my first employee, me
Hey, I’m Mike! The founder of lattice tech, a parent of smaller economic experiments, the first being re:mart. It’s called lattice because it’s a networked lattice of repeating organizations, each with a unique and solitary purpose. re:mart is the seed diamond upon which atomic growth will happen, layer by layer, creating tightly coupled molecules that are made stronger, not just bigger, by their collective size.
My next post is on why the “company mitosis” is the structure of choice for lattice, but also why I think the others should give it a shot, too, and also why it doesn’t happen already.
re:mart, also spelled “remart”, is the response (re:) to the current retail experience, where manipulation, misinformation, and exploitation are not only common place, but we’re comfortable with it in many cases, and think that they’re inevitabilities in others. I want to make the world a better place, and this is my best idea on how to do that. This post is a bit of backstory on how I got to the point of lattice.
unpolitical beliefs
So much of what lattice is about is seen through a political lens, as both major American political parties have very clear ideas about who should and shouldn’t have access to food, healthcare, education, and shelter, and how they should come by these things. Don’t interpret this next part as political because both parties suck at making lives better for people, and a lot of that comes from the fact that there are just opposed, the other aspect is that they’re mostly run by selfish assholes who don’t actually care anyway, and are there to make money off their conflicts of interest. It’s not about policy, it’s about human beings, and policy is a dull instrument, that is sort of working for now.
When I was raised, surrounded by republican influence, I was taught that hard work, morality, and individualism is the key to a healthy nation. When I grew up to be a democrat, I thought that government systems were the the necessary evil that was our only choice. Then, when I became the father of two beautiful children with significant disabilities, I realized the American dream was to move to Germany.
I’m not anti-government, or anti-capitalism, quite the opposite. I actually have political goals that align with my goals that shouldn’t have been made political by anyone ever in the first place, and I’m thinking I can manage that by leveraging capitalism the way that it was supposed to be done.
today’s experience
As someone who is defaulting to the Utah Healthcare System, let me share my recent experience. This isn’t a criticism of DSPD or ARPA, as they’re the ones jumping through hoops and being forced to bend over backwards to get me help.
Anyways, I just officially registered “lattice tech” (under the legal name “sugar leaf tech” for potential SEO reasons) because I got a government grant on behalf of my son with the higher needs of the two.
Let’s call him Jim, as that was my first name for him before we knew what we’d call him. I love Jim, and the mental breakdown that led to lattice is in large part because of how deeply my heart bleeds for him and his brother, that we’ll call Sam.
But anyway, the grant and founding a company.
We got a grant, that was very much needed and appreciated, for $10,000 from DSPD through a program called ARPA. It’s a godsend when you’ve got little else, and to put it lightly, my family is crumbling under the weight of this all, so things aren’t getting real, they’ve been very real this whole time.
the terms of the grant
When I got the terms, I almost lost my mind. I can use the money to hire someone to help my children, but I can’t pay them more than $24/hr, after tax, and the starting rate for a respite worker is $25/hr, before tax, and for some bullshit reason we can’t use our own money to close the gap between the artificial ceiling and market rates. Also, we also only have 6 months to spend it, after which, the remaining funds will be clawed back.
The situation was so hopeless when it comes to finding anyone to hire in this economy at those rates that I was instructed to found a company, and my legal documents actually came with IRS documents to found that company, if I hadn’t done so already. Then, I need to hire either my partner or I (I’d never pay her for anything because we share everything, that would be weird, so I’m hiring myself) to take care of my kid, and paying myself $20 an hour, 40 hours a week, because that’s all I’m approved for. In the process, I pay both employer taxes and income taxes, totaling to around 25%, and that’s before I pay for my state assigned auditor and HR provider that will audit my timesheets and paperwork that I have to do in order to pay myself, but don’t worry they take their share off the top when they withhold my taxes.
I shouldn’t need to clarify that I believe that everyone deserves access to food, shelter, and healthcare, and I was convinced of this long before Jim and Sam, but now it’s personal. I’m not about to cook meth, but shouldn’t we be concerned that it didn’t take more imagination than it did to see that as a logical response to American lung cancer, and for me it now takes zero imagination to see it as a logical response, but let me clarify that I don’t, and I won’t lmao.
Great, that’s where government closes the gap. My children are on a 13 year waiting list for financial and healthcare support. In order to get them on that list, I had to parade their most gaping wounds and flaws that come with mental disabilities and Autism in front of committee, and then reiterate it through multiple choice, and then and essay format, in 200 words or less per question.
I am one small, anecdotal, and extremely fortunate individual having a crisis that’s moving me to act. I’m nothing new and I’m not the standard.
But where it was a passion and desire to change the situation for others, it’s now my parental duty, so stay out of my way, because I’d do anything for these boys, including this.
re:mart is personal, and parental
What is this? re:mart. It’s a place where my boys could work, easily, despite communicational challenges. It’s a service that my kids can use, both because it saves them their hard earned (or my hard earned and saved) money, and it does it in a way that is extremely accessible for them and their supportive family and friends.
The coolest thing about this all is that if I can do it at a competitive rate, even free, I don’t have to convince anyone about anything. But, if you want to understand how re:mart works, check here. Or reach out to me!
I’m doing my best to keep these shorter, but also tell a story, as that’s what this is - it’s not an idea, or a business, it’s an act of parental desperation and my attempt at responsibility.
But yes! I’d love to hear from you! Let me know how I can improve my writing or what you’d like to know next?