Monday, February 16, 2004
Been a few days since posting. I've been out of town. It was my father-in-laws 50th birthday party and that, of course, involved drinking an osbscene amount of Budweiser over a short period of time. Fun, but I'm glad someone I know doesn't turn 50 every weekend. It'd be the death of me.
I leave for the East Coast in a few days. Going to see Mom. She doesn't get to see Samantha enough and the stars were well aligned this trip because Tami was going East for a business trip anyway so her ticket is covered. I'll see some old high school friends which should be fun. I hear Joel just had his second kid (Congrats!!) so I don't know if I'll see much of him.
I don't have much Jetset related stuff to discuss. Today was Presidents Day and I stayed home with my daughter (I actually have every Monday off, that's a perk) so I haven't thought much about work for three straight days except to tell people that things were par for the course when one of my Father-in-law's friends asked how business was. That, to a large degree, is the issue with Jetset. Jetset is par for the course. We have a strong customer base, very little debt, little depreciable equipment (couple of computers), lots of experience, and a 5 year office lease. These are all both good and bad things. In considering selling Jetset the value is clearly in the client base. That's where our value is. I'm sure there are companies that would pay top dollar for that alone, but for how long would it work out? A large company would quickly sour Jetset's clientelle which is used to a high end service. A smaller more personable company probably couldn't afford to give us what it's worth. So there we are.
Some info about Jetset that may relevant to people reading. 1) Originally had 3 partners. Now down to 2 as one has sold his share. 2) Another partner has said that she will be selling before too long (within a year that probably means, she's also married to the partner that has already sold. 3) The final partner remaining (besides myself) while being about the nicest, coolest man in the world is not very biz savy. Arguably has some issues with customer service and may not be the most responsible chap in the world. So what this means to me is that i'm the insurance for the 2 that have already committed to selling. I remain and make sure that the whole thing stays afloat while they are paid their monies. Jetset does not hold enough capital to buy out these partners in lump sums, so we pay them off with salary over a specific amount of time. If the company were to go kaput during that time I suppose they would be shit out of luck.
While I bitch about Jetset a good deal the departure of these partners makes the pieces of the pie signifigantly larger (this is good) but ties my future up with Jetset perhaps tighter than I'd like. If Jetset were to sell to another entity (another company, an individaul(s) who wanted to be in this biz) all the negatives (employee and client reaction, community reaction) would fall upon my head because my options would be much more limited than those who would have gone before me. This may be my greatest downfall as a businessman (and I use that term in an almost mocking manner when I apply it to myself). I think far too much about what is fair to my community, my employees, my clients. I hold too much respect for what has been built at Jetset and therefore fear tearing it down. I know how to make Jetset more profitable but I don't like the steps necessary to get there. I'd sooner sell the whole shebang. I guess one option would offering the business to the current employees at a fair price. Selling isn't imminent. It's just something that I think about alot. Diversification (did i spell that right?) is another option. I don't know that I'm biz wiz enough to make that leap. Things will shake out a great deal over the next 18 months and I think that things will come into focus for me. I wish I was an inventor. I'd rather be making and selling widgets.
Hope everyone had a good long weekend.
I leave for the East Coast in a few days. Going to see Mom. She doesn't get to see Samantha enough and the stars were well aligned this trip because Tami was going East for a business trip anyway so her ticket is covered. I'll see some old high school friends which should be fun. I hear Joel just had his second kid (Congrats!!) so I don't know if I'll see much of him.
I don't have much Jetset related stuff to discuss. Today was Presidents Day and I stayed home with my daughter (I actually have every Monday off, that's a perk) so I haven't thought much about work for three straight days except to tell people that things were par for the course when one of my Father-in-law's friends asked how business was. That, to a large degree, is the issue with Jetset. Jetset is par for the course. We have a strong customer base, very little debt, little depreciable equipment (couple of computers), lots of experience, and a 5 year office lease. These are all both good and bad things. In considering selling Jetset the value is clearly in the client base. That's where our value is. I'm sure there are companies that would pay top dollar for that alone, but for how long would it work out? A large company would quickly sour Jetset's clientelle which is used to a high end service. A smaller more personable company probably couldn't afford to give us what it's worth. So there we are.
Some info about Jetset that may relevant to people reading. 1) Originally had 3 partners. Now down to 2 as one has sold his share. 2) Another partner has said that she will be selling before too long (within a year that probably means, she's also married to the partner that has already sold. 3) The final partner remaining (besides myself) while being about the nicest, coolest man in the world is not very biz savy. Arguably has some issues with customer service and may not be the most responsible chap in the world. So what this means to me is that i'm the insurance for the 2 that have already committed to selling. I remain and make sure that the whole thing stays afloat while they are paid their monies. Jetset does not hold enough capital to buy out these partners in lump sums, so we pay them off with salary over a specific amount of time. If the company were to go kaput during that time I suppose they would be shit out of luck.
While I bitch about Jetset a good deal the departure of these partners makes the pieces of the pie signifigantly larger (this is good) but ties my future up with Jetset perhaps tighter than I'd like. If Jetset were to sell to another entity (another company, an individaul(s) who wanted to be in this biz) all the negatives (employee and client reaction, community reaction) would fall upon my head because my options would be much more limited than those who would have gone before me. This may be my greatest downfall as a businessman (and I use that term in an almost mocking manner when I apply it to myself). I think far too much about what is fair to my community, my employees, my clients. I hold too much respect for what has been built at Jetset and therefore fear tearing it down. I know how to make Jetset more profitable but I don't like the steps necessary to get there. I'd sooner sell the whole shebang. I guess one option would offering the business to the current employees at a fair price. Selling isn't imminent. It's just something that I think about alot. Diversification (did i spell that right?) is another option. I don't know that I'm biz wiz enough to make that leap. Things will shake out a great deal over the next 18 months and I think that things will come into focus for me. I wish I was an inventor. I'd rather be making and selling widgets.
Hope everyone had a good long weekend.
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