It is hard being on the road over 200 nights a year...away from your family, isolated in many ways. It definitely isn't for everyone. This blogs represents the thoughts of just one such person. Read along and find out if the road is for you.

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This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Georgia, Gainesville, Unity of Gainesville, English, John, Male, reading, RE Investing. :)

Thursday, January 30, 2003

 
Catching Up

I would be the first person to admit that I haven’t been blogging enough lately. After all, I get onto some of my cohorts to urge them on and here I sit for the last 10 days without an entry to show for my actions.

No excuses, really. But just because I haven’t blogged doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. In fact, I have been constantly on the move going from one project to another. And also because last week I spent three days in a place that doesn’t have local internet access. Just to do some of my work cost me $40 in hotel long distance to get some documents to and from work.

But as usual, I digress. Some stress involved in those three days last week. No, the fact that the internet wasn’t readily available for my every want and desire didn’t cause the angst.

Have you ever been to a company and could kind of smell “death” in the air?? No, not a person, but a company. I went in and immediately got the feeling that things weren’t going well. In most cases, that is a good thing and the reason I have the opportunity to work at what I do.

But this time it was different. Vendors constantly calling to get paid, overhearing the owner trying to search out new vendors because the ones he had dropped him for lack of payment. The calls coming over the phone for orders was almost non-existent. There was also a tension in the air. And not the usual tension of when someone like myself comes to sort through issues that you have been avoiding.

And then it happened! The owner and the sales manager started to really go at it. They were in a conference room, but the yelling and screaming could be heard throughout the building. It wasn’t long after that, you began to hear some words that you know were not going to be forgotten soon.

When the dust had settled, the sales manager quit. Normally, even when your best sales person quits, it isn’t the end of the world. And maybe it won’t be this time. But this guy represents 50% of the sales in this company. I know what you are thinking. You may lose a few of those accounts, but not all of them!

In this case, they will. Why? Great question and one I brought up with the owner. He doesn’t want these accounts and the fact they only bring in 18% profit is not worth the effort. I flat out told this owner that I want whatever it is that he is taking, because it is truly some good shit.

I have fired enough folks and seen others leave of their own accord to know that a ripple effect can get created rather quickly. In this case, it was amazingly fast. The other two sales reps started making the calls for other jobs. The warehouse guy had a job in the back and was just waiting for the next pay check to give notice. It isn’t pretty.

Enough about that. I also went to Da Company last week. Usually, not a fun time, but since I spent so little time with Lori and partying with others (they were celebrating the formal buy out of Da Company), I must admit that I had a great time.

Did some more house hunting over the weekend. If luck holds out (and I should have a better idea by next Monday), I could be buying two houses instead of the one I was looking for. So, that is very exciting to me.

I could just be on a roll right now. The new business is taking shape. It should be completely operational by the beginning of March (possibly even February). I think it is reasonable to think that April could see a profit, so that is pretty cool. So I can see a tunnel of light to exit Da Company from. No time frame for that day…yet!

Overall, I am feeling upbeat. Da Company and their travel policies aside, I don’t think I will complain.

That being said, I don’t know why, but I do worry about Rebecca. Not that I should. It would seem that there are enough men out there who want to take care of her. But I just don’t think Da Company is doing right by her.

I guess the same could be said for Neil. His tale could be considered a tradegy. Probably the smartest consultant that we have on staff. Actually, let me clarify that. He IS the smartest consultant we have. Yet, for some reason, Da Company doesn’t use this valuable resource. In fact, I recently found out that I had got a job that he actually had created. And I felt bad that he didn’t get it. In the end, it was a moot point, because it came off of my schedule for other reasons. Had I known when it initially came up, I would have spoke up for him. In the long run, it just isn’t right how he is treated.

When I see someone of his stature getting jacked around, I wonder a.) what happened and b.) when will that happen to me? I just don’t get it.

So now I am on my way back up to Montreal, where it is very cold. This looks to be a hectic five day engagement.

Enough for now. Blog on!