Unemployment benefits story (sympathy or sob)

I always wanted my obit to read from sports writer to sandwich artist.

 

"I started out just like you guys - on trash. Now, I'm washing lettuce. Pretty soon I'll be on fries. In a year or two, I'll make assistant manager....and that's when the big bucks start rolling in!"

 

I forget the David Spade line from Reality Bites...

 

Once you "learn the vendors" there's no stopping you.

 

Getting a job at Subway is silly.

Unless things have changed, you can steal a lot more working at a bar. And because most of the owners are degenerate coke addicts, it's even moral.

 

Don't be so impatient. I wasn't ignoring you, I had to go out and do a few jobs.

Now, I'm going to try to type this more slowly so that maybe you'll get my point.

No, I would not recommend that you try to start your own newspaper right now, but mostly because most newspapers aren't making money. I'd look to a business that is making money for inspiration.

And, of course, some businesses have a higher barrier to entry than others. Some, like founding your own paper would require a lot of capital.

But, folks like Bill Simmons, Matt Drudge & Andrew Breitbart, Nate Silver, and others have been successful media entrepreneurs who started out with little more than a computer and a website.

To act like because you can't afford to start a newspaper means that there are no opportunities is absurd. Most big companies started out as small companies. McDonalds, Starbucks, Microsoft, Dell, and hundreds of others were small little companies once.

I'll bet that even your newspaper was once a very small company.

And, funny enough, my last job today was at a sandwich shop. Had to fix their coffee brewer. (Took me about 20 minutes and I made about $200 on that job alone.) The manager mentioned to the other person working with him that they were $60 short of grossing $3,000 for the day.

If you manage your costs, there should be a good amount of profit there.

And honestly, the barrier to entry for a sandwich shop or a coffee shop is not that high.

As to Potbelly, they have over 200 stores. Here's how they started:


Potbelly Sandwich Shop began in 1977 as a small antique store run by a nice young couple. Despite the fast-paced, never-a-dull-moment world of antique dealing, the couple decided to bolster their business by making sandwiches for their customers. What began as a lark, turned out to be a stroke of genius. Soon, people who couldn't care less about vintage glass doorknobs were stopping by to enjoy special sandwiches and homemade desserts in this unusual atmosphere.

As the years passed, the lines grew. Booths were added, along with ovens for toasting sandwiches to perfection, vista-coolers, napkin dispensers, hand-dipped ice cream - even live music. The little antique shop had become a full-fledged, totally unique sandwich joint. Then in 1996, an entrepreneurial young man by the name of
Bryant Keil bought the original store on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Together with his team, Bryant obsessed over every detail of each new store, making sure that they maintained the same charm and heritage. Now more than 200 shops later we hope you find that same magic in your neighborhood Potbelly.

 

Charging someone $200 for a 20 minute job... how do you sleep at night?

 

I don't understand the question?

I provided a service at a fair price.

I had the knowhow & the parts to repair their brewer. There's value in that & people are willing to pay for it.

Have you ever had to have an electrician, plumber, etc. come to your house? What do they charge?

This is what I'm trying to say. If you bring something of value to the table, people are willing to pay for it.

 

One of my two biggest customers -- a restaurant chain with a bunch of outlets here -- asked me about a year or so to lower my rates because of the poor economy.

Knowing that it would be hard to get my rates back up, I politely declined.

They told me that they would have to bid out the work. (Which they had done with their electrical, HVAC, and other work resulting in them changing several vendors.)

I encouraged them to. I told them that if they could find someone else who was qualified to repair the various equipment that they have, and who could do as good a job or better at a lower price, that they absolutely owed it to themselves to change vendors.

They are still one of my best customers.

 

I guess if I charged people $600/hour and thought it was fair id have a different outlook too. People who do that I bet also tend to overemphasize the obstacles they face and minimize the aide they took getting there, too.

I used the money I was saving to start my sandwich shop to pay the plumber.

 

You're wrong. I'm not saying that to be an asshole -- I'm saying I know from experience. By the time you take out the taxes, insurance (basic, then seprate for vision and dental), 401K, FlexPlan, possibly a few other expenses (savings, a Christmas club, even if it's just a few bucks), you're probably down to $300 take home at best. That's if you can even get a full time job.

 

If you are in that situation, you can't afford a 401k or a Christmas Club. You honestly can't afford health insurance, either. You take your chances and if you get really, really ill, you declare bankruptcy. It's not an ideal situation, but you do what you have to.