In loving memory of Jayden Rios who brought joy and happiness to all.
A beautiful 8-year-old who left us too early and is now with God.
Category Archives: Ramblings
KEEP ‘EM COMING
As we mentioned before, we closed 3 deals by press-time last week. Well – my mistake, I should have waited, but Thursday is blog deadline and I had been late the last couple of weeks. In reality we closed 5 deals last week. And we closed another 3 deals this week related to those.
My partners have been going crazy this week and are overwhelmed. We will knock out one of those projects by Friday and focus on the ones for long-term. I saw my partners frustrated, like they wanted to kill me, but did not have the heart to tell me. I also saw them anxious because a drive-by deal got in the way, and they can’t attack their main deals. I also saw them frustrated, as we are waiting for some information to continue finishing up deals from last week.
All in all, it has been a seriously busy week and we expect to bring in handsome rewards in the next 60 days. All we have to do is make sure we don’t go broke by then and the worst will have passed. As you know a new business, requires not only time and money to be invested, but lots if tender-loving-care and a s***load of patience.
We are so busy we realized we have to hire 2 more people within the next 2-3 weeks and we have not received a single dollar from our clients, but if we want to make our deals work, we have to invest heavily and that is where I have to pony up, whether I want to or not – more money from my already-hurting pockets. As I see it, if it all goes well, and all of our plans come together as they should, we will have a very good 2nd quarter and hopefully by then we can start collecting some sort of salary.
Here is looking at all the risk takers and letting you know, keep it up, don’t give up and have trust in your abilities, and surround yourself with loyal, honest and hardworking people, who you will do right and share your rewards. You can’t do it alone, don’t be greedy
Keep calm and stay humble.
Closing the deal…
Well, it had to happen eventually. You work hard enough and eventually good things are bound to happen. In our case, we have been fighting for weeks to close deals, and as we have reported, we have come close, but not enough.
This week I am happy to report we closed not one, nor two, but wait for it….three! deals. The first one was real exciting, because it is a real big chain that we have been after for a while and that believed in us. One of my partners has been after it for a while, and she found a way to do it after a nerve-wrecking presentation with me (as always) annoying people. It is not my intention, but I am just trying to have fun while we work! Anyway, done deal and we were thrilled. Needless to say, I don’t think I will be going on presentations anytime soon with her.
The second deal was huge for us, as we will be working with a company that will really help us explore our abilities and we will help them grow exponentially I assure you. We will become partners and we will look after their best interests as if is was our own. These are quality people who I see are honest and hardworking. We will quickly expand in various territories and grow along with them. We are very proud and humbled to see that they believed in us.
The third one is a smaller deal but equally rewarding because another one of our partners has been trying for four weeks to close deals with these type of customers, and they say yes, but he has not been able to close them! He was getting frustrated and upset, so after a week of a lot of positive news he was able to boldly declare, deal done!
What a week and we are grateful our clients believe in us and trust us with their business. Maybe I won’t go broke after all. If you remember, we talked about deals coming to close at the same time after a dry period. We were just talking about the ledge a couple of weeks ago. Well, we held on and we are still here. Not out of the woods yet, but certainly very positive outlook
Keep calm and stay humble!!!
Pumpessed…
Well, I finally see deals materializing. That was not that hard right? It only took us 6 months. Now we have to make them work and we have to make sure we can keep up with them. We will be very busy the next 6 months figuring out how we will improve our company and working hard, while wearing multiple hats, to survive as a business,
It is such a cool thing to see you struggling and then to realize that, as we said before and kind of a sadistic approach, it will get worse before it gets better. I love the fact that we are making mistakes and we are learning from them, as well, as the notion that sometimes when we feel there is no tomorrow, there always is!
The roller coaster ride continues and we are fully enjoying it. We are so pumped and so depressed at the same time it is hard to describe, I guess you would call it “pumpessed” It is great and I love to face the new challenges that this new company brings us. It is like a race against the clock. We all know that 80 percent of all new business crash in the first 18 months, well 6 down and 12 to go. We are on our way to crashing by the way, but you don’t see me worrying, why? Because a new business can have a company changing event any day (good or bad) , so its about the focus and attitude, as well as the drive and vision.
We are so Pumpessed it’s not even funny, we are crying all the way to success if you ask me, and we are loving every down and up that this ride has to offer. You probably could not find a happier time in my life, when I worried so little about other things. I am focused on my marriage, my kids, my work, my school and whatever else comes along, then I deal with it.
Keep Calm and Stay Humble
The Roller Coaster
So this has been the week where there have been so many things and emotions that I am fried. It was a great week and we accomplished so many things in such little time, and then I was dealt with a small but significant confidence blow. What to do now I say….? Scream? pull out the little hair I have left? Get a banana split?.
I might just do all 3 of them right now. But I won’t because it would not do any good and I will probably be embarrassed tomorrow. A thing that all entrepreneurs have to possess is a thick skin and a short memory. I have both and I am extremely motivated to forget things that I do not like. Today, I will just remember the ones that I like and I choose to forget the other ones AFTER I figure out what went wrong and how things get screwed up so quickly sometimes. That might take a couple of hours of my night, but tomorrow I will be a new man. Whatever happens, happens and you move on….
I am proud to tell you that tomorrow is a great day as it is my wedding anniversary and I am excited to be sharing a good time with my lovely wife. Why would I ruin this lovely day with this enchanting woman because something went wrong somewhere else? Not me. There is too much of a good thing in life to be worrying about trivial details and minimizing your great fortune.
The roller coaster of emotions is nothing in life when you do not learn that all roller coasters stop at a predefined point in time and space. If you can’t recognize that things will get to normality, then it’s on you. If you can deal with it, then you can basically ride the kiddie coaster forever without feeling that lump in you stomach.
I will be in the kiddie coaster, right after I take some TUMS tonight….
Keep calm and stay humble
Week 3 – The Calls
A great lesson I learned quite a few years ago was that you should never make life decisions based on more money. As a young and too brash mid-20ish person I did just that. I sold out. It wasn’t bad, I doubled my salary and I moved to an exciting city. But….i forgot my values and my principles. Not going to bore you with a long story of morality but as soon as I got there, the very first day of work, I knew I had messed up in a big way.
True story, but one of my old bosses called me the first week on Friday and he said,
“Miguel, today is Friday and I am sure that by now you know you made a mistake, which you obviously will never accept but I have to tell you, your job is right here waiting for you and we will pay for the move, consider this a life lesson.”
As a good and decent young executive I told him the truth,
“of course not, I am extremely happy here”
To which his reply was
“sure you are, but I will call you in a few weeks and will offer you this again”
Like clockwork and about the same time he called me in 2 weeks and told me
“I bet you are still pretty happy, the offer is on the table and we need you”
I told him that i was just fine, even though I was miserable. Pride, you guessed it
“I will call you again in a month and hopefully you will accept your mistake”
So once again and like a clock (I think he set an alarm to be honest) he calls me again on the day and at the time
“ok young man, this will be the last time I call you, I can’t help you after today”
So I gave up and told him, So and So, I am fine where I am at, hung up and banged my head on the wall for several minutes.
Honestly this was the greatest decision I have ever made…. You thought I was going to say that it was a mistake, right. Well, it was not. The new company where I was working at was awful and treated its people miserably. I used to joke years after and told people I got my Master’s in Anti Human Resources while I was there, but…..
The truth of it is that making mistakes along the way and for the wrong reasons is a costly matter, especially if you do not learn from them. I went for the money because I believed that was my priority. But if I had not done that, I would not have struggled the next couple of years and would not have learned all the other things I learned or met the people I met.
You can not and should not be sorry for the mistakes you have made, that is a harsh reality, you just have to live with them. As I venture in this new company, I live with my decisions and pray to God I do not get calls from anybody this time, well, it might teach me something if I do get it…….
Keep calm and stay humble!
Week 2
Well, it’s Week 2, and I have been thinking long and hard about what we will discuss today, and I will share with you about something that I really believe is necessary for any entrepreneur: A 53 point steps to success plan!. Nah, that is just too boring, let’s talk about something more real…..fear.
This blog’s purpose is simple: we want to share with you the why’s of our decision to become independent business owners. Nothing wrong with working for a company, in fact, more than likely we will have people working with us soon, hopefully, as the business requires it. No, the challenge is HOW do we make a difference in our lives, our partners (employees) lives and our community. We mentioned in the last post about our desire to have our partners and us as well work only 4 days a week and get to a point after 5 years of all of us working at 183 days and not working 182 days (we luck out on the leap year!)
We are convinced that business will be hard and not too pleasing at the outset. I have received so many well wishes that it is comforting to see how many honest and well-intentioned people I know, but I do not kid myself, this is not easy and the road gets very steep especially at the initiation of any venture such as this. There will be a lot of no’s when you are used to hearing a lot of yes, there will be a lot of penny-pinching dollar spending dilemmas and clichés and there will be, certainly a lot of people who do not want to carry us as we begin. It is completely understandable and we have to be ready mentally, right?. The problem is that theory works really good on paper and not as easy in practice. Rejection, Expenses and Interests add up quickly against your self-confidence and your budget, so what to do…..
I have come to the conclusion that we need to be prepared to just say, screw it, I don’t care and nothing happened. I am beginning to understand that a short-term memory is not such a bad thing and that the thick skin developed in over 20 years of business, goes away as soon as your financial backing is gone. You feel secure because you have huge pockets behind you and your check is safe, but when you are on your own, it is not that simple, right…?
So, what to do….? Cry, scream, laugh, ignore, hate, love….. I think that the answer is one that I have always used in my life, Time is a good friend! If we let things come and play out, without forcing them, we might be a little bit better prepared to deal with them. As an entrepreneur you need to hurry up though, but as a smart business person, you have to let things play its course, if you hurry them up too much, you miss the timing and the natural evolution of projects. So the main lesson today is “Patience Grasshopper, Patience.”
Keep calm and stay humble. See you next time…
Here we go…..
Well, today I turn 43-years-old. Mid life for sure. I am at the beginning of what promises to be a great adventure. I am nervous to say the least. I have left a highly paying job for some reasons, mostly I was bored. Had been doing the same thing for over 20 years. Don’t get me wrong I love it, but we all want more. As it pertains to me, I want the satisfaction of saying I was a workaholic working for others and now I am a well balanced individual working for myself. I have become an entrepreneur and I am not bored anymore.
I want to create a company where me and my partners will work 4 days a week only. Have not decided on 9 to 10 hours to be truthful. The goal is for all to be balanced, so….. the goal is for all to work 183 days and rest 182 days after 5 years and from there we shall achieve balance.
I will probably not make much money, and that is fine, i can live with that, but I will be proud to hopefully be a better father, a better husband and for sure a better person. I want my partners to come to work with a smile and leave with a bigger smile.
I am an idealist, have always been so, not perfect by any means but always willing to help and do the right thing. Join me in this new journey, let’s see where it will take us. I will write this blog once a week on Thursday’s and tell you how my balancing act is going. Your comments will be very much appreciated.
Share this blog with others who you would think might want to cheer us on or discourage us. All viewpoints are valid, just no profanity or other type of slurs, I beg your indulgence on this, so let’s keep it clean.
Let’s be humble and say goodbye.