Thursday, July 08, 2010
What's new, p?
The days of weekly massage and spa sessions are so over.
Ironically given the nature of one of my back breaking businesses, I am truly in NEED of one.
As some of you avid readers note, the current life of P is one hell of a financial struggle.
Today, I spent my time wheeling and dealing with brokers and prospects to squeeze one deal across. It would be my very first deal if it goes through since I have started my business. I will know soon enough, hopefully by tomorrow. I was working on two sales but looks like there is no way to get the other across at this stage unless the dodgy wizards are happy to pull out more tricks from their sleeves.
In between doing menial tasks to survive, I spent most of my thoughts squeezing for more ideas to seal the deal. My last appointment this evening was spent coming up with yet more ideas and solutions to help people of the most unlikely kind get across the line. Then voila, a shimmer of brillance and we found some possibilities. Now I just need to keep these people in line and on track.
Between different appointments, I switched from power suits to blue collar maid wear.
Sorry, in case you think I am still into my role playing fun, this IS my current life. I am not wearing a sexy maid outfit if you are still wondering...;)
So I have been swimming against the tide for the longest I can remember.
But I always have, hadn't I? Those years of doing the mission impossible as a headhunter pulling a stunt here and doing a trick there in what my peers have said as ridiculous deadlines. Get in, get out swiftly, collect all the info and let the bigwigs do the kill.
I would have made a bloody good headhunter if I had returned to Singapore for good, given my mapping abilities as well as regaining my mojo and being back on the social scene.
I reckon that is where I had trained my perserverence. Survival of the fittest.
Funny, I should have died ages ago with my current business and again little miracles seemed to manifest at the last minute to save my day. Only but temporarily. Like someone up there is one hell of a sadist, meaning for to suffer a slow death. Or is it to test the toughness of my character?
I call them the little miracles of life. I know, I know. I almost sound like a Christian who preached about miracles... heh!
So DL and I were going about doing our menial tasks to make $400 for ourselves yesterday. Have you thought about how Someone Up There seems to be slowly helping us and answering our (or rather, my) prayers? I asked.
No, he said. Whatever we achieved, we did it ourselves because we were strong and we perservere. He was angry as usual and started becoming blasphemous but what sort of a fucked up God He/ She must be to put us through all this hardship. So we had our debate about religon and what not. I get highly amused when DL gets into a fit when we argued about religon and our current state in our lives.
In between debates of light-hearted and not so light-hearted topics whilst going about our menial work, we waited for 3pm. We had a forced scheduled teleconference that awaited us to discuss the fate of our business. We have debts up to our necks at this point and DL and I have agreed that if push comes to shove, we would kiss 2 of our businesses goodbye. We will tell the fuckers that that's fine, they can have our businesses back but we would not pay them a single cent more.
Life is like poker or a set of chess. Since there were a few factors and people at play which will determine the shift of our precarious situations, I figured if one tries to play bad cop on us, I was going to set the two up against each other. Either way, no party gets a cent back from us. If they threaten legal action (which they might imagine will scare the shits out of us since the impression given was that both DL and I have outlived the financial hospitality of our Daddy Os and there is no way we will get any funding), I will tell them to go for it and see them in court.
Fight or flight. We figured we will fight since there are only 2 choices in any confrontational situation.
Surprisingly, the teleconference agenda was straightforward or sounded like a gift from heaven. The news was delivered that the fuckers will bail us out this time with the new marketing campaign fees instead of pressing us to pay up.They have decided to cut us some slack. But again, I am not surprised.
The story back at headquarters is beginning to sound like the Romance of Three Kingdoms. Warfares and civil uprisings against the bigwigs. To quell tension and to boost morale, the second in hierarchy had to fork out the money for their underlings like us. Anymore objections is going to tip the precarious balance of power in the business and obviously the brand reputation. So I gladly accepted and resumed my "grateful" tone on the phone.
I happen to be very good at rolling my eyes and speaking and smiling at the same time over the phone :D
I have better things to concern myself with.
Fucking sell. Get the deals to be signed and sealed.
Start re-couping some of the $300,000 we have expended. Clear the credit card debts.
Get home by September and do my social rounds in Manila if I can afford both time and money.
Check out my dad's new investments. I have set my interest on his new piece of land somewhere in Southeast Asia planning to be developed into a spa resort.
Massages and spas are my thing.
My supposed failure in my current business has thwarted any confidence my folks had in me and I need to claw back in time to get a chance at working with my old man.
Lately, I have been thinking why I even got myself into this business. Not that I regret but in hindsight, I could have done better research or networking with the brokers and bank managers before I invested in it. After all, most of my sales will need to be funded by the banks as most Australians are poor savers.
Therein lies my problem and DL's since we never borrow on anything. We are the typical Chinese businesspeople. Things need to be paid in cold hard cash. My credit card debts from my marketing bills are enough to drive me nuts, let alone more. Bad debts, I call them. I reckon the only good debt in my opinion is buying property.
Go back to basics P, I hear that voice in my head once more.
Stick to what I always believed in. The 4 main businesses that one should dabble in any day and age, with or without technology. Land/ Property, Food, Funeral services and Gaming. It covers the full spectrum of life.
I have also suggested to DL we should perhaps put aside some capital to do some personal lending (or rather loan sharking) if we continue our current business in Sad Town since this has been one hell of a reason for the obstacles of our business that have led us to our current cash flow problems. Our business is a snowballing numbers game and need to generate sales fast lest we get caught up by all that marketing expenses. So I said to him to think about it because this might well be the way. Once the cherry is right for the picking and we have enough sales, we got to sell the business fast, just as my dad had advised me to give it three years.
Food is in the pipeline for next June. We have been approached by an old friend from university who is doing real well in his restaurant. We'll see. 15% share seems a bit too paltry for our big appetites, mainly since I am such a control freak when it comes to front of house operations and DL is a wonderful chef. Plus we don't plan to be THE system which in such arrangements, we will inevitably be. But we'll see if there is any chance to cough up more on our end or to come out and do our own.
Make some real money first, P or all plans remain as dreams!
*****
In other works, though the life of P has been one hell of a swim against the highest tight, the bedroom action has been jack.
Drought season, I am experiencing.
I reckon I haven't had sex for 6 months now.
I have stopped counting and stopped having any form of desire.
Life feels like one straight line for the longest time I could remember.
I had a flip through my old blog entries and realised that since the end of 2008, I have stopped writing action packed raunchy entries filled with erotic tales of my sexcapades with flings and lovers.
My entries have lost its eloquence, just like my character. Feels like a prig-heheheh...
Is this going to be the story of P's grown up life from hereon?
I feel like I have hung up my sails for good. Domestic bliss or not- the life of a dull monogamist.
(Oh I just remember I have that outstanding story about my meeting with The Man to be written. More in good time...;) )
The days of weekly massage and spa sessions are so over.
Ironically given the nature of one of my back breaking businesses, I am truly in NEED of one.
As some of you avid readers note, the current life of P is one hell of a financial struggle.
Today, I spent my time wheeling and dealing with brokers and prospects to squeeze one deal across. It would be my very first deal if it goes through since I have started my business. I will know soon enough, hopefully by tomorrow. I was working on two sales but looks like there is no way to get the other across at this stage unless the dodgy wizards are happy to pull out more tricks from their sleeves.
In between doing menial tasks to survive, I spent most of my thoughts squeezing for more ideas to seal the deal. My last appointment this evening was spent coming up with yet more ideas and solutions to help people of the most unlikely kind get across the line. Then voila, a shimmer of brillance and we found some possibilities. Now I just need to keep these people in line and on track.
Between different appointments, I switched from power suits to blue collar maid wear.
Sorry, in case you think I am still into my role playing fun, this IS my current life. I am not wearing a sexy maid outfit if you are still wondering...;)
So I have been swimming against the tide for the longest I can remember.
But I always have, hadn't I? Those years of doing the mission impossible as a headhunter pulling a stunt here and doing a trick there in what my peers have said as ridiculous deadlines. Get in, get out swiftly, collect all the info and let the bigwigs do the kill.
I would have made a bloody good headhunter if I had returned to Singapore for good, given my mapping abilities as well as regaining my mojo and being back on the social scene.
I reckon that is where I had trained my perserverence. Survival of the fittest.
Funny, I should have died ages ago with my current business and again little miracles seemed to manifest at the last minute to save my day. Only but temporarily. Like someone up there is one hell of a sadist, meaning for to suffer a slow death. Or is it to test the toughness of my character?
I call them the little miracles of life. I know, I know. I almost sound like a Christian who preached about miracles... heh!
So DL and I were going about doing our menial tasks to make $400 for ourselves yesterday. Have you thought about how Someone Up There seems to be slowly helping us and answering our (or rather, my) prayers? I asked.
No, he said. Whatever we achieved, we did it ourselves because we were strong and we perservere. He was angry as usual and started becoming blasphemous but what sort of a fucked up God He/ She must be to put us through all this hardship. So we had our debate about religon and what not. I get highly amused when DL gets into a fit when we argued about religon and our current state in our lives.
In between debates of light-hearted and not so light-hearted topics whilst going about our menial work, we waited for 3pm. We had a forced scheduled teleconference that awaited us to discuss the fate of our business. We have debts up to our necks at this point and DL and I have agreed that if push comes to shove, we would kiss 2 of our businesses goodbye. We will tell the fuckers that that's fine, they can have our businesses back but we would not pay them a single cent more.
Life is like poker or a set of chess. Since there were a few factors and people at play which will determine the shift of our precarious situations, I figured if one tries to play bad cop on us, I was going to set the two up against each other. Either way, no party gets a cent back from us. If they threaten legal action (which they might imagine will scare the shits out of us since the impression given was that both DL and I have outlived the financial hospitality of our Daddy Os and there is no way we will get any funding), I will tell them to go for it and see them in court.
Fight or flight. We figured we will fight since there are only 2 choices in any confrontational situation.
Surprisingly, the teleconference agenda was straightforward or sounded like a gift from heaven. The news was delivered that the fuckers will bail us out this time with the new marketing campaign fees instead of pressing us to pay up.They have decided to cut us some slack. But again, I am not surprised.
The story back at headquarters is beginning to sound like the Romance of Three Kingdoms. Warfares and civil uprisings against the bigwigs. To quell tension and to boost morale, the second in hierarchy had to fork out the money for their underlings like us. Anymore objections is going to tip the precarious balance of power in the business and obviously the brand reputation. So I gladly accepted and resumed my "grateful" tone on the phone.
I happen to be very good at rolling my eyes and speaking and smiling at the same time over the phone :D
I have better things to concern myself with.
Fucking sell. Get the deals to be signed and sealed.
Start re-couping some of the $300,000 we have expended. Clear the credit card debts.
Get home by September and do my social rounds in Manila if I can afford both time and money.
Check out my dad's new investments. I have set my interest on his new piece of land somewhere in Southeast Asia planning to be developed into a spa resort.
Massages and spas are my thing.
My supposed failure in my current business has thwarted any confidence my folks had in me and I need to claw back in time to get a chance at working with my old man.
Lately, I have been thinking why I even got myself into this business. Not that I regret but in hindsight, I could have done better research or networking with the brokers and bank managers before I invested in it. After all, most of my sales will need to be funded by the banks as most Australians are poor savers.
Therein lies my problem and DL's since we never borrow on anything. We are the typical Chinese businesspeople. Things need to be paid in cold hard cash. My credit card debts from my marketing bills are enough to drive me nuts, let alone more. Bad debts, I call them. I reckon the only good debt in my opinion is buying property.
Go back to basics P, I hear that voice in my head once more.
Stick to what I always believed in. The 4 main businesses that one should dabble in any day and age, with or without technology. Land/ Property, Food, Funeral services and Gaming. It covers the full spectrum of life.
I have also suggested to DL we should perhaps put aside some capital to do some personal lending (or rather loan sharking) if we continue our current business in Sad Town since this has been one hell of a reason for the obstacles of our business that have led us to our current cash flow problems. Our business is a snowballing numbers game and need to generate sales fast lest we get caught up by all that marketing expenses. So I said to him to think about it because this might well be the way. Once the cherry is right for the picking and we have enough sales, we got to sell the business fast, just as my dad had advised me to give it three years.
Food is in the pipeline for next June. We have been approached by an old friend from university who is doing real well in his restaurant. We'll see. 15% share seems a bit too paltry for our big appetites, mainly since I am such a control freak when it comes to front of house operations and DL is a wonderful chef. Plus we don't plan to be THE system which in such arrangements, we will inevitably be. But we'll see if there is any chance to cough up more on our end or to come out and do our own.
Make some real money first, P or all plans remain as dreams!
*****
In other works, though the life of P has been one hell of a swim against the highest tight, the bedroom action has been jack.
Drought season, I am experiencing.
I reckon I haven't had sex for 6 months now.
I have stopped counting and stopped having any form of desire.
Life feels like one straight line for the longest time I could remember.
I had a flip through my old blog entries and realised that since the end of 2008, I have stopped writing action packed raunchy entries filled with erotic tales of my sexcapades with flings and lovers.
My entries have lost its eloquence, just like my character. Feels like a prig-heheheh...
Is this going to be the story of P's grown up life from hereon?
I feel like I have hung up my sails for good. Domestic bliss or not- the life of a dull monogamist.
(Oh I just remember I have that outstanding story about my meeting with The Man to be written. More in good time...;) )
