Snack Master

As usual, things couldn't have gone much better than they did. After submitting my low bid for the vending company, I sweated it out for two days, before getting a counter offer. I had previously hoped that we would come to an agreement about half way between my bid and the asking price. Because my bid was so low, I was half afraid that the seller would be insulted and just walk away. To my great surprise, the seller came back with a counter offer just $8,000 more than my bid, and below the midpoint of bid and ask. I felt it would be petty of me to try to eek out a few more thousand from the deal...so I accepted.

We are now in escrow and I am expected to become the Snack Master on February 29th. Leap Day. By picking this date, I think I'll only have to pay taxes once every four years.

Accepting the offer has set off a series of tasks that I am now working through in order to take over the business. I spent many hours Friday, Saturday and today at my new bank branch. I have set up personal checking and savings, business checking and saving, as well as transferring my Smith Barney, Mellon, and Citi pension portfolios over. I also opened up personal and business debit and credit cards.

Because I will be acquiring a 1995 Isuzu Box Truck with the business, as well as 7 vending machines that are not on-location, I am looking to rent space at a storage facility. Ideally, I would buy or rent a house with a garage to run the business out of, and I have met with a couple of realtors, but I don't think I am ready for another move just yet. Things are complicated enough already.

Later today, I will be meeting the seller where we will be going over many of the specifics about the business that I have not been permitted to see yet. We will also be setting up a schedule for the seller and I to drive around to all 44 of the locations to assess the machines and perform all the due diligence tasks that are needed to make sure I am not getting rooked.

Otherwise, I am thoroughly enjoying the change in climate here in Phoenix. It seems like it has been cold and rainy since I moved in, and only last week did the temperatures start to creep back up. Today's high is expected to be 78 degrees, and there isn't a cloud in the sky.

I'm sure CuzJoe is checking the forecasts as he will be taking a trip out here next week and we're hoping for some balmy temperatures. CuzJoe said he'd be interested in going out on a mini road trip, so I am looking into some of the possibilities. I think we could do a 3 or 4 day trip from Phoenix to Tombstone, AZ to Bisbee, AZ to Nogales, Mexico, then perhaps end up on a beach South of the Border before heading back. Unlike the first time CuzJoe and I set out, it should be pretty easy to get some sunshine for this trip.

Cheers, Snack Master Scott (BTW, it wasn't easy to find a business that had the same initials as me.)

Nickle and Dime Business

I've put a bid in. It's a low-ball bid, and I don't think it will be accepted. But it sounds like the current owner of the vending machine route is having cash troubles because he dabbled in real estate and it's not working out for him. So we'll see.

After reviewing all the financials, and comparing the business to other vending routes for sale around the country, I decided to go all in and try to buy a little business called Snack Master. The business consists of a route with 87 machines at 44 locations around the Phoenix area. There's also a beat up old 1995 Isuzu box truck. And that's about it.

I like this vending business for a few reasons. First, it appears to make enough money for me to live on. I'll never become rich with the business as it stands right now, but perhaps once I get comfortable running the route, I would be able to expand or take over other routes. Also, it is a cash business, and I'll get all the little benefits that go a long with cash businesses. I like the idea of being my own boss, setting my own hours, and being solely responsible for all decisions. Finally, I like this because it will be a job where I get to go out every day in shorts and a T-shirt and be out in the sun and physically active. I just can't take the idea of sitting behind a desk all day, staring at a computer screen, getting fatter. I will have to avoid eating and drinking away the product and the profits.

Within the next couple of days, I should get a response from the seller. I'd be thrilled if he just accepted it, but I suspect he will come back with a counter offer. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Crap - It Might Be Out

The pooper-scooper business is not out, but it isn't moving forward just yet either. The owner has received a bid from another buyer, and until that gets resolved, I am not going to get involved. I'm not interested in a bidding war for a business as basic as this. Should the deal fall through, I will again consider it.

But I have all but convinced myself that I want to own my own business...be my own boss.

So I am looking at a slew of other businesses to buy, while waiting to see if the doggie doo business is viable. In addition to the list from the previous post, I am also looking at:

Small Grocery Store
Sign Fabrication, Manufacturing and Install
Vending Route With 42 Locations
Carpet Cleaning for Management Companies
Party Store Including Balloons and Helium Rentals
Pest Control
Billiards/Pool Hall

Right now, the Vending Route is leading the pack. It is very well priced, and would provide income similar to the poop business, however it would be longer hours and more physical work. It is also different in that a lot of the price would be related to buying the assets - 85 vending machines. I will probably be setting up a day to go out on the route with the current owner to see what it is like.

Every business will have negatives. But I am trying to avoid those that are obviously a problem. For example, the carpet cleaning business sounds good in a lot of ways, however, it would mainly require night or weekend work for the cleaners. And new laws in AZ have made it illegal to employ illegal immigrants, which had been the main workers in this industry.

Another important factor is to avoid industries that could be hurt by the presumably upcoming recession. There are a lot of pool cleaning businesses for sale here in AZ, but a recession will likely hurt this luxury industry, and many like it.

So the search continues, but I am beginning to narrow down the types of business that I would get into. And if the doggie business does fall through, I'll be bummed about all the missed joke opportunities like: Q - "How's business?" A - "Picking up!"

Holy Doggie Doo

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.

Oh, The Places You'll Go...And What It'll Cost

I'm still enjoying the sunsets here in Phoenix and finding my way around my new hometown. I started mapping out my 140 day odyssey, and tweaked my back from sitting on the floor in an awkward position for too long. I was finally able to finish it so I thought I'd post a picture of it.

Also, I have spent some time accumulating all of my credit card bills and banking expenses. I compiled a detailed spreadsheet, and have finally determined (with an accuracy of around +/- 5%) that the trip was terribly expensive. From what I can tell, the whole trip cost me: $25,481.11. Before starting the trip I had guessed that it would cost somewhere between 20K and 30K, which turned out to be a pretty good guesstimate.

I summarised the expenses into some broad categories, and here's where the money went:

Cash - $9,251.82
Flights - $1,183.80
Food - $2,406.12
Gas and Auto - $1,787.19
Hotel - $3,880.19
Insurance - $1,728.52
Other - $3,172.44
Sightseeing - $1,242.92
Technology - $828.11
Total - $25,481.11

So that about wraps it all up. Sure, I still need to find a job or career, and also will probably buy a house eventually, but for the most part, I am now done with the Road Trip...well, at least this Road Trip.

I really did have the time of my life, and I'm sure I'll take the things I learned and get out and see much more of the world.

Cheers,

Scott