Remember the crazy business guy that taught my friend, Shane, the wrong stuff so that he would be dependent on his teacher to be successful? Well, I ran into him a couple of days ago - easy to do on a unit of 1,000 men - and he said that he would give me a shot with my business questions.
The reason I came to him in the first place was because I want to start my own graphic design business when I get out and, while I know a bit about the graphic design part, I don't know much at all when it comes to business. I hoped to get a good idea of how to actually operate my business.
Today we started on accounting and how to get the business off the ground. I can tell he doesn't have a good idea of what a cash-strapped start-up needs to do because e keeps giving advice for pricey services like a CPA and an attorney, but most is solid, like how to organize costs and revenue.
I think I will learn some essentials over our next few sessions but I also think I would learn more by watching the processes. My biggest problem is not knowing what to ask about. I'm just that oblivious. I can't wait to get out and dive into it, though. Experience is the best teacher, right?
My friend, West, works in maintenance as a clerk and has just taken over in the parts room. He has to keep track of what was ordered, when and how often parts are issued out for jobs on the unit. With that info, he gives a monthly report on how much money was spent and how much the department needs to order for the next month.
And it is all done on paper.
West asked me last week if i could build a database for the parts room to make things work more smoothly and easier. After getting permission from West's boss, I went back to maintenance and built a structure for the in Access. It took a while since I didn't know everything the database needed to it would be used. Once the skeleton was assembled, I asked West to populate it with fake data and make some forms to help see how it would be. He also me a list of functions wanted as we discussed project back at the dorm.
With the foundation in place and an idea of what needed to be done, it was time to get dirty. Access is not the best or easiest-to-use development tool for making programs, but it is the best we have available. I probably wouldn't be good at any others since I have almost zero experience. Most of the functions need to be added in with Visual Basic, which I am slightly familiar with after working on the book cart program in the library. The first bit of work on the parts room program was easy to set up. Then West kept asking if this certain thing was possible or if this tweak could be made. All of what he has asked for is possible, I'm sure, but I just have to figure out how to code it. Sometimes the process of discovery can take days, though joy of figuring out the solution is definitely worth it.
To give myself a break from the parts room program I have been fine-tuning and adding functionality to the fantasy football program I made to track stats and scores for the seven leagues in the unit. It's a lot of fun taking a rough product and transforming it into a lithe, easy-to-use beast. Hopefully, I can do that with the parts room program before I leave.
During lockdown last month I read a graphic novel called A Drifting Life that is a history of post-war Japanese culture and comics, as well as a kind of autobiography of its author, Yoshihiro Tatsumi. When I mentioned the book to my parents, my dad asked, "Oh, is it like Lenin for Beginners?" I'd never heard of it, so he explained that it was a comic he read in college that was a biography of Lenin and his place in the Russian revolution.
Yesterday I received a pass to the mailroom that stated I had a package waiting for me. When I went to find out what came in, I saw that it was a copy of Lenin for Beginners with a companion, Trotsky for B
eginners. Interesting. Even better was that they were both original editions from the late 1970s. It's wild to me that books sympathetic to communism were in wide circulation while the old War was far from over.Today I received two more Cold War-era comics from the same series: Marx for Beginners and Nuclear Power for Beginners. My cellmate joked with me that my dad was trying to turn me into a communist. Far from it, I thnk he was trying to expose me to some cool history in an engaging way. I can't wait to dig in.
When I get out I plan to go back to school and pursue a degree in architecture. However, that won't be until next fall. Untill then I will be working at least part-time with the non-profit I worked for prior to my incarceration and also trying to start my own design/advertising business in the Metroplex area. I should be home later this month or early next month, so I've been trying to take advantage of my time to plan out the business.
My friend, Shane, had a mentor here that taught him quite a bit about busness. I've talked to his mentor in the past and he seemed to be sharp, so I figured he would be a good resource to tap into to help me with my plans. I asked him Tuesday if he would be willing to give me some assistance, but didn't get a straight answer. He just asked me to come back the next day to talk. I've been looking for an answer each day since and didn't get one until I pressed him today and he said no. Along the way I found out some pretty sketchy things, and part of me is glad he said no.
All week he has complained that the inmates in the state prison are liars and don't follow through with what they say they will do. He says his students in the federal prison actually wanted to learn and weren't just learning to have something to do. I think part of that is because inmates in the state don't really have any responsibilities and are often looking for ways to pass time while expecting handouts.
The thing that upset me was that he said he doesn't teach correctly - on purpose. The whole time he teaches he feeds lies to his students until they get out. Then he instructs them to contact his lawyer for further instructions. He makes his students beholden to himself rather than independent. Sketchy, eh?
The reason he told me "no" was becasue I was going to be independent and he wouldn't profit from it. In defending himself he tried to use Harvard as an example. People pay huge amounts of money to go to a school like Harvard. He said he was like Harvard. However, I countered, Harvard recognizes talent and will provide scholarships for excellent students. There is such a thing as a free edcuation. It seems his only satisfaction comes from money, of which he will get none from me.
Fall is here (well, almost) and you know what that means - football, and along with football comes fantasy football. I shouldn't be here too much longer, but the fantasy season will help pass the time. This year's should be better than last year, too, since we have a fantasy football approved for rec.A few weeks ago West and I got to talking abou the season and he mentioned that it would be cool to get more people playing or if we had a unit-wide fantasy league. It sounded good to me, too, but how would it happen? We had an idea - if basektball, chess and volleyball had tournaments at rec, why not fantasy football?For a rec activity or tournament to be legit, it must first be approved by the assistant warden. West and I argued over who would ask permission before we agreed that West would type up the paperwork and I would ask the assistant warden to sign.When I walked into his office, the assistant warden greeted me and said, "Come on in and sit down. Sheesh, every time I see you, you always look so serious. Lighten up!" That was certainly not what I expected. I explained that we would like to start fantasy football leagues at rec to get guys interested in the football season and keep them at least a little occupied. He was all for it on one condition: the paperwork at rec and in the dorms had to be neat. No problem there. West can type stuff up at work in maintenance.
We had over sixty guys sign up, which gave us enough for five leagues. This whole week has been a string of drafts for each league. It's been busy for me but gratifying to see so many guys excited aboout the season, even guys who have never played fantasy football. Should be fun.
