If at first you don’t succeed….

I just started to create my next website.  I am going to be slaving away in my free time and the site will go live this fall.  I will keep you posted the closer I get to launch.

What a day! Part 2

Ok…so where was I. It has been a while since I wrote part one and some of the memories I still have on this day are starting to get rusty. To top it all off, my Alienware laptop is temporarily out of common and I am forced to write this post on the family tablet. So, I’m sorry for the sure typos coming. Anyway…..

So after my first meeting on the day where I absolutely got laid into I had to drive over two hours back to make it to a meeting with someone who is seeking their internet business. I ended up being about 5 minutes late since the first meeting ran a little long (felt like forever). I hate being late to anything where it can’t be considered “fashionable”.

I met this gentleman at his home office. He was an older guy that looked nearly old enough to be my grandfather. we sat down in his office as he started talking to me about his business as though I had already agreed to buy his business. I had to interrupt him about five minutes in to let him know why I scheduled the sudden meeting. (The first contact I had with this guy was only a couple days earlier) I was there to dispute a non-disclosure agreement that he wanted me to sign before he went over the details on his business’ financial statements.

Within this NDA, included a non-compete Claus that had me concerned. It basically prohibited me from creating a similar business should our deal fall through. At least that is how it read to me. When i brought this up to him he was saying it wasn’t the intended interpretation. I said ok, well in that case I would like to write in a change and we both initial it. I wrote a simple yet detailed sentence and handed it over to the older gentleman. He basically decided to not accept it. We reached a stalemate before we even talked about how much he was asking for his business. At this point, I knew I didn’t want to continue. But I decided to take the opportunity to ask questions about his business as a learning experience.

Without going into too much detail I basically figured out how much he was going to ask for the business as he was fairly open with me before and after our disagreement. Learning about his profit margins and how profitable his business has been recently, I figured he would be asking in the neighborhood of 100k. As the talk started to wind down, I believe he was still thinking I would sign his NDA without my write-up clause when he asked something along their of gauging my interest.

At this point, I told the gentleman that I wasn’t planning on moving forward until the NDA was changed. I went on to tell him that i knew he would be asking a minimum of 100k base on two-times yearly earnings he was quoting in our talks (and figuring out that he would be looking for 2-3 times the yearly numbers) and said at that price….I would have to say no. I went on to tell him that I thought it was a fair price, just not for me. I told him that one major way I like to view a business’ worth is how much money would it take for me to create the same thing. I thought I could create his business, have a similar clientele number, similar rank on Google, all for about 50 to 75k.

Before I get further, I wanted to talk about one of his selling points that I just mentioned. He claimed to be ranked number one on Google for the major search term for this type of business. When I first checked to see if he was right, there it was; number one. But then I went to sites like Alexa and the numbers just didn’t match up with being number one on Google. Turns out, he is just number one on Google in the Richmond area. Or at least, that is what I think. I looked it up before our meeting at my office where my actually up address is from the Louisiana corporate address. He was in the middle of the second page there. I also confirmed this while I was 2 hours outside of Richmond getting berated in the earlier meeting.

I had snapshots ready to prove this point. It was going to be used as one of my bargaining chips. But I never used order that purpose. I just let him know of this situation as the meeting was coming to an end. He seemed pretty shocked. He had been paying an SEO guy. I hope the SEO guy wasn’t promising something different.

We said our goodbyes from what I thought was a weird feeling of disagreement yet mutual respect. I still couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t make the small change to his NDA. I don’t think there was any ill-will coming from this man, but I didn’t want to take the chance.

Now that time has gone by. I have been thinking about my evaluation of his business. I like my line of thinking where I measure a business by how much it would take to basically produce a clone. There is one problem with this thinking, you actually have to follow up with the producing part. For anyone that has read this blog semi-regularly knows, I am in a funk where the only thing I am essentially producing are ideas. No physical work to allow me bare the fruits of my labor. I am 100 percent sure that if I could just get nudge or some extra cash to follow up on one of these ideas, it would be waking a sleeping giant. So there has to be a price to pay for me to get out of this rut. There is a price for just simply getting started. Unfortunately, it is a price that I cant justify spending in my current financial situation.

Another point that i thought about to make this business more enticing, even if its after the fact, is that this guy’s profit margins were brutal. Just looking at some other manufacturer prices, I could basically double his margins through another deal.

I would like to hear from anyone that disagrees with my assessments mentioned here. If you have the time, leave a comment or connect with me on the contact page.

Until then, I am trying to figure out what to do about my regular laptop (damn I miss using that machine).

What a day! Part one

In order to even begin to describe my day I have to let you know that it will broken down in two segments as they don’t really relate.

A little backdrop…

I have posted before my dislike for my current job.  For many different reasons, I just can’t seem to leave what is a prison in my life of a job.  I help myself in some ways and I hurt myself in someways.

The fact is, I have been browsing the job boards.  The open job market doesn’t exactly lend itself to job seekers.  But the thing is, every time I browse the job boards.  All I see are jobs I don’t want.  The jobs I want need connections.  They are the jobs won on the secondary job market.  The one that isn’t on career builder.  This is a whole post all in on itself.

At the same time, I have been chasing something that I feel would make me a little more happy as a whole.  That something is buying a business.  Now I have attempted (poorly) to start some random businesses.  Actually no I haven’t, but the thing is I feel like I have.  The little side jobs that have amounted to nothing aren’t really businesses.  But if I had put a little more effort into these ventures or gave some a little more time, then yes…..they would have woven themselves into a business.  I know I sound like I am contradicting myself, but if you have been following this blog for the last couple of years, you would know that I am at a crossroads I just can’t break out of.  So what is easier than starting a business?  Buying a business!

I feel like I have ways to be able to raise the capital to buy a business.  But then again, maybe I am just fooling myself.  Either way, I am looking at it positively.  At the least, the work I do in meeting with potential business sellers is a huge learning experience.

In fact, I would recommend anyone out there that is a self-proclaimed entrepreneur to just browse a site like www.bizbuysell.com and just act like you are interested in buying a business (whether you are or not).  But at the last minute decline to buy the business for whatever reason.  The learning experience you gain from evaluating the business and the information you gain from your meeting another business owner is invaluable.

A couple years ago, I would have refrained from giving that advice.  After all, you are misleading people that may not necessarily deserve it.  But one thing I have learned (especially today) is to say fuck it!  Business is cut-throat.  Everyone can be a nice guy, while at the same time be a complete dick.  If you are not looking out for yourself, you are not protecting those closest to you.

Anyway, I have been in talks with a couple businesses that I have the potential to buy in the near future.  One more business recently came into the picture and I decided to make a meeting with the seller today late in the afternoon.  But before doing so, I went to the office in the morning of my current job and realized I had to set a meeting with a customer who I knew was not all to happy with the offerings of my current company.  So I had to travel nearly 2 hours to go to a meeting I didn’t want to go to only to hope to make it back in time for what could be my future company.

Meeting 1

So after driving nearly 2 hours across rural Virginia to stop by a bed and breakfast, with whom I was meeting the owner of.  I pull up to what looked like a rather boring building in the middle of a winter slump.  I sell outdoor advertising.  But the thing is, I am pretty limited to what I can and cannot do since our company is a state-run mess that has regulations galore.

I open the gated fence to walk up a silent walkway that you can only picture would be magnificent scene in the Spring.  I take my steps up and old, painted over, few steps and silently open the door that was meant to welcome guests.

A lady greats me once I make my first steps in the building.

“Oh you are here to me ___”  (I am going to refrain from giving names of people or the business, out of respect)

“Yes I am,” I said.

She goes towards the back room not too far away from where I am standing as I hear her say

“The sign guy is here”

Yippee, I thought.  I guess I am just the “sign guy” these days.

The person I am there to meet walks up.  He is probably in his early 60′s but looks like he could pass for his mid-to-late 50′s.

I try to start some small talk.

“Wow, so when was this house built?”

“Oh it was built [1800's, don't remember], and it was actually a school house”

We carry on to make some more small talk as we make our way to a small table that looked out of place.

I sit down to tell him that what he is looking for, we simply can’t do for multiple reasons.  Again, do to the regulations that we have.

Ha, I poured gas on the fire.

Not even 5 minutes from walking into this place, and one minute from sitting down, I see this guy turn a beet red color and continue to just lash out at me.  To be fair, I may be leaving out some small things here and there.  But the fact is, I got berated.

He went on.

“See, I am having to do your job for you.  You are so incompetent that I have to show you where the signs need to go.  Here, here and here”

“But sir, according to the regulations we have, and the signs you currently have.  This can’t be done.”  I responded.

He went on and on. Calling me names.  As you already heard, he called me incompetent, he would go on to call me other names while raising his voice the whole time.  I was in the defensive the whole time.

His demeanor was so animated to make me feel belittled.  Being the ex-poker player (god, I hate adding the “ex” there) I knew how to read his demeanor.  But a blind person could have seen the same.

But as he was calling me useless one more time.  I broke out of the person representing a company and said.

“Look, _____, I don’t exactly appreciate the way you are treating me”

For me to even say that, for anyone that knows me, should tell you how poorly this guy was treating me.

“I canceled an appointment, drive out of my way to come here to help you; and this is the thanks I get.  I understand your disappointment in the program, but this is no reason to take it out on me.”

The conversation was a good 30 minutes, with about the first 20 minutes of him berating me.

I do have to admit, he had one point going for him to go with the 50 points that were totally off-the-wall.  He sent me an email about 2 weeks before I responded to him.  It was an email that was sent to me during the holiday season, and I am not going to make an excuse for not answering.  But lets just say, it was hard to get caught back up after the new year.

I walked out of the place feeling like I was just interrogated in the middle of war.

The guy was a little nuts when he said “Looks like you proved yourself to be the bigger man than me.”

This came after I responded to his distasteful comments towards me.

All I could say is “it’s not about who is bigger, I was simply here to help.”

I closed the front gate as I skirted off to my car.

Sorry if I am a little all over the place on this post.  I just let the fingers roll.  I will read this post tomorrow (before I type part 2) and attempt to fill in the blanks.

Things change

I am sitting here…..and this is going to be a ramble of a post. I have had a couple beers tonight.  Just a little unwind from the hard work of the day.  Nothing like my partying days in college in beer count; but in how it effects me today, with my lack of tolerance that I was once accustomed to, it’s the same.

I am constantly coming up with great things in my mind to write about on this blog.  But for some reason or another I don’t click on the bookmark for this site to just put it down on the proverbial paper.  I am doing this blog mine, and myself, a disservice.

I was reading the last couple of post (mostly about my weight loss goal) and I felt like snooooooorrreeeee, boring.  This isn’t what I created nomenot.net for.  I don’t want people to come and check in on my health.  I want people to hear about some interesting, fun experiences I have.  So that is what I plan to do from here forward.  Breath a little life into the content here.  Make it something worth visiting this site.

I am not saying that losing weight is not exciting. I visit numerous sites out there advocating a healthy lifestyle.  I could do the same.  Though I have a wealth of knowledge on the subject, no one comes here to listen to that shit.  There are an infinite number of blogs out there about losing weight or gaining a healthy habit.  I will say though that I have lost weight since my last update, but I refuse to say how much because that is what I am trying to avoid…..boring you on the subject.

Anyway, the reason I logged in tonight to write this hodge-podge of a post is to say that I am still here.  As what has been said every so once in a while in the blog, I want to write…but I don’t.  I want to make more money….but I don’t.  I want to do this or that……but I don’t.  Obviously some things need to change.

I did not write that last paragraph so much from the perspective of today but more from the perspective of the last couple of years.  See I have made some changes, all for the perceived better.  These changes will be left for another blog post in the future as they deserve the time.

I do plan on making some changes here, as my life has changed.  I need to go through some of my old posts and delete the stuff that is just a waste of space.  Random stuff just talking about a random small update that has no meaning to me today.  One reason I created this blog is to look back on my life as though it was a diary.  Some posts I have written in the past provide no feedback to how I was back in the day.  The random post about a shitty night of poker is meaningless.

I am not going to sit here and say I am going to post every night.  I will say that I will open up more though, and it won’t be about some random ass paragraph of nothing.  I’ll post when I post.  I will still either do a full out, written post or a random media (just a video or picture) filled post.  Obviously it has to be better than the rate I am currently producing.

I could keep going, but each thing that pops in my head I feel deserves a post to itself.  I could literally write 10-20 posts tonight, if I could keep up with my mind.  But I am just going to end with letting you know that this blog is not dead, it is just beginning.

 

Out of sync

Today is Monday.  I am supposed to write an update on my goal.  I just wanted to post to let all know that I am still working on my goal.  I have been out of commission for the last week.  Whether it be Halloween, family stuff, or my being sick.  Plus work kicking my ass recently.

I have just been pretty poor about updating recently.  I have gone and worked out some when I got the chance over the last week or so, but no where near as much as I would like.

I am not going to give an update to my numbers today as I am hitting the bed asap as I really just am not feeling all too well.

Last I checked though, I was weighing in at about 277.  So I am progressing on my weight loss goal.  I just can’t write a made up number as the “official” goal update.

Not Surprised

So when I was working on todaysRAGE, I knew that this was an idea that had a chance.  But as I have said in previous blog posts the idea would be best suited for the mobile platform.

It became a pain to have to physically write a summary for each article out there.  When asking around for ideas on how to improve the site, I was asked if it was an automated process.  Though it wasn’t, I could vision a way to make it automated.  One problem, I didn’t have the technical know-how.  I am limited to basic website building and design.

Well, today I stumbled upon this article where a 16 year old kid received over $1 million in funding for the same basic idea.  Here is the article:

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/world-s-youngest-vc-funded-entrepreneur-.html

Read that, and visit the about page over at http://todaysrage.com.  You will see the basic idea is nearly identical.

However, I think my idea was taking it one step further in that I was trying to also combine multiple articles and sources to make one story as different sources will take a different angle when covering a topic.  This idea is still feasible.  If you are reading this, and you are a VC…..if you would like to learn more about my vision, let me know!

I still think there is a need for a summary-style news publication.  Not simply a news-aggregator, but rather a fact aggregator.

This is not the first time that I have seen an idea I had end up making someone else a ton of money.  This is a problem that needs to stop too.  I have the vision to be able to come up with ideas, I just lack in the know-how on how to get funding to be able to put the right people behind my idea to see if fully blossom.

Since I stopped working on todaysRAGE, I have been contemplated what my next venture was going to be.  I have a ton of ideas that I think will work, but again I need to set my focus on something I know I can do myself (at least until I can get funding or show a steady income from the idea).  I feel I have narrowed it down to what I will likely spend an inordinate amount of time on here soon.  When the time comes to make this idea readily known, I will post about it here.