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Mike...A lot of us have met you...You are EVERYWHERE!!! You are great ambassador for the Letterhead community.
I was wondering if you would share how it is that you can travel as much as you do?
I am sure that lots of folks would be interested in how you manage a business when you are away.
They would also, probably, be interested in how you can afford the trips you take. What do you do that is different than others?
I'm not asking because I am nosy, but rather, to maybe shed some light, in general terms, on how others can do what you do.
Shirl and I like travelling and we do. I know how we do it but I'd be interested in your insights.
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
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I think he did let us in on it- Mazeppa doesn't want him, and he's on the run from a postman there With no fixed abode, he's decided to become an understudy of Aussie John Jordan!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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He told me the secret when he was over here in Fresno, but I promised I wouldn't let out the info. Don't worry Mike I won't let em know about the Oil Well in the back yard...
-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Good Evening Folks! Good Question Dave .....as we speak, I am in Aledo Illinois to help Michael Clark do some signwork. Then this weekend I head back to Mazeppa to "re-Group" and gather passport and tickets to head for the Airport to New Zealand for 12 days..... Now on to the questions How does one go to as many Meets as i do? Well...My hobby is SIGNS. I do not hunt, fish, bike, cycle,..I travel to meets to help others learn..in some cases the meet host waives my fee and puts me up in their house or shop...this helps with money...but the airfare is a large expense but it is A BUSINESS WRITE-OFF. Not all of it but most. When i am on the meet as a project leader or seminar instructor, I give my all....I work hard, play hard. In the mean while I get to soak up the local culture, food, language, people.
My home is now the same as my shop...I live up above. This has helped with expenses. John Jordan and I have the same fhil-os-o-fee ...do it now. What's the sense in waiting? Look at Johnny Jordan...75 years young and yes, he has made his money by working his tail off from the 40's to finally retiring a few years ago..but you would not know it. Stay smart and active...stay busy. When traveling you gotta have a credit card...to book certain things over seas..you just gotta have one....yes, I have maxed one out, but I have gotten back to work and I will pay it off and go at it again someday....It's only money, you cannot take it with you. Do not go out and get a credit card and max it out and blame me....that's the American "whoa is me attitude" naw....just go do it man....I really do not have any secret Dave.....that's the bare bones of it....work hard, try to ask a Letterhead in the area of a meet if he has some work he wants help on..you can stay a day or two before or after....
Hell i don't know...it's fun, I love it....It ain't broke and I sure as hell ain't gonna break it!
-------------------- Mike Meyer Sign Painter 189 1st Ave n P.O. Box 3 Mazeppa, Mn 55956
We are not selling, we are staying here in Mazeppa....we cannot re-create what we have here....not in another lifetime! SO Here we are!!!!!!!
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Mike..Thanks for the response and the info.
I kinda figured you did it "our way" too..
We plan things and we go..whether we can afford it or not.."put it on plastic"
Once the trip is over then it's time to bust butt and pay it off.
Like you say Mike, do it NOW!! Life is too short to be waiting to "do it!"
Whether it is a meet or just a vacation.
Meets are a bonus since they are a complete tax write-off! (My accountant sometimes gets strange when I suggest that a vacation is a write-off just because I took a few pics of some signs though?? )
BTW..John Jordan is a cool dude! (babe magnet too!)
[ November 07, 2005, 11:08 PM: Message edited by: Dave Grundy ]
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
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there are Letterheads in New Zealand and Australia that always tell me "they hope to get to the States to one of those meets" and then there are the people here and Canada that say the same kinda thing..."we wish we could go down under"..well...you folks need to get together and just DO IT!! While you are young and can do things...because when you get older you won't wanna fly in an airplane for 14 hours....unless you are John Jordan!
The palstic is handy but not the only answewr..save some up, use the card when ya nee to and open your minds to the world out there.. ask ROD TICKLE..I coaxed him to Mazeppa by telling him that it would "Change his life"
Rod...did it?
-------------------- Mike Meyer Sign Painter 189 1st Ave n P.O. Box 3 Mazeppa, Mn 55956
We are not selling, we are staying here in Mazeppa....we cannot re-create what we have here....not in another lifetime! SO Here we are!!!!!!!
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We probably never would have gone to Greece if not for a Letterhead Meet - I just finished paying off the last of the trip from my Visa bill this week. It was truly a life-changing and worthwhile trip, as anyone who attended will tell you.
Like Mike, my life is SIGNS. Our vacations are often built around a meet and allow us to see places we wouldn't ordinarily visit. We're getting pumped and saving a few bucks for Scotland in May - put it on your card and come join us.........
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Where is that goofy Kangaroo chaser anyway....probably saving up for his next trip!
I made the mistake of attending my first Letterhead meet over in Chippewa Falls a few years ago. At that meet I got to Meet Mike Meyer and ride around in lift with him....for the first time! Ill never be the same again!
Now it seems that I spend most of my waking hours trying to figure out how to get to the next meet! I was at the Mazeppa Meet this past meet and had the chance to hang out with Rod, Grampa Dan and a whole lot of great people....Kansas...where are you? Don't know about that crazy monkey from down unda but it sure changed my life!
My most recent meet was good ole Michael Clarks wing-ding down in Aledo. Don't know how I paid for it all but I did and again, learned a lot! Wouldn't have missed for the world!
I'm not sure yet how I'll pay for it but I want to make it to Lodi for sure this spring!
Mike, I'm trying to take your lead and get to as many Meets as I can. Like you said you gotta do it while you're still breathin' ....somehow make it happen!
Hopefully, someday soon I can make it down unda to visit the color blind schizophrenic monkey in his natural habitat!
Take care....have a blast in the land of the kiwi there Mike!
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Mike's right! Life is too short to put off your dreams. Sometimes you just gotta go and worry about paying for it later. Refinancing your house is always an option.
I'm jealous as hell right now. If things had worked out differently, we would have attended the meet in Oz and already be in New Zealand to welcome Mike.
Things will be different next year. The second defribrulator implant is functioning well, I'm losing weight and starting to feel better.
Have a good trip Mike! Tell the NZ bunch we love them in Letterville! Three cheers for all you do to keep the Letterhead flame burning strong.
-------------------- Steve Shortreed 144 Hill St., E. Fergus, Ontario Canada N1M 1G9 519-787-2673
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Hey Mikey can you come to adelaide your only a stone throw away from kiwi land. I can pick you up from the airport and give you food, bed and transport, thats about it.
-------------------- Mark Stokes Mark Stokes Signs Mount Barker South Australia Posts: 388 | From: Mount Barker | Registered: Jan 2005
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A few years back ppl were asking me the same questions...
I did the same thing, but on a smaller scale...
Offered to do demos, get the fee waived (most of the time) stayed at Letterhead homes (the most generous and best ppl in the world!) and don't have any other hobbies!!
Now I have my Dad's move up to WA, my horse, and haven't been home to work most of all this year (that's gonna change now with Dad with me)
Maybe after everything's settled I'll get to a meet somewhere far...I'm itchin' to travel again!!
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I base ALL my vacations on Letterhead meets! I just love to see the world too. Had a great time in greece! Then saw Italy for 2 weeks. Its all a business deduction! My accountant once told me "If your congressman can do it so can you". In 2007 the international meet might be in Germany. I can't wait. Pick a place and go! Have fun . . . .life is short.
-------------------- John Arnott El Cajon CA 619 596-9989 signgraphics1@aol.com http://www.signgraphics1.com Posts: 1443 | From: El Cajon CA usa | Registered: Dec 1998
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G'day guys, What can I say that my mates from the states havent already said...... just get off ya arse and go to a meet, they do change your life (sometimes for the better-heheheh "kidding") Try to be careful who you get tangled up with though, there are some bloody crazy letterheads out there. Well as they keep us convicts locked away down here on island paradise we only get to read about all the kewl guys and gals slopping paint up yonder and many years ago i read in a mag about these letterhead meets people were attending. for some crazy reason this just blew my hair back and thats where I wanted to go. I heard about the first aussie letterhead meet held in Wagga Wagga in 1994 AFTER it had happened. I hate to see others having fun with out me so from then on I tried not to miss any meets. This is a pretty big slice of dirt so I had to travel many miles every year just to attend these meets which was therapy in its self. I run a small shop and to just pack up and leave it for 4 or so days was hard (until i heard the door shut) but if ya want something bad enough you'll do it. I have only missed a few aussie meets for one reason or another and i hate missing them as its always great catching up with my mates and making new ones. I've also been fortunate enought to attend two meets in the states, the first was in Alabama at Pat Kings place. I was working in Canada doing murals and was ready to head for home after 5 weeks but thought well i'm this close i might as well slip down to Mississippi, see my mate RT, then cruise with him to Pats. Sure it was a strain, as my wife really wanted me home, also landing in New Orleans on Sept 10 didnt help the stress much. but well worth it, and so glad I went and made a heap of new mates. In that trip to Canada and the states I got to meet soo many guys i have idolized and only read about. I met Cosmic Ray Renooy & a heap of really kewl Canadian signies while there, they evan took me to dinner a couple times just to talk shop etc. was great.. while at pats and RTs i got to meet many more letterheads like Steve "the mayor" and barb, Monte, coop, joe buck , sonny the list goes on. Last year our meet was just down the road from me and Mike Meyer was our yankie visitor, and we had a blast and we hope he did too. After meeting Mike he asked if i'd go to his meet but wasnt sure if this would actually happen. Man am I glad it panned out as I had just the best time. I got to hang at mikes the week before then as the town turned into a sign town it just got crazy... my kind of crazy! I got to meet and actually paint with so many of my heros, and also made some more heros too. I got so many great memories , like from the night i got there till the night i left was non stop crazy. Driving thru arby's backwards, driving monster trucks up main streets of Mazeppa, riding a chopper, cruising the cities with a fruit cake in a camero, many many more.
Some how we manage to find the funds to do these meets and trust me they do change your life.
Like that great man once said "just do it" :Nike
You are all welcome and invited to any of our Aussie meet, come on down, i'll chuck a roo on the barbie for ya.
Thanks Letterheads
Rod
-------------------- Rod from, EAST COAST AIRBRUSHING "Airbrush Art & Graphics" Nambour; Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Australia E.mail: rod@rodticklesigns.com Web: www.rodticklesigns.com Posts: 635 | From: Nambour, Sunshine Coast, Queensland | Registered: Dec 1998
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Good question Dave and the right person to ask it of. Mike is most certainly the "sign ambassador" of the world. Traveling far and wide passing on the "Letterhead Fever." Mike is right; do it now, write it off and see the world all in one feld swoop. I too work from home so that my overhead can be traveling to meets, going to school and sign seminars. I figure if our politicians can write off their hunting trips and the like we are certainly entitled to write off our "Letterhead Meets."
Keep setting the pace Mike, I'm right behind you, Tricia
-------------------- Tricia M. O'Neill tricia@signs-unique.com Signs Unique 13 Swan Street Arlington, MA 02476 781-648-4804 www.signs-unique.com Posts: 25 | From: Arlington, MA USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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I will attend my very first meet next year in Scotland. run by Stewart McLaren. I have spoke with him a few times now and can’t wait, seems a real nice guy too. Stewart only lives about 25 minutes drive from me so it is very handy to say the least. Hope to meet some of the faces from here there... & of course see some of you guys in action.
-------------------- Robert Lambie Glasgow Scotland UK
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Traveling to meets has been great. I'd never been to California, Chicago, South Carolina, or Qubec before. (Heck, I'd never changed my watch for a time zone before.)
There are so many times that it's said that going to a Letterhead meet will change your life. No truer words have ever been spoken. In just a few years, I've met hundreds of talented people and they all have shared so much of themselves. Moving to Georgia would never have been possible without the help and support of some of those folks.
After a dozen meets, I'm still looking forward to the next one. Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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You are great ambassador for the Letterhead community.
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With no fixed abode, he's decided to become an understudy of Aussie John Jordan!
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