Zubispeak’s of the World ( epilog)

When I started to write this blog several months ago, I had stated that I am on the quest to find the answers to the questions Who & Why ?

I found them and along a way I meet a few ” Zubispeaks” like me.

And that’s all I ever wanted.

I will keep the explanation for myself, but as always I’ll give you a hint…:

Yesterday I got the Economic stimulus payment check from the government in the mail.

It made me want to puke, it made me sick .

I will tell you people, what it is. First they steal the money from the producers like me and others entrepreneurs under the threat of taking our biz. away otherwise and then, when everything goes to hell, they want to bribe us to make it work.

Well, I tell you, I don’t want it ! It is probably partially money coming from some of you my fellow warriors out there, but I did not sent it back to them, they would waste it on some “needy” useless project.

I contributed it to one of the local Animals Shelters.

Because of the actions of us humans, animals are those who are needy, not the humans.

I am writing  final post of this blog. I had said everything I wanted to say……

This is end of this blog, but rest assured, Not the end of THE ZUBISPEAK

Now, I have a railroad to build and steel to pour, I may appear somewhere else one day…..

Who Knows ?

GODSPEED

Doc Holiday Syndrome

  He walked the Sin City streets when dark falls on, and rain quit washing the muck , the slam, the trash, he needs a place.  Place to sit and wait.   

Wait on something he had no idea what it is and when it comes, he knew it will.

He knew it comes, he made it come, with everything he had ever done, at will he did, he knew.  

He knew, he did not know, he knew…

He found a quiet bar in shady corner at the end of the main street, lit by dirty bulb replaced thousand times for those who’s drunk the night before busted it and left , he knew.

 He went inside, he sat. He wait, don’t talk, don’t order anything, just wait. It is the strangest feeling he ever felt, he waits. 

The hassler, the explorer, the pioneer, the climber, the shooter, the gambler, the provider, the careless care taker, the knight, the valor, the action entrepreneur, the King, the servant…He waits.

Every  attemted contact by other guests or waitresses is a great  bother to him. Not theirs presence, just theirs disturbing, annoying questions “how can we help you?” makes none sense to him. He does not need help, never needed, they don’t know, he knows, he waits.

He is there to help.

He saw a women enter the bar with fear and curiosity. She standed by door and looked around..

He knew.

“Come home Doc”, she said, he’s hurt.

 ”Why”, he asked with  expression on his wrinkled face describing eating 2 months old piece of steak, carved of the bull, which died last last year by “Old Age”. 

” I need you home with me!” 

“You don’t, You go, I’ll wait”

He knows it’s coming.

The call will come, he’ll go.

He’ll walk the street, replace the bulbs, he’ll go…

” It’s time to press, to Do and Be,just go !”

He hears the voice, he smiles. 

He knows it is, he is,he’ll kill, he’ll give, he feels, he lives.

He smiles….

   

Numbers Matters

Let me make one thing very clear here. I will be talking about placing the numbers on your business tax returns, not about making it up!!!

Numbers do not lie, only people working with them sometimes do. In my world, whatever you do, YOU DO NOT COOK THE NUMBERS !!

However, if you planning financing for your business, before you prepare the most recent biz. tax return, think about the kind of financing you will be trying to get, because the way you place your first net income profit in many years will have an impact on the type of the financing you will have the best chance to get.

The post is about a numbers so here goes an example..:

You put your own $ 100,000.00 into your business during the first 3 years. Treat it like loan from shareholder.

Now, in 3rd. year you finally have $ 50,000.00 net income profit.

The question is, Who do you want to impress? Private investors or the bank underwriters ?

Investors are generally smart and know how to read tax returns. You don’t want to place the first profit on return as a net income gain, you just pay yourself portion of your own loan to the business back and save money on taxes. If you approach me as a potentional investor in your business and explain to me what’s the deal with that, I will understand and I will think O.K, this guy is smart, profitable and know how to play the game. Here is your check right ? Right.

Underwriters in the regular banks ( not the biz. oriented) on the other hand, are generally morons and have no clue how to read the tax returns. So if you planning to go with traditional bank financing, you may want to file the profit in different spot. Forget about paying yourself the loan back, sacrifice a few thousand dollars to Uncle Sam and show the profit as a net income gain. ( In this case business still owes the original amount to you).

I must say, that if you approach me with this return, I will think you are an Idiot, but rest assured, the Underwriters will love you to “death.”

There is always next year and you can start paying the loan back to you then, while you have the bank financing secured, and to think of it, if you explain to me, what you did and for what purpose, I will understand too !!

After all, I don’t work in the bank underwriting department, and I know a little bit about numbers.

So again, Numbers Matters, the way you work with them matters, as long as they are The true, The whole true and nothing but the true numbers !   

  

 

Organized Chaos

A series of a random ( so we think) events and thoughts, ideas and visions happening in relatively short period of time for no other reason, than, you have been inspired…

Inspired by something or someone ( in my case both), of which a while ago you had no clue you are even capable of dealing with.

I took the challenge last night and early this morning to take out of my “secret” folder all my notes and pamflets I started writing considering my own business ventures, ideas and plans how it is to be done, every since I had decide to move forward in the way I see my own entrepreneurship. I wanted to read it from the very beginning and see if I can create The Mona Lisa picture from a pieces of puzzles, which left alone look more like The Shrek.

It was a challenge not for the reason of too many materials to read, but because in the light of a new ideas I currently have, my ego was afraid ( shame on me..lol), that I’ll be disappointed, bored and not interested anymore.

Place it on my desk and started to read it by the dates on the bottom of each page. It was a Chaos, thoughts I had at the beginning being interupted by other ones, just to comeback a few weeks later, extending and evolving the thought I had before the previous of the previous thought. Even now, my writing looks chaotic, but that’s only on the surface.

When I finished my first round of reading, I had started to place the individual pages into a sentence, not by the date, but by the merit of each idea ( regarding of what has been done, what’s in the doing stage and what’s coming) and I see, that however not really “Mona Lisa”, pretty nice picture is beginning to develope.

I still don’t have “the eyes” painted yet, but having an idea ( one of a few to come), how they should look like.

It is still a Chaos ( as all true entrepreneurship is), but more and more methodically organized. Sometimes it makes perfect sense and sometimes does not.

But that’s the beauty of it. When you write your next idea down, you can ( and should) read it and reorganize it again !

Believe me, it is a wonderful and very useful excersise…..    

Personality Matters

When I wrote my article about importance of a “busines plan”, I had directed it in the matter of getting bank financing for your busines. You don’t really need to prepare it your self and if a bank requires have one done, get somebody familiar to this bank regulations to guide or even write it for you, because the  most likely  reasons for the bank is to estimate and find out the risk of an industry you are be doing a business in. In this case, you need to know the bank CURRENT policy, the one outlined yesterday, is probably in this credit chaos not valid anymore.  

This plan will end up in a trash can of the loan officer and even more importantly, should end up in YOURS.

But, if you even think to start and go on the road called entrepreneurship, you should, or even better Must have a plan in order to have any chance to succeed. This kind of plan you have to create for yourself. You should start it by trying to estimate your own personality. I said try to estimate, because in many cases further down the road, many of us find out, that we are not who we thought we are, simply because on focusing and observing anything and anybody around ourself, we don’t really pay attention on our true being.

Make it simple in this article, I see entrepreneurs either as a “Hunters” or a “Farmers”, I know it is more complicated than that, but it will help me to keep this post relatively brief.

Farmers

Those are the ones having the idea or expertise in one of industry, the plumbers, electricians, car dealers and other retailers, or even people involved in real estate. Form being just a self- employed, they crossed the line to the entrepreneurial world by creating some kind of system around their expertise. ( adding a people to various positions) They constantly growing their “farm” by re-seeding and re-planting their own ”crops”, they methodically expanding the ” Southport Ranch empire”

Hunters

Or call it action entrepreneurs if you like. Those are the ones, constantly looking and searching for opportunity, they have the instinct to know one , when they see one. They have no problem to “jump” in the type of business venture yesterday had no clue about it. Their motto is..: ” You don’t need to be a cook in order to run or own a restaurant!!” While many times seen by others as a “nuts”, they are the risk takers by nature. I must say, that I think in my point of view, they don’t hunt the prey just to “kill” and eat, but many times to “domesticate” it and further more to use it just like the “farmers” do.

The beauty of not knowing exactly from the beginning who you actually are by personality is, that when you build your farm ( just like I did for years), one day you look over your fence, see the other type of stock and crops out there, you finally realize the possibilities of catching it and “domesticate” it, that one day , you decide to go get the “traps” or ammunition and Do it.

On the other hand, the ugliness of not estimating your own self soon enough, could mean the danger, that if you fall in love for hunting, you may have all the traps and ammunition planted or seeded in the field within your own fence.

It is interesting to watch my own “personality” evolution and I must say ( no shame here), that you can call it surprise for me.

Well, I let you think about your own-self and it is not my business to say what kind is better for biz. success. But for the long term plan is good to know…

Are you a Farmer, Hunter or even Predator ?? Think about it !!

  

  

   

How Do I Know..??

Know what, you ask? Know, that we, the citizens & residents of USA are in deep shit and it started much sooner, than all the geniuses with bunch of diplomas from all kinds of worthless educational institutions are willing to admit.

If I had told you 3 years ago, that the US economy is just about to crush, nobody would believe me.

How did I see it coming, it is very easy to explain. And it has nothing to do with the “phony” numbers, the government is supplying the Stock Markets. It has everything to do with ability to observe and use a common sense.

Put it this way. 10 years ago all the people I knew in my old country were asking me if there is any opportunity for work in USA. Just like Bob Dylan sings in one of his songs, “Times, they are changing..”, that’s how the situation changed during not even decade.

The same people are calling me now, asking me to reserve a condominium on the Beach for 2-4 weeks for them, because they want to spend a vacation in Florida. They come here, enjoying the weather, buy any possible thing, they can carry on the plane and when they say “good bye” to me, their last remark is : “It is unbelievably cheap here..”  The first person I know did it exactly 3 years ago and when the arrogant immigration officer , used to asking a stupid questions, asked if he is going to be illegally working in USA, my friend told him the truth : ” I am going to be fishing , you moron !!”

I am not going to make a long list of reasons for this situation, because first of all, nobody is going to pay me for the trouble and the time I spend on analyzing that stuff, and for the second, nobody would take me seriously anyway. 

But I will make a little hint here.

Last time I checked, my computer was not able to “shit” eggs and I don’t think the Web 2.0 can assemble a car or even bicycle. Don’t get me wrong, I love technology and internet is very valuable for gathering informations of all sorts, but still it supposed to be just a tool for creating some “real” stuff, not the Goal in creating a Phony value.

It is only my private opinion, but I think that the real reason for the US Dollar to sink almost to worthless piece of paper is, that instead of Doers, worthless Talkers are in control of US business.

Personally, I could care less, my customers loans are collaterized at least with some value ( car), unlike the milions of mortgages collaterized by nothing else, than Fake apraisals. If it comes to the point I need to re-po the collateral, I am pretty sure, I will find it in front of the local city homeless shelter and resale it again, but believe or not, I actually really care for the US customer, after all, in the big picture, I am One of Them!!

I had asked my 85 years old grandma if there is anything the “Big Ben” could do about it.

She had scratched her gray hair for a moment and then she told me..: ” Stop Printing the f….g Money!!!”

Well Ben, there you have it….. 

   

  

The Race with own Ego

After all those years dealing with almost imposible dilemmas and situations, pushing the limits further ahead right at the time when one more challenge is solved, it makes me wonder…

What is the cause making lunatics like us always keep going??

Well, I am not a psychiatrist of any kind, but it seems to me that when we start pursuing our dream so fanatically, that on many cases dreams turn to the nightmares and when I think about it, I don’t see the main reason for it in doing something majorly wrong business-wise. Most of us entered the entrepreneur scene with at least some kind of plan, ideas or knowledge and I don’t assume we turn overnight to worthless idiots.

I see the main reason for the nightmares and anxiety is, well, because somewhere on the journey many of us unintentionally enter the race, which you can never win. That is unless you change.

You are entering the race with the worse and toughest competition there is and that is your Own Ego. Unless you realize that and at some point of the race you’ll tell it : “Go to hell”, most likely you’ll be running as long as you can and then you’ll die. That’s O.K , everybody has to die someday, but you my friend, instead of having your dream in mind before making the last breath, you’ll be haunted with your nightmare..

I am not saying that if you have an idea or dream, you should just let it go and forget about it. On the contrary, I want you to succeed and enjoy the happiness in what you doing, pursue it with focus and make it work, but in order to fully enjoy all of this, you have to be able to see the color of the “grass”, hear the “birds” singing in the morning and don’t say your annoying wife and kids, begging for attention, you don’t have time for them, because you need to take care of just one more thing. Believe me, I had done it many times in the past myself and as more I pushed, the less I had achieved. Your mind starts to control the most important part of you as an entrepreneur and that is Your Natural Instincts. Unless you let your instinct tell to stop, relax, to lay down on the grass, close your eyes and breath in the fresh air, rest assured, there always going to be One more thing to solve. And when you do that, you take your kid to soccer game and while your eyes are watching him to score, your mind is already somewhere else on the next project.

Once you get to this stage, many of us are in it and not realizing it, it is hard to stop. The thought of what is going to happen if we don’t do the next step right now is almost unimaginable. I can tell you that most likely nothing major going to happen, you are not going to be better or worse, than you are today, because at the time you are done with the “urgent” step, the past is not going to matter anyway, you did not even had the chance to enjoy the previous successful step, you are not happy with where you are Now again and there we go. All over again & again.

The way you deal with that is, you have to feel your success Now, take the Vision of Success like a journey, just the fact, you have an idea of how to create even better product than IPOD and after you had contacted numerous VC firms nobody called you back, should not make you feel like it is the end of the wold.

 Accept and face the reality, the reality of Now. What is your problem Now? If you answer your-self truthfully, you’ll see, you don’t have any problems as of now, only your Ego feels the fear of failure tomorrow. Once you realize, that tomorrow is going to be Now again, you are making the first step on the journey to not only success, but to happiness it-self.

Lesson # 1

Don’t be bothered at all, when VC don’t call you back. Accept the reality, that the world is full of people with great ideas, in case you don’t know any VCs’ personally, the chances you get their attention are 0.000009 %. And you know why?? Put yourslf in their shoes and if you are smart, like they are, you will see, that there always going to be somebody with even better idea, better software, better this & that. By the time, your idea gets developed, somebody else comes on the market even bigger “killer”. So  ironically, if you think about it and look at this issue from the distance, maybe the way how to deal with your dream will have nothing to do with the dream itself. Maybe instead of fully focusing on the project, you should focus on getting the right connections..

But that is a matter of another article…..

And folks, enjoy the moment, because Success happens Now, not right after you do this & that…     

  

The Beauty & The Ugliness of the “system”

Those few, who are patiently reading all my posts here, can probably feel the way I see the system of small business banking and financing and how it was driving me “nuts”. To those, who like my controversy and even some “anarchism” in my topics regarding this issue I must say upfront, that the days, when I wanted to rent a bulldozer and run it straight through the bank building, because it was full of ignorants, morons and others, not knowing anything about practical business, are most likely over. The picture of a Spanish Lady Anarchist, during the Spanish civil war, is my way of saying good bye to the “dynamite” and welcome to the brain & fun.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think the current system is not working as it should, but to burn the building down, does not sound fun for me anymore, much more fun is, to figure out the way to walk in the bank and even though you don’t have the education required to get a job there, you found a way how to eventually get all the banks’ money, or  buy the whole establishement out and at the end, to be told “thank you” for it. 

I can’t say exactly what was the very defining moment to make the change in my head, but suddenly, I woke up one morning and I felt jolly like a house fly on a piece of 3 days old hot dog at the bottom of forgotten trash can somewhere in the corner of my abandoned home. For all those entrepreneurs and small business owners struggling to make the step to the next level, or even to survive through the current pile of bills, I am just like you, plus I don’t really know much about the business stuff, I am involved in and what I will be involved tomorrow, or next week, but I can tell you this…

There is always a way to get inside that building, if not through the door, then through the window. If not through the window, then through the chimney. And leave the Hope to those standing in line for welfare check. You gotta have a Faith in yourself and in The Lord, because he will help you, if you are willing to help your-self. When you feel your “858th” unsuccessful attempt as a failure, then I suggest you go and apply for a job in Walmart, you don’t have the right attitude, but if you see it as “858th” way how not to do it and all you have to find, is the One right way, then you are my kind of person and I know, you will make it..  

Anyway, enough of preaching, I will feed you my ideas slowly and one piece at a time, for today just three basic takes:

1st.: Think like a thief to catch a thief..

2nd: Think like a banker to outsmart the Banker

3rd: Think like an investor to attract the investors

Because I want you to realize one thing. Your dream is not for sale, what you sell, when you need a capital, is The OPPORTUNITY hidden in it…

Stay tuned..

   

Cash is The King

I read a wonderful article on www.thexbanker blog page about using a different types of capital to fund your business . Like equipment leasing, renting, I would add all kinds of flor planning and pay on extended terms accts. The advantage of this kind of funding is, that unlike unsecured biz. lines of credit, you don’t necessary need an excellent personal credit to get it.   If you are a start up, or even revenue generating business already, sooner, or later you will find out, just as I did ( BTW, the very hard way ), that Cash is the King.

Make no mistake, when you starting a business venture, you most likely need to spend some cash, deposit for this and that…blah, blah, blah….But before you purchase $ 5,000.00 or even more worth of equipment and pay cash for it, let me suggest, you find a smarter way to get it . It will cost you additionaly on fees, or interest charges, but at the same time you will preserve the precious cash, to pay electric bill, phone & internet bill, or just wages to the people you got involved in your “crazy” dream.. What is the smarter way, I had hinted on the beginning of the post and if you are brave enough to go and start something on your own, you better be smart enough to find how to get that stuff done, without me to telling how..

As always something from personal experience : The value of just a little cash in your biz. acct. left free to use right now, you will realize, when your business is really profitable on paper and in the books, but everybody, you doing business with is owing you money and their payment is coming in two weeks from now. Hurray, we got the cash coming, right?? Right, but the utility company don’t want to wait two more weeks, not to mention, the few people standing by you are having kids and the lunch money in the school are due tomorrow…That’s beside the point, people helping you achieve your dream need to be rewarded and the best reward is on time paycheck( however small or big). 

It sounds and also could feel “weird”, that in the 21st century, when everything is done online, people don’t even use cash money for purchases anymore and VISA is everywhere, you want to be…..In the business and even more in the world of small business…Cash is The King, if you don’t believe it, you will know, when you don’t have it….. 

Count on it.

P.S. For those, who require more explanation, just this. I doubt, that the guy, whom you hired of the streets( just to save a buck), to clean your office window, because it is so filthy, that you have to have the lights on even during a sunny day, have a credit card machine in his pocket ready to take your $ 20.00 payment to him…         

Easy Money

I am sure you all are bombarded with all kinds of e-mails about easy online programs how to earn money and no to do anything . My trash bin is full of them every day and when I get bored , on a very rare occasions , I check some of them out . They all have one thing in common . As easy , as 1. 2.3. , or sign up and watch your money grow …Money this and Money that , everything is a “walking in a park”…blah, blah ,blah….I am sure many of those programs are legitimate oportunities , however , just the word “easy” is making me want to “puke”. I must be from a different planet maybe , but I have a hard time to understand , how anybody could realy enjoy a nice “walk in the park” without  running and chasing the bird called the Challenge first . Don’t get me confused with some Utopian Idealist , money are important part of our live , we the entrepreneurs know that the number one goal of any common sense business is make a profit and if you fail to do so at some point of your venture , you just have to surrender and do something else . If you are not a quitter and still have some breath left in your lungs , maybe start new , a better planned venture , but I think the point of being satisfied with what you are doing , is to provide some real value for the money you are making . Like  service to the local community , or just a single customer , make somebody else being happy , beside your-self , because you have more money , than you can possibly spend for usefull stuff in your life.

Me and some of my friends had a discussion once , what we would do , if we won a lottery . I had an answer . I would be probably even more busy , than now , if  such a thing is even possible and most likely start another venture just to figure out , how to spend all that money , beside to send all my family and loveones on a trip around the world , and not to waste the rest of it for useless stuff , like a new car , new boat or even new house or new girlfriend …

Just stuff , things and other materialistic assets alone , however shiny and pretty they are , does not make me happy , if they are not earned by giving something real for it and maybe positively impact other people lives…

Money, money , money , I like money too , so I can pay wages to people involved in my business , so I can take my kid to trip to Disneyland , so I can pay the utility company and have power to my computer , which is giving me the opportunity to actually do , in my spare time , what I like . I like to write my thoughts down and when I have any money left , I put it back to the business , because , there is always tomorrow and in case one day not for me ,  surely for people I love.

So , money , money , easy money …Is it really only all about that , you think ???