One year ago today: September 23, 2017, first car trip since 2003.
Five years ago today: September 23, 2013, crows can count?
Nine years ago today: September 23, 2009, on net neutrality.
Random years ago today: September 23, 2014, categories of people I dislike.
Now read today’s post twice, if you want to follow with what is about to happen with the new business, and how strategy has adapted to the challenges. Put another way, if somebody else writes a 250 page book that contains the exact particulars that follow, you could wind up paying $49.99 for the hardcover. Here, you get the condensed version for free. Just remember, this blog is rarely confined to one topic per post.
I was up early buying plasticware to store all components bought in cardboard containers, such as the utensils. The carton is what got soggy and though the contents were not bothered, it is not the sort of thing you want the health department to think goes on. We also went through the sheds and back yard trying to find that railroad wheel lifter so we could use it to wheel the cart around easier. The cheapest store-bought unit is rated for 6,000 pounds and they want $140. I’ll get a picture maybe, and you’ll see how gronk the tool is and not worth that kind of money.
The humidity was way down around 62% all morning so we were able to get considerable work done, the fence around back is to be repaired with 16 foot 2x6 runners rather than digging post holes. I seem to have a surplus of said lumber in the back yard. The cart will have to be backed in at an angle due to an old A/C unit on the side of the building, but the working conditions will be much nicer in the permanent shade. Below is a picture of the lumber wasted because the city said my porch didn’t match the drawing submitted. It was cheaper to tear down the work already done. But look at all that nice pressure treated lumber.
It’s not all work, I was at the donut shop before 10:00AM for 45 minutes, as it was next door to a farm supply outlet. I was in there checking out the tarps, it seems the closest size is 8x10 and it is a yellow color with a sticker warning that the coating on the tarp may discolor whatever is under the tarp. Cripes-amighty, in this day and age they still can’t build a tarp without some type of defect. The poly tarps are cheaper but degrade in sunlight, another problem the best engineers in this land can’t seem to solve. I also see the reluctance of tarp manufacturers to build anything that lasts unless they make a law.
As for the licensing problem, there is an $18 Polk County form we’ll try to chase down tomorrow. As far as we are then concerned, that is good enough until we learn otherwise. My thinking is that only a troublemaker, of which there is no local shortage, would actually read the fine print. In a moment, I’ll explain the strategy has changed from getting the licenses in advance to finding out what they are as we go along—a prudent decision from a financial standpoint. Let Agt. R get a business license in his own name for selling at flea markets. They will assume he means his old antique restoration business.
That is, we may not be doing it right, but after walking down the bureaucratic sidewalk and scraping the mess off my shoe, I have a tendency to believe others who have reluctantly revealed that they have operated for years with nothing but a city permit. This tips us off that while the laws and bylaws exist, they are not evenly enforced. Remember my set of business rules as published in the March 2003 Miami Times. Close to half the rules concerned ducking the searchlight—legally of course. Hey, it is a big publication.
I didn’t assert it then, but I will now. Bureaucrats are inherently lazy. The profit at a desk job and fixed salary is your slack time. The number of unlicensed small businesses is stark proof that a lot of the registration process is just letting them know who you are and where you live. As a rule, it would seem they don’t go out looking for violators. Remember the guy over on Lemon Street who has been repairing engines on his driveway for years and getting away with it?
So the plan changes to paying for the minimal license and hoping for the best. There is the core of a nasty business attack plan in all this, can you see it? Nope, not yet? Here are some seed clues. Since I now, and no thanks to anybody, have an idea what the fees are, I intend to have a fund set aside to meet those as soon as they arise. Hopefully, that will be a long time in the future. But should it occur, there will be minimal running around for the money. That’s a strong clue, actually, because it implies others would have to start scrounging.
Let me see, another clue? No, that last was good enough, but how about information? You like this blog because it actually contains information. Okay, this one parallels the issue. Agt. R has not (and I consider it a failure on his part) learned the overall operation of the business. He is focused only on production. Therefore, it is in my and our best interests to get him producing on a maximum scale. How can this be accomplished without anybody thinking he is taking away their sales? (We already know if they think that, it leads to an instant complaint.)
The best business advice I can ladle out at this point is that when you are new, vulnerable, and have constraints on ready cash, don’t give the system any reason to notice you. Then, as just said above, as soon as you have cash, set some aside so if and when they finally tell you need yet another permit, you can act like you reluctantly got the money together next day, apologetic as hell. Like my non-existent front porch, it is not about law and safety and building codes, it is all about power.
Inverlochy Hotel, about $250 / night.
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Next I took a break, a Sunday coffee. I see that "Starbucks coming soon" sign is in the same vacant lot it was last February. And what's this? Iran held a military parade in a war zone without informing the trigger-happy USA or its allies? If so, there's your proof America has no monopoly on real stupidity. Wait, this just in. Now they are saying it was a terrorist attack. A terrorist group being "protected" by Denmark. So how do they wind up blaming the US? Proof? What's that? Isn't that like blaming Starbucks for slave labor at some plantation in Brazil. Mind you, that makes sense if you are Brazilian.
Speaking of labor, return tomorrow for photos of the fence work. Company morale is low, I’ve already admitted that, but the work continues. My lectures about unpaid hours has sunk in deep. The fence is backbreaking labor but it is done and will allow us to work on the cart under shade in all weather. And the six-foot-six fence pickets keep prying eyes away at all times.
ADDENDUM
Reflecting on what has happened with all the business paperwork, I’ve got a number of conclusions. Top of the list is that I could hand Agt. R a virtual monopoly. From my studies, I surmise there could be up to 14 separate licenses or documents required to actually run a hotdog cart in Polk County to the letter of the law. I doubt any of the competition has half the number of required documentation. I just happen to recall that every existing food vendor we’ve talked to has been intentionally unhelpful. I suspect, rather than being wary of competition, they simply know they are not in full compliance and want to avoid any conversation along such lines. With my appearance and demeanor, I regularly get mistaken for things I’m not. I’d clam up, too.
Near as I can reckon, here is a list of the bureaucratic burden on starting this business.
1) membership in the hotel and restaurant association
2) form 7022 declaration of a commissary
3) health department inspection
4) fire extinguisher inspection
5) EIN number and declaration
6) registration of LLC
7) declaration of fictitious name
8) federal tax receipt
9) state tax receipt
10) country tax receipt
11) city tax receipt
12) city business permit
13) food manager’s certificate
14) food handler safety certificate
This is a potentially inaccurate list and I’ll tell you why. Some of the licenses may be called by more than one name. But since nobody spells this out, it’s on the list to be on the safe side, that is, when in doubt, it is on the list. Nor do we know which are compulsory and which are recommended. There are websites that offer to do all this chasing around for you, but they won’t specify anything, so I don’t trust such outfits any more than the next guy. Henceforth, this may be the most complete, if not only, actual list of requirements you may ever see out of Florida.
Take one example of a conflict on this list. Number 6 registers you as a separate business entity, a legal “person” with a tax number. Nothing fictitious about it. Now look at number 7. Some jurisdictions declare that any business not operated in your personal name is fictitious, and they don’t care if the business is a legal entity. When I asked what would happen if I registered a company with my personal name as the business title, they were stunned, until one squeaked out, “Don’t try it.”
[Author’s note: this last paragraph relates to a cute topic that is kicking around at the top levels of the robotics club. You are about to become aware of details that should get you kick-started on the concept. If the USA responds to the European-like copyright laws about to appear, the lawyers over here will make the usual bloody mess of it. I’ve touched on this before, but it appears there would be nothing stopping you from trademarking or copyrighting your own name, or registering your name as an LLC despite the fact right now it would be a useless waste of money to do so. You are looking into the future.
Aaaaannnd, just where in that future is this heading? Think. The first draft of any law will be full of exceptions and loopholes. These normally involve pre-existing arrangements which the system does not like to, to, . . . to bother, shall we say? If your name was protected before the law is enacted, under the pending legislation, nobody could use it in the future without your permission. You could register your phone number and sue telemarketers for those healthy infringement settlements.
You can imagine the lively speculation that goes on in the club e-mails.]
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