and that always makes me uncomfortable. I'm a big believer in free speech & in the concept that free speech someone doesn't like is best combatted by more free speech. Until or unless Fast Company tells us why they removed one of our members, we're back to 20, which is still a good number. But just between thee and me and the gatepost, I'm going to be distinctly uncomfortable about the 'why' of the removal for some time to come. I thought you ought to know about this. Mitakuye oiasin.

04:04 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

21 & Climbing!

Hanh mitakuyapi.  Hello my relatives.

  We're at 21 members now.  The winning number in blackjack..  An excellent number in the Tarot, & we with a vested interest in minority micro-business development definitely should relate to Arcanum XX1 - "The World".

  For those of you who don't know diddly about the Tarot - Arcanum XXI, The World, is depicted by a beautiful woman, dancing on the world, but is also taken to be dancing on either the head of a pin or the edge of an abyss.  She has all the possibilities available to her, but she challenges herself by where she dances & the dance she does, which is not at all restrained.  Sounds awfully familiar to me.. but then we Eagle People dance on the edge of the abyss all the time.  Ever see the mating dance of eagles?  Not for the faint of heart.  A lot like being a minority in micro-business.

  Welcome to everyone!  Keep dancing..  Like nobody's watching, as the saying goes.  oh-hanh!

12:28 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Fund-Raising Idea

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives. I was listening to NPR a couple of mornings ago and heard a story about a man challenging the incumbent for State Representative in one of the other U.S. states. He was having a hard time financially. Some knowledgeable person told him that the prevailing wisdom was, it takes $25,000 to be successful there. Our erstwhile challenger - who is apparently something of a web wizard - created a comic strip using stick figures and put this information on it. The strip included a bearded 'professor figure' stating that "raising $25,000 is simple. You just need to find 50 people who will donate $500 each." Our challenger said, "Gee.. I might know TWO such people.." He then figured out that if 3,000 people donated $8.33 each to his campaign, he would have the money he needed, and he put that in the cartoon strip; then posted the whole thing online somewhere. (I'm still trying to find out where, because I believe 'location' or 'accessability' is important to this concept.) The first weekend his strip was on the Web, he got so many hits, his server crashed! He fixed whatever needed it and reposted, and raised $96,000 in less than a week ( !! ) I've been trying to raise a few thousand $$ to get my company up & running - instead of up & toddling - for several years. I take no salary and work outside jobs for my survival. It's very difficult and unbelievably wearing; especially since I'm single and for whatever reason, haven't found any suitable potential helpers, no matter how I've searched. The fact that I am generally judged to be The Most Stubborn person on the planet is all that keeps me going some days. Like most minority people - especially us females - it's an uphill slog against the wind in a blizzard no matter which direction you go. We are privy to all manner of truly idiotic bigotry - race, gender, and age - no matter how we slice / dice it, it's a study in dedicated stupidity in the majority culture. We're too young, in the child-bearing years, too old, female, the wrong color, the wrong spirituality / religion.. You name it, I've heard it and so have the rest of us. Gentlemen, I love you dearly; I was raised in large part by 11 wonderful men. But you don't get nearly the flack that women do in this matter of business, management ability, and funding. Hope you appreciate your good luck!, especially in this supposed Age of Enlightenment. Regardless - I mean to try this man's approach to fund-raising, and with some of the money, not only re-establish the business; but use some of the money to support the NPO I also head so it can do its job better. It has always had a huge fund-raising problem. Once the for-profit is making a profit, a portion of its profits will be dedicated to supporting the NPO, thus completing a circle that can only generate good for all concerned. The implications are far-reaching and vast. Anyone having any thoughts on any of this is most welcome to put them out.... Specifics of how to do it come to my mind first....