3/19/2105

$100 Challenge

3/14 WEll I am at $98, so I need a couple more dollars to at least get to the $100.  I have a big party at the house tonight for my son in law that is turning 50 and I am leaving all of this junk up in hopes someone buys something.

3/15 no takers. no one bought a thing.  But I did find out that all the computer stuff someone gave me to sell is old school so it will be difficult to sale.

3/19 - Finally got over the $100 mark.  Now we will see what the weekend brings.  Get those ads up for one last time.

What I have learned

To work on your business and not just in your business

Interesting enough I have two friends who have started business, one a while a go and one recently.  I have tried to get both of them to read E Myth book but one doesn't need the book and the other is too busy.

#1 - He has started several business and before they really push to the third level he sells them off. He gets bored.  When the $ so going down he figures it is time to shed it off and start something new.  Part of his problem his he can never stay on task, he constantly wants something new.  He loves the beginning stages of starting a business but is not good at maintaining the business.

Several years ago he started an insulation business.  He went hard after it and very quickly grew to 10 trucks and multiple employees.  He is not a technician or a manager so he hires his good friend to do the books and be the manager.  Things have worked great for several years now.  Business is booming.  I am impressed that he has stayed with this business for so long.  They had a third partner - actually the person they bought the first few trucks off of, that partner wanted out so the managers dad stepped in and became the investor.  He was a silent investor.  He is an accountant that has spent his life moving all over the world.  The business he worked for would come in to a business that was failing and the team would get them back up on their feet again, he was part of that team.

So he was silent for a while, but the numbers started not looking good.  The boys said that the tax advantages for insulation were going away so they were needing to diversify.  Owner had some great ideas and was proceeding forward with those ideas.  BUT he seemed like the owner had too much time on his hands.  For needing to keep the business growing and going a new direction he was home or off vacationing alot.

Soon the silent owner was back in town (lives elsewhere) soon the silent owner moved a trailer down so he had a place to live for a few months, then his wife came.  I knew it was serious.  Basically what happened was the owner was getting more involved in wanting to try new things but not willing to maintain what he already had.  Maintaining what he had would have given him the capital to try new things.

The manager/accountant - his wife had a baby and had post partum blues bad. She would not get up and deal with the kids in the mornings so he was coming in late to work to help out his wife and get the kids off to school.

The owner wasn't coming into the office because he was off vacationing in Hawaii.

The office was going down hill, no one was coming into the office to run it.
Soon the could not meet payroll and the silent partner, out of his own pocket, paid the salaries.  WEll during this time the owner is in Hawaii.  He had to have known things were not going good so he took a last ditch vacation before going under and at the expense of his employees salaries.

Silent owner has now taken over the company in hopes to salvage his own money out of it.  I do not know what the future lies but neither boys are allowed in the office at this point.  The owner tells his mom he got kicked out and there are such hard feelings that even if the business got up and running again he can not work there.  I think there is more to the story.  This is a million dollar business with a lot of equipment.  Surely you can salvage what have, start again, maybe smaller, regroup.

The second business is being started by an older woman that has a lot of get up and go and smarts about her.  She is not into it for the money.  It is a tutoring business that has been in our area for many many years and the owners just weren't interested and thinking of just folding up shop.  She bought it to save it.  She already has a good staff and accountant and trusted employees.  Now she just needs to spiff the business up a little, and learn how to do the paper work etc.

Interesting enough she said to me the other day how exciting some of the work was but how much work it was AND how much she hated the paper work.  I had to laugh because I thought of the pie lady and how much she just wanted to make pies and not do the manager type work.

It will be interesting to see how her business goes in the future.