A product of "What-if" sight

Without formally deciding to do so, I’ve essentially allowed myself to “let my hair down” during the holidays this year. Normally, I’m a pretty relentless busy-body throughout the year with regards to my business aspirations and projects, but with the onset of Christmas I’ve taken a much more laid back approach to business this month. Sure, I’ll be back in full swing come January, but for now it’s all about my family. We’ve actually been pretty busy as a family with all the fun holiday things going on. The annual live nativity, Christmas movies, gingerbread houses, Christmas projects for the kids, and attending holiday get-togethers…. So much to do, and so much FUN to be had…who has time for business??

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting on any blinders to opportunity, by any means. I’m just not proactively LOOKING for new stuff this month. I have had a few things fall into my lap over the past few days though. Projects and ideas actually. I’m currently working on a Name Design for a client which will be a Christmas/Hanukah gift and, after sending out a mass email to my friends, relative and client database, I’ve even generated a few holiday-related sales for LittleLDS. My goal is to make Christmas much, MUCH bigger for LittleLDS next year.

On Monday, November 20th I was in a car accident that robbed me of my old and faithful friend “Bodona” (my horribly beaten, but very reliable 12 year-old ’95 Honda Civic). I had been driving about 30 mph when a car failed to yield to me, the on-coming traffic, and made a poor attempt to turn left across my lane after incorrectly determining that no one was coming. As he cut through my lane, I nailed him head on. My car looked like I had just hit a light pole dead center. Both air bags deployed, and the windshield shattered. My classes were thrown out of my open window but were recovered without a scratch. Despite being punched in the face, I walked away with only minor bruises, as sprained elbow (discovered later) and a headache. The car wasn’t so lucky. It didn’t make it. While waiting for Kim to come pick me up, I watched the tow truck hoist it up and away, and inadvertently I started to reflect on what had just happened. This was one of those priceless opportunities that life gives us once in a blue moon. Having just been saved and pummeled simultaneously by an airbag my seatbelt, I was given the gift of, what I like to call, “What-if sight.” Similar to hind sight, what-if sight gives us a clear and highly prioritized perspective of where you ARE vs. where you COULD be at that moment. While surveying the horrific scene in my mind’s eye of how this accident could have ended up, I started wondering the typical what-ifs. “What if the airbag had shoved my classes into my eyes and blinded me?” What if I had been rendered unconscious and wasn’t able to tell Kim what had happened?” Then came the inevitable mother of what-ifs….”what if I had died in this accident?” While processing this morbid thought, I noticed once again, as I have many times before, that opportunity was faintly knocking on my door. By the time Kim had picked me up, I had worked out, in my mind, another great money-making idea. That was the catalyst, here’s the result and premise.

People, in general, have amazing amounts of data floating around in the conscious and subconscious minds. Its something we usually just take for granted until it’s pointed out to us. Let me help you appreciate the amount of data you’re currently storing up there in that big muscle between your ears. Think about all the different names you have to remember and all the faces that you must recognize that go with them. Now, think about all the voices that accompany those names and faces. Think about all the phone numbers you’ve memorized. Past and present. Think about all the mailing address, email addresses, and website addresses you recall on any given day. Think about all the words you can spell on any given moment. Think about the sounds of the alphabet and the letters that make them up. Do you speak another language? I’m not just talking about boarder languages, but programming languages, body languages, etc… Add those to the list too. What about all those account numbers, user names and passwords? Which ones belong to which banks, website, memberships, and organizations? Think about all the schedules and appointments you keep. Think about all the financial process, calculations, and conversions you can remember. You’re able to remember quantities, measurements, medication names and their dosages, grocery lists and anniversaries. Think about all the sizes your brain can remember. What sizes are your clothes now vs. what you wore a year ago? Amazed yet? At any given moment, in today’s complex world, our brains are capable of harboring incredible amounts of data. It’s no wonder this is considered the information age. It’s also no wonder we’re constantly forgetting things either. It’s not necessarily that we’re that forgetful either. Perhaps it’s just that we have SO much to remember at once!

Because there are so many things to remember, it’s easy to inadvertently leave things out when recollection is really important. While waiting for Kim to pick me up from that accident scene, I asked myself, “What if I had died today? What information [what data] would I have taken with me?” The answer was a little startling. As a husband and father, I spend a considerable amount of time planning and strategizing how to generate new income, how to efficiently manage what we have, and how to invest in our future. I’m constantly re-evaluating our goals, moving around our investments, and exploring new ways to protecting our personal property and information.

However…

If I had died in that accident, would Kim know how to liquidate the assets we’ve accumulated together? Would she even know we HAD some of them? Would she know how to cash in our precious metals? Would she know how to access our I-bonds? Would she know where to go to collect my life insurance? While mourning my loss, would she be in a state of mind to contact my employer? Would she have the means to sell our house if she needed to? I don’t doubt Kim’s capabilities, but I do doubt the ease of accessibility to my own preparations. If I had died that day, would I have left my house in order?

The idea I came up with was software that would store and maintain all that critical information for me. Not only would it store that data, but it would also remind you at pre-determined intervals of time, via email, to update your time-sensitive information such as policy renewals, living wills and trust information, vehicle maintenance, and health check ups. The software would not only act as a guide for those surviving a lost loved one, but it would also serve the living user as a rolodex for personal & professional contacts, an inventory of personal & business property, a calendar for bills and bookkeeping, a database for codes, combinations, usernames, and passwords, a storage for images, a storage for important documents, and a living resume. There are many, MANY more things I would want to program into it. The idea is to make all of this information manageable, and accessible for me now and for her (or others) later.

I’ve looked into this market and have found several pieced of my pie. In the financial world, some companies, in order to help their clients manage their investments, bank accounts and insurances, have come with a paper form called a “family love letter.” Its purpose is similar to mine. Make financial information and assets easily located and liquidated when necessary. I’ve found software out there that specifically handle home and property inventory. These software programs are closer to what I’m looking to do, but they are still only pieces of the over all “preparation” pie.

I’m still not sure what to call the software, but after having met with Rob in Utah over Thanksgiving weekend, I definitely know that I want to work with HIM on it. He’s brilliant! I’m excited to work on this idea, although it may have to reside in my Brain Vomit book for a while first. LittleLDS needs some real attention after the holidays.