The new guy wrote:

Thank you for the advise Steve. but I don't drive trucks (don't know how)
Before trucking I was involved in 4 different types of business's, all in
the service sector. On the first one I got shut down by a major competiror
who dumped the price of the service bellow my cost, I ended up loosing 15
thousand customers across the states and in less than a month almost went
bankrupt, as the customers left me with an outstanding receivable of close
to half a mil. So after I paid off all the creditors I had left less than
100 g's and invested in 2 different ventures (service as well), but they did
not take off, so I ended up selling them in the market for what I paid for
(my only profit was that I bought 2 houses and kept the mortgage payments
current for those years. Then with that money I ventured in trucking (BIG
MISTAKE). So I think maybe service is not the place to be, maybe I should
try manufacturing (but what?), see I have the trucks to deliver the product,
plus I have access to thousands of truckers as well, to whom I don't need to
pay for 30 days if I hire them for transporting. Maybe I should get into
buying and selling some products (but what?)...
My problem is that I have no time to do research during the day...my cell
phone bill comes in a book (30 pages), I spend hours a day on the phone
closing deals (arranging transportation). Most of the people that I deal
with are brokers or farmers or truckers...and all they know is this, what
they do, as they have been doing it for years...not me man, I'm getting fed
up.
Today I got lost in the city and drove into an upscale neighborhood....the
houses were like in the movies, I did not even knew that in my city there
are houses like that. So, why is that if I work as hard as I do, I can't
afford a place like that?

"stevej" wrote in message
...
I always thought that if you wanted to make money you had to have money.
If you have to borrow the money, then that decreases your chances of

Bad judgment?


--


An amateur built the ark ....professionals built the Titanic.

Buying/selling: This means "channel partner" or "distributor". Better off
doing localized warehousing. As competitive pressures increase, you'll see
"channel partners" bite the dust and companies going to direct sales as much
as they can. Retail outlets will need to skip the middle man and deal more
with the supplier companies directly. It's a trend, not a rule. There will
always be exceptions.

Another trend that the US-effing government doesn't tell you about is how
they give big corps tax breaks for locating operations overseas:
development, manufacturing, distribution. Mainly, that means China.
Companies such as the one I work for (I won't divulge) don't even begin to
think about it ...all things go directly overseas. All the reasons that
used to be used to argue against such action are gone with the wind,
dismissed with a wave of the hand and a statement that "*This* product is
very cost sensitive. We have no choice." So when have products NOT been
"cost sensitive"? Have you ever met someone who said "Gee, it's OK if I
make lower net margin on our product!" Risk mitigation is a thing of the
past, except possibly the use of a little geographical diversification now
and then...quickly dropped if you can't find an outfit to do what you want,
at lightning speed, and at minimum cost ...can you say "Asia is the choice"?
Except for software ...that's India. Manufacturing is also becoming "east
Europe", places like Hungary. They can make homemade leather shoes, whack a
donkey with a stick to lead a wagon, and manufacture computers.

What *must* remain in the US (as *ssh*les pull the rug out from under our
gross national product, in the name of "favored trade partners" and "world
trade"), is warehousing and distribution of 'American' and other products
that are produced overseas, but needed here. The balance of labor will lean
towards small and medium sized companies rather than towards large blue-chip
companies, primarily because these outfits can't afford to move overseas.
The US and parts of Europe will remain the primary innovation centers, and
that's good ...the rest of the world has at best become good at copying and
refining, but never at innovating or invention.

Don't believe me? Do your own research and check it against my notes above.
Let me know if I'm wrong...I'd love to be. But as a professionals, my wife
and I are worried. We are paying off our house ASAP and operating on a
cash-only basis ...zero debt within 5 years. If we do that, we can live on
only 50% of our current income level, or even less if we adjust our
lifestyle. This may become necessary as various transitions and movement of
gross product moves overseas (thanks to you-know-whats like Bill Clinton and
George Bush ...yes, it's a nonpartisan effort to undermine the US economy,
one piece at a time ...Clinton, for one-world government, and Bush, for
relations with other nations ...the old form of America is gone and world
economy is with us, along with the downsized opportunities and incomes
associated with operating with a larger resource pool.) The changes that
have occurred in this country since when my career started are startling and
scary. We'll play our cards right and do OK. Even if I'm completely wrong
(hopefully am), then at worst, our plan will just make life more flexible
and easier.

Brian


"The new guy" wrote in message
.cable.rogers.com...
Thank you for the advise Steve. but I don't drive trucks (don't know how)
Before trucking I was involved in 4 different types of business's, all in
the service sector. On the first one I got shut down by a major
competiror
who dumped the price of the service bellow my cost, I ended up loosing 15
thousand customers across the states and in less than a month almost went
bankrupt, as the customers left me with an outstanding receivable of close
to half a mil. So after I paid off all the creditors I had left less than
100 g's and invested in 2 different ventures (service as well), but they
did
not take off, so I ended up selling them in the market for what I paid for
(my only profit was that I bought 2 houses and kept the mortgage payments
current for those years. Then with that money I ventured in trucking (BIG
MISTAKE). So I think maybe service is not the place to be, maybe I should
try manufacturing (but what?), see I have the trucks to deliver the
product,
plus I have access to thousands of truckers as well, to whom I don't need
to
pay for 30 days if I hire them for transporting. Maybe I should get into
buying and selling some products (but what?)...
My problem is that I have no time to do research during the day...my cell
phone bill comes in a book (30 pages), I spend hours a day on the phone
closing deals (arranging transportation). Most of the people that I deal
with are brokers or farmers or truckers...and all they know is this, what
they do, as they have been doing it for years...not me man, I'm getting
fed
up.
Today I got lost in the city and drove into an upscale neighborhood....the
houses were like in the movies, I did not even knew that in my city there
are houses like that. So, why is that if I work as hard as I do, I can't
afford a place like that?


"stevej" wrote in message
...
I always thought that if you wanted to make money you had to have money.
If you have to borrow the money, then that decreases your chances of

Brian D wrote:
Buying/selling: This means "channel partner" or "distributor". Better off
doing localized warehousing. As competitive pressures increase, you'll see
"channel partners" bite the dust and companies going to direct sales as much
as they can. Retail outlets will need to skip the middle man and deal more
with the supplier companies directly. It's a trend, not a rule. There will
always be exceptions.

Another trend that the US-effing government doesn't tell you about is how
they give big corps tax breaks for locating operations overseas:
development, manufacturing, distribution. Mainly, that means China.
Companies such as the one I work for (I won't divulge) don't even begin to
think about it ...all things go directly overseas. All the reasons that
used to be used to argue against such action are gone with the wind,
dismissed with a wave of the hand and a statement that "*This* product is
very cost sensitive. We have no choice." So when have products NOT been
"cost sensitive"? Have you ever met someone who said "Gee, it's OK if I
make lower net margin on our product!" Risk mitigation is a thing of the
past, except possibly the use of a little geographical diversification now
and then...quickly dropped if you can't find an outfit to do what you want,
at lightning speed, and at minimum cost ...can you say "Asia is the choice"?
Except for software ...that's India. Manufacturing is also becoming "east
Europe", places like Hungary. They can make homemade leather shoes, whack a
donkey with a stick to lead a wagon, and manufacture computers.

What *must* remain in the US (as *ssh*les pull the rug out from under our
gross national product, in the name of "favored trade partners" and "world
trade"), is warehousing and distribution of 'American' and other products
that are produced overseas, but needed here. The balance of labor will lean
towards small and medium sized companies rather than towards large blue-chip
companies, primarily because these outfits can't afford to move overseas.
The US and parts of Europe will remain the primary innovation centers, and
that's good ...the rest of the world has at best become good at copying and
refining, but never at innovating or invention.

Don't believe me? Do your own research and check it against my notes above.
Let me know if I'm wrong...I'd love to be. But as a professionals, my wife
and I are worried. We are paying off our house ASAP and operating on a
cash-only basis ...zero debt within 5 years. If we do that, we can live on
only 50% of our current income level, or even less if we adjust our
lifestyle. This may become necessary as various transitions and movement of
gross product moves overseas (thanks to you-know-whats like Bill Clinton and
George Bush ...yes, it's a nonpartisan effort to undermine the US economy,
one piece at a time ...Clinton, for one-world government, and Bush, for
relations with other nations ...the old form of America is gone and world
economy is with us, along with the downsized opportunities and incomes
associated with operating with a larger resource pool.) The changes that
have occurred in this country since when my career started are startling and
scary. We'll play our cards right and do OK. Even if I'm completely wrong
(hopefully am), then at worst, our plan will just make life more flexible
and easier.

Brian

Thank God there's someone else out there that has noticed what
is going on around the world, I'm not alone. Now there are two
of us.

By the way, unfortunately, you're not wrong.

Donald




--
I'm building a Steel Robert's 434. You can sneak a peek if you wish by
clicking on me link below.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/donrayp/
'USA, Home of the best
politicians money can buy'

Then there's the dry food to stock up on - the bottled water - the
radiation detectors. Oh: that was the Y2K scare wasn't it?

:-)

Brian W

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 12:28:49 -0600, Donald Phillips
wrote:

Brian D wrote:
Buying/selling: This means "channel partner" or "distributor". Better off
doing localized warehousing. As competitive pressures increase, you'll see
"channel partners" bite the dust and companies going to direct sales as much
as they can. Retail outlets will need to skip the middle man and deal more
with the supplier companies directly. It's a trend, not a rule. There will
always be exceptions.

Another trend that the US-effing government doesn't tell you about is how
they give big corps tax breaks for locating operations overseas:
development, manufacturing, distribution. Mainly, that means China.
Companies such as the one I work for (I won't divulge) don't even begin to
think about it ...all things go directly overseas. All the reasons that
used to be used to argue against such action are gone with the wind,
dismissed with a wave of the hand and a statement that "*This* product is
very cost sensitive. We have no choice." So when have products NOT been
"cost sensitive"? Have you ever met someone who said "Gee, it's OK if I
make lower net margin on our product!" Risk mitigation is a thing of the
past, except possibly the use of a little geographical diversification now
and then...quickly dropped if you can't find an outfit to do what you want,
at lightning speed, and at minimum cost ...can you say "Asia is the choice"?
Except for software ...that's India. Manufacturing is also becoming "east
Europe", places like Hungary. They can make homemade leather shoes, whack a
donkey with a stick to lead a wagon, and manufacture computers.

What *must* remain in the US (as *ssh*les pull the rug out from under our
gross national product, in the name of "favored trade partners" and "world
trade"), is warehousing and distribution of 'American' and other products
that are produced overseas, but needed here. The balance of labor will lean
towards small and medium sized companies rather than towards large blue-chip
companies, primarily because these outfits can't afford to move overseas.
The US and parts of Europe will remain the primary innovation centers, and
that's good ...the rest of the world has at best become good at copying and
refining, but never at innovating or invention.

Don't believe me? Do your own research and check it against my notes above.
Let me know if I'm wrong...I'd love to be. But as a professionals, my wife
and I are worried. We are paying off our house ASAP and operating on a
cash-only basis ...zero debt within 5 years. If we do that, we can live on
only 50% of our current income level, or even less if we adjust our
lifestyle. This may become necessary as various transitions and movement of
gross product moves overseas (thanks to you-know-whats like Bill Clinton and
George Bush ...yes, it's a nonpartisan effort to undermine the US economy,
one piece at a time ...Clinton, for one-world government, and Bush, for
relations with other nations ...the old form of America is gone and world
economy is with us, along with the downsized opportunities and incomes
associated with operating with a larger resource pool.) The changes that
have occurred in this country since when my career started are startling and
scary. We'll play our cards right and do OK. Even if I'm completely wrong
(hopefully am), then at worst, our plan will just make life more flexible
and easier.

Brian

Thank God there's someone else out there that has noticed what
is going on around the world, I'm not alone. Now there are two
of us.

By the way, unfortunately, you're not wrong.

Donald

It's hard to talk about this stuff ...feels like I'm being a huge pessimist.
In the past, you'd hear about these things now and then, but it's become a
universal story (I mean _everybody I know_), both here in the US, in Europe,
and in Taiwan. China must be doing a helluva job bending over backwards to
attract business...wonder how many missiles they'll build with their
newfound wealth? In the past, they haven't been so ultra-concerned with
developing economic wealth so quickly ...what turned the switch on? Notice
the recent tensions between China and Taiwan ...and how China is trying to
be a 'big man on the block' and coordinating discussions between the US,
Taiwan, Japan, and Korea ...about N. Korea. Since when did *they* come and
tell *us* who we'd be negotiating with? Will the rest of the world start
hating China for being imperialistic now (rather than the US)? The world is
changing my friends ...glad I like Chinese food

Brian


"Donald Phillips" wrote in message
...
Brian D wrote:
Buying/selling: This means "channel partner" or "distributor". Better
off
doing localized warehousing. As competitive pressures increase, you'll
see
"channel partners" bite the dust and companies going to direct sales as
much
as they can. Retail outlets will need to skip the middle man and deal
more
with the supplier companies directly. It's a trend, not a rule. There
will
always be exceptions.

Another trend that the US-effing government doesn't tell you about is
how
they give big corps tax breaks for locating operations overseas:
development, manufacturing, distribution. Mainly, that means China.
Companies such as the one I work for (I won't divulge) don't even begin
to
think about it ...all things go directly overseas. All the reasons that
used to be used to argue against such action are gone with the wind,
dismissed with a wave of the hand and a statement that "*This* product
is
very cost sensitive. We have no choice." So when have products NOT
been
"cost sensitive"? Have you ever met someone who said "Gee, it's OK if I
make lower net margin on our product!" Risk mitigation is a thing of
the
past, except possibly the use of a little geographical diversification
now
and then...quickly dropped if you can't find an outfit to do what you
want,
at lightning speed, and at minimum cost ...can you say "Asia is the
choice"?
Except for software ...that's India. Manufacturing is also becoming
"east
Europe", places like Hungary. They can make homemade leather shoes,
whack a
donkey with a stick to lead a wagon, and manufacture computers.

What *must* remain in the US (as *ssh*les pull the rug out from under
our
gross national product, in the name of "favored trade partners" and
"world
trade"), is warehousing and distribution of 'American' and other
products
that are produced overseas, but needed here. The balance of labor will
lean
towards small and medium sized companies rather than towards large
blue-chip
companies, primarily because these outfits can't afford to move
overseas.
The US and parts of Europe will remain the primary innovation centers,
and
that's good ...the rest of the world has at best become good at copying
and
refining, but never at innovating or invention.

Don't believe me? Do your own research and check it against my notes
above.
Let me know if I'm wrong...I'd love to be. But as a professionals, my
wife
and I are worried. We are paying off our house ASAP and operating on a
cash-only basis ...zero debt within 5 years. If we do that, we can live
on
only 50% of our current income level, or even less if we adjust our
lifestyle. This may become necessary as various transitions and
movement of
gross product moves overseas (thanks to you-know-whats like Bill Clinton
and
George Bush ...yes, it's a nonpartisan effort to undermine the US
economy,
one piece at a time ...Clinton, for one-world government, and Bush, for
relations with other nations ...the old form of America is gone and
world
economy is with us, along with the downsized opportunities and incomes
associated with operating with a larger resource pool.) The changes
that
have occurred in this country since when my career started are startling
and
scary. We'll play our cards right and do OK. Even if I'm completely
wrong
(hopefully am), then at worst, our plan will just make life more
flexible
and easier.

Brian

Thank God there's someone else out there that has noticed what
is going on around the world, I'm not alone. Now there are two
of us.

By the way, unfortunately, you're not wrong.

Donald




--
I'm building a Steel Robert's 434. You can sneak a peek if you wish by
clicking on me link below.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/donrayp/
'USA, Home of the best
politicians money can buy'

stevej wrote in message
You will be freed to pursue other options because you
won't need to be watching everything all the time but many owners are
unable to let go and delegate things and so wind up miserable
and broke when they could have been miserable, broke, and building
boats.


It is however hard to be miserable and building boats at the same
time... now broke and building boats, there is no other life for me
Scotty

Once you start to get the rest of your life in order, it doesn't do much
good to spend time fretting futures. I agree ...best to go out and start
doing something with your hands, like boat building. Can't wait to have
mine done so I can get on with USING it too!

Brian

--
My boat project: http://www.advantagecomposites.com/tongass


"Backyard Renegade" wrote in message
om...
stevej wrote in message
You will be freed to pursue other options because you
won't need to be watching everything all the time but many owners are
unable to let go and delegate things and so wind up miserable
and broke when they could have been miserable, broke, and building
boats.


It is however hard to be miserable and building boats at the same
time... now broke and building boats, there is no other life for me
Scotty

It seems to me like none of you guys is happy with the boat building deal...
You see, my horoscope says that I would be good in boat building, like I
would excel in that...
mmm

"The new guy" wrote in message ble.rogers.com...
It seems to me like none of you guys is happy with the boat building deal...
You see, my horoscope says that I would be good in boat building, like I
would excel in that...
mmm

Once you do it, you will do it for the rest of your life. Like
Brian... I don't have the heart to tell him he won't get to use his
new boat as he will be too busy planning and building his next boat!
Just don't expect to make a living on it. Since you seem to be
following your origional post it seems that you are serious in your
quest. so I will rant on.

Find a couple of hours a week, that's all it takes. Spend a couple of
hundred bucks and build a small boat for yourself and family. See if
you like building boats and then move on from there. The hardest part
about building your first boat is just getting started. Know this,
(and to any of you lurkers too). With the technology, materials, and
detailed plans available today, anyone who has ever used simple hand
tools can build a boat. Last season I guided a 17 yo girl and her dad
through a successful first build. I stopped by one day late in the
build to check up on them as most of the first help had been on the
phone and through email. I walked into the shop and found them using a
ball peen hammer, a handsaw, and a 9.6 volt rechargeable drill.. they
did not even have a claw hammer as her dad was a deisel mechanic and
those were the tools they had on hand. Understand that especially with
the calibrated pumps, epoxy is easier to use than ever, almost fool
proof. Woodworking skills are beneficial but not totally necessary.
Epoxy is real forgiving, however reasonable care and patience is still
the order of the day.

I keep the Nike theroy above the workbench in my shop. It simply says,
"Just do it". The theroy goes like this... If you have something
difficult to do, (such as start a boat) and you know it will take two
hours, you can sit around for two hours thinking of a better way to do
it, but in the long run to do it right, you will have spend 4 hours on
a 2 hour job. So follow your gut, it knows what's right, don't sit
around thinking about it, just do it.
Scotty's rant, The Backyard Renegade
SmallBoats.com