My brother, “Do you have any of that stuff you use to wash your hair?”Me, “You mean shampoo?”
My brother, “You don’t have to be such a $@^$#! smart-ass about it. And lend me some money for that stuff you put in your car so that thing will start.”
I had the unpleasant task of reminding the prospective tenant about the room being available for one person only. That brought out that indeed, her fiancé did not have a place of his own. I advised her they were looking for an apartment, not a room in somebody’s house. It was not being forward to ask because it was remarkably clear that one person means just that. Somebody will come along that loves that room.
As stated, I looked into bizDB in close detail today. I liked what I found. It is an Australian company that is so un-American that I must compliment them regardless of whether I use their product. Once again, I had to go overseas to get straight answers and also to get away from the sheer bull-donkey of American shyster salesmen. Unlike Americans, these people answered my questions without demanding my name, birth date, credit score, income, home address and first born.
bizDB has impressive testimonials and some slick sites that use their system. You may want to check www.cnctek.com. The basic manager is only $80 and the test records I uploaded shows they have mastered all the interstitial steps including the finicky CGI scripts. You start with a basic functioning database and you add fancy parts later, a system that suites me just fine. I found a site selling watches that is “oh so close” to what I want with my business card idea.
The downside is each database is limited to 5,000 records. That is not a problem for me because that is a lot of business cards. What’s more, I know very well how to create a database of databases to get around that limitation. My idea is not to merely publish lists (like eBay) but to ensure each search will find all of the correct items. The operative word being “all”. Right now that is impossible to do on-line. When we went to list Fred’s aquarium for sale, there were not less than five different categories on www.craigslist.org : Household, hobbies, general, furniture and pets.
While other databases show the path, they have nothing in place to indicate it is the only path. How many times have you gotten colder trying to find something. I recall my first Internet search (you’ve heard this before) was the word “rocket”. Among the replies were “songs by Elton John”. That is the exact type of twaddle I may be able to circumvent. My search system uses [up to] a seven-layer pre-categorization. Is it animal, mineral or vegetable? And the client pays, not the user. Keep checking back as this may represent one giant step forward.
Later. I double-checked my methods and projections. My goal is not to operate the database, but to franchise it out. I will own the index that accesses each of the 5,000-record “territories”. My part can be run by unskilled labor; I need to find out of bizDB needs any specialities (I doubt it). You can read plenty about the potential of my idea elsewhere in this blog. What? Talk money? Okay, you asked for it. But first, could I have your name, date of birth… Ha, ha, just kidding.
You buy the “territory” from me. I give you a master password for your segment. Then you fill it up with business card information for which you charge the clients $2 per listing per month. Go to work. You can only fill it up to my specs, but once done, that is $10,000 per month. You send me $1,000 of it. Still broke? Buy another “territory”. I’ve got lots. A quarter-million of them just in the USA.
Later still, I’m back from the big Xmas party. And I mean big, they went all out this year and everybody was there. For a change I was not the only non-family present and there was even a single lady. To bad she latched on to a plastic surgeon before I could hit on her (I suspect she already knew him). There was another young lady, very elegantly turned out. Finishing school proper, Judy Minty proper, and could play every situation. Imagine my shock to find out it was JP’s niece who I first met 9 years ago. When she was 9 years old. Didn’t even recognize her.
JP’s dad had a new digital camcorder and wanted footage. Nobody else had time to figure out the settings so I grabbed it and started shooting. Years of experience sure paid off at the end of the evening. When asked if the video could be played on the TV, I didn’t realize they meant eventually. I got tremendous kudos for having it playing back within a few minutes. One hundred fifty-two excellent scenes that captured every important nuance, particularly medium close-ups of groups where everybody was laughing or smiling at once. I guess I am the appointee cameraman for sure.
I’ve advised people before to get a good man behind the camera. Your entire job becomes easier when the original is right. After the guests left, the whole family was captivated by what I’d done. The persistent flattery was how the camera was kept perfectly still without a tripod when I had been so obviously moving around. Ha, ancient Chinese secret. Yes, there is a trick to it but somehow nobody seems to have figured out how. So it is really a secret now.
