My primary “job” has absolutely nothing to do with mobile sales. It has nothing to do with retail. It is about as far removed from commercial sector as one can get. My business manufactures and distributes military goods for the US Military, Israeli Military and the  Defense Industry in general. So when it comes to trying to save a small business money, like a coffee shop, you would think that I would be out of my element right? I’ll let you decide that.

One of the first things I learned, or actually finally understood about business, is that every business at its core, is the same. Every business has a goal, every business has customers, every business has some sort of process to move from one to the other. In the end every business is in business for one reason, to make money.

There are several other factors that begin to differentiate companies of course. While a companies stated goal may be to give there customers superior quality or care, in the end they can not do that unless there making a profit. I took a nine week course through the Kaufmann Foundation called “Growth Venture” a few years ago. I was actually invited to attend and was given a scholarship making the cost, free. All I needed to do was agree to attend each Friday morning and actually do the work that was asked of me. The first meeting really set me back, my first impression was that I was in the wrong class. The other business owners in the class (12 in all) we of varying consumer levels. From a printer of business cards, a lawyer, a software developer, a distributor of electronic hardware, a goat milk farmer and two ladies that made gowns for clergy. Just what in the hell could I learn from these people that would help my company? How was this course, that was obviously designed for them going to help me? Thankfully I stuck with it.

My “enlightenment” came on the second week of the class when the owner of the Roasterie paid us a visit and talked about how he got his start. Even though he was making coffee I began to see some similar issues he had during his start up, that I had. If cash is king, then cash flow is a universal problem. Solutions to the problem vary only slightly from business to business. There is a procedure, or as I like to put it, a scientific method that can be applied to every problem. I began to engage in the discussions more and started asking specific questions about each of the others businesses. The class became very useful.

As we moved into the next few weeks things really began to click. I started making analogies between there business and mine. I even got to the point where I could understand my own P&L and balance sheet. I always looked at it, weekly and monthly in fact, but it was greek until this class. I started to see that I had more issues with the company than I thought, scary. The easy thing to spot was that I was spending to much money per month, whether I compared that to income or not, didn’t matter. I knew I was spending alot of money, I had large projects in the works, it was to be expected. It was the forecasting over the next six months that made my heart stop. Looking around the class I realized I wasn’t the only one to be shocked by the huge numbers. I envied there numbers, easily one quarter of mine.

I had worked out that I needed an infusion of cash or I needed to cut back on spending, right now. The biggest problem had now become, planning. Turns out I wasn’t alone in that problem either. How can a small business owner find the time out a busy day “running” the company in order to “plan” the company? This was the hardest thing for me to concur. I had five employees back at the shop, working on a quarter million dollars worth of equipment, making very precise parts. One mistake could cost me thousands of dollars, I had to keep an eye on them and keep those spindles turning. Turns out the two ladies that owned the clergy gowns company has the same thought. Before I could say this out load they beat me to it. One saying to other, “How do we keep our production girls turning the spindles and sewing while we sit and plan all day?” My eyes darted right them, “Me to” I added.

Eventually I came to a decision to spend at least an hour a day on “forecasting” (planning). The time was usually spent over lunch, sometimes meeting with new customers, sales people and even a few owners of other machine shops. The time was well spent over that first year and opened my eyes to new possibilities and new problems.

I still use most of what I learned during that nine week course and enjoy looking over my notes as well. One thing that really stuck with me was to always be looking at new ways to do the same thing. I even spend 2 hours every other week throwing ideas off a colleague of mine, hashing things out as it were. The time is well spent, in the end I can not even begin to calculate how much money it has saved me, but I would wager that it has at least saved my lively hood. It also instilled a need to share what I have learned with others. Ever time I see a business using one of those small units that you swipe your card on I just have to say something. My wife has learned to put up with me when I start talking to the owner about how much money he could be saving by using Square or even PayPal instead. I just can not help but to ask, “How much was that little unit anyway?” I’ll save that whole conversation for another post. What it comes down to is that you can never stop learning, nor can you know from whom or what that knowledge will come from. Everything has a connection that is relevant to you, you just have to look.

I still had some work to do that day before it was really over. The dinner wasn’t until 5 and I would be driving all four speakers down to the plaza to toast there efforts.

The short down time gave me a bit to look back on the day and begin to analyze. I guess the first thing that really struck me about the entire event was how interesting the four points of view where from each speaker. Every talk was like a mini TED talk on peace and kept me engaged. They were all great speakers but the one that still makes me think was Dr. Sharif Abdullah’s talk. He went thru, step by step, the process of how he worked with the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, to stop the violence.

Later during the panel Q&A, Dr. Sharif recalled sending out a young man to a meeting. It was always dangerous work, at any moment the person your trying to help, the person on the other side of the table, may decide its better to just shoot you. This young man, never came back from the meeting. After that incident he pulled back from all his work, determined to never send another person to there death. It took him four years to recover from that, I don’t think he will ever fully recover from it.

In these little personal moments, so much can be shared. I drove them down to dinner that night with Dr. Sharif following behind, riding with his daughter. She’s a sergeant at Ft. Leavenworth and drove over for the day to see her dad. I could not imagine what she has gone thru in her life, her father traveling all over the world, usually in harms way. She understood the sacrifices now, she has made a few of her own in her line of work. Dr. Sharif will be heading to Lahore next, a city in northern Pakistan, on the border with India. He chose to eat red meat at Jack Stacks, even though he never eats red meat. He said it was because the only food in that area was “Yak Burgers” and that he needed to get his stomach used to meat again. And I thought I made sacrifices….

On the drive down Russ Vandenbroucke sat in the passenger seat next to me. He’s a very tall, thin academic man. Spending most of his adult life either studying or teaching at a University somewhere around the world. Of the four speakers from the day, I had spoken to him the least and was looking forward to picking his brain. His talk looked at conflict more on the micro scale. Using the family dynamic or parent and child to illustrate his points on perception, he showed an image of an orange in a slide. He talked about two kids fighting over it, the typical scenario of two siblings saying “mine” back and forth. The parent coming in, taking the orange and slicing it in half, handing each half to each child. The first child shouted, thats not what I wanted! I wanted to juggle with it! The second child yelling, hey! I was going to draw a picture a whole orange mommy! The parent had made a decision that seemed right, but turned out to be wrong for both children. No one was happy in the end, not even the parent. The story was to highlight how peacekeepers and negotiators can inadvertently get involved in situations that they don’t understand and make choices that no one is happy with in the end.

He also told a story about an old Indian Chief, who sat around the fire one night with all his grandchildren. The chief told a story of two wolves that were forever fighting each other. One was always anger, taking what ever he wanted, un caring about the rest of the pack. The other was always patient, taking great care of the cubs and the pack. He told the children that each wolf lives inside them and the fight continues every day. With that he stood up and started to leave the tent. The children cryed out, “Who will win!” The old chief looked back at the children and said, “The one you feed”

We toasted at the restaurant with a glass of wine, I had a Corona of course. The evening was even more relaxed than the forum itself, with conversation drifting from every topic you can imagine. I had to explain what brisket was, briefly becoming an expert on BBQ. I am pretty sure that will never happen again. As it turns out, Dr. Sharifs daughter is a vegetarian, thankfully it didn’t bother her. Other topics were about Cuba and the recent lift on restriction to travel there. Rita Marie, another one of the speakers, has her institute in Costa Rica and talked about  how eager she was to see Cuba one day.

I was surprised that I didn’t feel like the dumb kid at the table, I had every expectation to. After all I was sitting with four individuals who had not only seen more of the world than I ever will, but who also held multiple degrees as well. It wasn’t because I was witty, or even leading the conversation. It was more because they all had an ease about them, a way of making you feel like you had something interesting to say. (Even though I know I didn’t) It was a day I will not be able to replicate. A once in a lifetime moment to be sure, a day I hope I never forget.

While the event failed to attract a large crowd, it made an impact on those who attended. It made an impact on me, one that I hope sticks for along time to come. I don’t think I will become a peace maker in the way these four have. They are the trailblazers, but I would like to join the mop up crew.

Titan – Search

There was a time when days like this were welcome, that time was long past. He could still remember them, sitting by the window, reading a good book. But there was no time for that anymore. His first objective today was to find her. There was no telling how long it would take or what he would do if he did. It wasn’t like he could just walk outside and start yelling out her name. His display showed the rain outside to be forty percent acidic and the rad levels had spiked overnight when the storm moved in. Despite all the efforts in the last twenty years the transformation was still an unsteady process.

After getting his gear on and checking the storm patterns in his display he stepped outside and headed down the street. He could see other people milling about in there homes, some even heading out in the weather as well. Even with a storm this size people still had to get food, head to work. Some things will never change he guessed. While wondering how long people had been chasing this routine he managed to stop and look down each ally way, into the windows of each shop. Would there come a day when mankind could just live, without all the complications. What would a dogs life be like or a birds for that matter.

There were bags of trash lining each separation of homes and the rain was starting to melt through. When this was over he would have to take this up with sanitation. If the rains became anymore acidic it would eat through all the recyclable materials in town. As he made his way into the central market he could hear the transit tubes roaring ahead. There was no stopping the daily ritual, even in this place, in this weather.

What worried him most was the time, there was never enough. She should have arrived on yesterdays first tube. He had waited for the second, then the third, before he knew it the last one of the day had come and gone and there was no sign of her. He would have to take the first one out this morning and head into the city. During the transit he would trace her last few calls, locate each one within the grid and try to pick up any other bread crumbs she may have left. She wasn’t answering her display, that part had not started to worry him until late in the day yesterday. The tubes were about the only place on Titan were connections were spotty for calls. Data never seemed to be  problem which worried him even more. She could have easily sent a text only message, but even his had gone unanswered.

While he had his display tracking the last three calls and building a que of possible routes he glanced out the tube at the ocean. For the last twenty years the ocean had slowly been changing from a sheet of frozen methane with a liquid underneath to a nice green slush of semi-frozen algae. The green stuff was eating away at the methane and slowly building up carbon dioxide and oxygen. There was enough to breathe the air now but there was also a nasty side effect. When the algae died off it combined with the liquid methane and created a toxic gas that collected in the clouds. This in turn gave them the acidic rain. The temperatures were still way to cold for the average human to survive. Only those with specific gene therapies could handle up to negative 300 below. The terrain outside went black as they entered the hillside, it snapped him away from the glass.

The display had been blinking, trying in vane to get his attention. There were three possible places to start his search and the last one sent a chill down his spine, the elevator. There was no reason for her to be anywhere near it. There was only one thing to do, start with the first location and move methodically to the next. In his gut he knew were he would wind up.

Marcus owned the small cafe on the first level of the Mecor building, her last call had come from here. It was a spot they stopped at frequently when in the city, as regulars Marcus had said already confirmed she was there the other day, even remembered that she sat at the counter instead of the usual spot. There had been two other girls with her, much younger, one heavy and one thin. Thats was all the info that Marcus could remember, it was three days ago. As he strolled in and glanced around at each guest he noticed two baristas working the line and Marcus talking to a local fuzz.

No one would ever call them fuzz to there face, even though they liked the term. There face plates were designed to hide there identity and mask there voice, making there features blurred and there speech deep and off in a way that unnerved anyone. He filtered out all the back ground noise and sat down in a booth. They were talking about two missing girls, one was very heavy, that was there only descriptive. It was a hard one to miss, food here was plentiful but the meds everyone had to take to keep the rads at bay meant it was almost impossible to gain weight. If you managed to pay for the genetics needed to make rads a non issue, the side effect was a much higher metabolism. All this meant was that there were no heavy people on Titan, she wasn’t from here and had not been here long, less than year.

He had his display order a tall peppermint mocha, extra shot. Back home he would have made it a skinny, she would have made him anyway. Searching the elevator records his display gave him fourteen possible matches of a heavier set women. The range was from yesterday back one year from today. It was to many to pick through. The fuzz would have already done this and the fact that they were here in person talking to Marcus, not good. They would be recording or streaming his responses, facial ticks, respiratory cues, body temperature and half a dozen other tells. What he couldn’t figure was if there was anything for him to tell, he would have told him already.

Outside the rain had stopped and for a moment he imagined seeing a blue sky when the clouds parted. The clouds were thick here and would keep getting thicker. There was no telling how warm they could actually get Titan, no matter, the warmer it gets the more gas is released from the ground. One possible scenario was that we would get a tan colored sky on the side facing Saturn with an endless deep orange night on the other. The light from the sun would never be enough no matter how much of the haze was removed.

It would be something to see one day, to look up as the sky opened for the first time. The rings would be the first you noticed here, a huge boomerang shape in the sky with Saturn shining and spinning behind. The light from Saturn would seem blinding as first, hard to get used to actually. Then the first real night would come as Titan swung behind its parent for a full fifteen days and twenty two hours. They may be able to breathe the air even now, but they would always need greenhouses for the food.

The fuzz were finishing there interview with Marcus when his attention came back from the window. The coffee was nice and hot on his lips, the sting still on his tongue when he got up and walked over. Marcus gave hime a nod and headed to the back room. He never skipped a beat just followed him right in. He did notice that one of the fuzz stopped at the door and made a scan of him, as if just noticing that there was some one else in the cafe.

“Ray, wondered when you would stop in, good timing by the way.” Marcus said as he pulled out a blue and switched it on.

“Why would they come here?” Ray asked as he took a seat across the small room from Marcus.

Their conversation only lasted about five minutes when his display lit up again. It notified him that the heavier set lady had come down the elevator yesterday but had also taken it up three days ago.

“Did the fuzz have a name on the heavier set woman or her partner?”

“Nope, no name, but hey had a photo. Just sent it.” With a flick of his eye, Marcus’s display sent up the last incoming message, from the fuzz named Ricardo, and forwarded it on to Ray.

It took his display a few seconds but there was a match. How could someone go up the elevator, come back down two days later and the fuzz not have a name?

“Marcus, I know you have a copy, no more stalling me, I watched you lie to the fuzz, they didn’t know it. They will figure that out in few hours after some one looks at there recording.

“Its illegal to tap into surveillance and keep copies, even as shop owners man. Why would I risk my license for…”

He cut him off mid sentence, pulled out his small pistol and used it to scratch his temple. He made a grimace as if he had just heard the most absurd joke. Then starred straight at Marcus, right in the eyes. Marcus had known Ray for about four years now and apparently had never been able to figure him out. He could see in his eyes he did now. No matter what happened now, Marcus would cooperate.

Apple has this little toy project they call AppleTV. It’s a small set top box that basically ports your iTunes library to your TV. Nothing real special about it. In fact it just recently was updated to include things like Netflix, Hulu and your photostream. So what makes it a console killer? Of all things, your phone is what makes it the little monster in the room. Let me explain in detail.

With the massive number of iOS devices in people’s hands now, thats iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch and the nearer iPad mini. More people have access to games, even free games, movies, TV shows and You Tube at there finger tips than any other device combined. Yes, more than Android! In the Steve Jobs autobiography a quote from Steve himself said he had unlocked the secret to the TV market. Now Steve is a smart guy, and Apple is a very thoughtful company. Common sense tells you they are not going to make TV’s, the margins just don’t work for what Apple expects. They also can not and will not get the kind of deals they won’t from studios to turn each one into a separate app purchase, with Apple taking 30% of each app sold. So what can they do? As we have seen there stock price has stalled, investors seem to think Apple can not get any bigger. Here is where the little monster enters.

Apple will not release a TV next year, what they will release will be an iOS update to 7. It won’t be anything as sexy as the iPhone 5, in fact there may only be slight spec bumps for the iPhone and iPad next year. The big kicker will be the AppleTV update, with a new version that looks more like a Mac mini, what’s a Mac Mini you ask? It’s another little brick that Apple sells, although its as strong as a desktop and almost fits in your hand. It doesn’t even come with a monitor. Pair it with a TV, and iOS, controlled by your iPhone, iPad, iPod or iPad mini and now you have something. Take every app in the App Store, sling it to the TV and use your device as the remote. Who needs a console? I believe this will be the next big push for Apple, once the have it finished, the Studios will be lining up to ask for deals for there content. They will come to Apple and they will be happy to do it.

NASDAQ GIVES OUT CASH

I know I am a bigger geek than I lead on. I watch re-runs of Star Trek episodes almost daily. When I decide on the movie to watch it is certainly some sci-fi movie that I have to beg my wife to watch with me. To her credit she did enjoy the 2009 Star Trek movie, can not wait until 2013 when the sequel comes out! I follow a few blogs of people who actually go to Star Trek conventions and dress the part to! I am not sure I would, but I secretly want to. Hell I want to learn Klingon! If you don’t know what this, you’re not as nerdy as me. Anyway, I have stopped and started writing the same book so many times over the last ten years that I would need to start all over again when ever I want to pick it up. Maybe that’s what has happened, we got too tired to keep up with our dreams.

Maybe we just got focused on one; the car, the house, the wife or the kids. I have two girls, they’re the most incredible part of my life. I remember sitting for hours with my wife in the car, in her parents driveway. We would talk about having kids and hearing the pitter patter of little feet. At that time in our lives it had a romantic quality to it. To be fair it has lost some that, but it’s still the best. I would never say I have stopped dreaming because of my kids, but they have changed because of them. The dreams I have today are still the same, they are for them now. I was reminded of that this morning after my shower, my littlest one Isabella, came in and wanted to put the shaving cream on my face. She is 4 and still thinks that dad is the greatest man who ever lived. I guess my dream now is make sure that I can live up to hers now.

PS. I still want to write that book…