One year ago today: September 20, 2017, musicians & near-musicians.
Five years ago today: September 20, 2013, inspecting the undercoat.
Nine years ago today: September 20, 2009, at what point?
Random years ago today: September 20, 2011, thanks, Home Depot.
Good news or bad news? In this great State, it is often both. Invariably things that go wrong tend to bring stupid people to a standstill, which prevents even worse things from going wrong. There, how do you like that for openers. The plans for setting up the cart this weekend are likely a no-go as the chap running the swap meet up and quit. Not before a lot of my setup chores were complete, which includes supplies, gasoline, and scheduling. This is a situation where the rule applies to never enter into any agreement where the other person’s non-performance would cause you to suffer.
A repeat, there is no single source you can go to in Florida that can give you a straight answer about everything that is needed to start a business. Even the hotdog cart sellers are often only aware of part of the picture, the part that affects the county where they are located, and they have no incentive to look beyond that. Even a booklet like the one I have going will be outdated in no time. A Florida truism: if there is nothing stopping you from getting ahead, you are stumbling around blindly.
I kind of feel sorry for Charl, since she’s tried so hard to make a go of that place. I wonder how she keeps the doors open as it is. Now she is going to close on Sundays, since she cannot find any good help. My system is strained just to operate a food cart, but at least I can take a day off any time I please. And I still have not heard from the health department about the required inspection that I bought and paid for. There is also a catch-22 down at City Hall. The required occupational license requires a list of what business activities will be conducted from the owner’s premises. None. The cart is merely parked in the back. They won’t issue the license without something in the blanks.
We have no doubt this will be a go-ahead but my overall advice to newcomers is be prepared for nothing but a massive runaround from the system. When it becomes a virtual nightmare to operate the most American of all business startups, the system has gone screwy. Myself, I went into this venture with the purpose of finding out what really goes on, and I’m not relying on this business to make me any fast money. Yet, three months later it continues to be a money and time sinkhole with no assurances of how deep it may still go. You will not get any help and the only advice you’ll ever receive has one common element—they will tell you to solve every situation by spending even more money.
And you’ve seen that before. They presume you will borrow money if necessary, so the system is designed to squeeze their cut out of you while they can. This, of course, back-fires because anyone who goes through that meatgrinder is going to emerge with a certain attitude. True, I didn’t have to take all the steps I did, such as limiting my liability and extra insurance, but one should also be prudent about such matters. And far-sighted.
Day off or not, I sat down for two refills and went over the books. That ugly trend I mentioned two months ago has become an established reality. Although I have not spent that much on the actual business, it quickly begins to tie down a lot of money. Let me see if it is okay to put some numbers on this for you. Stand by. Okay, here’s how things stack up. Now this is only, repeat only, the direct materials cost of the business assets. The actual cart cost $800. I had to rebuild the burner system, so the total of putting the plant and equipment into working order means a total of $1,443.17. If you were to inquire about buying a cart, this is the low-ball figure they would quote.
Yet, in addition to that, I have $1,160 in licenses and fees. Plus $1,146 in deposits, floats, emergency funds, and operational reserves. This is not much at all. And another $3,222 in capitalized expenses. That is the killer, the additional startup expenses. Chasing around in the car isn’t cheap. One could play dumb and rationalize that you need a car anyway. But these figures represent a proper accounting of actual costs. I now have $7,310.08 tied up in my $800 food cart. And we’ve had no real sales. This is not conducive toward all the wonderful announcements of how well the economy is doing. Trump cannot undo forty years of liberal damage, so as far as I’m concerned, the upswing is all misplaced enthusiasm.
These extra fees and licenses and inspections were established during long periods when there was economic expansion. Now that that phase is over, they become nothing but millstones. The entire structure has become severely arthitic, but I am still determined to get going in spite of these loathsome bureaucrats. I doubt any of the remember they were originally supposed to help business get started.
Rarest Dinky toy.
(About $25,000 USD)
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Anything positive to report? In a sense. My show is evolving into a bass revue. I did what I planned, dividing my song list into two segments. The ones I sing and the ones I just play along, and I can play a ton more music that I can sing. The Fishman solo has proven adequate for a large room, though it is pushing. I’m slowly finding the recordings in my files and I did some really good recording work back in those early days. If you recall, I lightened the bass lines so what I played became emphasized. I simply tell people they are listening to a variety show featuring the bass. They either love it or ignore me. But the average tip has gone from a $1 bill to a $5 bill. So I made money last night in tips but lost money overall, partially because my gear was to be moved by motorcycle, not by station wagon.
Okay, found it. Here’s the good news. My basic show is now trimmed down to six pieces of equipment. The 28-lb PA system, stand, bass, mic bag, gear bag, light box. Setup time is less than ten minutes. I don’t count the notebook computer, since I tend to carry that with me everywhere. I may decide to modify my tablet thing if it will play music. Unlike players, a computer allows me to choose what’s next. Tomorrow, I’m driving out to the Thrift with the pretty gals. It’s my day off.
[Author's note: sometimes I get asked why I include a "Home" link at the bottom of my blogs. Don't I know that the blog template already has a home button? Allow me to explain. First, when I began this blog, it was privately owned and was actually being constantly improved. I would never, of my own volition, have anything to do with scum like Google, and I've been preaching that since 2000. They bought out this blog after I had firmly established my work here. Their home link was not always there and being the numbskulls they are, I have no guarantee they won't arbitrarily delete it, like they did with the video capability.
Furthermore, their link is not on every page. Where it belongs. You have to scroll to the bottom of your selected viewing size to find it. How lame is that? To make things worse, the millennials over at Google don't leave your screen focus on the blog when you open a page. You have to stop what you are doing and click on the page before the down-screen works. The geniuses over at Google plainly never heard of the original ergonomic studies over at Apple that showed the biggest time waster of computer usage is switching from keyboard to mouse repeatedly. I doubt anyone at Google has the aptitude to follow that, but it's true.
Nor does contemporary laptop design help any. Often the page-down key requires the shift key, or it moves one line at a time. Plus, that retard placement of the touchpad, where you have to hold your wrists up and reach over the pad to type almost assures the users they will eventually develop carpal tunnel.]
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