When I was a lad, I used to have a job mowing lawns around the neighborhood. It was my first job. I would go to about 5 neighbors houses every week or two during the summer and cut and bag their grass. I made between 5 and 20 dollars per yard depending on size. Big bucks!
One day I went to cut my neighbor Mr. Bender's yard. He was in the yard with a shovel and trash bag swooping up his dog's poo. He said, "I just wanted to get this up before you shredded it all over the place....kid, if you could figure out a way to make money from picking up dog crap, you could be a very rich man."
Well, I don't expect to be a very rich man, but I'm about to check it out.
Let me get you up to date...
I started this blog when I first decided that I should quit my job and take some sort of adventure. I have blogged about all the steps I took from that point on: quitting my job, detailing my plans, selling my condo, storing my belongings, embarking from NJ (with CuzJoe), seeing as much of everything I could see for 20 weeks, landing in Phoenix, retrieving my stored belongings, renting an apartment, and summing everything up.
To come full circle, I need to talk about getting a job. So let me get you more up to date...
I spent the first full month in Phoenix recuperating from the adventure, and generally feeling quite content and proud. By October, and the second rent check, I slowly came around to the idea that I had better start thinking about earning a buck. By November, I had actually convinced myself that I should act on October's thought, and I posted my resume on Monster.com. Within a week, I had 4 head hunters contact me, and my Citigroup experience seemed to be a sought after quantity. I went to two interviews and had one good phone interview. I was being seduced back into the corporate mindset. Fortunately the holidays intruded.
I holidayed in San Fran for Thanksgiving and Haddonfield for Christmas and had the best of times for both. I've said it many times before; holidays are best when they're spent with family. The time in between was really a dead time, so I got re-addicted to reality TV and seeking out good places to eat.
During the holidays, and through to now, I have been changing my career perspective. I finally had an epiphany moment when I had a call from one of the headhunters. She described in perfect detail most all of the specifics of the the Citigroup job I quit last year. In other words, I was a perfect fit. But with every de-ja-vu detail, I felt more and more irritated and tense. Same old, same old - NO, not the same old for me. I must do something different!
I came to the conclusion that I want to start my own business. Yep, be an entrepreneur. My first thought was a collaboration between me and Mr. T. We'd open an auto parts store - "Murphy Auto". I suggested it to him, and he seemed into it. "Pierce Parts" is a nastier name, he decided. I've been in contact with NAPA Auto Parts and some other franchises, and I've been extremely underwhelmed with their responses.
I decided to search the web, and check out other business opportunities. When I mentioned this to SixPack, he suggested that I check out the "business brokers" in phoenix. Business broker?? So I googled it and came up with a googillion to choose from. All with web sites listing all the businesses that are for sale in the world. I paged through hundreds of them and came up with 3 business brokers in the Phoenix area that seemed real. I contacted them.
Dan was the first to respond. And he ended up being the only to respond. Dan's a "buyer broker", which means he represents the buyers in a business purchase. 99% of the brokers in this are "seller brokers". Dan says he is the only buyer broker in Arizona. I checked it out; I think he's right. Though he's a bit too verbose, I think I actually trust him (even though he's a republican).
The gist of what I've done with Dan so far is we both look on-line for businesses to buy and we try to narrow down what type of business would be right for me to run. I've gone through thousands, and he's suggested a hundred, and we set our sights on a first pass list of the following:
Dry Cleaners
Coin-Op Laundry
Limousine Service
PostNet Mail and Shipping Business Services
Pet Waste Removal
Wine Shop and Wine Tasting
Sandblasting Business
Smoke Shop
Water and Ice Store
Parking Lot Striping Company
Home Inspection Service
Golf Cart Dealership and Service
Ed McK's indoor Rock Climbing Structure Building Thingy (this is separate because mom put me in touch with Ed, and we have just emailed each other and will be discussing whether there is any fit to be found.)
While I am still pursuing the Limo Service, Smoke Shop, Parking Lot Striping Company, Golf Cart Dealership and Ed, one of them stuck out as a first to pursue. Yes, the Pet Waste Removal company.
All I'd have to do is walk around, in beautiful Phoenix weather, in shorts and a T-shirt, and pick up dog poop. Pooper Scooper. Doo Duffer. Turd Herder. [post your own pun here]. And for that, it sounds like I could make close to the same hourly wage I made when I quit Citi. I guess it's all the same when shoveling s**t.
Tomorrow I will be going to my first meeting with the seller of business. I think it will be a good experience to learn from. However, I actually like the idea of this poopy business. It's was written up as one of the best new businesses in America. Perhaps it is for me.
Either way, I think I will be a business owner of some kind in the next few months. I'll post whenever anything interesting happens. This will bring my blog full circle from quitting my career to starting a career. Then I can print off this whole blog, bind it in leather, and put it in the far corner of my closet.
