Business Blogs (303)

Let's face it, the cost of living is all but prohibitive in our big cities. yet young people flock to these places, to work toward a career, for networking, to explore the chances for romance, and so on. A major expense is space for work and home life. We see these young folks, and ever those in advanced age, living in roommate situations, or at home, if parents are so situated. And there are the homeless.
Lock downs of various sorts have many people working at home, a trend which had already begun over the past decades. There are many spinoffs in terms of real estate that may result from these changes. The costs for renting expensive office space are already dropping. And conversions from workspace, to living space, are already on the increase. Supply and demand rules of economics may benefit many, who could use it most, unlike the owners/corporations, who will lose, but such is business..
While some, especially families and some elderly, may opt for suburbia, where home purchase is still possible for many, for the above reasons, this option is less ideal for younger people.
So one door closes, and others open---perhaps literally. Even the disaster that was democrat ruled Detroit, is returning to a non automobile manufacturing renaissance. Abandoned homes were going for pennies on the dollar. And buyers of diverse backgrounds move in to renovate, and to become homeowners for the first time.
Sure, the important productivity and innovation Jones of the face-to-face may suffer, but ways will be found to substitute, and even to restore the same.
Sometimes brutal illnesses, and Capitalism, can provide hope.

There's a rule for salesmen to avoid discussions of politics (and religion) when making a sale so I do my best to follow those guidelines. If possible before our first meeting, I'll research my clients so I know their background. Many have internet history about career, education and political orientation. Some have relocated from the North or want to discuss reasons why they are in Florida. I don't inquire things like that and it's something they would have to mention.

A few years ago, I hit the Facebook page of a prospective client that creeped me out!
She and her husband were active in the Tea Party movement and posted some cosplay images with weapons torturing someone with a rubber mask of the (then) current president.

I took the meeting information, made concept drawings and budget prices. All of this was submitted to the general contractor who connected me with his client.
The job was extensive on his part as he had to add a second floor that required structural changes, so I knew my part of the project was financially small.
After a few weeks of no response, I called the contractor who said they got a lower bid from another company. Phew!

Tag.) Unfolding [ their ] block chain...
One gold note at a Time....
.....heathens / 21 pilots
The Timing../ jets ...Overhead....
..singing in the wreckage / blk box recorder.
..... Standby...
Gold / interference
...stay gold / 1st aid kit.
Honey / goldsboro.......) gold finger / bassey
I R E / Adekunle gold
Gold Digger / West f. Foxx
G O L D . Mine / take 6....} rev. 3:18...4:4.
... synthesis.} after the gold Rush / young
A R ] .money in the grave / drake
F U L L. COMMUNISM / downtown boys.
....eYe will repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guardhouse than my own..- no.4 ..usmc
F...Final separation / bulldozer
E....dirt./ alice in chains.
D...they threw us all in a trench & stuck a monument on Top./ L I A R S.
...eYe will quit my post only when properly relieved..-5.

Online, surgical masks in quantity are around $0.75 each. A local vendor has packs of 4 at $12.50 and I doubt they will sell many at those prices. They are cashing in on corona... or at least attempting?
A friend told me Walgreens now has stock and selling a box of 20 masks for $12.
That's the right price.

I'm getting calls, letters and emails from people and companies all reminding me about new COVID-19 changes they have implemented. Enough already. The air conditioning serviceman will arrive with masks, gloves and booties. I know who to call when my a/c breaks, I don't need to be reminded every week.
I haven't purchased from Guitar Center in a year and now they will deliver to my car when I order online. 2 emails a week telling me this.
Time to get out the bug spray because they are crawling out of the woodwork now...

If you haven't noticed, the internet is saturated. One place of saturation is the website Pinterest. What seemed like a good idea to 'pin things of interest' has become never-ending pages of repetition that link to other pages of never-ending repetition.

There is no end to it. Twitter is not far behind where you scroll down and down and down and cannot find the end of whatever you started looking for with the same retweeted BS over & over.

Years ago my customers would email links to a website called houzz. In it were beautiful photos of kitchens and furniture settings. That's where they got ideas... the ones they shouldn't be using. The example is their kitchen 9 feet by 8 feet, barely large enough to put all the requirements of a functioning kitchen and they are looking at the 'wish list' kitchen photos probably 15 feet by 12 feet asking me to design a separate refrigerator and freezer combo that requires 6 feet and a hearth style range that needs 5 feet.
I remember telling a client, the kitchen in the photo is much larger than your kitchen. It's not possible to fit both. Either you get the cooking and no refrigeration or the refrigeration and no cooking. You decide.

This week, I went on a sales call. Townhouse with a really small kitchen and she's on a budget. The customer did her research and showed me pictures from Pinterest. One was a pullout gadget that was all expense and little function.

I'm sure that gadget was pinned a gazillion times and every salesman was asked to incorporate them into a design simply because it looked so good.

I got a call yesterday from the owner of the company who offered me a sales position. He had a 'start back' meeting and wanted me to attend. The county enacted the phase one and many non-essential businesses are back in operation. It's masks, hand cleaner, shoe covers and alcohol wipes for us and be extra careful of where we go and what we do as all our actions now are viewed with a different eye. Getting in and out of condo security may change now that everyone will be wearing masks.
One (masked) woman came to the showroom looking to renovate 2 bathrooms and I'll see her on Friday. Another appointment was also scheduled for me on Friday.

Extended vacation is over... it's back to work!

Last week (and again last night) I watched a TV show called SONGLAND where unknown song writers go to Nashville to compete. Each week there is a guest music star and three writers chosen to each perform one original song in an attempt to be selected for the star to decide which song to record.
The song writers get to perform the first round with their songs in a raw format. There are 3 'judges' who critique the work and offer suggestions to improve each song, especially making it personalized for the guest recording star who appears that week.
Each judge is assigned to one of the writers and they take the raw song massage it (pitch, tempo, lyric changes as necessary) into a finished product. After, they return to perform the finished work where the guest star has to decide on the winner.
While it was no spectacular show of talent by the writers, judges or the recording star, it did give some insight to the music industry as to some of the collaboration required to a good melody and lyric into the viable song!


Songland on NBC

I knew car dealers would have a tough time selling cars this month but I didn't know they would be making crazy offers. One local dealer is offering no interest loans with 7 years of payments and no money down.
That roughly works out to $357 a month on a $30,000 transaction.
If you are keeping cars longer and purchased one from an 'off lease' dealer you would be getting into a deal with a 2 year old car and your last payment the car would be 9 years old.

You can shop from your cellphone and they will deliver the car to you.
Something to consider?

That scares me. It does.

evolution of the banking system. Google the topic. From the fall of the Roman Empire, through the feudal millennium, and onto scams such as endless growth, monetization, the federal reserve, with holding and federal income taxes, silver certificates, a gold standard, historical and more recent depressions/recessions, ditching the Glass-Steagall Banking act, petro dollars, wars for capitalism, and lots more. Will give any self respecting conspiracy theorist a stiffie, for sure. Silver slippers exchanged for jeweled ones. A yellow brick road. The throngs of little people (us). And Toto, who looks behind the curtain to expose it all. Who could make any of this stuff up?