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lawrencedienerthings · 4 years

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How four Colorado companies answered the call to make coronavirus supplies for health care workers

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The coronavirus crisis has forced the closure of many Colorado businesses over the past two months.

But some saw an opportunity to innovate and pivot from making snowboards, yurts and ski boots to start producing face shields and other protective gear for health care workers.

Here are four of their stories:

Zay Products

Rex Deitesfeld says he is “as busy as a one-armed face-shield maker.”

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This winter, his Longmont company, Zay Products, was marketing cutting-edge performance ski boots with ambitious plans to partner with the Steadman Clinic in Vail on a biomechanically compatible boot that would help prevent ski injuries.

Two months later, amid the COVID19-forced economic shutdown, the days have lurched by.

Deitesfeld now produces face shields, a plastic contraption that makes doctors and nurses look like astronauts, but keeps them from getting sprayed in the face with droplets of coronavirus while they work.

“From a business perspective it’s been a jumble of nuts. We’ve never worked at this pace, and plus this being so confusing,” Deitesfeld says. “My day starts with getting calls from people, I have no idea how they got connected, from hospitals saying, ‘How can you supply me?’ to marketing. And from reporters like you.”

Deitesfeld started supplying his one-size-fits-all personal protective equipment to medical folks at Vail Health and the Steadman Clinic. They are worn by health care professionals at UCHealth, Children’s Hospital and in Colorado’s 43 rural hospitals. To keep up with the demand, he added four employees, whom he’s paying up to $20 an hour to turn out hundreds of face shields per day. So far, Zay has made 20,000 disposable face shields and he has bought material for 130,000 more.

He laughs: “I’m hearing they’re so popular doctors are now asking for ‘The Zay.’”

Art Works serigraphy designer James Tafoya prints Zay Products’ logo on their face shields. (Provided by Zay Products)

Colorado Yurt Company

After 40 years with Swingle Tree and Landscape, including 10 years as president, John Gibson sold the company in January, and moved to Montrose to pitch tents.

These are tents on steroids called “yurts” — round-like structures used as tiny homes, for glamping and event sheltering. The Colorado Yurt Company under Gibson’s supervision had orders to supply structures for dozens of spring and summer events until the pandemic halted business.

“Coachella was delayed,” he says. “Private and public camps were put on hold. A fundraising event for a camp for disabled children in Utah was canceled.” Gibson says some of the nonprofit groups he was counting are in danger of losing their funding.

Instead of bowing to uncertainty, Gibson got busy with materials he had on hand. The heavy vinyl used for yurt windows has been a perfect anti-spew barrier . He first directed his staff to make 10,000 high-quality face shields using the window vinyl. To complete the projects, he sourced-out the foam for the halo that circles the wearer’s forehead and elastic that attaches it.

But face shields are so March, he says. Gibson has discovered there’s more potential for his yurt vinyl windows.

MORE: Colorado’s efforts to scale up PPE production are being tangled in federal red tape, certification process

For instance, he’s manufacturing sturdy plastic curtains that separate ill patients who share hospital rooms. And as Coloradans get back to the office, he has plans for life post-COVID19 to develop plastic seat covers.

Gibson saw still another use for his yurt window plastic after reading a news article about an Oregon bus driver who was using Dollar Tree shower curtains to protect him from coughing commuters.

The future of public transportation will be a driver in a bubble.

Yurt is in talks with CoWest Transportation, the parent company of Telluride Express, American Spirit Shuttle and Alpine Express to develop a life-sized shield to wrap around their drivers.

“Yurts yesterday, bus curtains today,” says Gibson, who is making smaller body shields to fit in cabs and in cars for Uber drivers.

“We’re trying to be as creative as possible to keep the lights on,” he says. “I told my people, ‘Don’t give up on me and I won’t give up on you.’”

He adds that with the help from a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, he has enough money to keep his employees working for six to eight weeks.

“After that, we’re pretty scared.”

Venture Snowboards

There is only one road in and out of Silverton, an isolated mountain town of 600 about an hour north of Durango. Every business in Silverton is a gem, but one of its best known is Venture Snowboards.

The day after Gov. Jared Polis on March 14 ordered the temporary shutdown of Colorado’s ski industry, San Juan County issued a public health order prohibiting all gatherings larger than 30 people.

It was a “kick in the pants” for Venture Snowboards’ self-proclaimed board designer, owner and janitor Klem Branner. He decided to cancel one of his biggest annual moneymakers: the annual Silverton Splitfest.

“Two days later, I closed the factory and that was that,” he remembers. “I went into a ‘What the hell is gonna happen next?’”

Ten days later, Branner was researching how to make face shields, and by March 29, he had his first prototype using the plastic that normally forms the base of his snowboards.

“This is a piece of plastic we cut out, stick a piece of foam that fits your forehead and you attach elastic with a stapler,” he says. “I had to acquire a high-tech electric stapler to make it work!”

Branner and company have made 1,000 face shields, which he has sold for $3 each. He first bought the foam and elastic from Amazon for “way too much money,” but now he’s sourced enough material at a decent price for 3,000 more.

The tricky part, he says, is not knowing when to stop.

“Are people gonna want these shields in a month, or am I going to be sitting on a bunch of plastic no one needs?”

Silverton’s Hillside Cemetery is full of 1918 flu pandemic casualties, when nearly 10% of the local population died. At the time, the remote mountain town had the unhealthy distinction of having the highest per capita mortality rate in the nation.

But today, Silverton is in the clear. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has documented zero cases of coronavirus in San Juan County, of which Silverton is the county seat and the only incorporated town. But Branner says there’s been no testing, so the numbers may be skewed.

The spring of 2020 will be known for the unknown.

“It’s so weird to be in a start-up and your goal is to get out of that business as fast you can,” Branner says.

Fusion Specialties Inc.

No one is skiing, and no one is going to the store. So what’s the world’s largest mannequin manufacturer to do?

Enter Fusion Specialties’ “Project COVID Halo.” With the loss of 4,000 weekly mannequin orders from big-time retail giants like Target and Bloomingdales, Fusion rolled up its sleeves at its headquarters in Lafayette.

Design engineers in the business of torsos, arms and legs are now manufacturing bright orange halos for first responders and health care workers.

The halo of the face shield is the piece that circles the forehead and attaches to the plastic protective face shield.

A rack of halos wait to be assembled into face shields as personal protective equipment at Fusion Specialities Inc. in Lafayette, Colorado. (Provided by Fusion Specialties Inc)

The key to Fusion’s halo is E-Flex, the same material they use to mold their store mannequins. “We literally came up with the idea during a Zoom meeting,” says marketing director Jessica Nolan.

Fusion outsources its plastic shield cover from a Boulder company called Glassmith2. A thousand of Fusion’s halos went to rural hospitals in Colorado, and the company is in talks with University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Children’s Hospital Colorado.

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At $11 each, Fusion’s product costs more than the going $3 to $5 rate of the one-and-done shields, but Fusion’s E-flex material can be sterilized by a UV light for repeated use, eliminating extra cost and waste.

As hundreds of the halos were first coming out of the mold to be assembled, Fusion Specialties founder Jim Talaric spoke with a friend, an ICU doctor at Lafayette’s Good Samaritan Hospital who was overwhelmed.

“The doc texted me. … He said ‘Jim, we are running short on these shields.’”

Talaric wasted no time.

“Did anybody ever imagine we’d be in a place like this?” Talaric says. “I felt like I wanted to do something to help this coronavirus thing and I had to move on it.”

No longer associated with Fusion since he sold the company, he bought 100 Fusion shields like any paying customer, and delivered them to the doctor’s porch.

Not longer after that, Talaric received a text from the hospital. It said “BINGO!” Good Samaritan medical staff were already wearing them.

Make4Covid

Many pieces of personal protection equipment wind up in the hands of a group called Make4Covid, which was created when federal red tape and limited capacity to test and certify the new products for medical use in Colorado were slowing production.

M4C spokesman Omar Soubra says the organization was formed when hospitals had nowhere to turn. The group is made up of volunteers and CU Denver InWorks, a prototyping lab.

“We are proud to help health care personnel not become contaminated,” the Frenchman-turned-Coloradan explains.

In just over a month, more than 2,000 M4C volunteers have delivered more than 19,795 face shields, masks and face mask adapter buckles to the state’s first responders and health care professionals at UC Health, CU Anschutz and Colorado’s rural hospitals, including the 15-bed Melissa Memorial in Holyoke.

Melissa Memorial found itself with only a few masks and face shields when the virus first hit and had nothing to spare.

“We had some supplies,” hospital spokeswoman Elizabeth Hutches says. “But we were concerned with the long-term.”

M4C partnered with the Colorado Hospital Association to transport face shields and masks to Holyoke using a plane from Angel Flight West, which donates pilots who deliver in their spare time for medical relief.

“It’s scary out there because we were on our own,” Hutches says. “These people are amazing.”

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gunneraynh885-blog · 5 years

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danmichelspsychotherapy · 1 month

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Expert Psychotherapy & Clinical Supervision | Boulder & Longmont

Work with seasoned Boulder and Longmont LPC & CHT Dan Michels for professional psychotherapy and supervision in Boulder. Dan is a specialist in trauma, anxiety, and depression. He also provides special services like psychedelic integration and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

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shandragdotson · 6 years

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An Interview With The Man Who Never Needed a Real Job

“Dear Mr. Money Mustache…

I’d like to retire soon. I’ve had a good career and the numbers say I’m just over the threshold, but I’m still afraid.

It would help if I had a solid plan for what to do after retirement – perhaps even make some money eventually. Because I think it would help boost my confidence to pull the plug at the old law office. But as an attorney, I’m trained to see the pitfalls of everything and frankly I’m afraid.

How do all of you fearless Mustachians just go out and start businesses and make money, when it is so hard to get started – so many details and contingencies to account for?

– the Skittish Scottsdale Solicitor

Dear SSS,

To answer a question like yours, it sometimes helps to look at a role model who has some of the traits you would like to cultivate in yourself. So this seems like the perfect time to share a story I have been wanting to tell here on MMM for at least five years. And the funny part about this tale is that it keeps getting more interesting, the longer I wait to share it.

It is the story of my long-time friend Luc, who has earned a reputation in our own community as the honey badger of entrepreneurship.

The Honey Badger

Luc takes a brief rest from digging out 30 tons of dirt from his own basement and hand-pouring a new foundation while his son supervises.

From painting houses to raising edible insects, selling handmade pine coffins to writing and shooting his own feature length film in Scotland, all while never becoming too proud to take a literal Shit Shower while cleaning the sewer lines in his own rental properties, Luc’s story never fails to amaze. And it can be especially useful for those of us on the other end of the spectrum – wannabe entrepreneurs who are still hesitating to open our first small business checking account.

This story is a great financial lesson as well. Luc’s family* has gone from zero to financial independence without the benefit of the easy tech salaries that got my own household there back in the mid 2000s. Like most of us, they have seen windfalls and setbacks over the years, but the biggest factor in getting them to a better financial place has been continuing to get the work done, while choosing not to squander all of the proceeds on an ever bigger lifestyle.

So from this interview I’m hoping you will pick up both some inspiration for continued down-to-earth hard work, and a perspective to just go out and try new things, especially in the area of entrepreneurship.

If you do it right, there is upside waiting around every corner. So let’s get into the questions!

The Man Who Never Got a Real Job

MMM: The first moment we met was in July 2005, when I had just retired and we bought our first house in old-town Longmont, with a baby on the way. Walking through my new backyard, I immediately noticed two thirtysomething dudes in dirty clothes, working up on the roof of the old garage on your side of the fence. And I thought to myself, “These are my type of people!”, and walked over to meet you.

What was going on in your life at that moment, in both life and business?

Luc: Well, considering our daughter was born nine months later, it was near the end of one phase and the beginning of the next. At the time, my primary business was a house painting company that I had started in the late ‘90s, after my biology degree wasn’t enough to get me a job at a pet store (in Boulder you need advanced degrees for that sort of thing).

I had worked pretty hard to get that painting company up and running, starting as a one-man show, then employing as many as 18 people at one point. It was a good gig in that I had a lot of free time to work on other projects in the winters, and even went back and got my Master’s degree along the way.

By 2005, though, I had severely downsized the company and I was back to a small crew. I was beginning to think about what I wanted to be when I grew up.

One project we started that year was buying and quickly fixing up a house a few blocks from our place on a street called Carolina Avenue. This was primarily achieved by leveraging the equity we had built up in our first house. I still own and rent out that place (which you subsequently helped me do a more extensive renovation on).

MMM: So then we both had these children born at almost the same time, and all six people in our two families became friends. We both started helping each other with construction projects, but when Longmont denied my building permit application to expand our tiny 600 square foot house, I decided to move out and turn that one into a rental, and move into a bigger place a few blocks away. What was the catalyst that made you leave the little leafy paradise of that street? (and yes I realize this is a leading question :-))

Luc: The first thing is that old Happy Street is a pretty busy street, and with a young daughter, we thought it might be nice to live on a quieter stretch. One day my wife and I went for a walk and picked our favorite blocks in the neighborhood. There happened to be a “beautiful” old fixer upper for sale on one of those blocks, and within a few days we were under contract.

That we were willing to take the plunge so quickly was largely because of you and your construction company. At the time, I hadn’t done any extensive remodels, but because you were willing to help me out, I figured we could make it work.

At the time, my wife was certain that it would be a fix-and-flip and there was no way she would actually live in the house. Because it started out in such bad shape, it was hard to imagine it ever becoming a nice family home, but it really did in the end. So we we moved in at the beginning of 2008 and here I sit, typing away in the office.

The Rental Real Estate Projects

MMM: So, our biggest collaborations over the years have been in fixing up houses, often rental houses that one of us owned (okay most of them were yours.) We started with The Foreclosure Project in 2011, then went back and did a major upgrade to one of your other places here in town. Most recently we did The Atwood Project, which was the inspiration for my post on Installing your own furnace.

How has your experience been in owning single family rental houses, while doing your own management and maintenance? Is it a reasonable return on your investment and labor?

Luc: There are a lot of real estate/rental experts in the Mustachian fold – I am not one of them, but real estate is the main reason we’re now financially independent.

We bought our first house in 1999 with $5000 from my dad and a $3000 courtesy check from Chase. We chose the house because it had a mother-in-law basement, with its own entry and kitchen – we went from paying over $900/mo in rent to having a tenant and paying around $300/mo toward our own house. We were fortunate enough that soon thereafter Longmont housing prices had a nice little bounce.

In 2003 I took out a home equity line of credit and we bought a condo in Fort Collins. A realtor soccer friend had given me a handy little spreadsheet that detailed all the ways to make money from real estate, and at the time it was hard to find cash flow properties in Longmont.

In hindsight, that first condo was a mistake. It was an hour commute to deal with any issues, it wasn’t a place I had much emotional attachment to, and it didn’t attract tenants who cared about it – it was a soulless investment. Nonetheless, we held it for over ten years, and finally saw some significant appreciation in the last few years (and it gave me my first taste of YouTube success with a video on How To Finish a Subfloor.)

I sold the condominium on Craigslist in 2015 and did a 1031 exchange for the Atwood Project – probably the most soulful investment I’ve made.

The lesson I learned from that first condo was that I wanted properties that were in my neighborhood, that I cared about, and that, when fixed up, made our community nicer. And of course they had to make money, too. Again, I was lucky enough that all those things were achievable here in Old Town Longmont, even through the recession.

Over the years, we leveraged our way into four rental properties in Old Town (moving into our current place along the way and turning that original home into a two-unit rental). The cash flow alone allowed me to spend less time painting and more on other pursuits. And my wife was able to move her teaching career down to half-time.

In 2016, I spent an average of under 10 hours per property – over the whole year – on maintenance and administration. Yes, there are occasional shit showers when cleaning out an old lead P trap, but most of it is more pleasant than that.

After finishing up the remodel work on the fourth and final property, we had 100% occupancy in all places and pulled in about $92,000 in rent; $36,000 after expenses.

Meanwhile, our longer term gamble on the livability of Old Town has paid off, as home prices have more than doubled here in the last several years, leaving us with equity close to $1.5 million (including the home we live in). The best example is the Foreclosure Project, which we bought for $113,500 in 2011, put about $25K into it, and is now worth over $300K.

To take some of that appreciation money off of the table, I chose to sell the most expensive of these houses last year, and re-invest the cash into standard stock market investments.

This is where MMM will probably caution you that not all real estate investment will go so well.

Building DIY Electric Cars

Although it’s no Tesla, this little homemade contraption was my first peek at the world of electric cars.

MMM: One of the most technically impressive things to me, was the time you read a book on converting an old gas-powered GEO Metro econobox car into an electric vehicle (EV), using basically a trunkload of golf cart batteries. And then decided to team up with a friend and try the same thing yourselves.

Not being auto mechanics yourselves, what possessed you to do this? And did it turn out to be a good business idea in the end?

Luc: Ha, this was a terrible business idea. I can remember sitting in the office of the City of Longmont fleet manager, trying to convince him to let us convert some of their gas pickups to electric; Fox News was blaring in the background and he was staring daggers at me. Needless to say, we didn’t get that gig, and that was probably a good thing, considering we didn’t have the expertise or capital to pull off truly decent EV conversions.

We did do a couple GEO conversions and an old Ford pickup, which was a lot of fun, but they were novelties more than anything. That was 2009, and it was an exciting time in the electric vehicle world. Lithium batteries were becoming more reliable and less expensive, the movie Who Killed The Electric Car? had come out a few years prior, Tesla was starting to make some waves, and of course addressing climate change was becoming more urgent. I wanted to do something meaningful, and I thought electric cars were the future of transportation. The cash flow I was getting from rentals had given me more free time. And I’m slightly crazy, so why not start an EV business?

At the time, Colorado had an amazing incentive for people to buy EVs. One of my favorite parts was arguing with the clueless administrator of the law for months, and then lobbying for sensible changes and clarification when they wrote the new law.

We spun off a new company, Boulder Hybrid Conversions, with two other guys (with more EV expertise), in which we converted Priuses to plug-in hybrids by upgrading them to a larger battery.

Meanwhile, largely thanks to my partner, our original business morphed from being a handcrafted car conversion hobby, to a reseller of electric car batteries and other components. It became one of the larger businesses of this type in the country, grossing over $1 million a year. I had a lot of other ideas for how we could expand the business, but my partner didn’t see it, so he ended up buying me out for about $125,000 (which, for all the time I put into the biz, turned out to be decent but not extravagant hourly compensation).

Boulder Hybrid Conversions became Boulder Hybrids, specializing in hybrid and EV maintenance and repair. One partner bought the rest of us out, and he continues to grow that business. I now own a 2013 Nissan Leaf and a 2015 Prius wagon (my off-road vehicle) and one share of Tesla, and I look forward to the day when I can buy an autonomous mini-van that will safely transport my family and me to Wisconsin overnight while we sleep.

Dead Pine Trees for Dead Bodies

A handcrafted biodegradeable coffin takes shape in the handcrafted workshop. (image credit: Mat Body / Longmont Colony)

MMM:

One day, I got an email from you that said, “Well, I’ve done it again – decided to start yet another business. Building coffins from reclaimed beetle-killed pine planks”

So we both reviewed the simple plans from a book you had found in the library, built a prototype of this Dracula-style “toe pincher” coffin, and then you photographed it and put up a website. I gladly worked alongside you because I like hanging out and building things, but I remember thinking, “Luc’s really gone off the deep end here – who is going to buy our DIY coffins??”

What was the motivation and the eventual fate of that coffin venture?

Luc: I started Nature’s Casket in 2009 for the same reasons I started the EV business: to do something meaningful for the environment. And because it was different and exciting. And because I wanted to help my brother with more hours when we had downtime from painting. All the remodel work we had done meant I had most of the woodworking equipment I needed to build coffins. And it was nice to have some technical, logistical, and, hell, labor support from old MMM to get it going.

The green burial movement, already well-established in the U.K., had been growing in the U.S., largely as a result of the Ramsey Creek Preserve, a conservation burial ground that conserves the land in a natural state. Green burial is traditional burial: simple and environmentally friendly (none of the swimming pools full of formaldehyde that are pumped into cadavers, no unsustainably harvested wood, stamped metal caskets, toxic paints, concrete vaults, or pesticides and copious water for manicured cemeteries).

Here in Colorado, the pine beetle epidemic was devastating our lodgepole pine forests, but leaving a lot of dead trees with beautiful blue grain (from a fungus that feeds on the beetle’s waste).

With some support from Karen Van Vuuren, who runs a nonprofit helping families direct their own funerals (and has now started The Natural Funeral), I was able to start getting the word out and selling a few caskets here and there. And it turns out that the media is really interested in things like death and beetlekill wood.

The Denver Post ran a front page article on my business in 2010 – many people saved that article, and when they’re ready, I get a call for a casket (to this day I’m still getting calls from that article). The New York Times mentioned Nature’s Casket (they never contacted me, so my mom was the first one to tell me about that). The Wall Street Journal sent a guy out to do a piece on beetle kill (I wasn’t mentioned in the article, but had a lot of time in the accompanying video). National Geographic sent one of their photographers out to take photos of the caskets at a funeral, but we didn’t make the magazine. There was also a nice story in Longmont’s Times Call newspaper.

Soon I was shipping coffins around the country. One of the most interesting gigs was when we built and reinforced eleven oversized caskets (with MMM on welding and metalworking support) that could hold up to a ton; these were for the reinterment of a 19th Century family cemetery in Virginia that was being moved to make room for a high school football stadium (most of the remains were biodegraded, so they included all the dirt from each plot).

This is where I should mention that I’m kind of success-averse. Nature’s Casket could have been a large business with an industrial shop and a storage warehouse if I had pursued that path. Instead I stopped shipping (too onerous and stressful) and ceased most advertising. Now it’s just a local business, and I average less than one casket a month – it’s still quite rewarding, but there are other projects to focus on.

Miscellaneous Mini Businesses and Pursuits

MMM:

Scattered in among these years were a few smaller things. The time you started designing your own greeting cards and printing them on fancy textured recycled paper. Then there was Simple Brew Kits, which was just assembling the required components for converting good grocery store cider into booze. A photography pursuit that started with just taking your daughter to over twenty of Longmont beautiful parks and ended up culminating in a show at the city’s museum.

Oh! And then of course the time you went to Scotland with two friends and some quickly researched photo equipment and shot a feature length film that ended up in the Front Range Film Festival – despite the fact that none of you had any experience or training in filmmaking. What was that all about?

Luc: Recycled Greeting Cards was actually born in the late ‘90s, around the time I started the painting biz. At one point I had pretty high hopes for RGC, even attending the National Stationery Exhibit in New York. That business was mostly a failure, although I have one loyal business customer who still buys a thousand or so cards a year.

Simple Brew Kits was a business I started for a blog post that I never published titled “How To Start A Business In One Day.” And that’s essentially what I did, filling out all the paperwork and putting up the website in a day. I didn’t sell many, though, until your post about the business, after which I was suddenly inundated with hundreds of orders. That slowly tapered off, and recently I decided to shut it down for good. Again my success aversion won the day. But we made a lot of fun (and some disgusting) drinks out of that whole deal, and I’ll still occasionally bust out some fermented cider or grape juice.

The photography gig was a byproduct of becoming a parent. My daughter was born in the spring of 2006. After my wife’s maternity leave, I became a stay-at-home dad off and on for a couple years. I wanted a project that would get us outside, but that would also provide me with something exciting. I decided we would visit each one of Longmont’s city parks and take pictures. I just had a little point-and-click dealio, but it took decent pictures.

A few years and thousands of pictures later, I chose one photo from each park and submitted the project to the Longmont Museum. To my surprise, they accepted the show, and even helped me publish a book of the photos. It was a gratifying experience and has led to more photography projects – something I’ll continue to pursue.

The Scotland film, Carve The Runes, came from an idea I had many years ago to get a group of friends together, rent a castle in Scotland, and produce a music album (despite having no musical talent). Over time, the idea morphed into making a film instead. I was able to convince my brother Isaac and a good friend, Ian, that this was in fact a realistic and good idea.

And so, in 2015, we spent ten days traveling around Scotland, filming and, well, just filming – we didn’t have time for anything else. I had envisioned some time for fly fishing and golfing in between shoots, but damn, making a movie is hard.

The film is about two brothers, one of whom has a terminal illness and goes to visit his brother in Scotland, where he’s doing climate change-related research. The basic idea for the film was laid out beforehand, but most of the script was written on the fly (I didn’t think we would use a script). Ian was cinematographer/sound guy/key grip/best boy, and maybe more important, moral support. We didn’t sleep much, and we drank a lot of scotch. It took us a couple years, but we finally finished post-production at the beginning of 2018.

We submitted it to a number of film festivals, and were happy to be accepted into our local Front Range Film Festival, where we won Best Feature (out of a limited selection). The acting and cinematography are suspect, but the soundtrack (friends and acquaintances) and screenplay, if I may say so, are legit; I’d love it if we could remake this with some real producers and actors (Francos, Afflecks, are you reading this? Or maybe the leads should be sisters).

A Quixotic Urban Oasis and the Big Dig

A few thousand pounds of concrete? all in a morning’s work.

MMM:

Surely the most concentrated demonstrations of your varied efforts and interests is in your own house. Because we restored it together from its original tippy skeleton into a solid and classy residence. But then a few years later went on to add a two story addition all the way up from the hand-dug structural piers. And then to build the garage workshop which has turned into an enviable hobbit-like enclave of living and productivity, both inside and out.

But all of this pales in comparison to the most recent upgrade, the Big Dig where you hand-dug about 60,000 pounds of concrete and soil out of your own basement (with occasional help from a beer-fueled team of other local Dads) to upgrade it from the typical Victorian house storage cellar into a very functional Man Cave complete with golf simulator and workout room.

What has driven you to go so far, when some people won’t even change a furnace filter? Any downsides and pitfalls?

Luc’s Hobbit-esque backyard oasis and workshop/garage, carved from an area that was originally just weeds and concrete.

Luc: I have labeled myself an eclectic: someone who loves to continually explore new ideas and embark on new adventures. The peril is getting so wrapped up in the novelty component that one never finishes anything – what I call dilettantism. This is part of my success aversion: I love to get a project or a business up and running, but it’s hard to continue to find it rewarding once it becomes quotidian. Routine is anathema to eclectics. Most of my projects reach a level of fruition that’s satisfactory to me, but I still think I can strike a balance that leaves things more complete.

To use my house as a metaphor, I’ve completed a number of satisfying projects (with a lot of help from people like you (mostly you, in fact)), but in the meantime many of the details have been overlooked: we need a new kitchen faucet, a toilet needs to be re-seated, I could organize the cookware situation better (and oh, by the way, I should probably spend a little more time with the family).

In the mid-aughts, I was working on figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up – I decided to embrace my eclectic nature. Now in the late teens, I’m realizing I need to fine tune that to incorporate more focus, responsibility, meticulousness and perseverance.

Physical Fitness and Doing Experiments On Yourself

MMM: Another unusual trait I’ve noticed is that you seem to operate in extremes. You can eat a plate of cookies or drink a bottle of wine in one sitting, but then also go for three days straight with zero food during a fast. You’ve tried a variety of 30-day experiments in different eating styles, following them up with weigh-ins and blood tests to see how they affect your good and bad cholesterol counts. You adopted weight training and have stuck with it for many years now.

This is different from my own approach, where I eat roughly the same thing year after year, making only small tweaks – like I lift heavier barbells and eat more carbs if I want to gain weight, and cut out beer and go to bed hungry when I need to lose fat.

Have you noticed anything about the Human body and what makes it function best? Any advice for people who are prone to binging, on getting control of their eating and drinking habits?

Luc: Oscar Wilde, perhaps after bingeing on absinthe, said “Everything in moderation, including moderation.” That was kind of my motto for much of my youth, and it fits well with the eclectic personality. But if you only practice moderation in moderation, I discovered, you tend to feel like shit a lot and you weigh about 20 pounds more than you should. I’ve modified the motto to Everything in moderation, including gluttony.

I think everybody’s different in terms of what works best for them to stay in shape and feel healthy, but there are some common threads. In our simple carb-y society, one of the easiest ways to eat better is to cut out most simple carbs (but, if you’re like me, allow yourself an occasional plate of cookies).

After all my fasting and intermittent fasting and super low fat and super low carb and alcohol temperance experimenting (and reading the research), I’ve come to a few fairly simple conclusions. First, a low glycemic diet (like the Mediterranean diet) seems to be the best. And eating within a fairly small window each day, say from noon to 6, is healthy. Of course, less alcohol on a daily basis is good.

With the new gym, I plan to have a regular but varied workout that includes weightlifting and short bursts of intense cardio on the bike. And, for eclectics like me, mixing it up and allowing myself to occasionally break the rules is key to continued success.

The YouTube Channel and Online Pursuits

At some point, I remember you started documenting your projects on YouTube. This has grown into a bit of a “channel” where at least one of your videos has over 100,000 views.

I have always hesitated to put up videos myself, because so much of YouTube is slickly produced and well-edited today and I am shy to put up my amateur work – much like the fearful theme that started us off on this whole article today. But you didn’t seem to care, and you just did it, and now the channel is out there.

How has your YouTubing experience been and do you have advice for anyone else? How hard would it be for a YT channel to become a successful business?

Luc: Ha ha, yes, the YouTube project has been quite an adventure. Currently there are three videos with over 100,000 views, including the Atwood remodel video, with over 750,000 views (you’re in that video – how does it feel to be a rock star?). What’s funny is the Atwood video was really poorly produced, yet it still somehow went semi-viral in the spring of 2017, spiking from an average of about 400 views a day to a peak of 21,000 views. That tapered off over the next year and a half, but I’ve made almost $1500 on that video. I’ve been trying to push the traffic from that vid to an updated and better produced version of the video, with limited success.

Like a lot of my other projects, the YouTube project has been a gung ho endeavor, jumping in with both feet in spite of limited skill and experience. A more well-thought out plan, executed with better focus, may have lead to more success. Then again, it might not have gotten off the ground if I had been too cautious.

In my newly grown up and focused life-phase, I hope to grow the channel into one that attracts more subscribers and maybe even provides enough income to buy more than a meal out on the town every month. Still, I have to keep that eclectic feel – I mean who doesn’t want to see everything from remodel work to creative pumpkin carving to insect eating to casket building to Trump parody to crazy body hair shaving? I have about 30 projects in the can as we speak, just waiting to be edited and uploaded.

(MMM note: did you catch that? Thirty projects we haven’t even mentioned in this article, including the time he tried to earn a Guinness world record by carving a 27 foot “Mustache” into his own body hair?)

The best advice I can give to aspiring YouTubers is don’t have a shaky camera – man does that drive people nuts, as I’ve been told again and again by people who watch the original Atwood video (there’s a lot of anger out there, as you well know, MMM). There’s something to be said for the amateur folksiness of YouTube, but there’s a balance between unwatchability and being too slickly produced (I’m still working on finding it). I’m probably the wrong guy to ask about what people want to see, but I imagine it’s pretty much anything you have an interest in, as long as the video is useful or entertaining.

Financial Independence and What’s Next?

Neighbourhood friends sampling Luc’s Sauteed Crickets at a party

MMM: As the years have gone on, you’ve remained a self-employed person and never stopped working hard on things. But I have noticed your work progressing from hardcore grinding out of professional painting jobs near the beginning, to more eclectic stuff now that is less income oriented. For example, the time you raised edible insects in your basement and researched and wrote an academic paper on how good it would be for the world if we switched some of the rich world’s meat consumption over to nutritionally superior stuff like cricket flour or bee brood. Not a lot of money in that type of thing, at least not to pay this month’s grocery bills.

What has been your secret to this decreased pressure on income making, and would you say you have a better work-life balance now than you had back in 2005?

Luc: Primarily because of my real estate investments, I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where most of my projects don’t need to make money. To me, the end goal in life is fulfillment, and the only way to achieve fulfillment is by making the world a better place, whether through service to the community, producing beautiful works of art, fighting for peace and justice in the world, writing a blog that denounces materialism and promotes sustainable living (wink wink), or just by being a good person to those around you.

A lot of my projects still focus on things that improve my own life, but more and more I hope to work on projects that help others, from the hyperlocal (being a better father and husband and friend) to the local (being more involved in our community) to the global. On the local front, one project you and I have worked on a little together is trying to get more solar power in Longmont. On the global level, I’ve been working with my father, E.G., on The Cooperative Society Project, a decades-long project that looks at the potential for humans to make the transition to a new stage of human interaction: one driven by cooperation rather than conflict.

The way I see it, the beauty of financial independence isn’t freedom from work, it’s the freedom to work on a fulfilling life.

An Afterword from MMM:

So this is a long article. What does it have to do with YOU and your own financial independence?

I have wanted to share these tales because they’re a great example of the idea of living with less fear. The neat thing about Luc’s entrepreneurial ventures is that he is willing to do things, even if he’s not skilled or experienced at them. They often don’t pan out, and that’s okay, because it’s okay to fail. In most cases, failure is just a lesson that leaves you further ahead than when you started, with some great stories to show for it too.

But to minimize the damage of failure and maximize the chance of success in entrepreneurship, Luc and I have both noticed a pattern over these thirteen years:

Start Small and Just Sell Something – most failed businesses start with borrowing and risk. Instead, you should find a customer first and get them interested in buying your stuff. Only after the sales come, should you reinvest some of this money into a bigger business.

Hard Work Can Save You from your Mistakes – when you’re getting started in anything, you will make expensive mistakes. But you can dig in harder and correct them and learn from them. You need to be willing to launch the business out of your spare room, be your own janitor, and make late night runs to the supply store or the post office to get those shipments out. Plenty of time for kicking back and gathering passive income later on, once the business is profitable

Keep Life Simple, Frugal and Stay Focused – a business takes time to build and it takes a while for it to start producing money. But if you enjoy it as your source of entertainment, it will naturally get the time it needs: Spend your weekends in the workshop instead of the golf course or the ski hill. And if you let go of material desires, you won’t be nearly as hungry for money. So while a $20,000 per year hobby business won’t even cover the lease payments on your neighbour’s pickup trucks, it may be more than enough to keep you well fed and happy, for life.

If you’ve got a lifestyle business that you love, feel free to share it in the comments beow and inspire the other people reading alongside you.

—

* In this article I profile Luc, but he is of course part of a hardworking and resilient family of four. His wife is also a friend of mine an equally wonderful person, but I have kept this story just focused on Luc in the interest of the privacy of the rest of the family.

Further Reading:

Poppa’s Cottage YouTube Channel

Poppa’s Cottage Blog

Updated Atwood Remodel Video

Carve The Runes Trailer

How To Build A Coffin Video

Portraits of Longmont Parks

The Potential For Entomophagy To Address Undernutrition

from Finance http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/11/08/honey-badger-entrepreneur/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

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bigashfarm · 2 years

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Took advantage of the warm weather (89 degrees in early May!? ) to plant some seeds. ( I think by the time they germinate and starting popping up we should be safe in terms of tenps). Pole beans and bush beans are in! Found I have quite a few volunteer beans popping up as well - and get this, I believe they're from a few years ago as that's the last time I planted beans in that area of the garden! What troopers! I've planted the blue beans I found in the dirt last fall - so excited to see what they do. I was thinking maybe they are descendents of the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans I had planted years ago in that same area? Lily supervised which was exhausting apparently - caught her sleeping on the job! 🤣 . . #beans #garden #garden2022 #seeds #boulder #boulderco #bouldercounty #lafayatte #lafayetteco #lafayattecolorado #louisville #louisvilleco #louisvillecolorado #longmont #longmontco #longmontcolorado #bigashfarm #bigashfarmcolorado #farm #farmlife #erie #erieco #eriecolorado #broomfield #broomfieldco #broomfieldcolorado https://www.instagram.com/p/CdYbHUiLyV3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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locksmithserviceslongmont · 4 years

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Top 10 Reasons Homes and Businesses Rekey Their Locks

In this blog post, we’ll be going over our top 10 reasons that homeowners and businesses choose to have their locks rekeyed. There are of course other reasons that aren’t on this list, but these are, in our opinion, the most common reasons that individuals and businesses seek lock rekeying services.

See our other informational articles: Rekeying VS Replacing Locks, What Is Lock Rekeying, and Differences Between Lock Changes & Rekeying.

1. When moving into a new property

When purchasing a new home or property, it’s always highly recommended that rekeying the home be one of the first things that the new homeowners do. Rekeying a home isn’t a difficult or lengthy process, nor is it too expensive, but it could potentially save hassle and headaches down the road. When a lock is rekeyed, the old key will no longer function, and instead, a new and different key will work. This is ideal for those who are moving into a new piece of property and want to make sure that the old owners can’t get back inside.

2. When keys go missing or aren’t returned

It’s common for homeowners and businesses to request a rekeying service if they’ve lent out keys that haven’t been returned. This could be for many different reasons, but a common reason might be a pet sitter who hasn’t returned house keys. Likewise, this could also apply to contractors and employees, if keys have been given out and they have not been returned, a rekeying service is a possibility often considered.

3. When a roommate moves out

If someone is moving out, it might be a good idea to have the residence rekeyed to ensure they can’t get back inside. It’s not rude to have locks rekeyed after someone moves out, even if they left on positive terms. Having a locksmith rekey home locks after a roommate has moved out is often an ideal solution to provide peace of mind, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to get back inside without being invited in. Our mobile locksmiths have helped customers who’ve decided to rekey their locks because their friends and previous roommates wouldn’t stop letting themselves back in their home to watch TV and eat from their fridge.

4. After a breakup or divorce

When a bad breakup or divorce occurs, often it’s a smart idea to have locks rekeyed. Even if the breakup is amicable, we recommend a lock rekeying service. Some individuals can be vengeful and vindictive after their feelings are hurt, or if they feel misused or abused. To ensure the highest level of safety and security for one's belongings after a breakup, it’s generally a good idea to have a home rekeyed, just to caution on the safe side of things. Our locksmiths have heard horror stories about bad breakups that have resulted in ex’s stealing things from their homes, like TV’s, electronics, computers, and even in some petty cases, ex’s have stolen mattresses , beds, stoves, fridges, and things they don’t even need as a way to cause pain and suffering. Rekeying locks is highly common after individuals breakup and someone moves out, for whatever the reasons may be.

5. If things start to go missing without signs of forced entry

Sometimes things may start to appear missing from home without a sign of a break-in. While not always the case, one explanation might be that an individual has a working key, and is letting themselves into the property to take items. This is a very rare occurrence, but it has happened to a select few in the past. We recommend that all homeowners who experience missing items regularly, first check their locks and points of entry. If all locks are fully functional, perhaps a rekeying service will stop any potential intruders from getting back inside to take more items. This is of course just one possible explanation as to how intruders could be gaining entry without forcing their way in.

6. If an employee is fired or quits without returning their keys

If an employee is terminated and doesn’t return their working keys, it could leave a potential security lapse as that individual should no longer have access to the premises. When an employee quits or is fired, they must return any working keys they have. Many times businesses will choose to rekey their locks even if their terminated employee has returned keys, just to be on the safe side of things, in-case the employee in question made a key duplicate. Most locksmiths will always recommend a rekeying service after an employee is let go or fired.

7. As a precautionary security measure every few years

Some homeowners and businesses like to keep it fresh when it comes to their security. While rekeying a lock won’t change the security of it, it can serve as a way to retain control over key copies, especially if many copies have been lent out in the past. Every few years some homeowners find it practical to have their locks rekeyed to be sure that they’re still the only ones who have working copies.

8. To have all locks be on the same keys

Many homeowners and businesses will rekey their existing locks so that they can be on matching keys. For example, a homeowner with three separate doors might have three separate keys to operate each door. With a rekeying service, the homeowner could have all their home locks rekeyed to the same key, meaning that all their door locks would be on the same matching key. This is ideal for those who are interested in reducing the number of keys they have to carry with them at all times. Homeowners who are interested in consolidating their multiple different keys into one singular key that works with all the locks may find that a rekeying service is of interest to them.

9. If you’ve lost track of where keys are and who has spare copies

Often homeowners may hide spare keys on the premises for the event that they find themselves locked out and unable to get back inside. If this is the case, it’s also possible for others to find hidden spare keys too. Frequently, homeowners will require a rekeying service after they’ve become locked out, and realize that their spare key isn’t in its supposed hiding spot. While there are many different reasons that keys might not be in the hiding spot they were left in, sometimes it can be as simple as the homeowner forgetting where they left it. Whatever the reason may be though, oftentimes homeowners will choose to rekey their locks after they can’t find spare keys or if their friends or family have lost spare keys they were lent for safekeeping.

10. After a big job like a home renovation with multiple different companies and contractors who have key copies

The last and final most common time that individuals and businesses choose to rekey their property is after a big job like a renovation. Renovations can be expensive, and it’s not uncommon for homeowners or businesses to leave spare keys with the individual companies that are providing the services. This is highly practical and convenient for the owner, as the workers can let themselves in and out as they please, however, it could potentially leave the owner open to security risks. Often homeowners and businesses will choose to have their property re-keyed after a big job in which multiple companies have had access to the property and locks without supervision. This is just a precaution, but it is still done by many. Most would rather spend the small amount that it costs on a rekeying service rather than constantly have to worry or risk their items going missing.

Summary

There are many different reasons that homeowners and businesses will opt for a rekeying service. In our opinion, the top ten most frequently requested reasons for lock rekeying services are:

Moving into a new property

When keys aren’t returned

After a roommate moves out

After a breakup

If things start to go missing

If an employee is let go

As a precautionary measure

To have locks be on the same key

When keys go missing

After a big job, like a home renovation.

Have you had to have your lock rekeyed before for a reason that wasn’t on our list? If so, we’d love to hear about it below in the comments!

About Us: Locksmith Services Longmont provides 24-hour locksmith services in Northern Colorado. We can assist with services like lockouts, lock rekeying, lock replacements, lock installations, lock repairs, lock removals, and more. We have 24-hour locksmith services in areas of North CO like Denver, Longmont, Boulder, Estes Park, Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, and more. See all the locations we provide fast and affordable locksmith services to in Northern Colorado on our Contact page.

#top reason people rekey locks #why do people rekey locks #benefits of rekeying locks #reasons to rekey locks #top 10 reasons homes rekey locks #why do homes rekey locks #why do businesses rekey locks #what is a change key service

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thepetsworld · 5 years

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Find Out What To Look For When Choosing A Dog Daycare Longmont CO Facility

By Paul Gray

If you have a dog, you have to take care of it. In case you are busy or traveling, you ought to have an option of where you are going to leave your canine. The reason being these pets do not like being left a long time in the house alone. Canines tend to get bored, and they can be destructive. If this is the situation, choose a Dog Daycare Longmont CO Service to help you. Here are some of the things to note when making this selection. Start by finding out if the staff members are trained to work with the canines. At the same time, the facility you choose needs to have enough people who can be able to supervise the dogs. Before you decide you should take the time to find out if they have the experience needed to deal with the project. Cleanliness is something that you should not compromise when you are making the selection. In case you find that the place is not as clean as you wanted it to be then it means that they will not be able to give the dog the best. A facility that is serious about what they do will warrant that they have a clean place for the pooches. One thing to note about dogs is that you cannot predict how their day will be. This is the reason you ought to find out the procedure regarding an emergency that has been put in place by these companies. The important thing is to warrant that there is a procedure that has been put in place to ensure that the dog is safe in case of any issues. In case they do not have the process to use, then this is not the right facility. There should be a system that has been put in place when it comes to new entry of canines. The system should be thorough enough to protect the pets against any health issues. Talk to the administration to find out what they do to ensure that the canines which are using the daycare facility are safe and healthy. Put in mind that what you might see when you tour the center might not be what you get online. Thus, if this is the case, you should take the time to go to the center in person. If they are serious about giving your furry friend the best, they will not have any issues to giving you a tour of the center. The other thing you should look into is the fight. It is best to find out how the facility handles dog fights. You also need to inquire about the policy that has been put in place In case a canine is playing too rough. This will help you learn about the facility an give you peace of mind that the canine will be safe. The other thing is the price that they charge. The best facility is the one that will offer you value for your money. In case you find the charges are too high, then you should reconsider using it. At the same time, you should be wary of too low prices. Find out if they have a license to do this job. This is paramount as it means that they have met with the minimum qualification that has been set by the government and also that you will end up getting the best.

About the Author:

You can get a detailed list of the factors to consider when picking a dog daycare Longmont CO facility at http://bit.ly/2Skw9Cx right now.

Find Out What To Look For When Choosing A Dog Daycare Longmont CO Facility via zoologist01 http://bit.ly/2Grmeas

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moys16 · 5 years

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Top Benefits Pets Enjoy When Left At Dog Boarding Longmont CO Facilities

By Martha Fox

It is a conundrum when you have to go on a vacation or business trip and leave your dog behind. The biggest puzzle is how your pet can get the best care while you are away. It can mean leaving it under the supervision of a neighbor, family member or friend. This also means you need to provide the individual with unlimited access to your home. You can avoid this by taking your pet to a dog boarding facility. If they opt for dog boarding Longmont CO residents will gain several benefits. When leaving your dog behind, one of the things you may worry about is whether it will receive the best care. The experts in dog boarding kennels are experienced animal handlers and they take excellent care of the dogs. They do their best to give dogs comfort and keep them happy. This option eliminates the need to pester your friends and family to look after your companion animal in your absence. Another benefit dogs enjoy while at high-quality boarding facilities is close supervision by well-trained staff. These facilities have trained personnel who monitor pets round the clock to make sure they stay on their best behavior. They also ensure that dogs are not lonely by letting them interact with other pets around the facility while keeping an eye on each animal every minute. The members of staff give dogs that are in for the first time much attention because they understands how dogs behave when they are away from their owners for the first time. Staying physically active during daytime is another benefit offered at dog boarding facilities. Dogs also get to interact a lot in a kennel. Staying physically active comes with the benefit of a dog burning off excess energy, lowering the chances of obesity that could lead to diabetes. Exercise is also vital for dogs since it helps eliminate boredom that can lead to various destructive behaviors in dogs. Dogs that stay in the kennels get to socialize with other dogs a lot. This presents them with a rare opportunity to improve their social skills while having fun. They also get used to being in environments with new people and other animals. In the likely scenario that your dog gets ill, the facilities are well equipped to handle that as they have trained personnel who can administer medications to your dog in the right doses. These facilities usually have the contacts of a veterinary doctor who can visit within short notice to examine the pets. They also provide pets with a well-balanced diet and plenty of water. Taking your pet to a kennel relieves you of the burden of having to request favors from friends and family. It places your dog in capable hands where it can receive loving and professional care. The professionals will keep your pet safe and secure over the period it spends at the facility. To enjoy all these benefits, you need to do a thorough check of the boarding facilities near you before selecting one. You can do this by reading reviews of the facilities. You may also get recommendations from veterinarians. You can then visit the facilities to check them out to ensure that they meet your requirements and desires.

About the Author:

Get an overview of the things to keep in mind when choosing a dog boarding Longmont CO facility and more information about an excellent facility at https://ift.tt/2tSJFF8 now.

Top Benefits Pets Enjoy When Left At Dog Boarding Longmont CO Facilities via best4dogs https://ift.tt/2OrWVaY

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bhealthline · 6 years

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Top Benefits Pets Enjoy When Left At Dog Boarding Longmont CO Facilities

By Martha Fox

It is stressful to imagine going for vacations or business trips and leaving your pet behind under no assured care. Leaving it under the care of neighbors, family and friends seems like the best option. However, you cannot be sure if these people can give the dog the best care. Furthermore, this also means that you have to leave your keys behind with the individual. The best option is using dog boarding services. By choosing to take their dogs to a facility that offers dog boarding Longmont CO residents can be free from worry. An important consideration is kind of care your dog will get when you are away. The experienced individuals at dog boarding facilities take perfect care of the dogs. Guaranteeing comfort and happiness of pets is their duty, and they perform it diligently. This solution eliminates the need to ask friends or relatives to take care of your dog for you. Another benefit dogs enjoy while at high-quality boarding facilities is close supervision by well-trained staff. These facilities have trained personnel who monitor pets round the clock to make sure they stay on their best behavior. They also ensure that dogs are not lonely by letting them interact with other pets around the facility while keeping an eye on each animal every minute. The members of staff give dogs that are in for the first time much attention because they understands how dogs behave when they are away from their owners for the first time. At the facility, the dogs are given an opportunity to stay physically active during the day. This helps dogs to burn off extra energy. It also helps lower the risk of obesity, which can lead to diabetes in the long run. Exercise also helps minimize chances of destructive behaviors in dogs, which can be associated with boredom. Dogs that stay in the kennels get to socialize with other dogs a lot. This presents them with a rare opportunity to improve their social skills while having fun. They also get used to being in environments with new people and other animals. The facilities are usually prepared to handle any medical emergencies due to their sufficiently trained staff members who can administer medications to dogs correctly. Kennels also usually have veterinarians on call. They also ensure that the dogs eat nutritious foods and have plenty of water. Taking your pet to a kennel relieves you of the burden of having to request favors from friends and family. It places your dog in capable hands where it can receive loving and professional care. The professionals will keep your pet safe and secure over the period it spends at the facility. You need to take time to search for the best boarding facilities in Longmont, CO. It is advisable to seek opinions from local veterinarians as they can know the best ones due to the nature of their job. You can also find online reviews and read them to make an informed decision about the same or visit the facilities to evaluate them in person.

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findthebestrehabcenter · 6 years

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Choosing the Best Rehabilitation Center Colorado Longmont

How to choose the best drug and alcohol abuse rehabilitation and treatment centers in Colorado Longmont

Can you or a loved one struggle with an addiction to drugs, alcohol or even?

It can seem overwhelming to get freedom from the chains of addiction and impossible occasionally.

There is hope however, countless individuals addicted to drugs, alcohol or have managed to get clean and stay clean with the help of organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous or the thousands of residential and outpatient clinics devoted to treating addiction.

Here at Find the Best Rehab Center we have been working since 2002 to help thousands of people just like you receive the help you need.

But if you have failed one or more times to attain lasting freedom after rehab, perhaps after spending thousands of dollars, you are not alone. And odds are, it is not your own fault.

Of the 23.5 million teens and adults addicted to alcohol or drugs, just about 1 in 10 has treatment, which too often fails to keep them drug-free. A number of these programs fail to use proven methods to take care of the factors which underlie addiction and put off relapse.

According to current assessments of treatment programs, many are rooted in obsolete methods as opposed to newer procedures shown in scientific studies to be more effective in helping people achieve and preserve addiction-free lives. People typically do much more research when shopping for a new car than when seeking treatment for addiction.

Types of drug, alcohol & substance addictions and abuse

What Substances Can Rehab Heal?

Most Common Types of Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol

Cocaine

Heroin

Marijuana

Methamphetamine

Opiates

Opioids

Tobacco products

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The Way Rehabilitation Centers Help

Rehab is a treatment program designed to help people who have addictions to psychoactive substances, specifically drugs and alcohol. Especially, rehab aims to stop addiction by recognizing an issue exists and dealing with that issue. A Few of the goals of rehab include:

Detoxification. It’s typical for those entering rehab to be elevated or have remnants of drugs or alcohol in their system.

Overcoming denial. No treatment for addiction will operate if the individual does not admit they have a problem.

Recognizing the nature of addiction. Individuals should learn that addiction is a disease of the brain.

Formal diagnosis. Rehab facilities commonly recognize and treat co-occurring mental health problems.

Addiction Administration. Rehab centers supply tools, techniques and techniques for making mental and behavioral changes to stay sober.

Identifying triggers. Rehabs help patients identify habits, personality traits, emotions or cues that encourage or promote addiction.

Recovery support. Rehab facilities help you construct and maintain support networks and connections.

Things to Expect in Rehab

There are several key elements to an effective and effective rehab program, irrespective of the particular kind of treatment selected.

Detoxification

Not many who enter rehab will need detox along with those that do may require varying degrees of medical care and supervision. With the addiction, the body becomes used to the addictive substance that eliminating it from the system may cause extremely painful withdrawal symptoms. In many instances, the withdrawal symptoms may be harmful.

The precise detox process will depend on the substance and also the severity of the addiction. But, all detox procedures will be supervised and implemented by medical professionals who can make the detox procedure as safe and comfortable as medically possible. The detox can last anywhere from a few days to a few Weeks and frequently occurs in a medical facility.

Addiction Therapy and Education

The exact duration and nature of therapy varies. Most evidence-based therapies are going to have medicine and cognitive-behavioral element to them. More on this below.

Recovery Support

This normally entails finding ways to reduce relapse. The particular aftercare program is based on the individual’s progress and continuing demands. Examples of aftercare include counseling, support groups and sober housing.

Intake & Assessment

At this moment, the treatment suppliers evaluate the individual to determine the most effective treatment plan for this person. Depending on the program, a meeting, medical examination and/or psychiatric exam will be run. One of those things treatment suppliers will look for will be the existence of concurring psychological health or emotional problems. Relatives and friends may also be interviewed to gain extra insight into someone’s addiction.

How to Find The Best Drug & Alcohol Treatment Facility Near You

Due to the exceptional nature of addiction, there are a plethora of treatment alternatives available. The best treatment choice will depend on facts concerning the addiction, like how long it’s been happening, the existence of co-occurring psychological health issues, the financial resources available for rehab and the substances that the individual is using. Each of the significant treatment options are discussed in detail below.

In a 2012, a five-year study performed by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University discovered that only about 10 percent of people addicted to drugs or alcohol (excluding nicotine) received any kind of addiction treatment. And most of those treated didn’t receive evidence-based treatments that utilize scientifically proven methods of combating addiction.

Therefore, regardless of which treatment option is preferred, there are particular attributes or characteristics to look out for when choosing a successful rehab alternative.

The treatment will last a long time. The specific quantity of time will depend on the kind of treatment chosen, but any effective treatment for addiction will last at least a couple weeks.

Avoid intervention-based, episodic treatments if possible. The most effective treatment will demand long-term help to address the chronic disease that’s addiction.

The treatment relies on evidence-based therapies.

The treatment will use numerous therapies to deal with the multiple causes of addiction.

If any other psychological disorders exist, they’ll be treated in precisely the same time.

A long-term follow up plan is set up to check in with all the person after treatment is officially finished.

Kinds of Addiction Treatment Centers

Treatment centers may be either Christian or non-religious, Inpatient or outpatient. Whatever your need we have a treatment plan which can help you to conquer your addiction.

Residential Treatment

Also called inpatient treatment, residential treatment is a detailed treatment that encircles the individual in a controlled setting 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Residential treatment can be long-term short-term.

Long-Term Residential Treatment

Long-term residential treatment lasts at least two weeks, but could often last up to a year. This type of treatment is considered one of the most effective alternatives available, although it’s also expensive.

The most common long-term residential treatment program is based on the notion of a healing community. At a therapeutic community, everybody, not just the expert staff, play a role in helping the person fight addiction. Treatment will frequently start with detoxification and handling the physiological aspects of the addiction, but will soon shift into the psychological side of the problem. Because treating addiction often involves changing behavior, it may have a long time to execute these positive changes and make them permanent.

Additionally, the individual is surrounded by people who will fortify these changes in behaviour. They are protected from impacts and triggers that contribute to addiction, making the treatment that far more successful. By way of instance, the longer a individual is separated from former acquaintances and preferences having to do with the addiction, the more overseas and not as familiar they will appear. This enhances the chances of avoiding a relapse.

Short-Term Residential Treatment

In short-term residential treatment, the person will reside at the treatment facility and be tracked 24/7 before the rehab is finished. However, it is going to persist for a far briefer period of time, frequently a few weeks to a few months. As a consequence of the shorter time frame for rehab, the method is different from the long-term residential treatment choice.

Like the long-term residential treatment choice, the person will usually go through detoxification and engage in behavioural and pharmacotherapies to address both the physical and psychological aspects of addiction. But with a shorter time in rehab, there is less opportunity for coaching, therapy and reinforcement of positive and constructive habits. Additionally, there is little prospect for a individual to”grow distant” from his or her former life.

Following the short-term residential treatment program is finished, the person must be diligent about completing follow up (aftercare) or outpatient treatment programs. A strong support system is vital to prevent relapse.

Outpatient Addiction Treatment

In outpatient treatment, a person does not live at the treatment facility. The exact kind of treatments will be based on the specific program, however, is often less intense and of shorter length than inpatient programs. There are a couple additional significant differences as well.

Outpatient programs are ideal for anyone who have extensive support networks. Because the treatment will stop if the individual leaves the outpatient session, it’s very important they have familymembers, friends or local support groups to help continue the treatment procedure. With no source of support and accountability after an outpatient treatment session is over, the effectiveness of the treatment program will be diminished.

Outpatient programs are great for those who want treatment, but can not manage to devote an elongated period of time away from their occupation, home or current living situation. Even short-term residential inpatient treatment programs often persist for a month. This is a really long time to be away from family or employment.

Outpatient treatment is generally significantly cheaper than inpatient treatment. But, even if it is not as effective as inpatient treatment, it is better than no treatment at all. A strong support system of support can drastically reduce the dangers of outpatient rehab.

State-Funded Treatment Programs

These rehab programs take a variety of kinds, such as inpatient, outpatient, support groups and counseling. But because they are state funded, the quality of care generally is not on par with private or luxury treatment rehab facilities. There may be waiting lists to register and also the ratio between specialist employees and people is quite large. In addition, a number of the newer therapy or medical treatment choices may not yet be available in state funded treatment programs, as a result of financial or bureaucratic considerations.

More Factors to Consider When Choosing a Rehab Facility

Amenities

The conveniences provided during inpatient rehab are usually connected to the cost of this program. Luxury rehab treatment centers can provide lavish accommodations, gourmet meals and recreational activities, such as spa treatments.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are state funded treatment programs. Most state funded treatment programs do not even have enough money to offer you the most effective treatment possible, such as with more treatment experts on staff. As such, the amenities will probably be sufficient, but not lavish.

Visitation

Visitation is advocated for most individuals in rehab. Familial and social support is extremely important to help fight addiction, particularly after the treatment is finished. Family members and friends may even participate in the treatment during their visits.

Get help for you or a loved one by calling our 24/7 National Addiction hotline

The post Choosing the Best Rehabilitation Center Colorado Longmont appeared first on Find The Best Rehab Center.

from Find The Best Rehab Center https://www.findthebestrehabcenter.com/choosing-the-best-rehabilitation-center-colorado-longmont/

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andrewdburton · 6 years

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An Interview With The Man Who Never Needed a Real Job

“Dear Mr. Money Mustache…

I’d like to retire soon. I’ve had a good career and the numbers say I’m just over the threshold, but I’m still afraid.

How do all of you fearless Mustachians just go out and start businesses and make money, when it is so hard to get started – so many details and contingencies to account for?

– the Skittish Scottsdale Solicitor

Dear SSS,

It is the story of my long-time friend Luc, who has earned a reputation in our own community as the honey badger of entrepreneurship.

The Honey Badger

Luc takes a brief rest from digging out 30 tons of dirt from his own basement and hand-pouring a new foundation while his son supervises.

If you do it right, there is upside waiting around every corner. So let’s get into the questions!

The Man Who Never Got a Real Job

What was going on in your life at that moment, in both life and business?

By 2005, though, I had severely downsized the company and I was back to a small crew. I was beginning to think about what I wanted to be when I grew up.

The Rental Real Estate Projects

How has your experience been in owning single family rental houses, while doing your own management and maintenance? Is it a reasonable return on your investment and labor?

Luc: There are a lot of real estate/rental experts in the Mustachian fold – I am not one of them, but real estate is the main reason we’re now financially independent.

I sold the condominium on Craigslist in 2015 and did a 1031 exchange for the Atwood Project – probably the most soulful investment I’ve made.

After finishing up the remodel work on the fourth and final property, we had 100% occupancy in all places and pulled in about $92,000 in rent; $36,000 after expenses.

To take some of that appreciation money off of the table, I chose to sell the most expensive of these houses last year, and re-invest the cash into standard stock market investments.

This is where MMM will probably caution you that not all real estate investment will go so well.

Building DIY Electric Cars

Although it’s no Tesla, this little homemade contraption was my first peek at the world of electric cars.

Not being auto mechanics yourselves, what possessed you to do this? And did it turn out to be a good business idea in the end?

We spun off a new company, Boulder Hybrid Conversions, with two other guys (with more EV expertise), in which we converted Priuses to plug-in hybrids by upgrading them to a larger battery.

Dead Pine Trees for Dead Bodies

A handcrafted biodegradeable coffin takes shape in the handcrafted workshop. (image credit: Mat Bobby / Longmont Colony)

MMM:

One day, I got an email from you that said, “Well, I’ve done it again – decided to start yet another business. Building coffins from reclaimed beetle-killed pine planks”

What was the motivation and the eventual fate of that coffin venture?

Here in Colorado, the pine beetle epidemic was devastating our lodgepole pine forests, but leaving a lot of dead trees with beautiful blue grain (from a fungus that feeds on the beetle’s waste).

Miscellaneous Mini Businesses and Pursuits

MMM:

A Quixotic Urban Oasis and the Big Dig

A few thousand pounds of concrete? all in a morning’s work.

MMM:

What has driven you to go so far, when some people won’t even change a furnace filter? Any downsides and pitfalls?

Luc’s Hobbit-esque backyard oasis and workshop/garage, carved from an area that was originally just weeds and concrete.

Physical Fitness and Doing Experiments On Yourself

Have you noticed anything about the Human body and what makes it function best? Any advice for people who are prone to binging, on getting control of their eating and drinking habits?

The YouTube Channel and Online Pursuits

At some point, I remember you started documenting your projects on YouTube. This has grown into a bit of a “channel” where at least one of your videos has over 100,000 views.

How has your YouTubing experience been and do you have advice for anyone else? How hard would it be for a YT channel to become a successful business?

Financial Independence and What’s Next?

Neighbourhood friends sampling Luc’s Sauteed Crickets at a party

What has been your secret to this decreased pressure on income making, and would you say you have a better work-life balance now than you had back in 2005?

The way I see it, the beauty of financial independence isn’t freedom from work, it’s the freedom to work on a fulfilling life.

An Afterword from MMM:

So this is a long article. What does it have to do with YOU and your own financial independence?

But to minimize the damage of failure and maximize the chance of success in entrepreneurship, Luc and I have both noticed a pattern over these thirteen years:

If you’ve got a lifestyle business that you love, feel free to share it in the comments beow and inspire the other people reading alongside you.

—

* In this article I profile Luc, but he is of course part of a hardworking and resilient family of four. His wife is also a friend of mine and an equally wonderful person, but I have kept this story just focused on Luc in the interest of the privacy of the rest of the family.