To quote Lloyd Dobler "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

I know I need to post about Alaska.........but first this......

I have some kinda big news........
I'm pregnant.....not really
I'm moving to Alaska..........no way (not enough sun in the winter and TOOOO much in the summer)
I switched to Geico.......whateves....
Nope, the real news is it looks like I am going to buy a Kayaking business. My friend is selling his, I have worked for him off and on for the past 3 years. I am a great paddler and a good guide. I would get to work outside. And I would truly get to do the job I have always dreamt of. You see, I love to dive, but I live to paddle. Ever since I first tried kayaking over 20 years ago I was hooked. At that time my finances and location weren't ideal to take it up seriously. The years went by and I was always jealous when I would see someone drive by with their kayaks in their roof rack. From my family home in Maine I can see the Maine Guides doing their kayak training and I would feel my heart strings pull. I would go up stairs and figure out how I could afford to buy a $1700 kayak set up. I started small and bought the gear. A really nice paddling jacket (that I still have) the sleeves, neck and waist haave gaskets that keep them from leaking on those rainy days (this worked great when I was a bike messenger in Boston), but I have never really used it for paddling. Then I purchased a short sleeved version of the same thing. This, too, served me well when I was a messenger. Also still on a hanger in my closet. Then a paddle, but since I really didn't know what kind of a paddler I really was, I didn't know what paddle to buy. This went to a friend years ago (who actually did paddle). Shoes, shorts, rash guard shirts, gloves, a deck light, dry bags (they work for everything). For a longtime many of these objects served another equally useful prupose. But then one day I really was ready and the gods were smiling down on me and Iand started going out paddling. In Maine, at my family home. In Northern California on the many smalll bays. Still not enough. Then I moved here and guess what.......lots of people here paddle. They paddle Canoe, Wa'a (outrigger canoe), surf ski, kayak, paddle board and believe it or not you can do stand up paddle on a surf board (this is relativily new, but becoming really popular).
This leads me to the last month. I started working more and more for this friend of mine. He hurt his back and wanted to really take a step back from paddling to let it heal. This gave me the chance to really start running a business (I was the pretend owner). But I started thinking "maybe he is thinking of selling?", so I asked and the answer was "yes". I asked him to talk to me first before he talked to anyone else. And for the last month Mr Man and I have been trying to figure out how to make this happen. There are a few financing possibilities, this might actually happen. THIS MIGHT ACTUALLY HAPPEN!!!!!
I was lying in bed last night thinking about what it is like to run your own business to always be the one that you answer to. There are much fewer sick days and personal days, but come on....... personal days are the ones you take so that you can go kayaking!!!!
So for now I am rolling pennies, not going out to eat, not buying anything on a whim
(except this...........http://www.hobiecat.com/kayaking/models_adventure.html....but really it is a business expense)





We can now tow the lazy with relative ease.
All this being said might you have $66,500 I can borrow? Or does anyone know some wealthy or even just a little wealthy old guy who is about to kack that I can marry???????
Thanks for all the advice................

1 comment:

MarkD60 said...

I have a Scpper Pro with a tank well, it's the best of both worlds.
I also have a Scrambler. I love to kayak!