PACE: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Complete Cash Flow Clarity by Jesse Mecham

Author:Jesse Mecham [Mecham, Jesse]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Steine LLC
Published: 2014-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

apter Five: Rule Two—Anticipate Larger, Less-Frequent Expenses

In the summer of 2012, my friend Mark and I took a dozen boys (14 to 18 years old) on a 50-mile backpacking trip through the wilderness near Moab, Utah.

Prior to camping the first evening, we had made one final stop at the gas station. I had told each of the boys to fill their water containers completely. As an extra precaution, I bought a few gallons of water to have at camp, just in case.

The morning of our descent into the canyon, our first challenge presented itself before we even began. The boys mentioned that they didn’t have water. I asked them why their containers weren’t full, since we’d been to the gas station the evening before, and they had been told to fill everything they had. They all reiterated that they thought it was “gross” to use the bathroom sink of a gas station for their water.

Knowing our first water stop was miles inside the canyon, I used the extra gallons of water I’d purchased, and we filled their containers.

We descended into what is affectionately known as Dark Canyon Wilderness.

I had spent weeks preparing for the trip and studying the route. I knew roughly how long we needed to travel each day in order to reach a new water supply. Despite my preparation, it was the first week of June, and water was my chief concern.

Several miles into the our journey, I noticed a few landmarks that tipped me off to the first water source I’d been seeking. It required that we detour about a mile round-trip, but previous hikers had left confident instructions, stating that the water was plentiful.

After a long detour full of grumbling, we finally found what I was looking for. It was a pool of standing water, about eight inches deep, and perhaps ten feet wide in any direction. I told the boys that we had found our first water source. Nobody moved.

Each of the boys had a brand new water filter, but they all saw the green, stagnant water, with bugs landing and taking off from its surface, and decided they’d rather not fill up their containers.

Mark and I grabbed a clear water bottle and begin pumping the green, somewhat murky water into the clear bottle. The water came out crystal clear, and Mark and I both took a few swallows to show the boys our confidence in the filters.

A few of the boys still decided to go with the water they had, hoping for “better” water later on. Most were confident enough in their filters after watching Mark’s and my demonstration.

With our containers filled to the brim, we trekked on.

That first night, about 13 miles from the trailhead, the boys saw our overnight water source. It was another stagnant pool, with bugs hovering all around it, but their reaction was different this time. They were elated. They dropped their filters in with gusto, pumped crystal-clear water, and guzzled it.

Our second day was similar to the first.

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