“Remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught. He can be killed and forgotten. But four hundred years later an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed firsthand the power of ideas. I've seen people kill in the name of them; and die defending them.”

Ideas are truly amazing things.  For man, there is not much in this world that is more powerful.  But ideas just don’t exist.  They have their beginnings.  Ideas start as something vague, often just a tickle in the back of the mind; a concept.  Something just waiting to gain form.  Once planted, it is mulled, cultivated, and polished until it develops into something far more substantial, far more potent: an idea.  To most people, an idea is just that; an idea.  They do not realize how much hidden potential nor how much weight an idea holds in the human mind.  They guide, inspire, and call to action.  An idea almost invariably motivates someone to act and becomes a driving force little else can match.

For me, I have an idea.  I didn’t always have it though.  It too began as merely a concept; something that took the better part of 5 years to fully gain form.  Keep in mind, ideas are not static things and do not necessarily appear the same when looked at from a different perspective.  They are very much like gems sometimes with flaws, sometimes varying in dimension, always with many facets.  My idea began some time ago with the desire to stop renting.  Renting was and is a bit of a waste of both time and money, however, for many, it is the only option.  I no longer wanted one option, I wanted many options; I wanted freedom.  After doing much research and spending countless hours figuring out what was available to me, I realized that of the many options I found, buying a house was probably the best way to go.

The concept takes form.

Homeownership was the immediate answer to my dilemma and so that was the road I pursued.  Much searching was done to find something that my meager income would allow.  Something did come up, however, and buy I did.  I knew that I purchased at a fairly good time and all was great, for a while.  The housing bubble began to grow shortly thereafter.

Pressure builds.

Being a homeowner is all well and fine except you begin to realize a few things; things that don’t hit you until a little way down the road.  First, you’ve made a contract to be indebted for the next thirty years and pay over three times the purchase price(which is not necessarily the actual value) for something that is ultimately just shelter.  Second, it is entirely your responsibility to make any and all repairs AND do them to current building codes.  Third, you really aren’t a homeowner; the bank still holds the title.  It sounds a bit like a rent-to-own deal with slightly better terms.  As a “productive” member of the workforce, I was getting tired of working in order to make someone else money in exchange for a small return on my effort only to see a huge percentage of that go to shelter alone and everyday coming to terms with the fact that I would be doing that for at least the next 30 years.  No, I’m not lazy.  I suspect I will work in one capacity or another for the rest of my natural born life.  I just got tired of seeing so much of my effort directly benefit everyone but my family.  I wanted my actions, my effort to directly benefit my family.  I no longer wanted to be dependent on someone else for my family’s livelihood.

An idea is born.

Such was my desire.  I wanted to be the creator of my destiny, I wanted to succeed or fail because of me, not someone else.  The obvious question was how to go about doing that.  Sabrina and I discussed it at much length, coming to the conclusion that becoming an entrepreneur was what I wanted.  Not necessarily what she wanted though.  I also realized that I wanted to spend more time with the family which meant something that could be done at home.  I revisited the topic with Sabrina and after more deliberation, we decided that if I was to do this, it would have to involve Sabrina AND it would have to be something she was willing to do.  We chose a bakery.  It provides an essential service, comes with many good skills, was something that could involve the whole family, and it could be done from home.  Not from our current home mind you, but a home; we would have to move in order to make it work.  Around this time the housing bubble had popped and credit markets began to tighten.  We had picked the area of Snowflake/Taylor to open up as the population density, income level, and competitor market share all fit perfectly.  In fact, there was no bakery for almost 20 miles.  We had picked a location that would allow us to live, bake, and sell all from the same location.  It was going to be tight, but it was feasible.  We thought it was all set and were ready to move forward.  Then the area’s largest employer laid off a third of its workforce.  The credit market completely froze and needless to say, we weren’t opening a bakery.  In one fell swoop my plans had been erased.

A facet is cut.

Anyone looking at this would think “Well, good effort. Guess that’s that.”  I don’t personally believe in giving up.  Rather, if something can’t be done right then, I just shelve the idea until the time is right to pull it back out again.  One of the interesting things about an idea is that as it solidifies and gets its permanent form, there is a good chance that it will take you down many roads.  There’s more than one side to a ball and more than one way to skin a cat.  It was no different for me or Sabrina.  As time has passed, my idea has also become Sabrina’s idea; joint ownership, joint responsibility.  It does not necessarily look the same from where she stands, but the ultimate goal, what we both hold in our hands is the same.  She wanted me to be around more, wanted a safer place to raise the kids, wanted something better than what we had.  The economy by this time was really starting to take a dive and things for the next few years at least did not look good.  They still don’t.

An idea complete.

I realized after contemplating my next move that my goal will not change.  It was just the means of achieving it that must.  Sabrina and I sat down once again and hashed out a plan that would help us attain what we so desperately wanted.  I also came to the conclusion that the bakery idea was not so far off the mark of how we would accomplish our goal.  I still wanted to have control over my successes and failures, I wanted to directly provide for my family’s livelihood.  Then it hit me; whoever controls production and distribution, has power and freedom.  Since I didn’t want to be dependent on anyone, controlling production and distribution seemed like a logical step.  So how would that fit into the plan?  Well, I’ll start with a bulleted list of my desires and Sabrina’s desires:

                Sabrina

·         Safer place for the kids

·         Closer to cousins/family

·         More space

·         Cooler weather(she hates the heat)

·         Financial freedom

    Braxton

·         Financial freedom

·         More space

·         Safer place

·         Self reliance/sufficiency

·         Better weather

·         Learn essential skills

·         Develop family economy

There is more, but this list will suffice.

The plan has been developed as follows:

                Everything must be bought and paid for.  No debt.

                Acquire land.

                Build storage shed.

                Move belongings into shed.

                Build shelter.

                Install utilities.

                Build greenhouse.

                Plant trees.

                Acquire key animals.

                Work on practical skills.

                Work on food storage.

                Maintain and move beyond food storage.

                Work on strengthening the family.

                *There is more, but again, this will suffice.

There is alot to it and certainly much more is involved.  Over the next couple years, we will work on it, and complete the list almost like a check list.  Again, if something on it can't be completed just yet, skip it and revisit later.  To date, we have purchased a 4.75 acre lot and almost completed a little house.  If I get time, I'll post the plans and layout.  This is going to take time as one of the caveats is that everything must be paid for in full with no debt.  One of the neat things about living in Arizona is that we have what is known as a homestead law.  Most states have one, but Arizona's is particullarly generous.  In a nutshell, if there is no outstanding lien or mortgage on the property, your home cannot be taken away from you regardless of what people might try to do(assuming the property is valued below $150,000).  All you have to worry about is paying your property taxes.  A simpler life with the assurance of having a home to come back to regardless of my employment situation, the abillity to be almost entirely self-sufficient, and the chance to work with and support my family side-by-side with them is something that truly brings me joy.  If I can make it happen, I will and that is what I am working towards(that and more).

As you can see, this is a tall order.  These are radical changes and the implications required hard consideration.  It will take some time.  Some of it has already been completed.  Many have scoffed at the idea, others are intrigued.  Quite honestly it does not matter either way.  This is how I know I can best serve my family and this is how I intend to do it.  This is the gem I have crafted.  This is my idea.  It has inspired me, moved me, and motivated me to act.  This is where I now stand.