I was one of those kids that could talk to anyone about anything. I figured I was equal to any adult in the value of what I had to say and so I spent lot's of time in the principal's office at school or being told to be quiet by my dad. I would daydream in class and couldn't see the value of non-practical things. I had ego and a FU attitude toward anyone that apposed me.
I had a clear vision of the kind of life I wanted to lead, running my own companies and enjoying the wealth I would create. That vision lasted until 17 and then I lost my clarity of focus on this vision. I was conflicted about an number of things and was stuck in this "is it the right thing to do or not the right thing to do" state. I wish I had the wisdom at 17 to stay on my initial course. I unfortunately took the guidance and wisdom of a few people I respected which turned out to be total bullshit in the end.
It wasn't until I hit 45 that I got rid of the conflicted state and life I was leading. What a waste for time!
From 22 to 45 I worked in the the IT sector. I stared with installing networks in manufacturing plants, building systems and then selling all of that tech. At 30 I changed locations moved 1,500 miles across Canada. I had run a hog operation for a few summers at age 15 and 16 in AB for a farmer while he went on vacation (2 mths every summer). Moved my wife and 4 kids across the country and started selling for a software reseller. I'm good at sales and in 18 months sold $7.4 million dollars worth of Microsoft and McAfee products and a number of specific software applications for project management and the oil & gas sector.
After 18 months of great success I purchased the company from the owner. I paid $750,000 up front (combination of bank loan, investors and myself) and then would pay the remainder over 5 years...another $750,000. I trusted this guy. He had been fair to me and I was being paid more than anyone else in the company because of my sales.
Here is what I knew:
1. He was pulling out $300,000 in salary and had declared dividends of as much as $300,000 as well and that was when the company was only at $8 million in sales.
2. With my sales the company was hitting over $1 million in sales a month.
3. Our competition had come of with some online ordering tools which we didn't have and which customers loved.
4. We had a few software developers on payroll that created and managed our internal order processing system and shipping system.
With the cash flow we had and the development team I knew I could create a better customer ordering system and go from a regional player to a national and international player in this volume licensing market. I was 32 and thought I was set for life!
Here is what I didn't know:
1. The books had been cooked.
2. The in-house accountant was in on it.
3. The external public accountant was in on it
4. Because we were in large volume licensing contract sales there was a lot of intangible inventory and credits due from suppliers on the books.
5. Being new to the city and having great sales success at the company I thought this was a great opportunity and it was going to be my FU opportunity...but he and these accountants, I found out a few years later, had pulled the same stunt on two other people I got to know.
6. An economic factor, Y2K, would crush our sales! Taking us from over a $1m a month to less that $200K per month! With our operating costs at over $200K we were bleeding $50K per month for 8 months.
I brought in a team to work with me, to help me figure out how to ride through and survive this storm. One of them was a forensic accountant and he immediately started looking at what money we could get out of our existing inventory of $650K and $300K in credits due from suppliers. It was then that he discovered that the books had been cooked and how they did it.
I went from a positive equity of $850,000 to negative $350,000 when the dust settled. The bank pulled our $400K line of credit and demanded our $300K loan be repaid, we were three months away from the year 2000 and had the bank continued to work with us I believe we could have brought it all back around. Customers started buying again just a few months later but not from us! I closed the business and luckily was able to able to collect all of our $800,000 plus in accounts receivable and get out from under the bank and supplier debts.
What I've shared was the tip of that iceberg! I don't dwell on this, I leave the past in the past but maybe this can help someone else avoid a move like mine.
I should have just designed the online order system for customers and started out on my own as all of you are doing and as I'll do now.
After my first FU opportunity didn't work out I then moved to selling online learning solutions for the wireless communications space. I saw what the company was doing and what their costs looked like and having been through what I had just gone through I knew they would be belly up in less than a year which turned out to be the case.
I then worked at Microsoft for 6 years managing a software distribution channel in the financial applications space. I grew the channel from $6m/yr channel to a $24m/yr channel. Our team was part of an acquisition. Eventually all but 4 of the 20 of us were pushed out of the company.
I did sales training for the next couple of years with a team of 4 people. I was even contracted back to Microsoft for a number of engagements. The managing partner in our 4 partner org ended up stealing from the other 3 of us. Do you see a pattern emerging here?
I was then contacted by a friend of mine that was product manager at a company in the US. He asked me if he knew of anyone that could sell their product in Canada. I said I could. It's an education software that I've been selling since 2011. Last year I formed my own company and I'm now a contracted distributor for this program.
When I was just starting to come out of my conflicted state in 2013 I also started the development and building of 22 Adult Living Villas. It was a lot to take on but along with the two partners in the business we figured we would come out with about $600K each. It was my baby but I was not the source of the money and thus I lost control of the project! I didn't lose any money on this venture! We parted company on peaceful terms - no law suits, etc.!
With the software distribution moved to the cloud in January of 2018, my available time was about 95% of my day and though the distribution business is okay it's not a retirement or FU opportunity because I don't own the program.
So I started and got licensed in the insurance and financial services industry. I am now working in that industry with business owners and still running the software distribution company. There is a 10 year payout after 8 years in the business and top performers in the office are making about $2 million per year. So when they retire or quite the value of their business is paid back to them over 10 years.
I am now recommending MJ's approach to investing to my clients. As a result, I have some very cool and secure options for people to use with some of the money they get from their FU event.
At the same time that I was getting into the insurance and financial services industry I came across MJ on youtube. MJ, what you said made sense to me and I realized that I had given my control away in every situation! It stung so bad when I realized what I had done through my actions, words and contracts for the past couple of decades. No wonder I never got to the FU event. Someone else always had control. I didn't create the systems someone else did (though that was my intent with the company I bought and lost). I didn't have control of the financial viability of the company, someone else did! I didn't have control of the investment funds, someone else did!
What a F*ck up on my part!
So what have I done since reading TMF and Unscripted :
1. I changed the distribution company to a multi-use company so I can create new ventures under one umbrella. We know how to keep them separate in the accounting system for valuation and operational purposes.
2. I am implementing a customer acquisition system in my financial services business that has proven to be very successful for top performers.
3. I have systematized a number of processes in this same business.
4. I have hired someone to do back end work for me in both organizations.
5. I have identified at least one new program I can develop and sell to my existing customers and beyond in the software distribution business.
6. I have identified how I can create more value for our software customers using our website that I expect will bring us a go-to resource and which will drive more value vouchers to us. We'll put it out there, analyze the result and make the needed adjustments as we go.
7. I am recommending TMF and Unscripted to each of my clients!
I am also about to start mapping what I am doing in our existing business back to the Unscripted business model. I want to be sure that I eliminate any gaps in how I operate that would stop me from having a couple of FU events!
I know this is long but if it helps someone else great!
I am an eternal optimist, and a get it done kind of person. I wish I had MJ's books and this forum 20 years ago! It would have helped me avoid the traps I fell into!
Thanks MJ for what you've written and what you've created!
Congrats to everyone that's had their first FU event! And here's to my first FU event!
I had a clear vision of the kind of life I wanted to lead, running my own companies and enjoying the wealth I would create. That vision lasted until 17 and then I lost my clarity of focus on this vision. I was conflicted about an number of things and was stuck in this "is it the right thing to do or not the right thing to do" state. I wish I had the wisdom at 17 to stay on my initial course. I unfortunately took the guidance and wisdom of a few people I respected which turned out to be total bullshit in the end.
It wasn't until I hit 45 that I got rid of the conflicted state and life I was leading. What a waste for time!
From 22 to 45 I worked in the the IT sector. I stared with installing networks in manufacturing plants, building systems and then selling all of that tech. At 30 I changed locations moved 1,500 miles across Canada. I had run a hog operation for a few summers at age 15 and 16 in AB for a farmer while he went on vacation (2 mths every summer). Moved my wife and 4 kids across the country and started selling for a software reseller. I'm good at sales and in 18 months sold $7.4 million dollars worth of Microsoft and McAfee products and a number of specific software applications for project management and the oil & gas sector.
After 18 months of great success I purchased the company from the owner. I paid $750,000 up front (combination of bank loan, investors and myself) and then would pay the remainder over 5 years...another $750,000. I trusted this guy. He had been fair to me and I was being paid more than anyone else in the company because of my sales.
Here is what I knew:
1. He was pulling out $300,000 in salary and had declared dividends of as much as $300,000 as well and that was when the company was only at $8 million in sales.
2. With my sales the company was hitting over $1 million in sales a month.
3. Our competition had come of with some online ordering tools which we didn't have and which customers loved.
4. We had a few software developers on payroll that created and managed our internal order processing system and shipping system.
With the cash flow we had and the development team I knew I could create a better customer ordering system and go from a regional player to a national and international player in this volume licensing market. I was 32 and thought I was set for life!
Here is what I didn't know:
1. The books had been cooked.
2. The in-house accountant was in on it.
3. The external public accountant was in on it
4. Because we were in large volume licensing contract sales there was a lot of intangible inventory and credits due from suppliers on the books.
5. Being new to the city and having great sales success at the company I thought this was a great opportunity and it was going to be my FU opportunity...but he and these accountants, I found out a few years later, had pulled the same stunt on two other people I got to know.
6. An economic factor, Y2K, would crush our sales! Taking us from over a $1m a month to less that $200K per month! With our operating costs at over $200K we were bleeding $50K per month for 8 months.
I brought in a team to work with me, to help me figure out how to ride through and survive this storm. One of them was a forensic accountant and he immediately started looking at what money we could get out of our existing inventory of $650K and $300K in credits due from suppliers. It was then that he discovered that the books had been cooked and how they did it.
I went from a positive equity of $850,000 to negative $350,000 when the dust settled. The bank pulled our $400K line of credit and demanded our $300K loan be repaid, we were three months away from the year 2000 and had the bank continued to work with us I believe we could have brought it all back around. Customers started buying again just a few months later but not from us! I closed the business and luckily was able to able to collect all of our $800,000 plus in accounts receivable and get out from under the bank and supplier debts.
What I've shared was the tip of that iceberg! I don't dwell on this, I leave the past in the past but maybe this can help someone else avoid a move like mine.
I should have just designed the online order system for customers and started out on my own as all of you are doing and as I'll do now.
After my first FU opportunity didn't work out I then moved to selling online learning solutions for the wireless communications space. I saw what the company was doing and what their costs looked like and having been through what I had just gone through I knew they would be belly up in less than a year which turned out to be the case.
I then worked at Microsoft for 6 years managing a software distribution channel in the financial applications space. I grew the channel from $6m/yr channel to a $24m/yr channel. Our team was part of an acquisition. Eventually all but 4 of the 20 of us were pushed out of the company.
I did sales training for the next couple of years with a team of 4 people. I was even contracted back to Microsoft for a number of engagements. The managing partner in our 4 partner org ended up stealing from the other 3 of us. Do you see a pattern emerging here?
I was then contacted by a friend of mine that was product manager at a company in the US. He asked me if he knew of anyone that could sell their product in Canada. I said I could. It's an education software that I've been selling since 2011. Last year I formed my own company and I'm now a contracted distributor for this program.
When I was just starting to come out of my conflicted state in 2013 I also started the development and building of 22 Adult Living Villas. It was a lot to take on but along with the two partners in the business we figured we would come out with about $600K each. It was my baby but I was not the source of the money and thus I lost control of the project! I didn't lose any money on this venture! We parted company on peaceful terms - no law suits, etc.!
With the software distribution moved to the cloud in January of 2018, my available time was about 95% of my day and though the distribution business is okay it's not a retirement or FU opportunity because I don't own the program.
So I started and got licensed in the insurance and financial services industry. I am now working in that industry with business owners and still running the software distribution company. There is a 10 year payout after 8 years in the business and top performers in the office are making about $2 million per year. So when they retire or quite the value of their business is paid back to them over 10 years.
I am now recommending MJ's approach to investing to my clients. As a result, I have some very cool and secure options for people to use with some of the money they get from their FU event.
At the same time that I was getting into the insurance and financial services industry I came across MJ on youtube. MJ, what you said made sense to me and I realized that I had given my control away in every situation! It stung so bad when I realized what I had done through my actions, words and contracts for the past couple of decades. No wonder I never got to the FU event. Someone else always had control. I didn't create the systems someone else did (though that was my intent with the company I bought and lost). I didn't have control of the financial viability of the company, someone else did! I didn't have control of the investment funds, someone else did!
What a F*ck up on my part!
So what have I done since reading TMF and Unscripted :
1. I changed the distribution company to a multi-use company so I can create new ventures under one umbrella. We know how to keep them separate in the accounting system for valuation and operational purposes.
2. I am implementing a customer acquisition system in my financial services business that has proven to be very successful for top performers.
3. I have systematized a number of processes in this same business.
4. I have hired someone to do back end work for me in both organizations.
5. I have identified at least one new program I can develop and sell to my existing customers and beyond in the software distribution business.
6. I have identified how I can create more value for our software customers using our website that I expect will bring us a go-to resource and which will drive more value vouchers to us. We'll put it out there, analyze the result and make the needed adjustments as we go.
7. I am recommending TMF and Unscripted to each of my clients!
I am also about to start mapping what I am doing in our existing business back to the Unscripted business model. I want to be sure that I eliminate any gaps in how I operate that would stop me from having a couple of FU events!
I know this is long but if it helps someone else great!
I am an eternal optimist, and a get it done kind of person. I wish I had MJ's books and this forum 20 years ago! It would have helped me avoid the traps I fell into!
Thanks MJ for what you've written and what you've created!
Congrats to everyone that's had their first FU event! And here's to my first FU event!
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