Thursday, May 21, 2009

Lawyers

I have 2 lawyers on my ass. One is because I refused to pay back tenants their deposit after they broke the lease within 6 months. The other is because I refused to pay the oil company after making payments, I owed them significantly more than what started with because of bullshit late fees and cancellation fees. They can both blow me.

What I learned is this: After my last small claims case, my tenant was ordered to pay me $35 per week for the next 12 years. So, I am not exactly scared. If I loose any case, I will pay the fuckers in pennies. Simply because they pissed me off. However, I may not, you never know.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The New Business

Wow, so much has changed for the better since I read "The 4-Day Workweek" and "Think and Grow Rich". Really great stuff.

"The 4-Day Workweek" got me to outsource the backend of my company to India saving me an incredible amount of time. Since then, I have been working on all kinds of other projects, like dealing with a UPS mess, and the old tenants who want to sue me (good luck with that). It has also given me much more free time with my wife, who not surprisingly, is taking full advantage of the situation.

The other goal of this book is to focus on 20% of the work that generates 80% of the revenue. So, I made a business decision to actually stop selling to the various local stores because the profit margin is smaller, and I then need to stand around waiting for the owner to turn his attention to me. There is also the constant driving to and from, repairs, blah blah,blah.... When I laid it all out on a table, it was an obvious waste of my time for what little revenue it generated. Instead, I made an offer to me best store customer. More on that another day. I am going to focus on Craigslist and rebuild the website. Both of these topics are falling under the India heading.

It has also freed up my time to focus on the advice of "Think and Grow Rich". The book itself was published in 1937 after the great depression. Don't let that stop you though, quite an amazing work of literature. The aim of this book is saying to visualize your specific goal, and focus by taking advantage of any situation that meets your criteria.

In my case, I said I wanted to have $20,000 in the bank, one year from now. I would achieve it by selling phones. I then remind myself of it several times a day. While it sounds like bullshit, I have already seen an improvement in my business personality. I am calling back more possible customers who leave messages. I am following up with old contacts that have fallen by the side of the road. It has also gotten me to call up older "salesmen" I was working with, and trying to get them back involved.

Basically, since my time isn't being dominated by back-end nonsense anymore, I am looking into more sales avenues, that involve the least amount of work for me. For example, I had met a guy who is a "street hussler" about 2 weeks ago. Since then, he sold 2 phones, and has 2 more pending. I met him tonight and gave him one of the phones. Same night, I met another guy, same situation. He called me tonight about 2 possible sales. These types of situations are great, because they make money, I make money, and I don't even need to do anything but hand off inventory to people I already know. This is a much better situation than the one that involves meeting strange people in random parking lots. Let them do that, I'll be watching TV or something.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

I have seen the light

Are you ready?

Ready the book: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris

The is one of the best I have come across in a very long time. I was told about it 2 years ago, but I thought it was just another self-help book. Boy, was I wrong. It was more in the lines of Life Changing. Seriously.

Based on his advise, I have now outsourced my entire company to India. Seriously. My old assistant emailed me about some nonsense, and I replied: "I have outsourced your old job to India for $2.50 per hour. Have a nice day."

Can you image? It was SO easy. Just go to http://elance.com and sign up. I did that before bed. the next morning, I had 10 offers, the average price was a whopping $2.50 per hour. Crazy.

After some interviewing, I chose a company that went above and beyond the competition. I gave them 10 tasks, with 10 different skill sets, and they assembled a team just for me. this ranges from design, to bookkeeping.

Oh yeah, I should email that worthless bookkeeper and let her know I have outsourced her job too.

I spend about 7-8 hours assembling everything I could possibly think of for them. I emailed it, and now I just sit back, and wait for the work to be completed. I will have an updated website, updated inventory, sales added to PeachTree. And all at $2.50/hr. It does not get any better than that.

Sure, it will cost several hundred to get up and running the way I want it, but then it will be all down hill. The best part? I wont have to do a damn thing.

The basic point of the book, 4-hour workweek is to take yourself completely out of the equation. Once I get them to understand where I get my inventory list from, and they know that they need to check on this bi-weekly, then i will have eliminated a huge amount of time I waste week after week. And at only.... $2.50 an hour.

I can have my life back. Yeah!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Two posts in 2 days?

Two posts in 2 days. The hell is wrong with me? Like I said, I need break time. I have been down here in my office for the past 5 hours now and I am feeling a little burnt.

Today, I went to the bookstore and bought a book about getting government grants. Not quite sure where that topic will lead me, but it had other stuff in it that helped point out things to me. Like, what to say to investors, how to say it. It explained how to put together a proposal for an investor and stuff like that. Most of it I am sure I know, but I would still like to have it spoon feed to me.

One problem I have in life is that I do not have a mentor. 100% of the business decisions I make are based on my own experiences. Since I have a long history of advertising, and watching others succeed and fail, I feel confident in my choices, but it would still be nice to have a guide.

This is a lead-in to a plug for a TV show that you should definitely watch. I mean, If you are reading a blog about building your own business from scratch, which you are, then yeah, you should watch it. It's called "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" and it really is amazing stuff I would never have expected on "free" TV. If anyone knows where I can find all the past episodes, I would love to hear about it. Torrents didn't come back with anything. You can checkout a few episodes here: http://www.fancast.com/tv/The-Big-Idea-with-Donny-Deutsch/97338/full-episodes

There is an Audio book of his that came out that is 50% off at Barnes and Noble so it's only like $9.00. Less if you have a Membership. I will buy it tomorrow.

When I work these long hours, there are 2 things that get me through them. Alcohol and music.

Yeah, by definition, I am an alcoholic. But, I do it to clear my mind. It helps me focus on the task at hand. It's kind of like Ritalin or something. For me anyway. I have this mixture I created for myself. It's mostly powdered ice tea, but I throw in the rest of the ingredients of a Long Island Iced Tea. So, it's got Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, etc.... The mixture is designed to get me drunk, but not cost a fortune, since it is mostly flavored water. The thing is, for me, it puts my physically into a happy place, but my mind has never been affected by alcohol. So I think as clearly as ever, if not a bit more creative. So, in case your wondering, it's a long Saturday night, so yeah, I'm pretty plastered right now. Since I drink alone daily, I am categorized as a drunk. However, Since my thoughts are fairly coherent, anyone with a problem can kiss my ass. My liver, however, is another story.

So, the music. Ok, I have unintentionally collected 27 songs that are my favorites that play when I want some music while I work. The unintentional part is that they are mostly inspirational music. As I type this, it sounds silly, but much of the music gives me confidence in what I am doing, when I am the only one spending hours, days, weeks and months on this stuff.

They seem to start off pretty dark with songs like:
"Nine Inch Nails - Hurt" "I hurt myself today, To see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, The only thing that's real"
Then "Smashing Pumpkins - Galapagos" "Too late to turn back now, I'm running out of time and I am changing, changing"

This then drifts into songs like:
"Bob Segar - Like a Rock" "My hands were steady, My eyes were clear and bright,
My walk had purpose, My steps were quick and light, And I held firmly to what I felt was right, like a rock"
and "Battlestar Galactica Theme" Which is a Hindu prayer for guidance. "May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction."
and "David Gilmour - Coming Back to Life" "I knew the moment had arrived, For killing the past and coming back to life"

And then the songs end with:
Guns N' Roses - Breakdown" "Funny how everything was roses, When we held on to the guns"
and then the climax with "Pink Floyd - Fearless" "You say the hill's too steep to climb, You say you'd like to see me try, You pick the place and I'll choose the time, And I'll climb The hill in my own way"

Gawd, that all sounded so cheesy. But, I guess the point is there, that I do what it takes to motivate myself night after night, and get through this garbage. And yes, it's hard. Last year at this time, I was the only person who saw my vision. And now? Now my whole family believes I can do it. I mean, shit, I've been selling phones for the past year, and making money. I have been building a very strong business. I have many regular customers. And I can fill out those grants (and other loans) to say: "I have been in business for more than a year. Here is a list of my contacts for customers, suppliers, and other investors."

At this point, I have drifted past the point of "Kinda drunk", and right into the "we need to go to bed now" drunk. But, are these just ramblings? Naw, I've been wanting to mention these things for quite some time. I hope they give you some direction in your "quiet time", and help you through those hours of wondering if it is all worth it. Is it? Oh, I don't know. I guess it boils down to how you handle it. To me, my son comes first (even though it gets a little forced on me), and then my business, then my wife.

How does she feel about being in last place? Well, she gets every Friday night. No matter what, I do not work on Friday nights, I spend them exclusively with her. Overall, she understands the nature of what I do. When a customer calls, she knows that if I don't drop what I am doing, they will likely not call back later, and I will loose the sale. But, that is a whole other topic. If they take the time to call me at 5pm, why won't they call back at 6pm? Who the hell knows. Stupid customers.
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