Too Good to Be True

The adage, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is" seems as appropriate today as ever. In the now-now-now microwave culture of the United States, we are inundated with emails, infomercials, phone calls, flyers, and even "new friends" wanting to share get rich quick schemes. A few years ago, some good friends of ours met such a new friend who invited them to a "dinner" which turned out to be a few snacks and a sales pitch for a pyramid scheme. We went along (I had no idea it was not actually just dinner until we got there), and I sized it up for them.

"What these people are doing is making it sound fun and exciting for you to join so they can make money off of you." My poor friends were sure I was wrong, but then I explained the nature of what they were asking me to believe. The scheme: get a bunch of friends to buy their groceries through this service instead of the grocery store. By buying through this service, members get paid as a "thank you" for not making the service use funds to advertise.

No one is getting rich from buying their own groceries. Someone who has hundreds of people buying groceries that way might be making a nice profit off such a scheme, but the people at the bottom are probably making nothing - if not losing money.

Such is the way of almost any get rich quick scheme. It does someone rich: the person selling it. In the midst of an economic downturn, many people get drawn in to trying these things simply because they're hoping to find a new bucket to bail water out of the sinking financial ship. What they often find instead is that they have pulled the plug and sunk it instead.

My advice to anyone considering a new idea on how to make money: sleep on it and pray about it. If the person shilling the idea can't wait for a day or two, then something is going on. My wife and I made the commitment several years ago that we would sleep on any major decision about money after we let ourselves get sucked in to a bad car deal. We have rarely regretted our choices since that time.

-- Robert

To Mediocrity Or Not to Mediocrity, There Is No Try

When I look at the world today, I find a lot of people who accept less. They accept that the waiter will regularly mess up their order. They accept that the store clerk will not be able to help them find the product they want (let alone explain the differences between two similar models). I have certainly found myself expecting to be met with mediocre service so often that exemplary service openly surprises me. People who go out of their way to do a great job seem so very rare anymore. I find it all very unfortunate. None of my comments are to suggest that I am not just as guilty of being satisfied with just doing my job in many cases, but I have definitely been known to take pride in surprising people with my work ethic, the speed with which I serve them, or the quality of my work. I prefer to work hard over "punching in" most of the time, but I do not like to put in long hours for the sake of appearances. I want my time spent at the office to have meaning, otherwise I would just rather spend that time with my family and friends in personal pursuits.

I felt compelled to write this post after Julie's post on "walking out of stride" and Melissa's post about teachers who don't measure up. I am sure the thoughts from the funeral mentioned in my Home Again post also have a bearing on where this post is headed. Simply put, I am tired of hearing the words "that will never happen" or "that's just the way of things" in reference to how far the world has gone into accepting inadequacies and mediocrity from leaders, from governments, from businesses, and from individuals. Why can't things get better? Why can't I expect my order at a fast food restaurant to be timely and accurate? Why can't I expect tech support that is actually helpful? Why can't I expect Hollywood to come up with an original movie that is both entertaining and family friendly? Why can't I expect the government to start managing spending wisely instead of simply bleeding more and more Americans dry? That list can go on forever, and that's exactly my point. We have grown accustomed to mistreatment from, or at least inadequacies of those who we come in contact with.

Where do I believe a lot of these concessions originate? I think a lot of them come right out of the feel-good movement in education and government. Students are all supposed to feel good about themselves and their work because we don't want bad grades to cause them stress or embarassment. We don't want people to feel like America has left them out, so we make sure they get a lot of the benefits they want, regardless of whether they're contributing to society. Our culture is built on mitigating suffering and struggle. Sometimes struggling can be the very best thing for a person. I can't count the number of millionaires (or even billionaires) whose life stories point out how important a failing grade or a failed venture was to their eventual success. By realizing they needed to step up their effort to measure up in the world, they began to adapt and grow. If we spend so much time trying to pad the landing of a student while they're coming up, then that child will be shocked when the world slaps him in the face.

As I explain to people when they observe me ignoring (or responding without providing any benefits) a tantrum from my children, I would rather they learn now that they can't have everything they want just because they want it so I'm not standing at a car dealership listening to a whining sixteen year-old saying "But Dad, why can't I have the BMW?" Likewise, I don't automatically accept that my children's success in a small measure is the end of their effort. What if they did the first problems on all their tests in school really well and turned them in? I know what happened to me when I didn't notice the backside of my first quiz on a college campus. I got a failing grade. That grade helped me focus my attention, and I still made an A in the class. If the teacher had said, "That's okay, don't worry about it." and then let me slide by, I might not have worked as hard to assure my success in that class. I want to raise my children to understand they can be whatever they want, but their efforts have to follow those desires or those wants are simply pipe dreams.

As they said in Remember the Titans, "Attitude reflects leadership." I for one want to lead my children by showing them they should work hard, do their best, and seek out opportunities to learn. I also expect them to learn that going beyond the classroom assignment, beyond the job description, and beyond the call of duty will get them a lot farther in life than simply towing the line ever will. If more people would get back to expecting more from each other, maybe this country and this world would begin to repair a lot of its own problems.

-- Robert

Title explanation: For anyone who thinks the title is silly, well, at least you're not accepting mediocrity from me. I mixed a little Shakespeare (To be or not to be) with a touch of Yoda (Do or do not, there is no try) to come up with my ridiculous title for this post.

Wanted: New Business

Loads needed, preferably high dollars and high dollars per mile. Straight loads accepted. Large volume lanes very desirable. Fuel surcharge based on Department of Energy averages also desirable. Long-term relationship upon successful execution of early loads preferred. Those who have high incidences of claims related to overage, shortage, and damage need not apply. Offering excellent company, great credit history, quality drivers to haul freight. Call us. Please. No, seriously, call us. Do we sound desperate? Good. What more can anyone want? Call.

Editor's Note: I rewrote the above post, which originally looked like this one below. I was inspired to change it to a want ad by this post. Thanks for the idea, Melissa.

The goose is cooked. No, I don't mean we're necessarily done at my office, but when I checked and saw we got literally nothing from the bid (though we still have a chance at something Wednesday, and if people turn down things), that's how it felt for a moment. Here's hoping it's a long way from over, but this bid process was dissatisfying, to say the least. Can't really say anything more about it.

-- Robert

Busy Week Ahead

This week we should finally get the bid in on the new business. A lot of business we generally expect to get started around this time is getting warmed up. We're adjusting to the retirement of an employee. We're moving our office around a lot, which means getting the phone company to move our phones around. In short, what we call "the season" appears to be upon us. I spent all day today busy from the moment I walked in until I left. I love this time of year because a lot more of my time is spent productively instead of finding ways to stay busy.

I hope to have several blog posts this week, even with the busy schedule at work. I already have my Hump Day Hmm written, since the topic was posted today. I hope to write two more posts tomorrow, just so that post will be my official 100th post. I could not ask for a better way to signify my 100th than the story I wrote for Wednesday. It may be long, but I hope it is an enjoyable read. I certainly enjoyed writing it, and enjoyed living it even more.

-- Robert

Waiting Game Continues

Today was supposed to be the deadline for our bid award. But we checked, and when they pushed back the date to finalize the bid, they pushed back the award. So it will be next week. No, wait... today they posted another date, so it will be another week. Hurry up and wait, and wait, and wait.... I'm ready for this process to be over and to know what we'll get from this new business. In the interim this week we at least had something else to work on. We had a mini-bid (a smaller number of loads than the previous one) to do in one day. We bid on a large number of those as well, and hopefully it will give us more new business. We'll find out about those May 1, just as I'm headed to Todd's wedding. By then we'll know about the big bid, too, and our busiest time of year should be going strong. Ah, the glory of timing.

-- Robert

So You Had a Bad Day

I am back-dating this post to explain my Tuesday. If it sounds like I am being intentionally ambiguous, it's because I am.

My Tuesday started with some real concerns about where things in my life were headed. By the end of work, I had at least sorted out some of the reasons for fearing the worst, thankfully. Still, any time something comes along with enough inertia to knock me off course or at least give me pause like that, I tend to stop and reflect. Questions like "Am I doing the right thing?", "Is this what I am meant to be doing?" or "Where do I go from here?" pop into my mind. I think it is healthy to have a little self-reflection now and then, and it doesn't always have to be positive. I spent a lot of time reflecting Monday and Tuesday night. There are still no clear answers. Is that a good thing? Time will tell. For now, I know I have some things to consider, and I still have a bit of a waiting game to play with regard to my business. We still have to wait a week and a half for the results of our bid from last month. Fingers are crossed, prayers uttered, and shooting stars have been wished on... and time goes on.

My apologies if this post makes no sense to anyone but me. I just had to write my thoughts down somewhere, and what better place than for all the world to see?

-- Robert

P.S. I have often enjoyed playing the song "So You Had a Bad Day" when bad things happen, thus the title.

Microcredit

No, this idea is not how much of the world owes money to Microsoft. It's not how small the fine print on your credit card agreements is written, either. Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to the unemployed, to poor entrepreneurs and to others living in poverty who are not considered bankable (ordinary lending institutions would not extend them credit). 1 The principle behind microcredit, which have been shown to work in third world countries before, show that even small loans can allow new businesses to form and increase an economy. Most applications have worked to create cash-based economies where none existed before, such as in African villages. The profits from the businesses created are used to repay the original loans with interest.

The reason I am writing about this idea, though, is not to discuss third-world applications. This week, Todd and I were discussing how the principles of microcredit could work in the United States. When he proposed it, my mind immediately started reeling with possibilities. The first suggestion he had was to implement microloans in my industry, trucking. By giving small loans to individual drivers, more owner-operators (drivers who own their own trucks) would enter the market which has shown a shortage for several years. I have been told by drivers over the years that the federal government helps foreign drivers buy their equipment (I have never researched the truth of their claims), but I see no reason such loans could not be extended to citizens. My business helps small trucking companies and individual drivers manage short-term cash flow crunches by paying them quickly, and we help them find more work to keep them busy. The existence of more such small trucking businesses helps my company be more profitable. More people have jobs, the economy grows, and so on down the line. The main point of microcredit is to eradicate poverty in the world, but there is no reason it could not work here in the U.S. While I love the financial opportunity available to creditors willing to take the risk of becoming involved in microcredit, I would love to see instead what might be achieved of welfare was used in a similar fashion. Welfare recipients could receive training in a field of interest, and upon leaving their training, they could have the opportunity to receive a microloan to start a business with their new training. I certainly hope to further explore these ideas in the future.

In researching the idea, I found several links that offer the opportunity to loan money or receive loans, which I am listing here. I would love to see more links related to U.S. loans.

http://www.mcenterprises.org/
http://www.kiva.org/
http://www.microcreditnh.org/ - help with getting loans for business owners in New Hampshire


1. Quoted from Wikipedia

-- Robert

Note: this post was not as well researched as I'd hoped. We're finally starting to get better around here, but it's been a long week.

A Whole New World, Update

This post is an update to this one from last week about the new realm my business may be entering.

After a week of analyzing information seemingly non-stop during long hours, we suddenly seemed to hit a point where we all felt like we might have bid on enough volume and enough lanes to just scale back from what we had. Then we had a wonderful conversation with a woman we had met at the conference who, despite being a competing bidder, had a great willingness to help us understand the process. I realize there is risk in trusting someone who is competing with me, but I think she realizes she has no hope of getting it all but would prefer to be competing against people who know what they're doing (which in her mind seems to be people who underbid drastically on price out of their ignorance).

That conversation left us very encouraged that we did not need to scale back at all. We also learned a great deal about the process of how awards would be made, and then how those awards would actually be given to us over time - something we were completely in the dark about. Instead of the award becoming a great source of concern (if we got too much, would we be in a lot of trouble), it became even more of a hope for the potential this new line of business would mean for our company. The process of awarding and actually placing business sounds like a wonderful new door for us to be opening because we have never had such a direct line to our customers, something that lets us know several days in advance what to expect from them. We are much more used to what they call the "spot market" where loads are covered the day we become aware of them. Having something to look ahead makes the job of our sales group - called brokers or dispatchers - much simpler because they know what they need to get covered for our customer and just need to find a truck to do it. Once that truck is under a given load, then the dispatcher can work on loading that truck when it arrives at the eventual destination, which is still an easier place to start from than we are in most cases right now. I really felt encouraged when we learned that even if we get awarded a small number, we might actually be given more than our award because it was easier to give out more loads than to go back and renegotiate with everyone if their volume increased. I would love to be someone they give extra business to after the fact. All in all, this new business could increase our efficiency and volume, and thereby our bottom line. We are very excited to see where it leads us.

This week we have spent most of our time reviewing what we've bid, reviewing contracts, and basically making sure we are confident that we are bidding proper amounts at good prices. We got a little bit of a scare yesterday when I happened to read a seemingly innocuous statement that meant my pricing calculation was off by an aver of $75 a load. I'm glad I found it now instead of later, though. Today we'll be deciding if we should change our prices to make up that money or leave them alone. The bid process finalizes a week from Monday (they added a week as of yesterday), and then we get to wait. A month later, the awards will come out and we will decide to accept or reject what we're offered. As we often say in this business, it's "Hurry Up and Wait" time.

-- Robert

Overselling

My father told me all the time growing up not to oversell. Hopefully the story he told me about it explains what he it means to oversell.

My father's boss was selling a man an edger, a piece of equipment used to neaten up grass near the edge of a driveway or garden plot. My father's boss had showed the man at least three times how easy it was to operate and make a nice, neat line in the grass next to the man's flower garden, and the man definitely wanted to buy it. Just to make sure he had closed the sale, my father's boss ran the edger one more time and accidentally ran over the man's prized tulips. Needless to say, no sale was made that day.

In my business, a dispatcher needs to close a deal as quickly as he can. If a driver agrees to haul a load for a given price, it is time to book it. It is important to be honest about what a load involves - does the driver have to unload the truck himself, how many drops will he make, how much will he be paid for the load - but not every detail needs to be discussed before asking, "So, do you want the load?"


As soon as someone agrees to buy a product or use a service, it is often a good time to quit "selling" and start moving toward closing the deal. In the case of loading a truck, it would be time to send the driver to the first pickup, or at least to give him directions. In the case of selling a product, it is time to head to the register or to get the credit card information. I cannot count the times I was ready to buy something in a store when the salesperson said, "Oh, and you will especially appreciate..." and they told me something that turned me off to the purchase. It is fine to help a customer or client realize why he would want a product or service, but once he expresses a clear desire to purchase, stop selling, lest you run over his flowers.

-- Robert