It's a fourth day of my seven day holiday in a beautiful Cataluña. I've made a commitment to not work on my business while on holiday, so instead of getting puke-drunk or sleeping on mountains of junk food, I'm spending my evenings reading entrepreneurial stuff online and stumbled upon one story that has caught my attention. Thus, sharing it with you all guys:
So I wanted to share a story about people down on their luck, out of options and needing a kick out of inaction.
This story started about a month ago, when a good friend of the family came to me needing cash to pay his mortgage. He has had a particularly rough couple of years, but really bad couple of months. I told him that I could give him the money for his mortgage, but that I wanted to know when he could pay it back. That was a trick question, of course, because everybody knows that when you lend family members money you never get it back. Fortunately he didn’t commit to anything, and I asked him what he was going to do next month. The guy is pretty bright, he’s just had a string of bad luck- some of it self inflicted.
Anyway, I said- how about this. How about instead of paying your mortgage, why don’t I show you something that could make money? He was, of course, very focused on paying his bills and insisted that he just needed a little more time to look for a job. I think he thought I was going to pitch him an MLM deal. He’s just the kind of guy who has always worked in a cube, flew just low enough under the radar to stay employed and hasn’t ever really taken initiative.
So, I finally convinced him that paying his mortgage is not going to be something that happens automatically in this “new economy” and I told him that I was going to show him something that would make him $20K a month if he’s listen to me. Job options are bleak. He (obviously) didn’t believe me. The deal was: I’d pay his mortgage if he’d spend 4 hours a day with me, and he’d be open to doing things differently.
So for that past 30 days, I put up a white board in my office at home, where I work most days. I wrote $500 in each of the 30 days on the calendar. He couldn’t go home until I wiped off the $500.
Each day, I put him on Craig’s list with $5000 in cash (his mortgage amount) on the desk. His job was to hit refresh and search for key items like ipods, computers, old cars, boats, jet skiis, trucks, smart phones, and laptops. Things of this nature. I sent him out and made him pick the stuff up, and lowball the people when he got there. When he had bought enough “product” he got to go home.
I’d re-list the stuff right back on Craig’s list or eBay for him. Sure enough, we started selling $500-1000 a day worth of product. I don’t think he ever stopped to calculate how much more we were selling.
When the month was over, he had taken that $5000 in cash and turned it into a real number. He made about $17K. Short of our goal by about $3000. I paid his mortgage with it, and I think he anticipated that I was going to give him the rest of the money.
Nyet, comrade this is not capitalism for you; this is a lesson.
Instead, we went down to the bank and started up a business account with both of our names on it. I think he believes last month was some kind of fluke, but hopefully he’ll show back up and keep at it. He’s never made $15K a month in his life. He has a stunned, but hopeful look on his face now.
I think that people sometimes have to be shoved in the water when you want them to drink. This is a smart guy that just needed to be reminded that he is capable of doing some cool things with just a little bit of cash. Made me proud to be able to help. Sustainable? I’m unsure. We shall see. I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't just a little bit shocked, myself.
Source: bootstrap lesson - Lambo Power
P.S. Here are some of the holiday photos I've taken:
So I wanted to share a story about people down on their luck, out of options and needing a kick out of inaction.
This story started about a month ago, when a good friend of the family came to me needing cash to pay his mortgage. He has had a particularly rough couple of years, but really bad couple of months. I told him that I could give him the money for his mortgage, but that I wanted to know when he could pay it back. That was a trick question, of course, because everybody knows that when you lend family members money you never get it back. Fortunately he didn’t commit to anything, and I asked him what he was going to do next month. The guy is pretty bright, he’s just had a string of bad luck- some of it self inflicted.
Anyway, I said- how about this. How about instead of paying your mortgage, why don’t I show you something that could make money? He was, of course, very focused on paying his bills and insisted that he just needed a little more time to look for a job. I think he thought I was going to pitch him an MLM deal. He’s just the kind of guy who has always worked in a cube, flew just low enough under the radar to stay employed and hasn’t ever really taken initiative.
So, I finally convinced him that paying his mortgage is not going to be something that happens automatically in this “new economy” and I told him that I was going to show him something that would make him $20K a month if he’s listen to me. Job options are bleak. He (obviously) didn’t believe me. The deal was: I’d pay his mortgage if he’d spend 4 hours a day with me, and he’d be open to doing things differently.
So for that past 30 days, I put up a white board in my office at home, where I work most days. I wrote $500 in each of the 30 days on the calendar. He couldn’t go home until I wiped off the $500.
Each day, I put him on Craig’s list with $5000 in cash (his mortgage amount) on the desk. His job was to hit refresh and search for key items like ipods, computers, old cars, boats, jet skiis, trucks, smart phones, and laptops. Things of this nature. I sent him out and made him pick the stuff up, and lowball the people when he got there. When he had bought enough “product” he got to go home.
I’d re-list the stuff right back on Craig’s list or eBay for him. Sure enough, we started selling $500-1000 a day worth of product. I don’t think he ever stopped to calculate how much more we were selling.
When the month was over, he had taken that $5000 in cash and turned it into a real number. He made about $17K. Short of our goal by about $3000. I paid his mortgage with it, and I think he anticipated that I was going to give him the rest of the money.
Nyet, comrade this is not capitalism for you; this is a lesson. Instead, we went down to the bank and started up a business account with both of our names on it. I think he believes last month was some kind of fluke, but hopefully he’ll show back up and keep at it. He’s never made $15K a month in his life. He has a stunned, but hopeful look on his face now.
I think that people sometimes have to be shoved in the water when you want them to drink. This is a smart guy that just needed to be reminded that he is capable of doing some cool things with just a little bit of cash. Made me proud to be able to help. Sustainable? I’m unsure. We shall see. I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't just a little bit shocked, myself.
Source: bootstrap lesson - Lambo Power
P.S. Here are some of the holiday photos I've taken:
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