Being independent and being in control - the goal of an entrepreneur - how a former lawyer who was disbarred chose to work on her own instead of just being another employee

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

This post watched this video yesterday.  

This was a video regarding a waitress who was former lawyer associate but was disbarred due to a frame up by colleagues and had to make do as waitress.

During a signing of a contract, she noticed and saw through the documents of  poison pill which she authored and now buried deep into voluminous contract that says that all previosu legal liabilities would be passed on to the acquirer in the merger being made (We always insert -  there are no liabilities, real or contingent and the Vendor shall protect the VENDEE from any lawsuit or claim against whomsoever at the formers expense"

Maya  revealed that the poison pill will make the VENDEE liable  for a fine of $500 milliion in a $3.7 billion deal.    The Vendee must back out of a deal because of a potential half billion dollar loss.

So when the Vendee was about to sign, she said do not sign and the Vendor was angry.  The Vendee brought the waitress to their head office researched on her CV and found out:    

       1.   She was former law associate 

       2.   She was disbarred

 The Vendee was taking in Maya and Maya proposed a deal

     1.  They file a lawsuit vs the VENDOR a thin paper work which would mean the suspension of corporate papers and the clean up

      2  Or sign an agreemetn wherein:

          VendOR would surrender ownership for  $2B sale, and remaining  30% ownership

           and Vendees clean company do the clena up for  much lower amount and using their clean

           carbon credits

      In the deal, Maya saved the  Vendee, $1.5 billion in acquisition cost plus potentiallly $500 million in 

in clean up or $2 billion total

     Maya was offered a $600,000 a year pay, a senior management position plus a new car, and residence.    Maya knowing that the Vendee the employer would sooner or later disagree and fire her refused.!

     SHE WANTED INDEPENDENCE AS MOST ENTREPRENEURS WOULD!

     Instead she would:

    1.  Be a head of lawfirm and her fist client is the Vendee for $10.00 million engagement

    2   Strike a deal with the party that caused her disbarment so that she could be a lawyer again

From a lawyer to a waitress being humiliated and disbarred, being a white knight in a deal, and reestablishing her career as a lawyer.

Lessons:

1.  It pays to be patient (as Maya did being silent for a decade in her disbarment)

2.  Hire a good lawyer and accountant as you grow in size.

3  Your action change as you lower or higher your goal.  Being on your own rather than being rich made her change her decision

4.  Beware of poison pills  (as in the case of Lopez quarrel.  Family quarrels occur as I have experienced>)

         

   

You could create a new deal when you are the end of the wall and nothing would seem to work

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

This post had a meeting with a project officer and there was a business proposal:   the partner had a 1 hectare property in mind priced at P1,000.00 per sm so for a total of P10M.  However the proponent wants us to finance the project however we had alsmost a 50-50 deal and we shouldered the cost of goods sold and operating expenses and our margins were very minimal.  

The project looked doomed since it was one sided.  The other party was a former LGU head (they seem to share the same business behavior) and was used to a raw deal:   we finance the purchase, we get 50% -50% almost And we would landbank it he does not want us to get the project approved by the LGU - ilalandbank pa.    Lugi walang roi for the 10m.

So I did not like the raw one sided deal and participate no more in this kind of rip offs

I got a brilliant idea.

What Ecclesiastes talks about wealth?

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

Then he wrote one word to describe it all: meaningless. The book of Ecclesiastes is the most financially honest book in the Bible — and the one most pastors skip. It doesn't fit the prosperity sermon. It doesn't support "follow God's principles and get rich." It says the opposite. But hidden inside that brutal honesty are five financial principles more relevant today than when they were written 3,000 years ago. The 5 Principles: ▸ PRINCIPLE 1: Wealth never satisfies — the hedonic treadmill, described 3,000 years early ▸ PRINCIPLE 2: Diversify your investments — "give portions to seven, yes to eight" ▸ PRINCIPLE 3: Workaholism is vanity — one handful with peace beats two with exhaustion ▸ PRINCIPLE 4: Enjoy what you have now — the most surprising financial advice in the Bible ▸ PRINCIPLE 5: Fear God and keep his commandments — everything else is vapor If you've ever been sold a "biblical wealth code," this book is the antidote.

Examples of fund raising deals that were published at FB/sent to me by Viber

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

1.  Gold trading Joint Venture -  calls for a P15m investment in gold bullion purchase.    However the proponent was a mining company and the deal had no other details.  ROI was not discussed.    I answered pass for the uncertainity and I do not know the proponent.  Only the agent.  And I doubt if the agent knows the principal well.

2.  Grosvenor   based in UK by an educator and offers short to medium term investment  not longer than 24 mos, offering returns for 20-30% per annum, 10% on rental properties.  Maybe these are flipping deals.

3.  Jet Car -  Offers  20-30 margin on car flipping deals.   The details of the deal are not  clarified:  amounts returns, documentation, security,  The principals are not well identified.

4.   A professor under the name of  Tursted Capital Services c/o Professor Natasha.   gmail:  drnatashakathleen@gmail.com  The reply at messenger asked me to gmail her directly introduce myself maybe she will invest if she likes the project

We asked the colleague to study the deals if ours were better or equal or worse.  

They did not follow up

Menu of options for raising funding for a start up /new venture

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

We normally  operate on a ITO format.    To start business raise capital build the infrastructure, to build the product to offer the customer    

Thus we put up the money build the building and later on look for customer to generate revenue.  And more often not the strategy fails.   

So early on in MBA subject entrepreneurship, we have the serendipity walk:   walk into a street crowded with business and look for other potential business that can be set up.  Cherches le craneu.  Look for hole in what appears to be a saturated market.  Do the cusotmer first approach.  Go find a problem - what pisses you off, look for the solution, make or build the solution (MVP minimal viable product).  You will find out that some successful ventures (as gathered from entrepreneur guests)  that Toby peanuts started from a P3,000 initial seed capital,  Splash from a drumful of acetenone funded by P10,000 wedding cash gift.  So what can be the menu:

1.   Follow the Richard  Branson of Virgin example.  Fund your business from deposits of dp of potential customer.  So this is what contractors printers do.  Programmers.   Ask for 50% dp to start the project   Dont use your own money   OPM.   

2.  Forget the ITO model ie of raising equity borrowing from bank or bombay, or going to a VC.  If you do this right you dont have to go to vc.   

For example a fresh graduate from MBA was planning to put up a logistics solutions company and contacted the billionaire for initial funding.  So he said, think of how you start your company without my help or VC. or going to a bank.   So he had to think hard.   He wrote 100 logistics company (gmail of course) offering solutions to a particular problem (he all ready has a solution)

His offer was if I solve your year long problem by Friday, you pay me $5,000.   Somebody accepted his offer and the problem was solved and he got his $5,000.    So he kept the $2,500 paid a programmer to have a working website/solution.    

He wrote again other prospects and offered $2,000 monthly lease subscription by using his software /solutions.   He got  6 subscribers.   Thats $12,000 x 6 =  $72,000

He met again the billionaire and was asked if he still needed help/financing.  Naw.  That was easy

So you have to train your mind to think out of seemingly helpless situation.

For a batch of trainees, the challenge was how to raise $100,000 in a month if you dont have a job.  And they did come out with fine surprising solutions/plan.  However the thought of having security from P16,000 monthly salary lulls them into complancency and that of dependency.

3.  "What is essential is invisible to the naked eye"

The real cash generator are not those that are visible to the naked eye.  This is the primary idea behind the free Its a bait to get the people get their foot in the door. Once inside the door, the real money can be made on higher margin products.  

     1.  Free coffee - to get people to come in buy snacks sandwhiches which have higher margins

     2.  Free haircut at Landers to buy their P700.00 membership card so that you will be a repeat customer  from whom you get sales and gp

     3.  Amazon Prime -   losing logistics membership thru which you get free delivery.  Now the same

          is offering livestreaming competing with Netflix.  

     4.  Buying a losing firm to get the talent to put up a system/sales platform -  like Jet Com bought

          by Walmart to get them on e commerce plat 

Its really a great deal and a blessing that we have people like Peter Thiel who writes about Zero to One.  Creating one from Zero.    That is the blessing from entrepreneurs.     Entrepreneurs create wealth and help build the nation.

Let us count our blessings, thank the Lord for that, and so that we may continue and be a blessing to less fortunate ones.   

Good better best (a Russian poker strategy) also works on closing a sales or a deal

Nation building via learning and being the best in business

Early on while taking MBA, a professor in Problem Solving emphasized a good better best strategy in nego or sales closing.  Some of our more experienced sales staff do that.

That means when it comes to a prize questior or size of the deal, you put up first the biggest deal or most expensive product in the hope of that making a choice narrows you down to his/her price point.

The best deal probably would be cheaper or smaller

So last Wednesday, we were in the meeting where the party was proposing an investment deal.  They initially had a 2x deal in the vicinity of 7 number which seemed to be just right for him at his current estimated status in life.  Why dont we deal him the good better best strategy.?  Why not propose or offer him first the big 8 number deal as strategic investor.   But larger returns.   Not Just 2x but 6x but for a longer period of time and with cash dividends on the fourth year.

Surprisingly, initially he stayed with the initial offer and asked for more details:  computations, docs.

Did we do the right thing with good better best?