Fight for the Underdog
I feel like I have to fight a fight for the underdog. I have Dean’s book on the Underdog and I just got a customs bill for ten Euros for what I thought was a gift from LaunchPad, which was held on the weekend.
Expose
I really need to assess my victim mentality and check my attitude. Is this really significant or should I just pay it as my “success-tax”? Or, should I follow my gut feeling and do that expose on customs and taxation on products coming into Austria from America?
Indignant Babyboomer
I seem to have adopted the stance of an indignant BabyBoomer. I think of all my friends who are not digital natives, who do not know their way round the internet, who do not speak German here in Austria. I think of lots of my friends who would just be overwhelmed and not even know what to do.
Gratitude
So of course, my first activity is to be grateful that, I am digitally savvy.
I am grateful that I can read German.
I’m grateful that I found the information I wanted on the FedEx website which was listed on the invoice.
Was this a gift?
Yet reading the information, I ask myself, Why was the invoice marked for payment by the Consignee? I thought this was a gift. The LaunchPad event took place this last weekend and it is kinda weird to be getting this bill after the event is over. Especially since there was another offer made at the end of the event, which I did not feel in a position to take. So now, two days later, to get a bill for what I thought was a gift for the show really leaves a kinda bad taste in the mouth.
Just wanted to let you know
So I feel compelled to want to inform Dean and Tony. Maybe they didn’t know? Maybe they had no idea. Maybe it was not their intention. The other voice of course says, they are the multi-millionaires, they know how to make the money, of course they knew. They’re not going to give you anything without you paying for it.
Funny, that was not the feeling I was getting through out the whole event. And yes, I even believe Dean when he says they are offering this next level training at a cost way below it’s worth. And yes, I know that these personal development jobs are all overpriced and justified on the grounds that if you pay, you pay attention.
So, to sum it up, my research has shown, that if this was a gift instead of a commercial item, I would not have been up for customs. However, there is a commercial invoice stating the value of the goods at $21.97.
If it had been marked for the Exporter as liable for duties and taxes, I would not have received this bill.
Austria – American relations
This is not the first time I have been surprised by sudden customs bills for imports of gifts from the USA. I remember even having to inform my mother not to put a high value on (the customs declaration of) Christmas gifts she sent us from Australia in years gone by.
One World
Alas, we are not yet living in one world, even though our goals and dreams are one world family.
The customs bill from FedEx is for 10.65 Euro. So why spend/waste this time on such an amount? Isn’t it cheaper to just pay and forget? Sure yes. Yet somehow I can’t help but feeling that this was not an intentional result. I see myself as the analyst, the investigator, the path maker. I am not afraid to raise my voice. I am prepared to make a fool of myself, to pay my success tax.
Bonus
Now I’ve just found The book that Dean sent me (The Underdog Advantage) for 46.90 Euro. I also got the workboox, a doublesided heart/fire flag to wave into the zoom camera, a pen, some postits.
And honestly, I was thrilled to receive the LaunchPad Live package.