Engaged now I am - future advice? (business related)

[Pekka]

and nothing to stop you coming back when your wife is making money in her new career and starting another company, where you can learn from the mistakes this time about the team and the way it's set up.

That's true. It's just that right now there's a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. Would I return to the same group? No. I would need to see some people go first. Next time I'm setting up a company we'll definitely do few things differently. All in all I think we have done many things correctly and avoided many pitfalls that were not too obvious.

But as for "nobody doing anything", there's the one valuable brains behind everything, but then the other one who is supposed to have same role as I do. It's not that he's been unable to get new customers, it's also that he has made 0 attempts to contact potential customers. There's no good reason for that. I know sucks to make those calls, but hey, there's no way around it. Nobody is above that. Sitting idle for... now for that guy, exactly a year, is sort of enough of that.I've grown more impatient during the last few years. I have no patience for that kind of behaviour. He came in highly recommended as a capable business developer, but turns out he got fired from his last job for the very same reason - not doing anything. The company was successful because of other reasons. Should have thought about it more. It's not his fault we are at this situation. I'm projecting my anger towards him but he is a **** up regardless.

[Pekka]

ah, well that makes it more complicated. perhaps saying to these people "look, we had an agreement and because you guys are not doing your part, i'm having difficulties. i'm going to find another job, because i need money to support myself and my family. so unless the situation changes, now or sooner, we can all wave goodbye to the company." maybe that will motivate them to do something. or not, i don't know, you're best placed to judge.

it would truly suck if you had to abandon your dream, and normally i would say don't give up, don't lets these punks beat you, but you have other people to think about as well. even if a job sucks somewhat, you will at least be happy because you can provide for your family and give them security.

Yeah. #1 I need income fast. Everything else is secondary. I'm not having a heart stroke. I do care about the company a lot, but I'm not going to die over it.

[Pekka]

pekka, congrats!

also, there's a thread down here wherein one individual claims that all women are the same. could you comment on that to that poster in relation to getting engaged?

Absolutely, I'll do that later tonight

edit: What's that thread titled again?

[MikeH]

As we're very small we employ a company to make the cold calls to drum up new business for us. They get a percentage of new business, but well worth it. Assuming you can get someone good who generates really good leads and sets up good qualified meetings for you.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

pekka, http://apolyton.net/showthread.php/1...u-Been-in-Love

[DanS]

Awesome, Pekka. I'm happy for you.

Regarding the business, don't bust your ass for a failed business model/situation. By no means is all lost -- your hard-won experiences can't be taken away from you and you know that you have what it takes to succeed. It sounds as if you could quit your current situation and start up another, better situation right down the street, so to speak. So get a job to tide you over for a while as you look for fresh buffalo to hunt.

[kittenOFchaos]

Asher and Zoetstofzoetje claim to be loaded and wish you well. I say they loan you some money on the basis that you're a good investment. If you renegade...they get your first-born.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

not me, i'm poor... there might be a holding that i give advice to, in some p.o. box in cyprus or gibraltar somewhere, which might be owned by some company in delaware. wouldn't know anything about it myself though...

[Ben Kenobi]

Congrats on the engagement and the kid!

Pekka, you say that the lean period is what? 8 months?

See if you can push through that time while still working where you are. Doesn't sound like a failed business model to me.

As for generating more cash, there's plenty of ways to do that without taking time away from your business. Lots of contract work out there if you aren't too proud to do that. If you just need 8 months cash to get by see what contract work you can pick up for yourself.

As for the rest of it, if you're in the business of selling, it's really in your best interest to do as much as you can about selling. Really, this is all on you. You can't count on the other bastards to do what they have to do if they aren't relying on the job as much as you. That's something you'll run into pretty much everywhere.

If you feel that the income will perk up with the business later on, then see what you can do with the business through the lean period and go from there.

[Dinner]

Having kids but not getting married for a couple of years? How very Scandinavian of you, Pekka.

[MikeH]

WTF? You think that's odd? Welcome to the 80s Oerdin.

[Pekka]

of course we're not yet married! We do it in reverse order. It's the way to go.

Our business is not a complete failure, it's just going through tough time. We survived last time, but I was in another position myself financially as well. Now I haven't fully recovered from the last rough time, so I know already, and have taken a good look at the spreadsheets to realize that it's not going to work this time, and the risk is too big to be taken. We're talking about not being able to pay rent this Fall if the risk becomes reality. In my earlier years I could have lived with that, but now I can't even fathom the idea, I start thinking of the baby and my SO. I just can't live with that idea at all. The best I can do, IMO, is to just take a job, see how much I can do on the side to keep with the company, and if there's a good opportunity, come back in full force. I won't give up stock or position for nothing, naturally. I'm still the biggest individual owner and won't put up with non-sense.

[giblets]

Why wouldn't you marry if you're having kids? You wouldn't have the kids if you weren't prepared to make the commitment, right? I don't get it.

[Pekka]

Why wouldn't you marry if you're having kids? You wouldn't have the kids if you weren't prepared to make the commitment, right? I don't get it.

But we are getting married. And we have commitment as well. And a baby too. She's cute I have to say they outweigh all the negativeness that are part of life.

[-Jrabbit]

I'm happy for you, Pekka. Congrats!

Wishing you a constantly clean bill of health; I know you can handle the rest.