Hello, hello!

Hello, hello!

My name is Matt Cavanagh and I am a twenty-four year old husband, father and student from Orlando, Florida (which we'll certainly get into at a later point). I was invited to write for Blueprints blog by my brothers Brad and Travis, and I will forever abhor them for it (but the joke's on them -- I will tarnish their names with poor writing and pelnty fo speling, syntaxically and grammeristic misktaes).

Yup, that's me!

I suppose the one thing that I hope to contribute to Blueprints is positivity. I've noticed that most socially-ept humans, like that of the likes of our very own Blueprints staff, have an ultimately negative outlook on humanity. I feel that I have been selected by the Blueprints staff for my contentious perspective and ability to recognize the positive aspects of humankind as we know it -- OR -- I too hate humankind far beyond the point of understanding and will offer a recycled analysis. I believe that this fact is up to you, the reader, to decide.

I mentioned earlier that I am a father. What I meant by this is that I am the world's first man-child with a kid and a half. That's right -- I'll admit it: I have some growing up to do, but it could also mean that I will better relate to my children.

Thus far, I have a daughter named Samantha, and an unborn son tentatively named Isaac (until he turns out a girl!). For some reason I always find it difficult to write about them. Maybe I don't want to cheapen what it is that I feel for them; or maybe it's one of those inexplicable feelings that you become certain others won't believe. Either way, you won't hear about how either of them are "the light at the end of my tunnel","my everything" or "loved with the very fiber of my being" --I love them, and they deserve better than that.

I am married. That's right! Sorry, ladies! I know that my writing really turns the gears for a lot of people, but this guy is taken. By "taken", I don't mean it in the traditional or political sense, wherein a person can be "taken" and simultaneously bang a secretary, two stewardesses and a third of the wait-staff at Houlihans, but rather a more "spectral reservation". What do I mean by this? I suppose that the best way to describe it is that when I die, assuming my separated being is a sentient one, I will wait. See? I can't even talk about my wife without sounding like I'm trying to moisten my reader-base.

This all brings me to a good point: realism and egoism. Human beings can claim to be realists or honest, but the fact of the matter is that we are all just selfish. We'll talk openly and honestly, but neglect to provide the actual, organically-selfish agenda that each and every one of us works so hard for. I suppose that it is the thesis of my existence; to provide evidence to the contrary. I'm trying my hardest (and failing miserably) to be a person that exists not for self, but for the likes of others, but how can I? For instance, what I just said up there could be poignant and honest, or it could have been a ploy to loosen up all of the hussies out there by identify, analyzing and exploiting an emotional weakness. Well, which one was it? I know -- do you?

Long story short, I am not writing in this blog so that you'll like me or want to buy the cool gadgets that I have (that's Travis' job), but rather provide a vitally important understanding as to who you and I really are (by which I mean, try to impress my brothers with under-achieved, short and sporadic chirography.)

Also, there is already a Matt on board, so I need a pseudonym. I think that I have the perfect one too! While substitute teaching (that's right, I do it too , but don't worry about me wasting your time blogging about it - J/K) a young, urban kid contrived the gangsterest name in the whole world for me by combining the term "Hitman" with first letter of my last name, and a method of describing how it is that I "creep". The name in its entirety looks like this: The Hitman C-Lo. I liked it so much that I decided that, from then on, whenever I was going to do something gangster, I was going to be known by this name. The Hitman C-Lo it is.

Thanks and I'll see you around!

Proof that Pyramid Schemes Will Fail

I was approached today by a customer of mine who was kind enough to invite me to join him on this "business venture" of his. I shuttered, immediately knowing the direction he was going to take the conversation in; my mind racing over all of the things I could say to pull myself quickly and painlessly out of this impending conversation.

You see, I'm somewhat of an expert on rejecting these propositions because I have been asked to join these things several times. I'd be flattered that somewhat thought enough of me to want me to make a lot of extra income like them, but really that's just nonsense because most of these people I don't know well enough to merit that courtesy.

My business-oriented mind kicks in and I realize that on many levels, these businesses are doomed to fail from the start. Sure a few acorns at the top of the tree might be raking in checks that would make all but a few people envious but by the time those "testimonials" happen, the little guy is just going to get trampled on in the process.

Generally the structure of the business is as follows. First, you start out paying an entrance fee into the company ("to test your loyalty" etc) though they reassure you because you won't have to pay anything monthly again. That's sure great, because last time I checked, a company paid ME for my services, not the other way around. Then there is this website that is given to you for "free" where you can sell stuff. In this context, stuff is substituting another four letter s-word synonymous with crap. Really, the products themselves don't matter because that isn't the main focus stressed through the sales meetings they put on.

The crux of it all is what makes these schemes ultimately fail. So much so that they now refer to themselves as "multi-level marketing" in hopes of avoiding the negative stigma of calling something a scheme completing overshadowing the fact that these business formats are illegal. They ask you to bring on two or three more people, and that when you do that you are "moving up" such that you'll get to pull yourself and those people up as they bring in more people to the company.

Now even if nothing else about this business plan has smelt fishy this is where the red flags should be held high. I mean we can forgive the fact that a company wants you to pay them for working for them and its not like other sales organizations don't sell crap and or focus on their product line ups, but this... this is too much. Why? Well take it to it's logical conclusion. If you have to bring in even two people, and so does everyone else at your level (as had been done before you) then everyone that was brought in had to bring in two people, one must realize that at some point there will be no more people left to bring in. And if your primary business function is doomed to fail from the start, I'd like nothing to do with it.

How is it doomed you say? Well I did the math to figure out how many times the cycle could occur in full before 7,000,000,000 (7 billion) people would be involved. Turns out, if one person starts this company and asks only two other people to join, and those two people ask only two other people to join, and then in that next tier they only ask two people to join each, the number of times this could continue is just under 30 full times before EVERYBODY on the planet was a participant. That is a very finite number for a company that would like me to earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars a pay check. If you have to bring in three people each, that number is even less at only a little less than 22 times. Subtract all of the people that would find this scheme stupid or those that are too young / old / sick etc. and that number gets even smaller. The mathematical proof behind where these numbers came from can be found at http://i45.tinypic.com/dr6p8z.png.

Remember, once a person has joined, they aren't going to join again. This is unlike a normal participant in a company (customer) who may return several times to that company because they continue to need the product. Furthermore supposing the company realizes this and shifts attention to that free sales website they gave everyone, in affect everyone is their own supplier and would just buy from themselves.

Suffice it to say, I really wish a greater awareness over these multi-level marketing programs would go out so that people would be better informed about the decisions they make, and more importantly to whom they give their money to.