Turn Up the BASE - My Entrepreneurial Journal

[MelloMe]

Hey heavysm, your BASE log is very inspiring. Congrats on your awesome success.

I wanted to ask you if you've done AM6 at all? I saw that you did LTU before running BASE, so I'm guessing those are the only two that you've done? I'm only asking because I'm planning to use BASE or LTU as my next sub (currently running UM/US combo), and wanted to hear your opinion. I've read on here that it's preferable to run AM6 prior to running BASE, but I'm not sure why exactly. BASE better aligns to my more immediate needs than AM6 does, so it's my plan to start there. If anyone else has an opinion on this, please feel free to respond.

Also, do you feel that LTU helped you adapt to BASE easier/faster? Or do you feel that you would have had the same experience without running LTU?

Thanks!

[heavysm]

Hey heavysm, your BASE log is very inspiring. Congrats on your awesome success.

I wanted to ask you if you've done AM6 at all? I saw that you did LTU before running BASE, so I'm guessing those are the only two that you've done? I'm only asking because I'm planning to use BASE or LTU as my next sub (currently running UM/US combo), and wanted to hear your opinion. I've read on here that it's preferable to run AM6 prior to running BASE, but I'm not sure why exactly. BASE better aligns to my more immediate needs than AM6 does, so it's my plan to start there. If anyone else has an opinion on this, please feel free to respond.

Also, do you feel that LTU helped you adapt to BASE easier/faster? Or do you feel that you would have had the same experience without running LTU?

Thanks!

Let me start off by saying I never had an urge to use AM6. LTU definitely helped me prepare for BASE since its emotional and maturing modules were very intense for me. I had to get over a lot of issues and I am convinced that if i had used BASE directly without LTU I might have been pushed to my limits in certain ways.

AM6 apparently helps with emotional stuff as well, but I have no want to use it since LTU helped me so much (LTU convinced me that BASE was worth a shot). I also believe I embody many of the alpha traits that AM6 targets (you sorta need to as a businessman) so AM6 was never on my mind.

BUT, since BASE has a lot of the emotional clearing modules I say go for it directly without LTU and just plan on rerunning it a few times. The first BASE run was all about emotional clearing and foundation building for the business / abundance mindset. I think the second run now is now benefiting from the first run, building off of what was previously established, so that I now feel resilient, flexible, and willing to tackle new challenges which I am aggressively pursuing now.

If you're using BASE partially for the emotional clearing assess things at the end of the 6 month cycle to see how much you've changed. I'm willing to bet you'll have gone through some major emotional breakthroughs. It actually might be impossible not to lol

The only situation where i would recommend using LTU prior to BASE would be if you know you're a sensitive person and have a lot of emotional baggage. In that case, doing a solid emotional maturity sub like LTU would definitely help before jumping in with the beast of BASE (it is without a doubt the most intense sub i have ever done).

[heavysm]

Hey, you are extremely inspiring. If i wanted to start learning what you do, where do i start?!?!

I might be putting some material together soon so that outsiders can learn. I'll be honest, the basics that I'll be showing are just that: basics. They don't go into strategy and resolution analysis like i had to do intensively for my business. The fact that I'm a little creative helped me tremendously to find solutions where others were stuck at perspective dead ends.

The main business idea is this though:

Create product in chosen industry => Create high converting sales funnel to sell product => Buy traffic + test and tweak sales funnel to eventually get ROI from traffic purchases => Build up the asset - your email subscriber list.

Phase Two:

Find people willing to buy up ad slots for your subscriber list => email list to sell your product(s) + deliver clicks to your clients (repeat, repeat, scale, and repeat)

In this process you have to buy traffic to keep up your list responsiveness (people unsubscribe and stop responding over time naturally - length of subscriber responsiveness varies greatly).

But once you have a high converting sales funnel, you just throw traffic at that, make back your traffic spend, then scale up more and more until you can deliver more.

The modified form of this business model cuts out the advertisers and just has you (the product creator) building and creating a new product to promote to your list every month. This takes more expertise and knowledge, obviously, so most people just sell adverting space which is the original business model.

I might be transitioning over time to the modified funnel since I would be growing the overall $$$ made per customer over time AND greatly enhancing my branding. Either models are perfectly achievable, however.

[MelloMe]

Hey heavysm, your BASE log is very inspiring. Congrats on your awesome success.

I wanted to ask you if you've done AM6 at all? I saw that you did LTU before running BASE, so I'm guessing those are the only two that you've done? I'm only asking because I'm planning to use BASE or LTU as my next sub (currently running UM/US combo), and wanted to hear your opinion. I've read on here that it's preferable to run AM6 prior to running BASE, but I'm not sure why exactly. BASE better aligns to my more immediate needs than AM6 does, so it's my plan to start there. If anyone else has an opinion on this, please feel free to respond.

Also, do you feel that LTU helped you adapt to BASE easier/faster? Or do you feel that you would have had the same experience without running LTU?

Thanks!

Let me start off by saying I never had an urge to use AM6. LTU definitely helped me prepare for BASE since its emotional and maturing modules were very intense for me. I had to get over a lot of issues and I am convinced that if i had used BASE directly without LTU I might have been pushed to my limits in certain ways.

AM6 apparently helps with emotional stuff as well, but I have no want to use it since LTU helped me so much (LTU convinced me that BASE was worth a shot). I also believe I embody many of the alpha traits that AM6 targets (you sorta need to as a businessman) so AM6 was never on my mind.

BUT, since BASE has a lot of the emotional clearing modules I say go for it directly without LTU and just plan on rerunning it a few times. The first BASE run was all about emotional clearing and foundation building for the business / abundance mindset. I think the second run now is now benefiting from the first run, building off of what was previously established, so that I now feel resilient, flexible, and willing to tackle new challenges which I am aggressively pursuing now.

If you're using BASE partially for the emotional clearing assess things at the end of the 6 month cycle to see how much you've changed. I'm willing to bet you'll have gone through some major emotional breakthroughs. It actually might be impossible not to lol

The only situation where i would recommend using LTU prior to BASE would be if you know you're a sensitive person and have a lot of emotional baggage. In that case, doing a solid emotional maturity sub like LTU would definitely help before jumping in with the beast of BASE (it is without a doubt the most intense sub i have ever done).

Thanks for the reply. Your comments are always on point and extremely helpful.

Like you, I am already relatively "Alpha", so the I don't have a urgent need to do that sub right away. I definitely do plan to do AM6 though. I view it as more of a "finishing" sub (assuming you've done other subs like LTU or BASE). I think some of the benefits of that sub can really make you the complete man that we all desire to be.

I'll probably take your suggestion and bypass LTU, and go right into BASE. I have emotional baggage like everyone else, but I don't think it's too severe or deep. I guess I'll find out, lol.

I'd also be very interested in the materials that you're putting together for the online business. I looked into that business model a while ago, but couldn't find the motivation to follow through. Hopefully lack of motivation will be a thing of the past soon. I'll definitely keep an eye out for your materials.

Thanks again.

[heavysm]

Stage 2 Round 2 Day 18

This has been a very reflectionary / rebuilding type of month for me. A few major setbacks for email marketing with Aweber have caused me to restructure my traffic business entirely, which means a tiny bit less profit for now, but hopefully a stronger foundation going forward.

I have also signed up for some high level coaching so I can enhance my copywriting skills. The program lasts about 6 months, and I’m pretty satisfied that this was the right choice for me right now. I sort of wanted the coaching program to align more with running BASE for the second round, but it didn’t work out like that, so I’ll have to settle for the slightly off timing for now.

One odd consideration came up that I have been seriously thinking about…

A friend mentioned that I might work for an ad agency as a copywriting newby / apprentice in my area. I might only get like $12 – 16 an hour (I haven’t had a day job since 2010) but it would be ONE way I could learn and earn my way into the copywriting world, if only through the scope of a small local advertising agency.

If I were to consider this, I would definitely be setting aside the businessman ego bull crap so I can allow others who know the game to show me the ropes. Even if that job ends up as a dead end gig, it wouldn’t matter since I have the copywriting coaching on the side and I would be a freelancer doing my own thing aside from the job anyway.

I haven’t researched that much, but it’s an option. I’m not willing to take the “holier-than-thou” stance that a lot of my business friends take toward working a normal 9 – 5. I won’t make it a permanent thing, obviously but if it helps me learn and grow, why not?

But that’s tentative, so if that develops into an opportunity – great. If not, that’s fine too. There’s always a way to push forward and I just have to find my unique way of doing that.

But this month has been quite a challenge overall though. I’m hoping to regain momentum for the traffic biz within the next month or so. Then once the copywriting stuff is sorted out, I can concentrate more on that and build that up.
What’s funny is that even though I don’t really need it right now, I have 2 potential candidates for interns / workers who could potentially help me. But that would have to come later, if not much later, since I’m trying to rework things right now.

So I guess this month has been about being resilient. A lot of players in the traffic biz have had to pull the plug simply because they couldn’t figure things out and / or they just didn’t have the funds to keep things going long term. But that’s fine. There’s a ton of others things out there, and true business minded people will always find a way to make something work for them.

Admittedly I am a bit bored with the traffic biz, but the money is good for the effort needed to keep things running, so I can see keeping this up for at least the next year or so. But who knows, copywriting might end up being more of a beast than I imagined and I may need to solely focus on that. But we will see. Still a lot of variables to consider going forward.

[Ivaylo]

One odd consideration came up that I have been seriously thinking about…

A friend mentioned that I might work for an ad agency as a copywriting newby / apprentice in my area. I might only get like $12 – 16 an hour (I haven’t had a day job since 2010) but it would be ONE way I could learn and earn my way into the copywriting world, if only through the scope of a small local advertising agency.

If I were to consider this, I would definitely be setting aside the businessman ego bull crap so I can allow others who know the game to show me the ropes. Even if that job ends up as a dead end gig, it wouldn’t matter since I have the copywriting coaching on the side and I would be a freelancer doing my own thing aside from the job anyway.

I haven’t researched that much, but it’s an option. I’m not willing to take the “holier-than-thou” stance that a lot of my business friends take toward working a normal 9 – 5. I won’t make it a permanent thing, obviously but if it helps me learn and grow, why not?

Hey heavysm

I've been doing some freelance copywriting myself for the last few months for the same reason you are considering it, and I decided to throw in my 2 cents if that's of any use to you.

A little relevant info: I'm currently at $50/hour after I built my portfolio a little and I'm getting enough requests for work to never have to seek them out on my own. Granted, I'm working on other projects too and I can only set aside 10-20 hours a week, but still.

To be blunt - in my experience working with clients is a bad way to learn copywriting, unless you find clients that are willing to trust you completely. Almost everyone I've working with has been very particular about how they want their sales copy, which for me makes it pointless as a learning experience.

For example - just the other day a client paid me 100 bucks for a short sales copy piece... however it turns out they wanted it lifeless and generic, lol. When I said I don't believe that's what they need, she just wrote the piece the way she wanted it, gave it to me for revision (which took me 10 minutes total) and she was completely happy with my work.

To put it simply - when you're a copywriter for a client, it seems to me that more often than not you're selling the copy to your client. Trying to write something that actually sells, while still making it attractive to *your* client can be an uphill battle, in my experience. Which might lead to forming some bad habits in your copywriting if you don't watch out.

If you can find enough clients that trust you and let you work, it can be a good learning experience. It hasn't been easy for me as a freelancer, I'd imagine it would be even harder if you work for an agency. As my hourly rate goes up, I'm hoping that might change though. That's the only reason I keep doing it to some degree. If not... it's just going to be my safety net income.

Sorry I'm not giving you a lot of positive news here, just my experience.

[heavysm]

Hey heavysm

I've been doing some freelance copywriting myself for the last few months for the same reason you are considering it, and I decided to throw in my 2 cents if that's of any use to you.

A little relevant info: I'm currently at $50/hour after I built my portfolio a little and I'm getting enough requests for work to never have to seek them out on my own. Granted, I'm working on other projects too and I can only set aside 10-20 hours a week, but still.

To be blunt - in my experience working with clients is a bad way to learn copywriting, unless you find clients that are willing to trust you completely. Almost everyone I've working with has been very particular about how they want their sales copy, which for me makes it pointless as a learning experience.

For example - just the other day a client paid me 100 bucks for a short sales copy piece... however it turns out they wanted it lifeless and generic, lol. When I said I don't believe that's what they need, she just wrote the piece the way she wanted it, gave it to me for revision (which took me 10 minutes total) and she was completely happy with my work.

To put it simply - when you're a copywriter for a client, it seems to me that more often than not you're selling the copy to your client. Trying to write something that actually sells, while still making it attractive to *your* client can be an uphill battle, in my experience. Which might lead to forming some bad habits in your copywriting if you don't watch out.

If you can find enough clients that trust you and let you work, it can be a good learning experience. It hasn't been easy for me as a freelancer, I'd imagine it would be even harder if you work for an agency. As my hourly rate goes up, I'm hoping that might change though. That's the only reason I keep doing it to some degree. If not... it's just going to be my safety net income.

Sorry I'm not giving you a lot of positive news here, just my experience.

Every industry has its negative points. I was told every horror story in the book about getting into the traffic biz but somehow i made that work out. Right now I have a side gig to make sales pages for an IM coach and his clients. I make a handful of basic sales pages each month and i get like $2 - 3k for that, though he makes well into the 5 figures from it. For now I'm happy with the arrangement since I can practice and try out different ideas I wouldn't otherwise have the chance to try out.

Your situation sounds like a few others I have connected with. Others work directly for agencies and have to write in a very particular way, or else they get the boot. I'm definitely pushing to work for a set rate per project, rather than per hour (not working for an agency), since many of the more successful writers I've connected with basically abhor the idea of working for an hourly rate. One guy was even joking to me, saying that he did a sales page that took him 8 total hours to write for like $15k. The page itself was worth about a half million to the client, so it made sense to pay him that much. And obviously there was much negotiation and back and forth regarding the project cost, but there you go.

I'm not down-trotting your experiences, and i thank you for sharing them. I'm confident I can gain some momentum over time just like i did for my traffic biz. I spoke to too many people in my industry early on saying how hard it was to get clients and charge more for my services BUT somehow i was able to brand myself as a reputable seller and over book myself on my services even though i am charging nearly double of what my competitors offer.

If it's going to be a challenge, then it's challenge accepted

[apollolux]

As someone who's worked in an agency, even though I wasn't the copy guy (I was the web guy) I worked closely with the copy guy and had access to the same resources he did and can attest to similar anecdotes to those both of you have shared so far. Agencies (especially one like my old one where it's surprisingly competitive) are trials by fire for content creators and you'll be more experienced in churning out quantity by deadlines but not necessarily quality. Approach agency work at your own risk, and for freelancing be prepared to fire clients if they're too much hassle.

[heavysm]

As someone who's worked in an agency, even though I wasn't the copy guy (I was the web guy) I worked closely with the copy guy and had access to the same resources he did and can attest to similar anecdotes to those both of you have shared so far. Agencies (especially one like my old one where it's surprisingly competitive) are trials by fire for content creators and you'll be more experienced in churning out quantity by deadlines but not necessarily quality. Approach agency work at your own risk, and for freelancing be prepared to fire clients if they're too much hassle.

I'm pretty used to letting go of clients when they're too much drama. That was a common theme in the traffic biz when clients thought i was supposed to get them sales with my traffic. I can't hold a gun to the head of each visitor demanding that they buy lol Or even funnier when a client comes to me all hyped up over the new product they're promoting and it becomes 1000% apparent that both the offer is crap and they have zero idea what they're doing.

So yeah, the only iffy thing at this point is whether or not I'll actually reach out to an agency for work. Oddly enough the dude who recommended i go that route actually had a pretty solid experience with the agency he started out with. I don't know all the details, but it was a nice job for him for several years until he decided to go solo. Perhaps that's an anomaly in the system (which I'm guessing it is since he's one of few who has spoken highly of agency work).

One of the few truisms I've learned from my business experiences is to never go for the easy stuff. Look at the really difficult hard stuff, the things that people are willing to pay hand over fist for, and master that.

Most of my friends and colleagues outsource their sales pages like they're buying lattes lol I get that most are big picture thinkers, but how much better off would they be if they learned how to sell? For some i get that they make more money outsourcing all the pieces to their machines than mastering sales copy, but surely for some it could help them at least broaden their sales mindset so that they see opportunities they wouldn't otherwise see?

In a way, for years I was a bit afraid of sales copy. I knew there was some methodology behind it, but doing it was reserved for sales masters and gurus who knew the rules of that special game I just wasn't part of.

I'm pretty sure the usage of BASE, and a few other things I'm doing, has led me to break past that fear and to at least confront an industry I've always thought I wasn't good enough for.

A serious lesson and growth oriented adventure awaits me, I'm sure

[heavysm]

EPRHA 2.0 (changing course a bit - 1 – 3 month cycle)

When the universe gives me a sign I just have to listen. This time it was nearly four months of emotional tension that came out of nowhere right after the first cycle of BASE ended.

I thought surely running BASE for another cycle would have been the solution, but 4 months in (stage 7 for two months then stage 1 and 2 after) and the emotional tension was still hanging around.

Initially I thought it was that I wasn’t pushing past 5 figures fast enough in my traffic business. My original aim was to scale this biz into beast mode and do like my business peers who crank out $20 – 50k per month profit. I just wasn’t profiting as strongly as I had hope to by this stage of my biz, and that’s why I felt so frustrated. Or so that’s what I thought was the reason.

As stated in earlier posts though I am good at delivering traffic for my clients and I’ve made a name for myself in the industry, that’s not actually something I’m passionate about pursuing long term. In a way though I’ve profited nicely in the past 6 months, I’m slightly off course. Pursuing the copywriting biz as the next business model will help quite a bit, but there’s something deeper I need to discover, and it was that emotional tension that really helped me see this.

It’s no good to work knowing that I’m probably not in the right business for me, to feel there’s something far more fitting for my talents. That’s what was messing with my head sort of in the background for the last few months. I didn’t like thinking about it, but it was there.

There were also some feelings of questionable worthiness of some of the income I’d been accruing (which is sort of nonsense because I worked hard to get where I am), and a general lack of purpose behind work each day.

So on the 26th I switched to E 2 and the Alice in Wonderland adventure down the rabbit hole has begun.

I felt a growing sense of calmness within the first hour of listening, and within three hours it was like I should celebrate great news of achievement or something. Same day after about six hours and I feel my mouth smiling more with a serendipitous warmth all over my body, which is not how I’ve been these past 4 months. I remember a lot of moments in the past couple months, headphones on, leaning back in my office chair staring at the ceiling trying to find inspiration – trying to figure out which path or move to pursue next.

Now it just feels alright. There’s deep peace on only the second day, and that’s insane.

I know it’s not happening soon, but if BASE ever gets a facelift into 5.5/6G, holy bananas.

During a nap I had a flash back of a bunch of moments from my childhood and elementary days where I had been bullied, made fun of, or just generally embarrassed. It would take a pretty serious act of memory recall to pull up these memories consciously, but I guess I have a lot of crap still buried that I need to deal with. There always seems to be more to deal with *sigh* but I’m working on it.

It appears that switching to E 2 for at least a few months is the ideal option for now. There are a lot of deep issues I need to deal with and I have to get a lot of that out of the way in order to really narrow down and concentrate on something that I feel strongly about pursuing as a long term business, though kindle publishing and copywriting do have strong merit.

[eternity]

Hey bud I wish you the best on e2, I'm glad you decided to take care of your inner most self =)

[heavysm]

EPRHA 2.0 Day 4

This sub is a kick in the pants. Far more intense than what i experienced with BASE, at least initially. I'm directly targeting fears now and opening up to various levels of guilt and shame that are pretty deep.

One thing that LTU didn't touch from my run with it last year is my fear of spiders. Or at least I don't remember it affecting that. I have a mild fear of them and suddenly my room is like a festival of the damn things coming out of everywhere. I know 100% it's the internal manifestation of a VERY deep and long term fear of them I have had that's just now being dealt with. Yep, E 2.0 targets healing way way waaaay down deep.

My sleep is also very consistent over the past 4 days. I sleep early (mostly because im exhausted by like 9pm) and i get up around 4am, head to the gym, then kick ass grinding the biz.

I am also technically using the Rejuvenizers as recommended by ncbeareatingman, so my results are a sort of mix between E 2 and that, but I'm definitely going through a shift regardless.

I see the Rejuvenizer as an aura enhancer and E 2 as a rebalancing of internal energy, though you can argue that those are one and the same, but whatever.

I do generally think that E 2 is clearing up blockages for me which is slowly allowing me to become more productive overall without being so emotionally charged about the results i get. I have found that i can control my emotions quite a bit easier now and somehow this is also translating into greater focus and concentration because I am able to sit and work for quite a bit longer now, which is a nice surprise.

Three separate incidences of manifestations tell me that both blockages are being cleared and my ability to attract projected results is strengthening.

The first was an email alerting me about one of my business services having a sale. I've been wanting their service at a discount ever since i started my traffic biz, so a nice 50% discount (which is what i was asking for) was greatly welcomed.

The second was a deep curiosity about how one of my competitors delivers traffic. I've been wondering about his since about march without any real progress about their business model. Suddenly the second day into E 2 i had a mysterious email hit my inbox from some pen name marketer. Through a little digging i found that it was my competitor and they had somehow obtained my email (i certainly didn't give it to them) and they pretty much just handed me their marketing funnels on a plate having added me to their email subscriber lists.

I have to be a little open that my "digging" was a bit thorough. The dude tried to hide his tracks well, but I thank the heavens that I'm smart and I figured out who the mysterious email was from =)

The third was a minor change, but one that frustrated me since last year regarding my phone. Somehow, at a time I can't specifically remember, I accidentally changed all the text on my phone to be really really big, so it has been very annoying having to readjust my phone settings every time i look at it to read something. Like i said, this is a minor thing, but somehow on day 3 of E 2 while i was half asleep and trying to turn off my alarm clock, i reversed the setting and now everything is back to normal. That simple. After 6+ months of me consciously trying to get the darn thing back, it was my subconscious mind that had the answer.

These are the things i can attribute to E 2. Other things have come up, like clients from months ago suddenly messaging me for services (ka-ching lol) out of the blue. But i really can't deny the fear based stuff like the spiders, or the enhanced control of emotions thereby allowing me to sit and work for longer periods. Something big is happening and I'm greatly enjoying the journey so far.

[heavysm]

sounds brutal but beneficial mate

It might all sound crazy and intense, but it actually feels just right. One of my friends used the metaphor of me being cranked back into a sling shot that's ready to be released soon. I'd have to agree with that since I welcome change so that I push forward in the biggest and most beneficial ways possible.

I also have to give kudos to Shannon for making such a powerful yet balanced sub. My sleep going into the 5th day has been very consistent; very peaceful and i slept on my back for the full 8 hours of sleep without tossing and turning which is pretty incredible.

[heavysm]

EPRHA 2.0 Day 6

I feel like I'm going to be a broken record saying this, but E 2 is pretty darn poweful.

The clarity on a day to day basis is becoming more refined. I had 3 separate dreams where i was lucidly enjoying myself with my subconscious projection of my next partner. Her features shifted a bit between dreams, which I see as a refinement process within the dream state where my subconscious is trying to decide who I would be best paired with changing out various features on her for each dream. Very curious stuff, I'll just say that.

I had a very nice bit of insight just this morning that made me smile. Even though i am in copywriting coaching right now, I know I'll need another probably right after I've finished the current one to attract the high paying clients. Having the skill set to write effective copy is one thing. Getting the proper connections to open me to the clients willing to fork out serious dough is entirely another thing I'll need to master.

The next program is taught by a high level copywriter who I'll basically have to prove myself to in order to be accepted into his coaching. That and I'll likely have to pony up like $5 - 10k either upfront or in payments for him to consider me. His program focuses on strengthening the copy and introducing me to the circles of clients he works for. The latter part of that is what I need; getting those clients and putting my name out there, and I know that $5 - 10k fee will quickly be recouped with just one or two clients. Many might not be willing to do this, thinking that doing high level coaching is somehow amiss or cheap in terms of networking power, but it's only one of several options at this point.

I have several months to consider the move into the next program, and there's always the chance that i might not be accepted, so there are a lot of things to consider right now. I've also spoken to a lot of copywriters who are in the $1 - 3k zone for writing sales letters in various industries. When i bring up charging $5 - 15k or more for each sales letter they either say good luck or that it isn't possible. But because they're saying it, I think that's precisely why it is possible.

I heard the same crap in my traffic business...you can't sell for over 35 cents a click, it's so hard to get clients, good luck selling for higher blah blah blah. I seriously have more confidence now because it's almost the same exact thing, just going into a different industry, and I'm excited by that.

It's also curious to note that these realizations are happening on E 2 and not with BASE. Perhaps the lack of emotional duress I'm experiencing right now is helping me open up access to the subconscious thereby enhancing intuition. Control of emotions = control of your mind, at least that's how i see it. I feel more in control than ever before and it's only been 6 bloody days of E 2. Roughly 84 or so days to go, hah!