Expansion

J's Diary Entry July 23, 2010: I have been in pain for a whole week, pathetically dragging myself to the car, and thinking. I am flooded with work orders and I can never arrive to the things I set myself to do. Like writing that article on probabilistic design. This is a permanent situation for me. So I have to reduce my workload and reject most of my Clients, or alternatively, expand. Already I have explored this second route and found a larger place and have interviewed assistant engineer candidates. I have made a budget with detail of how much I am risking and talked to my wife (she is panicked, she had always pushed me down).

The business plan includes expanding the engineering design and consulting services to include new non-conventional markets such as (1) public safety (Israeli Police has established its permitting section and they started demanding drawings and reports), (2) fire fighting (part 1 of the new regulations are out and the second part coming, now they require computer modelling which I know how to do), (3) odor and air pollution modelling (they require EPA's AERMOD model which I have - there are only 2 or 3 Israelis competing for these market), (4) Legionella prevention (I have the technology and it is a large markets in hotels and even municipal systems), (5) environmental measurements (people here is in panic with the low level radiation danger - interesting note in Mangan's - , the radon pollution, the gases and particles emmitted by synthetic materials such as carbon paper, etc.) and an everexpanding demand for papers to be submitted and approved by the regulators. The Building Permitting process is being reorganized in Israel - no one knows how it will work but one thing is sure: instead of reducing bureaucracy, it will demand more studies and expert opinions, creating new niches and opportunities. And so on. For some years I have wanted to expand into the manufacture and sale of environmental thingies, such as passive air and water samplers, but never had the time. There is a large market for these cheap monitoring instruments not only in Israel but in Europe.

Since I am not going to live forever and probably not much more anyway, the idea is to develope a going environmental/water concern, and to sell it in a few years from now. There is a very large demand for investable platforms in the Israeli pure-tech (or some other fancy name, money managers believe that this is the next bonanza).

There is only one real point to ponder and it is my age. I am past retirement age, people of my age are already retired and enjoying endless holidays, or working one or two days a week in a semi-voluntary basis. I dont need to be rich - what would I do with the money? Invest in TASE?

But... this night I had another spontaneous nocturnal emmission. I interpret this unusual phenomenon as my body is healthy and feeling the need for action. That I am living below my capacity.

Is it pathetic to start new business and miscellaneous ventures at an age when my friends are in old peoples homes?