Map of the Sears and Kmart stores closing in 2017

In this Business Insider article (7/7/2017), there's a map of all 245 Sears and Kmart stores closing this year.  You can zoom in to check out specific areas.  Here's a couple things I noticed from a quick look at it:

- The majority of Sears/Kmart stores closing are east of the Mississippi River.

- Most of the stores closing are in the smaller or medium sized cities in rural areas. 

The Retail Apocalypse: Suburbs versus cities

Just found this great article by Henry Grabar on Slate.  He looks at today's Retail Apocalypse by comparing it to how city downtowns lost much of their retail 50 years ago.  There are different dynamics happening here, but he makes great points and explains the mistakes cities made in fighting the suburban malls decades ago.

More news on the Retail Apocalypse

In this CNBC article (6/2/2017), they give a bunch more facts and stats on the Retail Apocalypse, and a look at the coming Mallpocalypse.  Here are some of the key points in the article:

-Credit Suisse predicts 20 to 25% of all malls (in the U.S.) will close down in the next five years.  There are about 1,200 enclosed malls in the country, so that means 240 to 300 are expected to close.  Other sources have predicted 400 will shut down in the next five years.
-Retail sales growth is the weakest since the Great Recession of 2008.
-Luxury purse maker Michael Kors is closing 100 stores.
-Gymboree is now in bankruptcy.
-Retailers fired 6,100 workers in May 2017.  That means about 95,000 retail workers have lost their jobs in the last seven months.
-16 million people, 1 in 10 American workers, work in retail.

Meanwhile...
-Amazon is opening physical bookstores.
-Lidl (pronounced Lee-dul), a German grocery store, is opening lots of new stores.

This isn't a recession that's closing all these stores.  Not yet, anyhow, I think we'll head into a recession in the six months to a year.  What's happening to Retail stores is what happened to factory jobs in the 1980's-2000's, and what happened to music in the 90's.  New technology, automation, and changing buying habits have changed the game.  The old school department stores, mall stores, and other retailers just didn't keep up.  It's a major business revolution, and it's far from over.  Just like factory workers in previous decades, thousands, and likely millions, of retail workers will have to learn a new career... or create their own job or business in some way. 

The Retail Apocalypse is hitting teen job market hard

"Young jobseekers are facing a perfect storm of employment barriers this summer." -Jordan Bruneau

In this East Bay Times article, the writer lays out many reasons why teens will have a harder time finding work in many places this summer.

Why do I write a blog about weird ways to make money?  Because a lot of people just can't "Go get a job" anymore.  We need to find alternative ways to make a living.  That's what this blog is about.

The Retail Apocalypse keeps apocalypting: 4,229+ stores closing

This Radio Shack Vine pretty much sums it up.

Late last year, the mass of retail stores closing got dubbed The Retail Apocalypse.  The numbers just keep going up.  The best overall list of stores closing is by Clark Howard and his team at clark.com.  This article now lists 4,229 retail stores closing or closed this year.  That doesn't include Gander Mountain, which is having liquidation sales at 126 stores OR Kohl's that plans to downsize about 200 stores.  That list has expanded by 1,000 or more stores in the last couple of months.  Many, many more stores could close before this shakeout hits bottom.  I haven't seen recent numbers on the total people laid off yet by all of this. 

Somehow, in our Dali-esque, Trump-focused universe, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street is surging even higher today.  BUT... nearly 40% of millionaires surveyed recently do not plan to invest next month.  That's huge.  They're waiting to see how this insanity in both retail and Washington D.C. will pan out. 

Why am I doing this weird little blog about starting a small business or creating your own job?  Because millions of people are going to have to create their own jobs in the next several years. 

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to get a check

Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout and tech billionaire creator of Facebook, called for looking at "Universal Basic Income," in his Harvard commencement speech a few days ago.  Here's a guy who made an incredible fortune in his 20's by writing a program initially designed to meet hot girls at Harvard.  He's really, really smart.  He had a great idea, and worked hard with many other people, for several years, to make it happen.  Yet, he has the audacity to say that luck played an important part in his success.  That's pretty freakin' amazing.

So what is "Universal Basic Income?"  It's the idea that every single person in the country should get a basic income from the government.  Yeah, a multi-billionaire is saying you deserve a check just for being a human being.

Why is he supporting looking into this idea?   Because a small group of people, mostly really smart people, look to the future we're heading towards.  One of the big issues they see, and the issue that sparked this blog for me, is that machines and software are quickly replacing human jobs.  Nobody who looks into the issue seriously, is sure how we will out the whole population to work in the next 10-20-30 years.  There just aren't going to be enough jobs, pure and simple.

At the same time, small groups of people, like Mark's initial crew at Facebook, are able to create tens of billions of dollars of value with their company in a few short years. They realize that they can't spend all that money on golf courses, call girls, yachts, gold plated urinals, and stuff like that.  These people are looking to put a chunk of that wealth back into the system to being millions out of poverty and level the playing field in the economic world.  Obviously, the people who have rigged that playing field in their favor for generations aren't stoked on this idea. 

Personally, I'm not sold on Universal Basic Income, and I've spent years homeless while working full time, and way beyond full time.  My first thought is turning us into a nation full of people sitting on the couch, getting stoned, and playing video games all day.  But around here, so many people scam to get a Social Security disability check (who don't truly deserve it), that it's be cool if the hard working and motivated people also got a check.  A lot of people would do a lot of really cool things if they could get beyond financial instability.

Personally, my focus these days is to help people build and grow the small creative scenes that give people an outlet for their energy and creativity.  Those scenes often turn into new businesses and new jobs, and sometimes entire new industries.  But I am really glad a group of really smart, really wealthy, forward looking people are thinking about this concept.  What do you think?

More tech and less human jobs in the future

I hit working age in the mid 1980's, and I got hired for every single job I applied for until age 27 or 28.  I was completely unqualified for most of the jobs, but I adapted quickly and did well at most of them.

It's a whole different world now.  This WIRED clip from a couple of days ago hits on a huge issue that very few people are talking about.  Technology changed the taxi industry in the 2000's (before Uber and Lyft), and I could no longer make a living, and became homeless.  I know what it's like to get wiped out by new technology.

I've haven't had a regular job for years now.  As I started looking into this issue, I came to the conclusion that MILLIONS of Americans will have to create their own jobs in the next several years.  There's no way around it.  That's what this blog is about. 

Seth Godin on the courage to connect

This one hit home for me.  I just spent three days putting together a blogpost for my old school BMX blog.  Only about 100 people checked it out.  That's not bad.  But I spent a lot of time on the post, but didn't put anything personal into it, just a great selection of links of clips form years ago. 

It's easy these days to create media.  But actually connecting with other people, that's another thing.  A scary thing.

Hey, guess what? Lots of Red States would take a big hit from the Trump Budget

In this CNBC article today, we see how Trump's budget, if actually passed, would hit a lot of red states hard.  Medicare, SNAP (aka food stamps), Social Security Disability, they're all looking at big cuts in his agenda.

I file this under the "Duh!" category.  But then, I actually read books articles about economics.  I never understood why so many working people voted for Trump when it was pretty obvious they would be hard hit by his inevitable plans. 

A great idea for an abandoned Walmart

Just saw this on Facebook thanks to a share from Scotty Z.  This town took an abandoned Walmart and turned it into a huge, and amazingly cool, library.  There are over 3,500 retail stores closing down this year.  We need lots more of this kind of thinking.

Baby Boomers, Millennials, and the the future of real estate

It's not often that I'll share ideas from from a millennial, but this guy shares some really great thinking in this clip.  Will the younger generations' crushing student debt keep them from buying houses, and make the housing market drag along in most areas?  He could be right to a great degree.  I don't agree with everything he says here, but I think he shares a great piece of our financial/social puzzle. 

Seth Godin on the end of the Industrial Age and more

This 2012 clip is my favorite Seth Godin clip on You Tube.  In 8 minutes he blast through a whole series of great topics, the main one being, "Step up and do your own thing."  More than anything, Seth gets out the end of the Industrial Age is forcing a revolution on our society, and how the internet and newer types of marketing play into that.  Just watch.

Latest retail store closings list from May 2, 2017

In this latest list of retail store closings, clark.com's list now includes 3,583 stores closing THIS YEAR.  Most of these stores haven't actually closed yet, so we're not seeing the ripple effects on other stores, but those effects will come later in the year. 

A better than expected "jobs created" number just came out, and Wall Street is still thinking things are going along fine.  In addition, Republicans are working on a bill that would repeal many of the financial industry regulations put in place after The great Recession of 2008.  In other words, we're being set up for another, similar collapse in the future.

U.S. Economic Growth Slowing In Early 2017

In this clip you can see the official news by Bloomberg (business news) that the U.S. economy has slowed in early 2017.  The economy grew by .5%, slower than the 1% expected.  Here's an overly simple analogy.  If the economy is a bath tub with 100 gallons of water in it, economists would like to see the amount of water grow by 3 to 4 gallons (3-4%) every year.  In the first three months of 2017, it grew by 1/2 gallon. 

Over the past 8 years, under the Obama administration, the economy has been growing by about 2.1% a year, or 2 gallons in our imaginary bath tub.  That's slower than most people would like, but at least it was growing slowly. 

So what is a recession?  The old, traditional definition, and still the British official definition, is when the economy shrinks two quarters in a row.  So if our bath tub loses any water for six months in a row, that USED TO BE the official definition or a recession.  But the U.S. now uses a special group and all kinds of complex stats to officially call a recession.  The reason for this is simple, when we go into a recession, they can manipulate the data and say we're not really in one, hoping it'll pass and no one will notice.  As soon as an official recession is called, people freak, and things usually get worse. 

In addition to the economy slowing down its growth the last few months, the Federal Reserve, the (unconstitutional) organization that prints our money and sets official interest rates, is going to raise interest rates at least twice more this year.  That will slow the economy more in all likelihood. 

So what does all this mean to you?  The economy is slowing down under Trump, but to be fair, the president really doesn't do much to the economy overall.  If Trump and Congress can get the major infrastructure plan going (rebuilding roads, bridges, internet hardware, etc.), that will help a lot.  If Trump and Congress can get multinational corporations to bring the 2 trillion dollars they have in other countries back into the U.S., that would help to some extent. 

But in my humble opinion, Trump has shown himself to be completely and utterly incompetent, and both political parties were shattered in the 2016 election cycle.  Trump found a huge, disgruntled group of Republicans, and Bernie Sanders found a huge disgruntled group of Democrats.  The old leadership of both parties is completely out of touch with most Americans, and they can't get shit done because they're fighting among themselves. 

My take is that the 2017 recession will actually start sometime between now and this fall.  By the old definition, it will be an official recession by either late 2017 or April 2018.  But the U.S. financial world will not actually admit there's a recession until late 2018. 

If there's a quick and serious crash of the stock markets (which is coming before too long) or another 3,000 to 5,000 retails stores close this year, or the student loan debt SLAB's start to collapse, it could all happen sooner and in a quick fashion. 

Yes, this is bad news to most people.  But it's good news to entrepreneurs and people working in fast growing and disruptive industries.  In any case, buckle up, there's a roller coaster ride in our future.

The Retail Apocalypse continues: April 29, 2017

OK, let me start by getting the obvious out of the way.  If you're going to publish a video online and call yourself Tyler Durden, get Edward Norton to do the voice over. 

That said, the number tagged above of 8,640 stores closing is an extrapolated number, an estimate.  But the real number is around 5,000 retail stores closed or closing soon, and growing.  This really is the Retail Apocalypse.  This video has a really annoying computer generated voice, but a lot of good facts in it.  If you're in business of any kind, you need to be aware of this. 

Here's the deal in a nutshell, since I know few, if any, of you will watch the video.  Remember when we used to watch MTV, or glance through Rolling Stone magazine and hear of new bands, or maybe Thrasher for the people reading this post.  When we found a cool new band in the 90's, we'd go buy the CD.  Major record labels, artists, and music magazines made a fortune.  And then some kid none of us had ever heard of wrote a software program called Napster, and it changed EVERYTHING in the music world?  That's what's happening to traditional, full price retail stores right now.  Each business has its own story, but a common theme is that the bricks and mortar stores and mall shops didn't take online sales and outlet malls seriously early on.  Now they're going down like a house of cards.  I wouldn't be surprised to see 10,000 to 20,000 total stores closed within a couple of years.  Many of the 1200 enclosed shopping malls, probably 400 to 700, will close in that time as well.  Personally, I think this will be enough to throw our teetering economy into a serious recession. 

But here's where I disagree with the producer(s) of the video above.  The Retail Apocalypse IS NOT the next "Big Short."  The Retail Apocalypse is a business revolution where one business model, online selling, is taking over the older model of having lots of physical stores.  The student loan mess, where loans have been bundled in things called SLAB's and sold to investors, is the next Big Short.  If the slow growth/retail collapse induced recession causes a much bigger default in student loans, THEN things will get nuts.  One recent article wrote that over 1 million student loans are in default right now. 

To me, this all feels like 1990, the start of the six year long "double-dip recession."  That rarely remembered period was a hair away from being a true depression.  Yes, I know you don't want to think about all this, but here's why you should.  Economic downturns are when the most new ideas spring up and when a lot of new businesses are started.  The early 1990's was when actual riders took over the BMX industry, skaters took over the skateboard industry, and snowboarding exploded in popularity, actually saving the lagging ski industry.  But now, those rider-owned companies ARE the old dinosaurs.  If you're one of them, what new ideas and new tech are YOU ignoring?  It's worth taking a look. 

Do the Hustle

"The Hustle" was the first song I ever learned to dance to (badly).  Hey, I was in 4th grade and didn't realize that disco sucked.  I also didn't really know what "hustle" meant.  I was a middle class white kid living on a farm in Ohio with no other kids nearby.  You can't really hustle cows. 

But now I know what hustle means.  I'm 9 days into the process of setting up my first Shopify online store.  Yes, I know you can set one of those stores up in a couple of hours... IF you have the photos and money in your bank account.  I'm broke.  And our ten year old camera finally wore out, so I can't take pictures right now.  No, I don't have a phone at the moment.  I'm pretty sure I've told you all before, I'm starting with damn near nothing.  I set an insane financial goal for myself 18 days ago, and that has completely changed my mindset.  That's one of the good things that goals do.

Last night I decided to start my online store with just stickers in it to start.  Once I scrape up a few bucks, I'll buy a cheap camera and take the photos and add my finished original drawings to the site.  Then I'll build from there.  Once I started building my Shopify store, I realized that you have to sign up for one of the monthly plans to actually open the store to the public.  I tried to do it, but it said there wasn't enough money ($29) in my bank account, which was (and still is at the moment) true. 

Yesterday, I thought up a bunch of ideas for original stickers, and wrote down some of the old ideas I had.  I came up with one new idea I really liked.  I woke up this morning with about 30 cents to my name, but I had several sheets of blank sticker paper left over from the last batch of homemade stickers I made.  I needed money to make the sticker masters and copy the actual stickers.  If you don't know already, you can buy paper (as opposed to vinyl) sticker paper at an office supply store in 8 1/2" X 11" sheets, it's about $20 a pack for 20 or 30 sheets.  Once you make a master of the stickers you want to make, you can copy the design onto the sticker paper on most good copy machines.  Then you just cut out the individual stickers.  This is how we made cheap stickers with Xerox art designs back in the 80's. 

One of the  weirdest things about living in a small North Carolina town is that it's really hard to make money here starting with nothing.  If you don't have something worth selling on Craigslist, scraping up the first few bucks is difficult.  People here tend to freak out if a stranger walks up to try and sell something.  But there is one legal, but sketchy, way to make a small amount of money over a couple hours time.  I'll tell you about that some time in the future, when I'm sure I'll never have to use the technique again.  In any case, I started this morning with about 30 cents and some blank sticker paper sheets.  I went out and did the sketchy technique and scraped up $3 in about an hour and a half.  By then I was thirsty.  I got a Diet Coke for $1.07.  That's not a good use of my small amount of money, but I don't drink coffee, and Diet Coke is my morning caffeine fix.

 My next trip was to the library where I typed up the words for the sticker, and printed them along with the photo I'm using.  I then went to an office supply store with self-serve copiers.  I made the initial copy of my design, 1/4 page size, and then made three more.  So then I put all four on a single sheet of paper, that's my sticker design master/duplication copy.  I used the rest of the money I had to make four copies on the sticker paper.  Then I cut the stickers using the free paper cutter there.  Bam! Now I have 16 funny stickers, each one I plan to sell for $2, to raise money to open my online store.  Like the song above says, "Do the hustle."

There are many ways to raise money to start a business.  You may be able to borrow money from friends or family.  I can't  do that right now.  You may be able to crowdfund using an online service like Go Fund Me or Kickstarter.  Or you can just start hustling.  I learned the power of hustling from Chris Moeller, pro BMX rider and the owner of S&M Bikes in the early 90's.  He scraped up some money, made bike frames or handlebars or stickers, and then sold them QUICKLY at a profit.  Then he reinvested most of that money and made a bigger batch of frames, bars, stickers, videos, whatever, and sold those.  He just kept repeating the process, pulling a minimal amount of money out to pay rent and buy food and beer.  His amount of working capital just kept growing and growing.  I found there was no big secret to how a teenager started and built a bike company from an initial $1200 loan from a family member.  He just hustled, day in, day out.  Now, so many years later, it's my turn to do just that.  Remember, most stuff doesn't sell itself.  Unless you're selling crack or something, but that's not a good long term business plan.   

Think something up.  Make a few of them.  Then do the Hustle. 

Can a street performer turn into ever find success? Guy Laliberte

This video of Guy Laliberte, one of the Cirque du Soleil founders, gives a good look at what the spirit of a street performer can turn into with lots of hard work and talented people working with him.  He wandered off on his own playing accordion on the streets to make money as he traveled Canada and Europe.  He learned to walk on stilts and breathe fire in his travels.  When he landed back in Quebec, he joined with some other street performers and they formed a new kind of circus.  Cirque du Soleil, the revolutionary French-Canadian circus that changed a tradition that goes back centuries.

I worked on Cirque du Soleil for the first time in 1993, when it was a single show, under the big top, traveling North America.  It was like no other organization I'd seen before or since.  I worked in the box office selling tickets to a show no one had ever heard of.  I loved working there so much, that I worked on the next four Cirque du Soleil tours that came to Orange County, California as well.  It's one of the only jobs I've had where I looked forward to going in to work each day.  Cirque had a magic behind the scenes as well as on the stage.  I even met Guy one day on my way in to work.  He was talking with several other crew members, and I didn't realize who he was until I went on into the box office and one of my managers pointed out the window and told me he was one of the founders.  He was in jeans and a shirt and blended right in with the other crew members.

When I titled this blog Get Weird Make Money, Guy was one of the people I was thinking of.  The founders of Cirque weren't in it to get rich.  The wanted to create a show like no other show ever.  They did that.  Then they did it again... and again... and again.  There aren't a lot of interviews with Guy online, but in the few around you get a good idea of how he operates.  Take and idea, run with it, work your ass off, and surround yourself with good people.

Here's the preview of Saltimbanco, the first Cirque du Soleil show I worked on.  Flying from a Russian swing is still on my bucket list...

A good explanation of the Retail Apocalypse

I just found this video, and ultimately Ryan is pushing Shop.com, which I don't know much about... yet.  But his basic look at what's happening right now with the Retail Apocalypse, massive chain store closings, and where sales are going, is great.  The retail shopping dinosaurs are dying off and jobs are disappearing all over.  How are you going to cope with this?

I'm building my online store...

As I was selling my artwork in spurts last year, I kept toying with the idea of getting on Etsy or somewhere else to be able to sell online.  But nothing seemed right.  After setting a HUGE financial goal a week or so ago, I started looking for ways to achieve that goal.  I've decided to build an online store on Shopify to sell my art, zines, and what ever else I can come up with.  I'm building it right now.  I'll let you all know when it's ready to go. 

Of the Shopify videos online, this one is my favorite.  It feels the closest to my thinking these days.

H H Gregg is closing all 220 stores

Earlier in the year, electronics stores was going to close 88 poor performing stores.  As you can see from the news clip above, as of 4/7/2017, they're closing all 220 stores.  Retail Apocalypse continues...

"Retail Apocalypse" has a Wikipedia page... really

You know it's a fast moving trend when even the list of store closings on Wikipedia isn't up to date.  But yes, there is a page for Retail Apocalypse, so I guess that's as official as it gets.  There's isn't a page for "Mallpocalypse" yet, but I'm sure it's coming soon.

Mallpocalypse: 5,233 Retail Store Closings between 2014 and 2020

There are now over 3,300 retail stores closed or closing soon in the U.S..  When you add chain stores that have closed since 2014 and those scheduled to close by 2020, the number is at least 5,233.  And that's if we DON'T have a recession and the economy strengthens.  Here are a couple of key articles about what's happening:

Clark Howard's latest list of store closings.

The Harsh Reality of Shopping Malls- clark.com

Retail's "bigger problem hiding"- Business Insider 4/13/2017
There are over 220 mores more stores closing on this list that I didn't count above...

The Retail Apocalypse has Officially Descended on America- Business Insider 3/21/2017

The online version of my zine: 43 ideas to reuse Dead Malls

Big Picture: First reference to the "R" word

In this CNBC article/clip from earlier today, financial trader makes the case that things aren't going the way Wall Street was hoping, and the economists might start using the "R" word.  The "R" word is "recession."  

I've been expecting the start of a recession for a while now for several reasons.  But what does this mean for you, a fairly average person out there working away in the U.S.?  We are probably heading into a recession right now, or will within a few months.  For everyday people out there, that means fewer jobs, fewer good jobs, layoffs, some business closings, and a time to tighten up your budget.  If your work is steady and not likely to be affected, cut back on unnecessary spending, put a little more cash in the bank in case of the proverbial rainy day, and slog it out.  Normally, we get a recession about once a decade, and it lasts a year or so.

But we aren't in "normal" times, by any means.  This CNBC republishing of a New York Times article from this past Satruday (4/17/2017) we learn that 89,000 retail workers have lost their jobs since October, and that many see this a a complete change of the retail industry we grew up with.  "Store closures, meanwhile, are on pace this year to eclipse the number of stores that closed in The Great Recession of 2008." 

What we are seeing right now is the collapse of traditional retail sales that was an integral part of the Industrial Age economy.  3,500 major chain stores have closed in the last couple years or are scheduled to close right now in 2017.  And that's while the economy is doing fairly well.  This is going to be big.  What's happening to bricks and mortar stores, from Sears on down, will do to the retail world what the 80's and 90's did to traditional manufacturing.  

Here's where this matters to you.  If any part of your job or business depends on people who sell physical items in actual physical stores, YOU WILL BE SERIOUSLY AFFECTED by this recession.  This will be big, it will affect nearly everyone, and it's gonna hurt.  Bike shop owners, skate shop owners, snowboard shop owners, action sports manufacturers, I'm talking to you.

But there is a silver lining.  This is the point where ecommerce (aka online shopping) is going to take over as the main form of buying most items in the U.S. and the civilized world.  If you work in that area, this recession could be amazing for you.  Recessions decimate millions of people who don't pay attention to long term trends and economics.  But recessions (and depressions, which IS possible now) also offer amazing opportunities to entrepreneurs.  Where you fall in this economic tipping point is up to you.

I set an insane goal

I went looking for a good clip of a Lamborghini for this post, and stumbled across this one.  as a high school kid, owning a Lamborghini some day seemed like the ultimate goal.  So when I think of the subject of insane financial goals, Lamborghinis come to mind.   PLEASE don't try this at home with your own Lamborghini.

So, I haven't had a "real" job in years.  My last job was working as a taxi driver, which is actually a small business, not a job.  There's no hourly rate, no paycheck, and no weekly salary for a taxi driver, AND I had to pay about $600 a week for the cab and another $300 a week for gas. I had to go out and find business every single day.  It was good for a year, but ultimately, I wound up fat, broke, homeless, and damn near death. 

I also ended up with a mouthful of broken off teeth, only about four of which actually qualify as teeth anymore.  I took a good look at my mouth in the mirror, and decided I needed to set a ridiculous goal to try and come up with enough money to start getting them fixed.  I decided on a three month goal.  A HUGE amount of money popped into my head.  I thought, "No way, there's no freakin' way I could earn that much starting with nothing."  Then I decided to go for it anyhow. 

I won't tell you what the goal was until the 3 months are up, which will be July 8th, a couple days after my birthday. 

At the time I set the goal, the only way it seemed even remotely possible was if I could do a really creative real estate deal, and pull a huge amount of money out.  I've never done that, so that seemed impossible.  But with a huge goal in mind, I went looking online for ways to work towards that goal.  I looked into affiliate marketing ideas that might work with the blogs I'm doing in some way.  I wound up watching a video about high digit affiliate marketing opportunities.  Then I just watched one video after another, and I heard about Shopify.  Basically, it's a super user-friendly way to open an online store, or ecommerce shop as it's often called.

 I've been selling a little artwork to scrape by over the last year.  I've also published a few zines, and have been looking for a way actually earn money with my writing, like I did 30 years ago in a pre-internet world.  The more I learned about Shopify, the more it seemed the perfect way to get my creative work out there and earning me some money. 

That's where making an insane goal took me in about four days.  I've already started building the online store.  The point here is that setting a big goal, and starting towards it, can lead to places you never would have gone otherwise.  Stay tuned to see how it pans out.

Meaningful work and the decline of jobs

Jobs, as we know them, have been disappearing for decades.  Politicians like to blame it all on outsourcing to other countries, but that's only part of the picture.  Millions and millions of jobs have been replaced by some form of technology.  This trend is continuing and accelerating.  Into this issue comes Rudy Karsan, who sold his human resource tech company to IBM recently.  He's smart.  He's spent much of his professional life dealing with work and jobs for other people.  He knows this issue better than most of us.  As jobs of all kinds decline, he sees the future as people finding meaningful work, rather than focusing on looking for a new job. 

On that point, I completely agree with him.  I'm not sold on the idea of universal basic income that he believes in, but I can see the argument for it. 

I realize that those of you who found this blog looking for some way to make quick money probably won't take the time to watch Mr. Karsan's talk above.  But before you scroll away, let me ask you this.  What would you do if you didn't have work a low wage job and struggle to survive?  Would you do follow some dream?  Would you travel?  Would you wind up being a stronger part of our society?

We now live in a world where millions of people are drifting away from traditional Industrial Age jobs and finding ways to earn a living doing what they consider meaningful work.  The technology we have now helps make this possible for many.  Why aren't you doing that?  Scary question, isn't it. 

43 Ideas to Reuse Dead Malls- Part 1

Less than six weeks ago, I took my mom to a doctor's appointment in Highpoint, North Carolina, about 15 miles from where we live.  Since I knew it would be a long appointment, I went to a local McDonald's to get a drink and do some writing.  I didn't have any ideas at the time, so I sat there looking out the window at Oak Hollow Mall.  In the 8 years I've lived in North Carolina, I'd only been to the mall two or three times.  Something seemed to call to me that day, so I went to see what it was like.  The last time I'd been to it, years ago, about a third of the shops were empty.

I wound up walking through Oak Hollow Mall about ten days before it closed.  There were only a handful of shops open.  About a dozen elderly mall walkers were doing their laps.  Everything was clean and in good condition, like you can see in this video Dan Bell shot just over a week later.  This is what got me looking into the dead mall issue.

I soon found out that over 3,500 retail stores in the U.S. have closed in the last couple years, or will close in 2017.  That will probably cause thousands more smaller stores to close later on.  As many as 400 of the 1,200 enclosed shopping malls in the U.S. have either closed, or are expected to in the next five years.  Several hundred more malls are struggling as well.  That's a lot of empty space under roof.  So I did a little brainstorming to come up with ideas to use these empty malls, stores, and other abandoned buildings. Enjoy.

Here's the start of my list of 43 ideas to reuse dead malls.

#1 Man caves in the malls still left.  No beer needed, because the guys have to drive home.  Next to all those overpriced boutique stores where women still shop, build a man cave in an empty store.  All you need is some comfy couches, a few recliners, and big TV's in every direction tuned to sports channels.  Add a few snack machines, and the men have a place to hang out while their wives and girlfriends shop.

#2 Adult Big Wheel Drifitng Course.  I'd go to malls if they had a place to do this:



#3 Gynecologist's office and tattoo/piercing shop.  Since you women have to get into an uncomfortable position to get your ladyparts checked, why not got a tattoo or piercing while you're at it.  We'll even have them warm up the duck lips, since every woman seems to complain about that.

#4 Vape shop that offers sex change operations.  I don't really need to explain that, do I?

#5 Huge indoor skatepark.  Van's made this happen at The Block at Orange Mall 20 years ago in Orange, California.  Here's what it's like on a big day with old school legend Chris Miller skating.

You can get signed and numbered copy of my zine, 43 Ideas to Reuse Dead Malls, for $6, postage paid in the continental U.S.

Many years ago, a woman sitting on a train had an idea pop into her head...

Many years ago, single mom Jo Rowling was sitting on a stopped train and an idea for a story popped into her head.  She didn't have anything to write with.  So she just sat that and thought about it... for four hours.  In the video above, J.K. Rowling gives us a look at the first five years of work on the story of Harry Potter.  That idea made her a billionaire.  You never know what a random idea will ultimately turn into.  Here's a great documentary on how the Harry Potter phenomena came about. 

43 Way to Reuse Dead Malls- Part 2

Two or three months ago, I saw an episode of Abandoned on VICEland TV, where skater Rick McCrank took a tour through the abandoned Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio.  When I looked it up, I realized that this mall was built about five miles from where I was born.  This is one of the many malls I spent time in as a kid.  That show is what first piqued my interest in dead malls.  It was recently demolished.

Here's more of my list of 43 Ideas to reuse dead malls.

#6 Micro Apartments for homeless people.  The apartments are tiny, like the place Bruce Willis had in the movie The Fifth Element.  They rent for about $150- $200 a month, and each one has a bed, a shower, a small closet, and a fridge just big enough to hold a 40.

#7 Wifi Lounge.  It has comfy chairs, tables, electrical outlets everywhere, open areas for hanging out with friends and more secluded spots for working.  Like Starbuck's, but without the $8 coffees.

#8 Pop-Up Restaurant spots at the food court.  You know that idea you have to serve grilled emu and mushroom sandwiches?  Here's a place to test it out before you invest in buying a food truck.

#9 Vintage Shops that sell real old people.  Seriously, there are way too many elderly people in the world.  We all know of one or two we'd like to sell.  Here's a place to find them a good home. 

#10 Indoor Mountain Bike Park.  Have you ever heard of Ray's MTB in Cleveland?  This is an AWESOME idea.  The world needs lots more of these places.  Check this out.

#11 Self Serve Funeral Parlor.  Did you know standard funerals can run $10,000 or more?  Even cremations will run you $2-3,000.  I say we need a do-it-yourself funeral parlor to save money.  Toast some marshmallows and make s'mores while you cremate granny and save money.  Let's put the "fun" back in funeral.

#12 MMA Octagon where politicians fight each other while running for office.  Make 'em earn that cushy job.  If we would have had one of these in November, Hillary would be president.

#13 Boy Band Shooting Gallery.  Real boy bands, live ammunition.  They perform.  You shoot.  Society wins.

You can get a signed and numbered copy of my handmade zine,  43 Ideas to Reuse Dead Malls and Abandoned Buildings, for $6, postage paid in the continental U.S. 

From Homeless to Heroes: Steve Harvey interview with Destorm Power

You may not know it, but both of these guys went from homeless to being stars.  Steve Harvey lived in his car for something like three years as a young comic on the road.  DeStorm Power was couch surfing and singing in the subways before striking it big in social media then on TV.

43 Ideas to Reuse Dead Malls- Part 3

Here's Dan Bell's video of the Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi, Texas.  I've never been there, but I did explore a dead motel on the waterfront, and ride an amazing pool there in 1990.  I was the manager of a skateboard tour with Buck Smith, Mike Crum, Chris Gentry, and Mark Oblow at the time.  We had a fun day in C.C.

OK, back to my list of 43 ideas to reuse dead malls.

#14 Hamster Wheel Playland for little kids.  Kids burn off all that energy running in big hamster-type wheels.  Every kilowatt of energy the wheels generate comes off your electric bill.

#15 BMX Bike Park.  Street, jumps, park bowls, and no skaters.

#16 Ned Talks lecture hall.  Like TED Talks, but for real people.  Named after my friend Ned, the wandering minstrel of Iroquois Street BITD.

#17 Indoor skydiving spot.  This looks like a blast.  Here's You Tube star EvantubeHD and his family trying it out.

#18 Miniature Golf Course designed by up and coming artists and sculptors.  Date night, fun, and a little culture (but not too much) all in one spot.

#19 Kids Tattoosday.  Kids from schools that don't have art programs anymore get to tattoo their teachers, principals, and school board once a week.  When the school finds a way to fund art classes again, they're off the hook, and the next school is up.

#20 Inline and scooter park for kids/paintball for adults.  Hone your shooting skills as the little brats roll around.  If you want to ride a skatepark kids, get a fucking skateboard or bike!

#21 Porcupine Petting Zoo.  I don't really need to explain this, do I?

#22 Evangelical Church of Zoomba.  Today's mega churches seem to play that incredibly bad pop music known as Comtemporary Christian and then everyone dances.  Make it official, put on your Fitbit and do Zoomba.  Praise God and get some cardio all at once.

#23 Scientific Research lab.  The job of this lab it to figure out how high school band geeks somehow morph into cool musicians in their 20's.  It just doesn't make sense.

#24 Paratrooper School for Senior Citizens.  Why is it that old people, in their waning years of life, get to decide to have wars, and young people in their prime have to go fight them?  This has always seemed backwards to me.  I say we let the young people decide if we really need to have a war, and let the old people go fight it.  After all, what would scare our enemies more than elderly people, with limited bowel control, falling from the sky with parachutes?

#25 Indie Art Galleries.  These are good things.  I used to live in one (along with 7 cats).  We need more of them.

For a measly $6 you can get a signed and numbered copy of my 24 page zine, 43 Ways to Reuse Dead Malls and Abandoned Buildings.  Postage paid in the continental U.S. 

Crusty old people ask what the point of You Tube is... Here's one...

While millions of middle aged people who've been laid off from "real jobs," some younger people make people laugh with their You Tube videos.  Do they actually make any money?  Uh... yeah.

43 Ideas to Reuse Dead Malls- Part 4

Here's Dan Bell, the guy who's now best known for shooting video in Dead Malls.  I don't know if he's making much money off this yet, but he got a TEDx Talk spot.  Not bad.

Here's my continuing list of ways to reuse dead malls and abandoned buildings.

#26  Deadbeat dads male stripper club.  Men have been going to strip joints and helping to support single moms for decades.  I say we get those deadbeat dads up on the pole to earn some money so their 9-year-old can get that iPhone 7.

#27 Longboard skateboard and fat bike flow course.  We have 400 malls to fill up, give the cruisers their own park.

#28 Cougar Country Safari.  Male college students wander through a lounge full of coked out cougars and use private rooms to earn some tuition money.  Grad students are OK, too, since they probably won't find a job anyhow.

#29 Always Open Tweeker Workshop.  Ever had the neighborhood tweeker knock on your door at 3am, looking for an alternator for a '78 Ford Granada?  Me too.  So here it is, 28 hours a day, 9 days a week, tweekers go to this shop and build homemade laser weapons, RC airplanes out of 2 x 4's, and find 101 things to do with a soldering iron.

#30 Stripper pole gymnastics academy.  Women learn and compete (wearing workout clothes) while creepy pervs watch from a viewing area that doesn't require paying $10 for two 6 ounce Pepsi's.  We all know this should be an Olympic event, this sport just needs more funding.

#31 Urban Exploring zone.  We fill an old building with somewhat safe rooms, ladders, tunnels, and cubbyholes.  People wander around an look for prizes.  It's like a video game without the couch, because you're actually in it.

#32 C-Span theater.  People watch C-Span on a theater screen 24/7.  Every politician has to wear a shocking dog collar.  If people in the theaters (nationwide) don't like how their politician is voting, they can push a button on their remote and shock the person.  The more people who push the button, the bigger the shock.  I love the smell of democracy in the morning.

#33 Tax preparation office and massage parlor.  If there's one day we all need a happy ending, it's tax day.  Free massages for all accountants.

#34 Boobs For Bums charity strip club.  You can get a tax credit by buying lapdances for homeless guys.  Yeah ladies, we could make a women's version, too.

#35 Indoor paintball gold course.  If there were ever two lame ass sports that need to be combined to make a sport worth watching, it's paintball and golf.

#36 Natural gas research lab.  Scientists use this space to find a way to convert old people's farts into a way to power vehicles.  It's time we stop wasting this renewable resource.

#37 Russian roulette fantasy football.  Maybe you get your draft pick, maybe you get a bullet in the head.  Either way, society wins in the long run.

#38 Counselaquarium.  Instead of paying hundreds of millions of dollars for people's psych meds through Medicaid, the government builds dolphin pools in old malls and buildings.  Depressed people go to pet, hang out, and swim with the dolphins.  Who the hell can be depressed while hanging out with dolphins?  Well, there's that one guy in the movie The Salton Sea, bit that's it.

#39 Speed Preaching shop.  Evangelicals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and anyone else who tries to convert every person they meet shows up here.  They have two minutes to try and convert each other.

#40 Drunk Driving School.  Since kids don't seem to learn much in regular driving school, we'll put all those dead mall parking lots to use.  Kids play beer pong or do shots, and then drive through an obstacle course where they text, post, and snap while they try to avoid juvenile delinquents and people who have to do lots of community service.  Teach the kids some skills they will actually use in real life.

#41 Lego store.  It's not a branded store that sells Lego kits.  It's just a store with millions of Lego pieces... and no directions that take a doctorate from MIT to understand.  Use your imagination people.

#42 Demolition Room.  It's a room filled with every day items like glasses, dishes, old TV's, electronics, and a guy in a Barney costume.  You pay $5 for five minutes.  You can use a hammer, a sledge hammer, and a baseball bat to beat the crap out of everything while your friends shoot video through a thick plexiglass window.

#43 ?????  You'll have to buy my zine to learn this one.

For $6 you can get a signed and numbered copy of my handmade zine, 43 Ideas to reuse Dead Malls and abandoned buildings, postage paid in the continental U.S.  What's a zine?  That's what we published before blogs were invented.  

How Vine stars make 6 seconds pay off

Over the past few decades, comedy went from the 8 minute bits by classic comics like Rodney Dangerfield, to the one hour HBO specials in the era of George Carlin and Robin Williams.  In the last couple years, that's dropped to six seconds of today's Vine stars.  What the hell do they do with all that spare time?

Self-made teen millionaires

This video focuses mostly on kids from the late 90's and early 2000's who found a niche as internet 2.0 hit the world and the online world went mainstream.  I read two or three of Adam Horowitz's free e-books when I was getting started blogging.  I didn't make any money then, but his ideas did help me create three blogs that were #1 in their niche in the world.  I'm still using those ideas today.

I think the big lesson here is that anyone, even a young kid who has an idea or sees a niche in the markets, can do well with a little support from friends or family.  

Rags to Riches Stories of Actors and Musicians

Think that growing up in rough circumstances has kept you down?  Check out a quick look at where these well known people came from.  Are you willing to persist and work hard to make your life what you want it to be?  These people were.

Self -made multi-millionaire and billionaire stories

It's not all about being filthy rich.  But for some entrepreneurs, that's where the hard work leads.  Here are some stories of people who survived rough childhoods, homelessness, and other personal tragedies and went on to make serious money.  It's possible.

Face it... this won't happen to you

In every neighborhood their are people sitting around who think that they'll get rich some day without having to work for it.  According to this video, which I can't confirm, a farmer found drums with $600 million of Pablo Escobar's drug money.  Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't.  In any case, every one of those damn people in front of you in line buying lottery tickets thinks they're going to strike it rich.  A tiny handful of people actually win, and most end up wrecking their lives soon after.  You're not going to win.  Deal with it.

If you're one of the people waiting for fate to hand you a fortune, this blog is NOT for you.  Move on.  Keep surfing.  Keep scrolling. 

We all need money

We all need money to live.  Those of us who grew up without much money usually think we need to make a ton of money to be happy.  That's why I'm starting this blog off with a video clip of Brian Foster.

About 25 years ago, I lived in a house in Westminster, California with a bunch of BMX riders.  We called it the P.O.W. House, which stood for Pros Of Westminster.  Brian Foster was one of those riders, along with his big brother Alan.  We all lived cheap, shared rooms, and focused on riding our bikes as much as possible.  We were young guys in our 20's, scraping by, in the middle of a long recession.  Brian focused mostly on riding his bike back then, he had this smooth, flowing, laid back style that made everything he did on his bike look easy and amazing.  Twenty five years later, Brian STILL makes his living riding his bike.  He doesn't make a fortune.  But he's married, has a house, and from what I hear, spends his time mowing the lawn, chillin' with his wife, and riding his bike.  Sounds like a pretty good life.  But it's a lifestyle that wasn't possible when Brian and I were kids.  No one made a living as a pro BMX trails and park rider then, because BMX racing itself was brand new.  The whole lifestyle Brian enjoys hadn't been invented yet.

Living in that same house at the same time ('92-'93), I loved to ride my bike, too.  But I didn't have the natural skills Brian did.  I was a freestyler, I couldn't jump worth a damn.  I loved to ride, but I  was also interested in economics, business, human potential, and predicting the future.  I was trying to figure out a way to make money in as little time as possible so that I could pay my bills AND have more time to ride my bike.  One weekend I left the P.O.W. House, where my 10 or so roommates were sleeping, and I took a couple buses to Long Beach, where I went to a business seminar.  There were several different guys in suits giving talks about different businesses ideas.  They all sold some kind of kit to get started.  I spent $300, a huge amount of money for me then, on a kit to learn how to speed read.  I literally ate ramen for three weeks afterwards, two meals a day, because I couldn't afford better food after buying the speed reading kit.  I learned to read much faster, and I started powering through all kinds of books, mostly non-fiction.  It was one of the best investments I've ever made.  I had a lot of personal issues to work out, and I knew I wanted to run my own business someday.  So I started learning all kinds of things to help me do that.

That led me on a really weird path through life, working many different jobs, and ultimately I ended up homeless for a while.  Most people see that as failure.  But us BMXers (and skaters and other action sports people) look at failure differently than most people.  We all spent years going out on our bikes or boards to learn new tricks or new moves.  Every single day we'd try something that we couldn't do yet.  And we'd "fail."  But we'd keep trying.  Failure kind of lost its meaning, because we got used to trying something that seemed impossible, and screwing up a whole bunch of times until we finally learned it.  That process became normal for us.

That basic mentality started to seep into other things.  Some of us, like me, started Xerox zines to tell other people about our scene.  Some shot photos.  Some of us made our own videos.  And some people started their own companies.  Chris Moeller, who started S&M Bikes at age 16 with his friend Greg, also lived at the P.O.W. House for a while.  As we split our time between doing what we had to do to make money, and doing what we loved, riding BMX bikes, something happened.  We created a whole group of sports, BMX jumping, park riding, flatland, vert riding, and street riding.  We also created an entire industry around that group of sports.  The skateboarders did the same thing.  So did the snowboarders and all the other action sports people. So did the hip hop artists and dancers, and punk bands, and tattoo artists and all kinds of other weird people.

In following the things we loved, we inadvertently created whole new ways to make a living.  My crazy path took me away from the BMX world, and through a lot of adventures, and then back to the fringe of BMX as an old school BMX blogger.

Now we're in a world much, much different that the one Brian Foster, and me, and all of our friends grew up in.  The old mantra of "get good grades, go to college, and get a good job" doesn't work like it once did.  Now millions of people are looking for better ways to make money.  The best paying jobs, mostly in high tech, are in industries that didn't even exist when I was a kid.  Like many other people in this rapidly changing world, I've been struggling to re-invent myself and find a good way to make a living AND do what I love.  I know it's possible, I've seen many people do it over the years in many different ways.  Brian Foster was able to do that by staying on his bike and showing a new generation what style in BMX riding is all about.

Me, I became a blogger and artist, neither of which has been paying the bills.  Finally, a couple of days ago, I set an insane financial goal for myself.  I knew I needed to start dreaming bigger again and really push myself to get back to making a decent living again.  Much to my surprise, I found myself in a really weird, really powerful dream this morning.  I was wandering through an unfamiliar city, and I kept running into people who had followed their "crazy" ideas and found success.  BMXers.  Skaters.  Graffiti and street artists.  Other athletes.  Gourmet chefs.  And then I wandered into a dark, sketchy alley.  There were a bunch of young people, hanging out without much to do and no big dreams.  They were looking for a way to make money.  But all they knew was the tough life of the streets of poor urban neighborhoods.  They hadn't met people who followed their dreams and started businesses.  I realized, in the crazy dream, that I had something to offer those kids.  I could offer hope and experience and life lessons about how people can start with hardly anything and build a good life out of their dreams and hard work.  I'd seen it happen over and over.  But the kids hanging out in that dark alley in my dream hadn't.

Then I woke up.

I laid in bed for half an hour as one idea after another rushed through my head.  I thought of things I had learned that I could share with all the people out there who also have to find a new way to make a living.  Those ideas started to meld.  I knew there was a blog to be published.  There will be a lot more in addition to the blog.  But this is the start.  This blog is about finding a way to make a good living in today's crazy world, but also to live a good life.  You  don't have to be a billionaire or act like a pimp in a rap music video with a yacht, bottles of Crystal, and dancing girls.  Just look at my old roommate Brian Foster.  He lives a pretty dang cool life.  Now it's time for the rest of us to find our own version of a good living and a great life.  Hang on, it's gonna be a wild ride.