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- Sep 17, 2019
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Context: I graduated this year with an engineering degree. I've always been passionate about inventing and entrepreneurship. 4 months ago I got called in to help temporarily run my friend's family company. They had 1 of the 2 employees quit and needed me to step in temporarily to help with "computer stuff".
Turns out their company makes $2.5 million annually ($1.2m profit) selling a unique-patented "pest-control device" that the owner invented in the 80's. I worked there for 2 weeks while they interviewed potential employees. Two weeks in, they decided they wanted me for the job and they offered me what they thought I would make in engineering + profit sharing, I accepted it. Pretty good gig.
Note: the company does zero marketing. Sales just come in from nurseries, distributors, landscapers. The company runs like clockwork. Two employees. The owner is completely hands-off of daily-ops, he checks in every few weeks.
So the company grew to $2.5 million in sales almost completely naturally over 30 years. 60% of our sales are within a 50 mile radius and 95% of our sales are within the state. There is no reason the sales should be so centered on us. This product could be useful in most of the states, but word just hasn't spread that far.
I saw this an easy way to gain a large amount of capital, which could help me start my entrepreneurship ventures. 2 months into the job, I proposed a position renegotiation to work completely on growth, where I would get a commission of all sales above the current projections. I laid out all the growth avenues I would hit, and I would do it all commission based so if I was ineffective, the company wouldn't lose.
The owner "appreciated" the initiative I showed with the new contract proposal, but simply responded that he isn't interested in growth right now (he saw the company as unstable since the previous employee left). He offered me a raise to stay where I was.
2 months later, here we are. I initially thought finding a better position with this company would be my "ticket to the fastlane", but then I got to the part in the book where MJ explains why we shouldn't hitchhike on someone else's vehicle. So now I'm less interested in devoting my time to this company, and I spend all my free time working on my own projects.
I'm posting here asking for advice on how to approach this whole scenario. Should I just use it as a paycheck and work on my own projects? Or could there be a good way to renegotiate my position and make a large amount of capital?
Turns out their company makes $2.5 million annually ($1.2m profit) selling a unique-patented "pest-control device" that the owner invented in the 80's. I worked there for 2 weeks while they interviewed potential employees. Two weeks in, they decided they wanted me for the job and they offered me what they thought I would make in engineering + profit sharing, I accepted it. Pretty good gig.
Note: the company does zero marketing. Sales just come in from nurseries, distributors, landscapers. The company runs like clockwork. Two employees. The owner is completely hands-off of daily-ops, he checks in every few weeks.
So the company grew to $2.5 million in sales almost completely naturally over 30 years. 60% of our sales are within a 50 mile radius and 95% of our sales are within the state. There is no reason the sales should be so centered on us. This product could be useful in most of the states, but word just hasn't spread that far.
I saw this an easy way to gain a large amount of capital, which could help me start my entrepreneurship ventures. 2 months into the job, I proposed a position renegotiation to work completely on growth, where I would get a commission of all sales above the current projections. I laid out all the growth avenues I would hit, and I would do it all commission based so if I was ineffective, the company wouldn't lose.
The owner "appreciated" the initiative I showed with the new contract proposal, but simply responded that he isn't interested in growth right now (he saw the company as unstable since the previous employee left). He offered me a raise to stay where I was.
2 months later, here we are. I initially thought finding a better position with this company would be my "ticket to the fastlane", but then I got to the part in the book where MJ explains why we shouldn't hitchhike on someone else's vehicle. So now I'm less interested in devoting my time to this company, and I spend all my free time working on my own projects.
I'm posting here asking for advice on how to approach this whole scenario. Should I just use it as a paycheck and work on my own projects? Or could there be a good way to renegotiate my position and make a large amount of capital?
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