My internet name is Dain and I’m currently protesting the Standard Economy.

I was born and raised in a high-desert, mountainous, rural area where we earned the nickname "Mountain kids" in high school. That meant we knew how to CAMP**, baby!** It meant we learned how to drive in the snow, rain, mud, and driving was our ticket to freedom. It meant that we cooked on our wood stoves with cast iron (cowboy cookin’!), kept chickens (until the bears gottem (true story)), and … most importantly… made about $30,000 per year as a family of 5 from the 90’s until… I think my parents make less now…

I have been working construction for all my life minus a few years of “finding myself” (The only “self” I found was “finding myself working construction again” Haha. ).

So, after 10 years of working with my dad and a handful of other tradesmen, I branched out. Handyman services at first, then launched an S-Corp LLC with 4 employees. Unlike my dad's simple system of yellow pad invoices and "cash or check only" policies, I built comprehensive book-keeping systems from the ground up. Working an average of 80 hours a week, I immersed myself in every aspect of business management that I could while being unable to afford a degree in it - legal compliance, accounting, payroll, HR, insurance, and workman's comp. I took pride in offering my employees competitive benefits: PTO, flexible hours, and a starting wage of $23/hr.

We grew to specialize in “finish work”: drywall, paint, tile, and trim! And created the DBA “Creative Endeavors, Remodel and Finish” (CERF). I’d say the business thrived, but it didn’t. I was “paying into” the business instead of getting money to pay myself, barely squeaking my with recurring payments (let alone the random tax penalties and emergency expenses).

The only thing more confusing and opaque than local elections and politicians' actual positions—was the hedge maze of trying to become a compliant business.

The government let me down by keeping opportunities of success behind red-tape and incredibly mismanaged information (”You gotta pass the test before applying for a license, no don’t listen to PSA, you gotta apply before even getting to the test! Oh, and that test prep-course you spend $300 on? THEY’RE A SCAM.”)

I wanted so badly to play by the rules, but I realized no one knows what they are!

Well, after nailing my first audit to the fucking wall (impressing not only myself, but the legal team that the workman’s comp company sent) I knew I had a knack for making and maintaining “systems”. Keeping track of receipts, invoices, gas, tax documents - I handled it all literally like a boss! Like on the job site, I knew how to just get something to happen (despite the roadblocks, red-tape, hedge-maze, and scams out for my blood.)

I was finally getting ahead of my dues.

Then… work got slow. Real slow. Like dead stop.

It’s been dead-stop for about 3 months now. And, after laying off employees (that were also my friends) I’ve been living off whatever savings I could muster (spoil alert: not much).

So, here I am. Unemployed, depressed, and broker than broke.

After recently deciding not to end my life (I have a dark joke that suicide is my retirement plan), I’ve realized that I can do anything. Nothing is stopping me but myself.

So… what would I want to do before taking the end of my story into my own hands? Well, why not REFORM THE FUCKING SYSTEM THAT HAS SO LONG KEPT ME DOWN?

I’m diving into activism now.

Living my life as a protest.

Going back to “cowboy cookin’”, watching videos on *bushcraft,* kissin’ my dogs and my partner as much as possible, and geniunely living my dream of “going into the wild” but at home…