fishing for coin, july 2016

In 2012 my finances were good, but I had a severe ache to get land.   So I made a wild push to get income and in 2013 I bought land.   And then I kept pushing in all sorts of ways and we now have dozens ... hundreds ... of things that have expanded the permaculture here.  

And in january, a donut in my neck popped and rubbed goo on my spinal cord.   Many months later and I am back in the saddle, but ....  my income streams shriveled 85%.  They needed that periodic nurturing to keep them going strong.  

There are three HUGE things that really need to happen in the next month.

1)  We need to finish allerton abbey so we can do the "Annualized Thermal Inertia" test this winter.  There is a bunch of cob work, and a bit of carpentry to be done for the doors.   There might be a couple of other small bits and bobs.  But right now, too much air passes through.  

2)  Jim has drilled several wells that all have water in the bottom of them.   He put a pump on one and it is working great.   We need to get a pump on another and drill some more.  Then get a solar pump going so that we can have a trickle of water to fill ponds and make tiny creeks and get water to cross back and forth across the ant plots and the deep roots plots.  Plus to be able to have animals with oodles of water.  

3)  The umbrella for cooper cabin needs to be put on.  A lot of moving of dirt.

There are about a hundred other projects to do, but these are the three bigs right now.  

The problem is ... my coin has dried up.

At the same time, the 4-DVD set is much closer to wrapping up.  I think DVD 3 will be done today.  DVD 2 will be done in a week and DVD 4 might be done at the same time.  So a few more weeks?

Janet is now renting out some of the structures here, which is starting to bring in income.   She might hit full swing in about two months.

Destiny, Adrien and Rick are working on marketing our existing products, plus are drumming up new income streams for the empire.   I am hopeful that this will result in some income in a month, maybe much more in two months.

Logically, I need to do projects AFTER the income comes back.  That would mean that all bounties and projects would have to be on hold for a month or two.  

But these three big projects ....   these would have to wait a full year to come back to.   All three are things that are done right now.   The umbrella has to be put on when it is dry and warm.  Wells drilled in the summer show water when it is the hardest to find water.  Cob needs warmth to dry - plus we need to finish it before the fall to do a proper test.  

So I need to find a way to gather coin in the next few days to see if we can get these projects done RIGHT NOW!

In a feeble attempt to bring in more coin so that we can fund these three projects ASAP ....



1.   All current deep roots people get an additional acre.   For anybody that purchases deep roots in the next seven days, you get two acres instead of one.  More about deep roots here.

2.   People can get the digital download of my wood burning stoves 2.0 4-dvd set, plus my world domination gardening 3-dvd set for 20% off:  $47.  http://www.scubbly.com/item/99938/

3.  Over the last eight months, devaka has added loads of features to the PIE program.   In addition to extra forum features (giving two thumbs up, giving thumbs down, better thread tracking, no ads, highlighting your favorite threads, the ability to GIVE pie, etc.)  If you buy a single piece of pie for $2, you can download freebies like the micro documentaries.  Anybody that buys pie now ... for the next seven days ...  six pies has been reduced from $72 to $50; and 12 pies has been reduced from $100 to $75.  https://permies.com/forums/pie/list

4.  I no longer have 100% say over the sepper program, so I cannot offer a price reduction willy nilly.  BUT, the prices are currently super low.  And of the coin that comes in now, half of it ends up in my pocket for these projects.  You can buy this now, and schedule something months or years later.  Bookings are now starting to come in through airbnb enough to think that we will need to raise our prices in about a month.   Jocelyn says that anybody that signs up for the seppers program in the next seven days can have a breakfast with her and I.  So about a half hour of eating and talking about permaculture.    https://permies.com/t/54140/labs/SEPPers-Program-Excited-Permaculture-Pampering.  

5.  We did recently lower the price on the gapper program.  Sort of.  It used to be that a family of four was $400.   We lowered it to $100 for the first person plus $20 for each person after that.   So a family of four would be $160.  Folks can sign up for the gapper program now and figure out dates and stuff later.  https://permies.com/t/46350/labs/gapper-program

6.  We do have one ant spot left.  $1200 for an acre through december of 2017.  Plus a chance at winning the ant village challenge.   https://permies.com/t/44793/labs/ant-village

7.  We are going to do a rocket mass heater innovators event at the beginning of october this year.  But we are not going to announce it until the new DVDs are done.  We have talked about doing a seven or nine day event where the first half will be two workshops in parallel (two things being built - things that have been built before) and the end of the event will also be two workshops.  The innovator stuff will be in parallel and in the middle.    I will sell tickets to the event, whatever it will be, for $500 right now - and promise that the actual selling price will be much higher.    Send your monies to https://paypal.me/paulwheaton

8.  Same sort of thing for a PDC next year.  Details are currently sketchy.  $500 right now https://paypal.me/paulwheaton

9.  Consulting.    If paid in the next seven days, all of my consulting rates are half price.  http://richsoil.com/paul-wheaton.jsp ... I do know that I will be headed to the seattle area in a month or so.  And I will be in santa fe in september.   https://paypal.me/paulwheaton

10.  100 decks of cards with US shipping:  $500.  https://paypal.me/paulwheaton



Any other ideas?  I suppose I could add a few things to this list to bring it up to a nice, even dozen.    

I really want to move these projects forward over the next few weeks.  I'm looking all around my office trying to see hints of something that might bring in enough to get this done ....  what am I overlooking?

paul wheaton wrote: For anybody that purchases deep roots in the next seven days, you get two acres instead of one.

That's an incredible deal - double the land for the same price!

Tyler Ludens wrote:

paul wheaton wrote: For anybody that purchases deep roots in the next seven days, you get two acres instead of one.

That's an incredible deal - double the land for the same price!

And I would have enough coin to get these things done quickly.  

I commend you for self funding. But suppose I wanted to send $ to help support the program. Where do I send it?

wayne fajkus wrote:I commend you for self funding. But suppose I wanted to send $ to help support the program. Where do I send it?

I have had people send me something like $100 in the past because they really grooved on a particular podcast or something like that.   Is that what you mean?

My paypal stuff is the best way right now.  

I'll never come up there, but want to support what you are trying to accomplish. I'll PayPal to same address you have posted above.

I sent some coin via paypal. I couldn't type a note for some reason. Keyboard on phone never came up.

hey paul,

would making kickstarter-projects make sense to help funding these special projects?


good luck and best wiches
tobias

would making kickstarter-projects make sense to help funding these special projects?  

This.  

"Contribute to the solar-pump for the well and we'll post a series of You-Tube videos about how we used the pump to build a waterway throughout Ant Village and how plants grew and animals came and soon enough it was the Krameterhof"

Sold.

wayne fajkus wrote:I sent some coin via paypal. I couldn't type a note for some reason. Keyboard on phone never came up.

Got it wayne.  Thanks!

Tobias Ber wrote:
would making kickstarter-projects make sense to help funding these special projects?

Possibly.   But I refuse to do a kickstarter when I have not yet finished with the last kickstarter.  

While it is a meager amount, I'll be contributing to the Empire when I get home tonight.

At the very LEAST, I feel I owe you for the 300ish podcasts I've benefited from since I get them directly from richsoil rather than scubbly.

Speaking of, do you get more if I pay directly to your PayPal account or is the premium for scubbly low enough to justify buying the RMH workshop series?

Scubbly takes 9% and that includes the Pay Pal fees.

PayPal has a way that you can now send money without any fees being taken. But it is a tricky path for a lot of people.

If you have a business, or know a business who might be interested in a banner ad, a tiny ad, affiliate link, or a sponsorship of some kind, see:  advertising on permies.com.

Permies.com is, by the way, the largest permaculture site on the internet!

All right.  I'd really like to see some water on this property.  I look forward to having breakfast with you and Jocelyn sometime in 2017. Won't make it there this year.   Topic of discussion: how women can figure out how to be involved in the infrastructure portion of permaculture.  Because I am a fit, strong woman in her prime and power tools can still take me for a ride, not to mention I don't have the physical strength to be dragging logs around to build structures.  When I need something build, I need to pay men.  That requires monies.  I'm great in the kitchen and the garden, but that limits how far I can take things on my own.  You have a year to think about that...hahahahahaha....build the damn solar pump.

K Putnam wrote:how women can figure out how to be involved in the infrastructure portion of permaculture.  

I think there could be a few books written about this.

First, we have a lot of women that are kicking ass in this space.   Look at Emily.  She is doing serious forestry and building wofatis and stuff.  At the same time, most of the ants are guys.  

Thank you Paul. I voted with fundage, thank you for the mass of pies. Good luck with getting everything funded and done. I really can't afford it either but. There's my donation to your cause. Heck I can even give away pie now.  Win-win.

If I didn't already have two acres in a warmer grow zone I'd be tempted on a few acres of deep roots up there. I have 10 years invested in here already, so.

C'mon everyone, let's spread the love around for the Lab and the rest! The Duke needs us.

I'm an IT moron .... wish there was an easy 'Donate' button somewhere here... is there, and I'm missing it?   Or some VERY SIMPLE instructions.... on how to use PayPal with a credit card.... ?

(A LOT more of us who cannot make the big purchases, might be more than happy to chip in whatever whenever ;)... and I think that's the secret..... a LOT OF US... ....right,  hundreds/thousands of US out there? ??? :)

nancy sutton wrote:I'm an IT moron .... wish there was an easy 'Donate' button somewhere here... is there, and I'm missing it?   Or some VERY SIMPLE instructions.... on how to use PayPal with a credit card.... ?

(A LOT more of us who cannot make the big purchases, might be more than happy to chip in whatever whenever ;)... and I think that's the secret..... a LOT OF US... ....right,  hundreds/thousands of US out there? ??? :)

this is a good suggestion - as well as one that can be done quickly (10 mins?)
a Donate button can be created within the paypal "tools" section. the button is semi-customizable and with the IT crew here, i doubt there would be any problem getting it added here :)


<-- semi-IT moron :P

nancy sutton wrote:I'm an IT moron .... wish there was an easy 'Donate' button somewhere here... is there, and I'm missing it?   Or some VERY SIMPLE instructions.... on how to use PayPal with a credit card.... ?

(A LOT more of us who cannot make the big purchases, might be more than happy to chip in whatever whenever ;)... and I think that's the secret..... a LOT OF US... ....right,  hundreds/thousands of US out there? ??? :)

Nancy, an easy way out of this is to go to PIE and buy some pie slices. It gives you a few 'cheap and easy' but really nice bennies, and you can donate just a few dollars then if you want. You can use paypal for that. I just bought a bucketload of pie, to support the cause. No shipping and Paul and Co, keep most of the fundage then straight off. At the top of the page should be a list of little things to click to move about the site faster, and the third one is 'Pie'.

K Putnam wrote:All right.  I'd really like to see some water on this property.  I look forward to having breakfast with you and Jocelyn sometime in 2017. Won't make it there this year.   Topic of discussion: how women can figure out how to be involved in the infrastructure portion of permaculture.  Because I am a fit, strong woman in her prime and power tools can still take me for a ride, not to mention I don't have the physical strength to be dragging logs around to build structures.  When I need something build, I need to pay men.  That requires monies.  I'm great in the kitchen and the garden, but that limits how far I can take things on my own.  You have a year to think about that...hahahahahaha....build the damn solar pump.

Woohoo!! Funds received, thank you! We look forward to it, too!

I think there are other opportunities here for trades, for small businesses / fiefdoms, where someone without the physical strength or abilities to haul logs and build structures could still have enough money or credit in other ways to have some help from other community members. We (Paul and I) are often hiring cleaning or gardening help (not quite as often cooking help, though still some times that, too), since we are stuck behind our computers managing things from that angle most days. Steve, Evan's dad and another ant, has successfully paid bounties to have logs harvested and peeled for his ant village domicile. With as hard as the ants work, they need fuel! Having fed these earnest young workers a few times, I know how much they appreciate home cooking that isn't just oats, rice or beans. So I do wonder what kind of food or cooking trade might be possible there. Even a weekly meal, $10 per plate, for those who want something different without having to drive to town would be really awesome, I think.

How's that for some thoughts even before 2017 arrives?!

For you super kind folks looking to donate, there IS a PayPal button. It's on the paul wheaton bio page (scroll down to the permaculture consulting section), or as Paul wrote above, if you're using PayPal, you can go to https://paypal.me/paulwheaton.

While the PayPal button on the bio pages says it's for consulting or donations, it can be for anything - just make a note in the comments/memo/description. And it works for credit cards or PayPal.  

Or, you can buy pie here.

If the playing cards deal Paul offered above isn't quite right, or if you're wondering if there is some other stuff that you might be interested in, we have a whole gob listed here:  richsoil.com/stuff.



Hope those links help. Thank you SO much!

OK, this is how weird I am... paranoid  S.O. (or many be not?) disallows  'automatic deduction' type donations (as in Patreon) ... also distrustful of PayPal (on eBay I use 'credit card via PayPal').   The PIE 'inner-circle-specialness' has no appeal for me...plus it seems unnecessarily convoluted to this simpleton.  However,  I've recently given serious (cumulative) $ to political candidates that I care about, easy peasy with their 'donate' button (every other blogger also seems to have one) .... so I WILL give to a good cause, like Paul's heroic efforts :)   (I just don't live in an IT world... like everyone else ;)

Hopefully I'm in a very, very, very small minority (always have been :), and do not represent a huge number of frustrated permie donors*.  

Guess I'll have to put a check in the mail on occasion ... the address is ... what again?  (Funny, putting a check in the mail wasn't so hard in the olden days LOL .... and if 100 of us sent $5 a month... $500 a month ain't chump change.)

*(btw, I sincerely believe any hope for the future lies is in the size of the many... not the amounts... but that's just me ;)

From the dailyish email, at the bottom:

Send gifts and post cards to paul wheaton, 2120 s reserve #351, missoula, mt 59801

nancy sutton wrote:OK, this is how weird I am... paranoid  S.O. (or many be not?) disallows  'automatic deduction' type donations (as in Patreon) ... also distrustful of PayPal (on eBay I use 'credit card via PayPal').  

Oh, I guess I wasn't very clear. The PayPal button on the paul wheaton bio page (scroll down to the permaculture consulting section) does offer a 'credit card via PayPal' pretty much just as you use on eBay. Does that help?

Well, an hour later, this is what I just did..at Richsoil.com, choosing the About tab, going down to the 9th paragraph "Permaculture Consulting", which ends with a PayPal button that allows me to choose 'Via Credit Card' or via 'PayPay Acct... you know which I chose ;)  In the 'Message to Seller', I indicated this was a donation to the General Fund.  And I just got an emailed confirmation ;)   But I still would like a snail mail address.... ooops, thanks, Julia, I just saw it ;)

2120 s reserve #351, missoula, mt 59801

i d like to see something like "kickstarter/gofundme/orsimilarstuff". i wrote my thesis on marketing for non profit organisations. fundraising was one part of it.
i see high value in (micro-)giving into certain defined projects. i assume (and experience) that people will be more likely to donate to projects they really like. i prefer that above "giving into one, big, anonymous pot that will cover all expenses".

what about making threads here that describe the project and raise funds for that certain project? like something nice with photos, videos, links to podcasts etc.
the progress of the financing and the completion of the project could be documented there.
people like to see what their money/donation actually accomplishes.



--------------
another question: how does it work to save fees when sending money via paypal? there should be some "friends and family"-option, but i could not find it.

Tobias Ber wrote:i d like to see something like "kickstarter/gofundme/orsimilarstuff". i wrote my thesis on marketing for non profit organisations. fundraising was one part of it.
i see high value in (micro-)giving into certain defined projects. i assume (and experience) that people will be more likely to donate to projects they really like. i prefer that above "giving into one, big, anonymous pot that will cover all expenses".

what about making threads here that describe the project and raise funds for that certain project? like something nice with photos, videos, links to podcasts etc.
the progress of the financing and the completion of the project could be documented there.
people like to see what their money/donation actually accomplishes.

We're fans of these kinds of methods, too; though the current Kickstarter DVDs need to be completed first.

Tobias Ber wrote:
--------------
another question: how does it work to save fees when sending money via paypal? there should be some "friends and family"-option, but i could not find it.

Good question! To send without fees, when you are logged into your own PayPal, there is a 'Send Money' activity where you can select the friends and family (no fee) method. Then/there you would use Paul's email, which is paul AT richsoil DOT com. Be sure to explain in the note what it's for - especially if it's for pie, cards, consulting, etc.

Deb Rebel wrote:

nancy sutton wrote:I'm an IT moron .... wish there was an easy 'Donate' button somewhere here... is there, and I'm missing it?   Or some VERY SIMPLE instructions.... on how to use PayPal with a credit card.... ?

(A LOT more of us who cannot make the big purchases, might be more than happy to chip in whatever whenever ;)... and I think that's the secret..... a LOT OF US... ....right,  hundreds/thousands of US out there? ??? :)

Nancy, an easy way out of this is to go to PIE and buy some pie slices. It gives you a few 'cheap and easy' but really nice bennies, and you can donate just a few dollars then if you want. You can use paypal for that. I just bought a bucketload of pie, to support the cause. No shipping and Paul and Co, keep most of the fundage then straight off. At the top of the page should be a list of little things to click to move about the site faster, and the third one is 'Pie'.

Exactly.  

Buy loads of pie and then give it away.  Give lots of it away.  And then buy more pie!  :)  

When people just give me money, I feel .... weird.   That's why I asked people to give money to the gappers or the ants instead of giving it to me.  And now we have the pie program.   This works so much better for me.   Not only do we get funds for all of our projects, but people can give pie to other people.  So the quality of the whole site goes up.  People that are great contributors are recognized for being great contributors - so they contribute more.  So the people with pie are

a - generous contributors to the site by buying pie
b - generous contributors to the site by posting excellent content
c - both

For those that distrust paypal, my bitcoin thing-a-ma-bob is 177pNU2a9iCpUXQwXX9EbtA2UwZpgeqcMT

I could convert that to pie for people that prefer bitcoin.

Julia Winter wrote:From the dailyish email, at the bottom:

Send gifts and post cards to paul wheaton, 2120 s reserve #351, missoula, mt 59801

When I was laid up, somebody sent a lovely card with a hundred bucks in it that said it was for ice cream sammiches.   That was a pick-me-up that lasted for weeks.   We have received a lot of fun stuff over the years.

Hi Paul,

This might be off topic as my post does not offer suggestions to meet your current financial needs.


We are web developers (www.popcliq.com) who are building a permaculture food forest on our 1.5 acre suburban lot.

I am just brainstorming....

What about developing a permaculture online directory and/or classified ads service (separate websites) that would generate residual income (with pie purchases).  A partnership with a web development team to develop & maintain the site as well as provide customer service could be established.   Other revenue generating ideas could be discussed.

The revenu gained by these new sites would be shared with you as well as the developing team that manages the site and services.  

Michelle,

Thanks for the thought.  As you can see, I already have dozens of income streams that each generate a small amount.  And I have about a hundred more in the "to do" pile already.  Perhaps this is an idea that you would like to develop for you?

Thanks Paul!  "And I have about a hundred more in the "to do" pile already.  Perhaps this is an idea that you would like to develop for you? "

If any of those "ideas" where you need some form of partner and our web skills could be of value, then please let me know. Any web project that could generate a residual income for both parties would be of interest.

----

If we were to consider developing such a project (directory or classified ads site fior listing products, & services and even plants & equipment for sale) it would likely be in some form of partnership with someone who is well known in the permaculture world where we provide all the technical web skills, management of the project and sustomer service. It would have to be a low cost service with an annual memberhip fee of $5 to $10 to list an unlimited number of products, & services and even plants for sale.  Something really affordable.


Thanks!
Michelle

Michelle,

It seems that adrien, destiny and devaka are tinkering with out code every day to add features and try to expand stuff.  

So, on the one hand, it seems that our needs for tinkering are rather constant.  And 90% of the things we do we spend a dollar to make a dime.  And once in a long while, we spend a dollar and get $100 back.  And on and on and on we go ....

All sorts of people have affiliate programs that they would like us to sign up for.  But we have been burned by affiliate programs so many times that it is now fairly rare that we will even try one.  

I like the whole idea of the pie program businesses - maybe something like that?  

With today's internet ...  things are so weird ... and changing all the time ...   it is really tough to figure out what will bring in actual coin.  The best we can do is throw the dice hundreds of times and see which things get traction.

I confess that I had high hopes that we would have one or two people sign up for deep roots.  That would solve everything right now.  

In 33 hours the deep roots offer will return to being just one acre.  

paul wheaton wrote: ...we have been burned by affiliate programs so many times that it is now fairly rare that we will even try one.  

I'm not on here very often, I come from a daily email link and then get quickly overwhelmed here.   But at one time you were pro-affiliate programs.  Have I missed a write up from you on how that changed, the burn warnings, etc?   Sorry that happened to you.

I got overwhelmed when I tried to sign up for pie previously, I'll try again.

And I badly want to come visit, just hard to get away from dairy goats.  Yes, I had milking interns before, but some chicken/egg thinks to solve here before I can have another.

paul wheaton wrote:

Tyler Ludens wrote:

paul wheaton wrote: For anybody that purchases deep roots in the next seven days, you get two acres instead of one.

That's an incredible deal - double the land for the same price!

And I would have enough coin to get these things done quickly.  

I see that I'm coming late to this party/conversation.  When exactly is the 7 days up?  Date and time?

Lacia Lynne Bailey wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:

Tyler Ludens wrote:

paul wheaton wrote: For anybody that purchases deep roots in the next seven days, you get two acres instead of one.

That's an incredible deal - double the land for the same price!

And I would have enough coin to get these things done quickly.  

I see that I'm coming late to this party/conversation.  When exactly is the 7 days up?  Date and time?

Paul put that up on July 5th. If you go to the very first thread and on the top there it will say (currently as I am typing this) 'posted six days ago' in purple, stick your cursor over that and wait and exact date and time that one was posted will show up.

If you are seriously interested in Deep Roots turf, get ahold of Paul or Jocelyn like immediately and let them know you're really serious. I'm sure it can be worked out....