Category: business

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business

Getting Clients – Under promise and over deliver

West Village, downtown NYC

Few years back, got this assignment that involved about 20 separate deals. That was the high water mark for coin in a month for me. This month, thought I might beat that record and it’s close.

Been putting in about 15 hour days trying to get everything accomplished in time. After the dismal past two years where I was living just enough for the city, this’s a welcome relief.

Friend of mine recently asked me how I get my clients. Told her that I subscribed to Giuliani’s mantra of under-promising and over delivering. That is say, never took on something that I knew I couldn’t do and do well and never gave a price or a deadline that I knew I couldn’t make.

When y’do zero advertising and rely on word-of-mouth to pay the bill, your reputation for getting the job done’s paramount.

On a related point, always find that I’m more productive all of round when I’m firing on all cylinders. Something about working like crazy makes you keep working like crazy, don’tcha think?

Back to the grind.

Location: in fronta papers
Mood: sick
Music: father works some days for fourteen hours
YASYCTAI: Under promise, over deliver. (always/2 pts)
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business personal

Eat what you kill

Gated Apartment downtown NYC

Been all sortsa busy these days.

My biggest client that went away just came back with a staggering amount of work for me to do. The only issue’s that everything’s due in three weeks. But when your life is eat what you kill, y’gotta hustle when y’can.

It’s funny but the last time I wrote about taking every gig that comes in was almost exactly a year ago.  October-December’s usually my busiest time of year so the hustle begins again.

So early last Friday, was down in the West Village at places where handbags cost more than my mortgage. Came back that night and needed to unwind so I cooked up some Greek Kotopoulo Skorthato. It reminds me of my childhood cause I grew up with a lotta Greeks.

Usually my year begins in September but this year, Fall came late. Feels like the year – and everything else – is starting again.

Speakinga which, just found out that my 20 year high school reunion just happened. 20 years.

Didn’t know anyone there really, and I had all of that work, so never bothered going. Being a nobody in high school’s fine, I think. Being a nobody 20 years later’d be a lot worse.

There was this girl named Grace that made my life a living hell when I was a kid. Found out later, her family life was pretty bad. When I heard Plato’s saying, Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle, I thought of her.

Wonder if she ever found any peace or just continued to be hard and mean.

As for me, well, I got my pad. I got my people. I got my poison. Got everything I wanted.

Also got deadlines so catch you Wednesday?

Gated Apartment downtown NYC

Location: Brooklyn
Mood: busy
Music: You got your time to find your voice
YASYCTAI: Get it while the getting’s good. (time/1 pt)
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business personal

(Randomly Meeting) This Modern Love

School in Manhattan

Just started a series on Technorati called (Randomly Meeting) This Modern Love. It’s essentially a relationship column that goes in a bit deeper to a number of things from this blog.

Do me a favour – read it, comment, and tell people about it? Hoping that it’ll be picked up for the whole year. Let’s see how it goes.

Gotta change my posting schedule slightly cause of it. Haven’t figured out what yet but you’ll be the first to know.

———-

Her: What do you think?

Me: We’ll have to see what the judge says. But we’re right – that means something.

Was in court again yesterday for a client.

The thing with an argument is that y’get all positional – you don’t want to win so much as y’want the other guy to lose. And sometimes y’take what you can. It’s hard breaking through when someone’s locked into their position. Logic just takes a back seat to angry.

Luckily though, the client was able to shake off her angry. We won. And by “won” I mean that she got what she wanted in the first place.

Her: It’s good, yes?

Me: It’s better than good. (patting her on back) See? I told you you’d be happy.

Celebrated my first win with a donut. It wasn’t whole wheat but, eh. Sometimes y’take what you can.

Location: Yest., a court in Queens
Mood: hopeful
Music: I’m tired and unwilling
YASYCTAI: Read my Technorati article! (5 mins/0 pts)
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Categories
business

Comfortable shoes

Time Square Subway nyc

 

Me: When I can’t sleep, I look at the clock and hope it’s close to the time I gotta wake up. This means I got some sleep.
Her: Not me, I hope that it’s early yet, this means I can sleep some more.
Me: That’s a major difference between the two of us; you know you’ll probably fall back asleep. I know I won’t.

Been running around the city like crazy these days. In court again, but not for myself. Clients. It’s interesting because most lawyers never go to court. Figure it’s about time I did. Like most things you find as an adult, it’s a lotta Hurry up and wait.

The grandeur of being a lawyer’s a lot less when you see 100 of them crammed into a small courtroom yelling at each other.

One of the main things I’ve learned is to invest in more comfortable shoes.

That’s probably true for most occupations, actually.

Location: my new brown (p)leather chair
Mood: busy
Music: We get ever so hot (Whether we like it or not)
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business personal

What’s for sale?

It the cynical side of me wondering what’s for sale

PBR for far less than $40 in NYC

Here in NYC, wealthy hipsters drink PBR as an ironic statement of aspiring to the working class. Sensing a marketing windfall, the makers of the drink have decided to package the decidedly inexpensive brew as a luxury beer in China. How high end? $40 a bottle high end.

Silly Chinese – sophisticated Americans would never fall for such bald marketing.

Unless, of course, you consider that the exact same thing takes place here with Stella Artois.

It’s far closer to Miller beer than craft Belgiam lager in Europe, where it’s anecdotally considered cheap brew. In fact, it’s considered discount beer in France, called wife beater in the UK, and barely breaks 10% of beer consumption in its native Belgium.

Here, however, their marketing team went with the slogan Perfection has its price for much of the 2000s and we lapped it up. Quite literally.

Which is not to say that I’m not a sucker for slick marketing myself.

Just a month ago, said that the developers of the NYC mosque were wrong to build so close to ground zero but that it’s their right. Found that there’s already a mosque in the area and it’s been there for some 40 years with no outrage for the past nine.

This reminded me of that Stone Temple Pilots lyric that goes, What’s real and what’s for sale?

Consider what’s real with outspoken critic of the proposed mosque, Rick Lazio, who’s hoping to be our next governor. Perhaps that it’s an election year and he’s trailing the Democratic front runner in the race for governor by some 60%. It’s his outrage that seems to be for sale.

Since changed my mind about the mosque. After all, changing one’s mind in light of new information is never a bad thing. What is a bad thing is using a national tragedy for personal gain, at the expense of the national discourse. For that, despite being one of maybe two moderate conservatives in NYC, he’ll never get my vote. Ever.

Cheap beer in fancy packaging is also probably a bad thing. Then again, Stella Artois is doing quite well around the world. Regardless of geography, it seems it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s for sale – whether that be $40 beer in China or a mosque downtown.

Location: a wrestling mat
Mood: sore
Music: One time a thing occurred to me
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business dating personal

Frogs and Oceans

There are oceans out there that I want to see

 

George Bailey: Oh, now Pop, I couldn’t. I couldn’t face being cooped up for the rest of my life in a shabby little office. (remorseful) Oh, I’m sorry Pop, I didn’t mean that, but this business of nickels and dimes and spending all your life trying to figure out how to save three cents on a length of pipe. (resigned) I’d go crazy. I want to do something big and something important.

Almost exactly two years ago, told you about the saying, A frog in a well knows nothing of the ocean.

Was thinking about that for three reasons:

  1. Introduced two of my successful business friends whom I trust completely to each other. Both have been screwed blue by other people but neither – cause I know ’em – would screw the other. Problem’s that, while I know it, they don’t. Annoying. S’like setting two teenagers up on a date.
  2. Been thinking of traveling moving again. Always dream of it, never do. Gonna end up like George.
  3. Another friend’s convinced that all men are scum. Convinced. Problem’s that the one common denominator in all her (truly) abysmal dating history’s is…her. She won’t change her map, though, nor herself, though, which is sad cause the holidays are a crap time to be alone with a reality you don’t want. I should know.

Man, there are oceans out there I wanna see.

Pa Bailey: You know, George, I feel that in a small way we are doing something important.

Location: my pad, having a PB&J;
Mood: anxious
Music: let’s get rich and build our house on a mountain

Categories
business personal

Shutting down

Location: surrounded by computers and papers. Help me.
Mood: caffeinated!
Music: you wonder why they haven’t called when they said they’d call

Running Windows on a Mac
Me: I’m shutting down for the night.
Her: You just said that you’re shutting down for the night.
Him: I didn’t. (pause) Did I? (sighing) I gotta stop hanging out with computers.

Lately, my financial life’s been eat-what-you-kill. The problem’s that, after a long period of nuthin, y’grab everything that you can that might lead to scratch, even if most don’t ultimately pan out.

‘cept divorce. Won’t touch divorces. Cause, even though it’s not usually the case, one party’s got it in their head that, Who the #$@#$ are y’to tell me I’m not good enough?

No, won’t do divorces.

Y’wanna turn 10 craptastic apartments that share three bathrooms into four? Get the dude you love into the country legally? Register a trademark and sue someone? Raise $3 million in six weeks? Dual boot Windows on your mac so y’can save your Windows star ratings into iTunes and vice versa?

Yeah, I can do that for you.

Can work cheap, fast, or through – but y’can only pick two outta three.

YASYCTAI: Get back to finishing up that thesis/big project. (weeks/2 pts)

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business personal

Affected

My year still begins in September

An alfresco restaurant in downtown NYC.

My phone’s been ringing again. Nuthin steady, nuthin huge, a trickle, really. But it’s something. And after months of nuthin, something’s good.

It’s a bit odd, to be busy again with things for pure monetary exchange. The humdrum of work again.

But it’s a good thing; the cadence of waking up, making coffee – for two oftentimes – PB&J; or oatmeal, Good Morning America, and then…work?

Well, it’s hardly work yet. But it’s something.

Always said that my year begins in September. The rhythm of regularity. Am looking forward to it now more than in years.

It’s weird, to be excited for the coming monotony.

———-

September 11th again. Has it been eight years already?

Someone told me that I dwell too much on it considering I wasn’t “affected.”

Didn’t know what to say, so I changed the subject. How can one explain what it’s like?

Location: same black chair; different room
Mood: busy
Music: Got me affected, spun me 1-80 degrees

Categories
business personal

Something to me

Sunset over Hoboken, NJ pier

Sorry I’ve not posted in a while, been hella busy. Moving from one part of my building to another. Thought it’d be easy but it’s not cause one collects a great deal of – for lack of a better word – crap in 36 years. Everything has a story to it; some stories I wanna relive, some I’d rather forget.

Suppose that’s hardly news to anyone.

See that pic above? You might have seen it before. Love that pic for reasons only I and another person might know. My pastor once said that you don’t love a picture because of the paper it’s printed on. You love a picture for what it represents.

And yeah, I try to donate or toss as much of my stuff as I can. But I got some ratty things that I love, not cause they’re worth something, but cause they’re worth some thing to me. So when the guy moving in picks something up and says, Hey can you bring the garbage over so I can toss this? I reply, Oh, gimme that, I’ll toss it.

And slip it into my back pocket to put it away later, safely behind all the other crap I love, not cause it’s worth something, but cause it’s worth some thing to me.

A ball at 583 Park Avenue

Last week, went to a genuine ball. Was a fundraiser event for Helen Keller International: $1,500 a plate, auctions going for $50,000. The full nine.

Sat at a table of lawyers and next to a pretty blond. $1,500 dinners are wasted on people like me; always think, Man, I could have made that better. Probably not true but it’s my head, I get to think what I wanna.

Had this cool British auctioneer that was going nuts; made me wanna bid for something. Couldn’t though, one trip to Umbria cost like $50K.

Managed to get semi-floated in; felt I should contribute something and I did, in my own way.

On the way there and back, got caught in the rain. It’s all just peaks and valleys, isn’t it?

So, you miss me?

HKI ball at 583 Park Avenue
Christie's auctioneer at Helen Keller's 583 Park Avenue Gala
HKI Umbia auction

Location: my new(ish) room
Mood: beat
Music: been looking so long at these pictures of you (Spotify)

Categories
business personal

First of the Month

Location: a beige sofa
Mood: awake
Music: can’t think of the right words to say


Secretary: It’s that bitch Janet from Bill’s office on the phone. Man, I can’t…
Me: (interrupting) Please tell me she’s on hold!
Her: I’m not you, Logan…
Me: Hey, what…?
Her: (turning back to phone, singsongy) Helloooo Janet, Logan’s right here. Please wait? (turning to me, flatly) Bitch, line one.

The first of the month is always…stressful. I have to write five-figures worth of checks every first of the month:

  • mortgage
  • office rent
  • salaries
  • utilities
  • equipment costs
  • car payments
  • credit cards
  • insurance

The Devil’s laughing in my head all the damn time.

Got home close to ten that night and a redhead I was seeing stopped by to drop off something so I invited her in for some rum.

Her: I’m just killing time with him. He tells me things like he misses me and I just don’t wanna hear it. At least the extra-curricular activities’re interesting. Most of the time.
Me: And the other times?
Her: I fake it.
Me: Jeez.
Her: I’ve got things to do! (pause) Y’know, he doesn’t even drink. I mean he lets me drink but…
Me: Man, that’s like giving yourself a roofie.
Her: (laughs) I suppose it is. So…tell me about Heartgirl.
Me: (grins)

Speaking of Heartgirl, saw her on Thursday.

Her: I think I’m afraid of being in a relationship.
Me: Yeah. I know what you mean.
Her: I hate your taste in music. (pause) But I like you.
Me: (shrugging) Works for me.

YASYCTAI: Clean the bathroom; you know it needs it. (30 mins / 1pt)