Hey guys, I have been extremely busy the last several months. As usual. Sorry that's such a pattern. It has definitely been an incredible learning experience. I know @Vigilante is privy to some of the details of this time away... I decided it would be a huge shame not to use what I have learned to help some of you. I also plan to do what I can to stick with this although the companies suck up a major portion of my time.
First of all, I got married back in April to a wonderful woman and I am thrilled I got her. She is amazing, I love her very much and I am extremely happy I married her. So to those of you who think you can't have a successful business and a wife or family are wrong, you just have to be deliberate and make sure you create systems that allow you to spend time away from the business. Its worth it. No judging here, just don't let entrepreneurship stop you from pursuing a rewarding relationship if it is something you are interested in.
Now on to the business stuff... I am convinced that we all will be humbled at some point. The fortunate part is it is probably one of the largest stepping stones to the success there is. I can't believe the shaky foundations I have tried to build on in the past viewing from where I stand now. I have gone through so many times in my life where I felt like I couldn't lose. Like I had the world by the balls. Sometimes you need the world to kick your a$$ to realize something better might be out there.
The following few stories I'm going to share show how being diligent in hard times is so important. I will start with part of the first story on this post.
Ok. I have been attempting to source raw materials for very large companies. Companies you would know. This had initially been a project I took on for fun because I saw some opportunity. I eventually found demand for something huge and went after it. It took over a year to find this particular product. I worked and worked. Through supplier after supplier. Country after country. I must have had the same discussion with 1000 different potential suppliers. I have spent thousands of dollars on samples that didn't pan out. Plane tickets to meetings that didn't pan out. Shit wasn't going right. I wanted to quit because this sourcing crap didn't even matter, I was making money elsewhere, but I decided a long time ago that if "its too hard" is my reason I will not quit. I refuse to be a pussy.
Finally, after all of that blood, sweat and tears, I found the material in China, at a price where I could make an ongoing mid six figures per month. I thought the blood sweat and tears were over. This was by far the biggest kind of deal I had ever done. It was amazing and exciting. I sailed through the process of sending samples and supporting documents to potential customers. Doing my best to look like a way bigger company than I am. Finally, One bit. Hard. Within about a month I had money being put into a letter of credit for the first of what would be 6-10 similar transactions per month. It was there. Way more income than I have ever had in my life was sitting in limbo. It was a side project about to blow past my other businesses. It was sitting there ready for me to transfer just a fraction out to my supplier. That fraction happened to be about 100k by the way. The remaining chunk would be mine when the LOC cleared.
Wells Fargo made the transfer a pain, every step of the way they would need some other bs for me to create. I ended up on my honeymoon during this deal because it took a few weeks to get this done. My wife, being the awesome girl she is, was supportive and found it hilarious when I needed to get a document notarized in Cabo. We went to like 7 places before one just took 20 bucks to stamp my document. Finally I was in compliance with all of the regulatory crap. Honestly it probably wasn't because the Mexican notary may have just been some guy with a stamp.
Whatever, now I can relax and look at million dollar vacation homes and have fun on my honeymoon because big money is on the way. Back at home I got confirmation from Wells that the transfer was a success and the credit was now offered to my supplier. I was excited to tell them that evening, but evidently they already knew. The supplier we had been in discussions with for months, who supplied a rock solid sample was completely unreachable. Their website gone. Phones disconnected. Email bouncing. Son of a bitch...
I will continue this later, I'm going to sleep.
First of all, I got married back in April to a wonderful woman and I am thrilled I got her. She is amazing, I love her very much and I am extremely happy I married her. So to those of you who think you can't have a successful business and a wife or family are wrong, you just have to be deliberate and make sure you create systems that allow you to spend time away from the business. Its worth it. No judging here, just don't let entrepreneurship stop you from pursuing a rewarding relationship if it is something you are interested in.
Now on to the business stuff... I am convinced that we all will be humbled at some point. The fortunate part is it is probably one of the largest stepping stones to the success there is. I can't believe the shaky foundations I have tried to build on in the past viewing from where I stand now. I have gone through so many times in my life where I felt like I couldn't lose. Like I had the world by the balls. Sometimes you need the world to kick your a$$ to realize something better might be out there.
The following few stories I'm going to share show how being diligent in hard times is so important. I will start with part of the first story on this post.
Ok. I have been attempting to source raw materials for very large companies. Companies you would know. This had initially been a project I took on for fun because I saw some opportunity. I eventually found demand for something huge and went after it. It took over a year to find this particular product. I worked and worked. Through supplier after supplier. Country after country. I must have had the same discussion with 1000 different potential suppliers. I have spent thousands of dollars on samples that didn't pan out. Plane tickets to meetings that didn't pan out. Shit wasn't going right. I wanted to quit because this sourcing crap didn't even matter, I was making money elsewhere, but I decided a long time ago that if "its too hard" is my reason I will not quit. I refuse to be a pussy.
Finally, after all of that blood, sweat and tears, I found the material in China, at a price where I could make an ongoing mid six figures per month. I thought the blood sweat and tears were over. This was by far the biggest kind of deal I had ever done. It was amazing and exciting. I sailed through the process of sending samples and supporting documents to potential customers. Doing my best to look like a way bigger company than I am. Finally, One bit. Hard. Within about a month I had money being put into a letter of credit for the first of what would be 6-10 similar transactions per month. It was there. Way more income than I have ever had in my life was sitting in limbo. It was a side project about to blow past my other businesses. It was sitting there ready for me to transfer just a fraction out to my supplier. That fraction happened to be about 100k by the way. The remaining chunk would be mine when the LOC cleared.
Wells Fargo made the transfer a pain, every step of the way they would need some other bs for me to create. I ended up on my honeymoon during this deal because it took a few weeks to get this done. My wife, being the awesome girl she is, was supportive and found it hilarious when I needed to get a document notarized in Cabo. We went to like 7 places before one just took 20 bucks to stamp my document. Finally I was in compliance with all of the regulatory crap. Honestly it probably wasn't because the Mexican notary may have just been some guy with a stamp.
Whatever, now I can relax and look at million dollar vacation homes and have fun on my honeymoon because big money is on the way. Back at home I got confirmation from Wells that the transfer was a success and the credit was now offered to my supplier. I was excited to tell them that evening, but evidently they already knew. The supplier we had been in discussions with for months, who supplied a rock solid sample was completely unreachable. Their website gone. Phones disconnected. Email bouncing. Son of a bitch...
I will continue this later, I'm going to sleep.
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