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ALC

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So something that I have noticed in regards to a shift in mindset.

Before, I was motivated by being able to own cool stuff. I love fast cars. I love to travel. I want fancy watches and high end electronics.

As some of you know, we had a baby a squeak over a month ago. Now that is all I can think about. Sure I still want the fancy stuff, but when I really deep-down think about what I want, it all revolves around family. I think that if I had 100k in the bank to spend, not a penny of it would go towards toys for me. It would all go towards facilitating family.

I want a larger house, but this isn't for some gaudy reason to show off. I want something that a community can gather at. I want family and friends to want to come over, for it to be a destination to get away and build relationships. I want to be able to fly and see family that is on the other side of the country, or a different country all together.

I am sure the toys will come, but they have been bumped to the bottom of the list in a big way.

Sorry for boring you all with that, back to business!

So a while back I saw a big delivery truck that advertised on the side what it is that their company does. I thought to myself "GPM, this looks like a company that needs what we have, I better find out how to talk to them". I ended up finding their purchasing and logistics manager on LinkedIn. After some back-and-forth we started to email each other. Turns out they can use what we have. We discussed volumes and frequency and well as pricing, and came to something that sound agreeable between us.

Today I drove down to meet him in person, and dropped off a sample for them to test. If all goes well, we could become their newest supplier.

This business might not go anywhere, but if it does it literally came about from me seeing a delivery truck while out on a walk and following up on it. Keep your eyes open, there are literally opportunities all over the place.
Beautiful ! A simple look and a bit of curiosity can bring business ! Awesome.
 
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GPM

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So I am in the process of writing a stack of letters by hand, which will be mailed out in hand-addressed envelops. These will go to the COO's of various companies that we have an interest in. I am finding their information from their corporate websites (most list this information) and/or LinkedIn.

The letter is going to be short and sweet. It will contain no pitch or call to action. Simply a nice concise statement on company letterhead, and the inclusion of my business card. I am borrowing heavily from John D. Rockefeller for the tone and subject. He may have done this over 100 years ago, and done it in person (pretty hard with gatekeepers today) but I believe that the power of written word in ones hands may even hold more sway today than it did back then. I guess we will see how it goes.

I will let you guys know how it turns out.

To industry!
 

GPM

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Hit a bad piece of news in regards to this. The one company that we may have been able to do some business with, is not going to work out. For whatever reason, we did not meet their testing requirements.

I tried to get more feedback about what caused this not to work in the application, but I got a canned answer along the lines of "does not fit our needs for this application". We have a feeling we know why, but are not 100% sure. It sucks, but the big fish are still being reeled in and it works for their applications.
 

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Hit a bad piece of news in regards to this. The one company that we may have been able to do some business with, is not going to work out. For whatever reason, we did not meet their testing requirements.

I tried to get more feedback about what caused this not to work in the application, but I got a canned answer along the lines of "does not fit our needs for this application". We have a feeling we know why, but are not 100% sure. It sucks, but the big fish are still being reeled in and it works for their applications.


Any chance of re-formulating on your hunch, and then re-opening the talks? Or is the door closed?
 
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GPM

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Any chance of re-formulating on your hunch

Would not be worth it in this case. If this is something that we run in to a lot in the future it could be something to address. However, this was a small account that would have just been some extra gravy. Either way I have their contact info and might hit them up in the future and see what we can work out.

So we are still plugging away at this. It is literally 3-weeks between each communication that I get back from one major player. I just keep going though. Lots of calls, leaving messages, emails... anything I can to keep myself on their radar. Each time I think it is hopeless I end up getting a communication back and I realize that by keeping on them, this deal stays alive.

If they were not interested, they wouldn't keep (slowly) moving forward. I always need to remind myself of this and just keep hounding them.

Some good points of news though. I have a phone meeting with their sourcing department tomorrow. As best I can figure out, this is the last thing that we need to figure out. I also had a great conversation with a higher-up at another company who thinks that what we have may work for several of their customers. I am going to be pursuing this HARD once this main deal goes through, as it will be a pretty significant proof-of-concept in a real world scenario.

Just to put this in to perspective for those trying to think big. Our first meeting with this potential customer was in NOVEMBER 2017. That is over a year later with zero income from this, all the while accumulating expenses, and spending a fair amount of time putting this all together. It is driving us insane that we are where we are at over a year later, but unfortunately this is how the game is played. This is also insane that this is how the game is played, and we fully plan on taking advantage of just how ancient this all is once we start making a name for ourselves.

You have to be willing to put in YEARS with no expected return in order to get those massive world-changing numbers later on. Like ol' GC says, he hammered for years and years before he became an "overnight success".
 

GPM

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Success!!!!

We are going through the fine print and details. But looks like it is all going through.

They are going to be emailing me the contact for where we will be shipping the goods, and the billing will all go through this person as well.

I don't yet know the exact order quantity or frequency (this is a consumable product), or the initial order date, but it is a go. This should all be sorted out soon, and with any luck it will become regular orders that get automatically filled whenever they need it, which will be very regular.

For anyone who has read or gone through Jordan Belfort's sales books or program, he talks about setting anchors when you are in peak states. He says you should set these anchors through actions and scents. You can then recall these states through going through those actions and smelling those unique scents.

I ordered these things called "boom boom" sticks (Thanks for grabbing them for me @biophase) which are unique and powerful scents in a tube. I have had it sitting in my drawer since February of this year, and just now opened it and grabbed a whiff. I forgot to do my action, but that is okay, I can do it the next time we get a big sale or move forward on a powerful event like this.

The end goal of that is that every time I have a major meeting or conversation, I can do the action and smell this smell, and be in that peak state again, which should help me rock and be on top of the event.

Stay tuned for more success...
 

GPM

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Well that was fast. Like crazy fast. It went from "I am not sure on the details on when we will need our first order" over the phone, to receiving a confirmation email with an order 30 minutes later.

Based on previous conversations with them we knew roughly how much they needed, but they made it sound like it was not as much as we were hoping. While I don't yet have the frequency for when they will need to order again, they went and absolutely BLEW UP my expectations on a first order. So yea, this is insanely good news. I imagine that once we are officially in place and used in a real-world environment (as opposed to just lab tests), all the doors will open up on them using our product.

The ball has been set in motion, we have a hundred steps to take from here that we were waiting on. January is going to be a freaking whirlwind of activity to capitalize on this.
 
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Kak

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Well that was fast. Like crazy fast. It went from "I am not sure on the details on when we will need our first order" over the phone, to receiving a confirmation email with an order 30 minutes later.

Based on previous conversations with them we knew roughly how much they needed, but they made it sound like it was not as much as we were hoping. While I don't yet have the frequency for when they will need to order again, they went and absolutely BLEW UP my expectations on a first order. So yea, this is insanely good news. I imagine that once we are officially in place and used in a real-world environment (as opposed to just lab tests), all the doors will open up on them using our product.

The ball has been set in motion, we have a hundred steps to take from here that we were waiting on. January is going to be a freaking whirlwind of activity to capitalize on this.

@GPM is the man to watch for 2019! Hell freaking YES!!!

Everyone that reads this should dump 500 rep on Mr @GPM right freaking now. Trust me. Do it.

Congrats Buddy, you have kicked constant a$$ through the most bureaucratic mess I have seen in a LONG time! You've earned a closer dinner and closer Christmas for that matter!

You are going to be able to give your family the world.

FOLKS... Notice the time frame on this thread. This is what hard work looks like.
 
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GPM

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I am just throwing this out there for anyone reading. When this started I was so hesitant about everything due to my own self limiting beliefs. I used to have to pump myself up for 10 minutes before a phone call, put the number in my phone, and hit dial before I could stop myself from doing it.

Fast forward to right now and I am literally in negotiations with a Vice President at a pretty major company. Why I am talking to a VP and not just some lackey, who the heck knows! But here we are. It might have to do with never even trying to go through the small fish on this, I went straight to the top and worked my way down to whoever was going to need this.

I think that this is a better way of doing business, rather than filling out the "contact us" form or calling someone's 1-800 or secretary number.
 

MTEE1985

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Everyone that reads this should dump 500 rep on Mr @GPM right freaking now. Trust me. Do it.

In my limited time on the forum I have learned of Kak says do something, just freaking do it so...rep sent!

@GPM Unbelievable man, you’ve done in less than a year what 99.999% of people couldn’t do in a decade.

@MJ DeMarco @Vigilante might be time for a thread upgrade!
 
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GPM

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So we are now set up to be suppliers for 2 of these major vendors. Through them we can move product to nearly any company in North America who wants our goods. That is the plan anyways.

At this point in time my job is to keep prodding a few key people at a few different companies to just put an order in. All the pieces of the puzzle are in the place, now we just have to get the ball rolling and it should be fairly straight forward.

I can not stress just how easy this can be. For anyone who is scared to do something, just start talking to people. I shit you not, the last 2 weeks I have been talking to old contacts I have in the industry and just asking simple questions. I also gave my brother who is working in an adjacent industry to what I am dealing in to ask a few key questions to anyone he is talking to.

By doing this I came back with some small nuggets of information, which I then just honed into more specific questions I could ask. I came up with a name of a product. I googled that product, came up with the company that makes it. From there I talked to someone in that company, got referred from WITHIN the company to their buyer. So now I am going to be talking to their buyer at their headquarters AND I have a reference from within their own company. This last little bit literally happened this morning.

It is not rocket science, you just need to do a little bit of digging and get on the phone or send some emails. Never be afraid to talk to anyone. Titan's of industry are flesh and blood, same as anyone else.

I am not selling private labeled coasters or wine bottle openers, I am not negotiating to save $50 on a sample from China. The size of these orders would probably make most people's eyes water. And each time I think that I am going after something big, it isn't really. There are 100 ways to go about this making it even bigger and last even longer.

For anyone who has some big grand idea out there, GO AFTER IT. One bite at a time. This stuff does not happen overnight, and there is literally no limit to the size that anything can be. It all starts the same though, one piece of action, which then gets built upon by another piece of action. Before you know it you have 100 pieces in place and are putting deals together.
 

GPM

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All set to go. They are calling me before the end of the week to let me know when to expect an order.

I am not going to say anything more than that, but the phone call had some seriously good news as well. Looks like they may have been playing some of this close to their chest, and now that we are officially going to be supplying them, the real numbers are going to be coming out soon.

Persistence, persistence, persistence. There were 100 times I could have given up, or just accepted that I left them a message and was waiting for them. Any one of those times this could have just gone nowhere. There is a reason that these companies have such shitty service, the employees they deal with do just that. They do the absolute minimum to get by. We are providing excellent service and I think it is starting to show. I have already been thanked by someone for keeping them in the loop, as no one ever thought to do so with them before.

It is comments like that that let me know I am on the right track and I need to keep going.

Prepare for BIG things. I am flying here folks! That positive feedback loop is kicking in, and it is making going after more business even easier.

My wife and new baby are pretty happy as well. I was let go from a 6-figure job in the summer of 2017 and have been working for free since then. You want stress? Try doing that with a wife and a brand new baby! Needless to say, she is happy beyond words and just amazingly excited for all of this.

For anyone struggling through the Desert of Desertion, KEEP GOING!!! The ONLY way to reach that light at the end of the tunnel is to keep going. If you give up you will literally never reach it. A few years of struggle is NOTHING when compared to the alternative being "never".
 

amp0193

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I am not selling private labeled coasters or wine bottle openers, I am not negotiating to save $50 on a sample from China. The size of these orders would probably make most people's eyes water. And each time I think that I am going after something big, it isn't really. There are 100 ways to go about this making it even bigger and last even longer.

What's funny is that it can take the same, or less, time to close a low dollar deal as a $XXX,XXX.

Some of the largest ROI of mine on invested time have been a few short back and forths with someone highly influential.

But in the day to day, it can be easy to get sucked into haggling over pennies with tire-kickers, if you let it happen. Not every deal is worth closing.

Always remember the value of your time. (saying this for myself as much as anyone).
 
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amp0193

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I have already been thanked by someone for keeping them in the loop, as no one ever thought to do so with them before.

Number of times someone has thanked me for following up consistently: countless

Number of times someone has told me to stop emailing them so much: never (except for cold contacts that never showed any interest to begin with)

My wife and new baby are pretty happy as well. I was let go from a 6-figure job in the summer of 2017 and have been working for free since then. You want stress? Try doing that with a wife and a brand new baby! Needless to say, she is happy beyond words and just amazingly excited for all of this.

Wow!
 

GPM

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So I am up watching the baby tonight, my wife needs a break. She has been an absolute dream, and watches the baby nearly every single night so that I can get a good night sleep to keep working on what I need to work on.

I went back through this thread and read most of the posts over again. I nearly did not start this progress thread. I felt like I had nothing to offer anyone and even writing it might be a bit of a waste as I really did not have much movement on anything.

Well let me tell you, reading about how long and crappy this has been, and all the little things I had to do to get where I am now... Wow! What a change. I can remember the state of mind I was in while posting, and I look at where I am now. I honestly feel like a different person. My confidence and ability to deal with these people has gone through the roof, and my growth is exponential. Feeling the way I do now while looking back at my old posts, I am incredibly excited for 'future me' to be looking back at 'today me' to see how much further I have grown.

Starting a progress thread has given me some snapshots in time to go back and look at. If anyone has a business that they are completely serious about and working on, but you don't yet have a progress thread, get on it now! Your future self will thank you.
 

amp0193

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Your future self will thank you.

My future self can't stomach my first progress thread from 5 years ago. It's tough to read!

Glad it's there though.

Kind of like that high school Xanga that probably still exists some where.
 
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Andy Black

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Yeah. I have a 4.5 year old progress thread on the inside. I started a new one for 2019, but will link them both together. One day I’ll maybe read through them from start to finish.
 

B. Cole

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So we have been grinding away at this. These large companies move at a glacial pace. I think to myself "okay this is going to take a while, I will give it a week, and then for good measure and a tad of insanity I will give it one more week after that". Two months later we move that baby step forward... When I say slow, I mean a city paving project and pothole filling that takes an entire season has more action than this.

Badass @GPM ! I just caught up with this thread, and connected super hard with your frustrations of stuff moving at other people’s pace. Nobody ever loves your business like you!

Plenty of bus stops along the road that say quit and go home, I’m proud of you for jogging on by. Keep kicking a$$!
 

GPM

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So the big stuff - It. Still. Has. Not. Gone. Through.

We were all geared up for the sales to start at the end of December 2018. We were vetted, our material had gone through the lab testing, we solved the vendor issue, everyone is happy and ready to go. We had an email saying that they wanted an order. And then? Nothing! Just drops off the map completely. I have been trying to figure out what is going on, and every now and then I get a small flash of light.

One week I am on the phone with these guys, and they are sounding like they want 10x as much as they originally wanted. They want to set us up as a direct vendor and are making sure we are able to handle the size of orders that they want, and have the capability to back this how they need it. Everything is great and we want to help them out any way they want. Then silence...

It was not a small amount of work that three companies went through in order for all of this to be vetted, so I am still confident that it will still happen, it is just a matter of when. It sucks on our end because this is our livelihood, for everyone else they still collect their paycheck every two weeks.

One ray of sunlight is that our original testing was for one application, they are currently testing it out for several more applications. So the big picture event keeps getting bigger. However, that is not much consolation back at home for the day-to-day when I have a baby sucking the food back and pooping it back out like it is going out of style
 
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GPM

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The small stuff - This. F*cking. Sucks.

So I have a single pallet of material coming in from China. It has to land in Vancouver, clear customs, and then ship mainland to Calgary. I am out of the country for a month in Mexico, so not going to be physically present for any of this.

I have been in constant contact with my freight forwarder the entire time because I need to arrange all of this from out of country. They are aware that I will be away as well. The last time I heard from then my order "was delayed at sea due to a storm". Then magically on Monday they tell me that my product has landed and I need to pay for my shipment and customs ASAP. I pay these on Tuesday, to which they reply I also need to pay for 8 days of storage in Vancouver since my product has been sitting there too long.

Once I paid for my customs they released the pallet to Calgary and it should arrive by tomorrow. Now the real fun starts because the storage fees in Calgary are 3x more than they were in Vancouver.

The best part about all of this? My father was going to pick this up for me and handle it on to the final destination, with the caveat that this had to happen before March 8th. March 8 happens to be the day it gets to Calgary, so his help won't happen.

I am trying to figure out WTF happened with my FF, but I am guessing that this is a case of dealing with people who don't give a damn about their jobs. If they had done their jobs and told me when the pallet arrived so that I could have it clear customs, there would have been no extra charges and it would have been handled nicely in Calgary. Done and done. But instead I am looking at close to $1000 in extra fees on this shipment due to their incompetence, which of course I am going to fight.

Keep in mind all this work and headache is over some stupid product that is going to net me like $10,000 or some pittance like that. Plus I still have to do all of the work in order to even sell these goods. Plus all of the horrible fees UP FRONT that I have to pay for.

The amount of work does not change whether I am dealing with the business that has the potential to generate income for my great grandkids, or this crap that pays for a few bills or office supplies. What would you rather work on? I know which one I pick...

Hours are hours. Keep that in mind when you are working on your "business". Are you working on a "time for money exchange" or are you working for something that can actually make a difference in your life. It is actually significantly more stressful for me to be working on this small shit than trying to blow up some massive deal. It is enjoyable when I know I am trying to move mountains, it is a pain in the a$$ when I am fighting over tens of dollars.
 

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The small stuff - This. F*cking. Sucks.

So I have a single pallet of material coming in from China. It has to land in Vancouver, clear customs, and then ship mainland to Calgary. I am out of the country for a month in Mexico, so not going to be physically present for any of this.

I have been in constant contact with my freight forwarder the entire time because I need to arrange all of this from out of country. They are aware that I will be away as well. The last time I heard from then my order "was delayed at sea due to a storm". Then magically on Monday they tell me that my product has landed and I need to pay for my shipment and customs ASAP. I pay these on Tuesday, to which they reply I also need to pay for 8 days of storage in Vancouver since my product has been sitting there too long.

Once I paid for my customs they released the pallet to Calgary and it should arrive by tomorrow. Now the real fun starts because the storage fees in Calgary are 3x more than they were in Vancouver.

The best part about all of this? My father was going to pick this up for me and handle it on to the final destination, with the caveat that this had to happen before March 8th. March 8 happens to be the day it gets to Calgary, so his help won't happen.

I am trying to figure out WTF happened with my FF, but I am guessing that this is a case of dealing with people who don't give a damn about their jobs. If they had done their jobs and told me when the pallet arrived so that I could have it clear customs, there would have been no extra charges and it would have been handled nicely in Calgary. Done and done. But instead I am looking at close to $1000 in extra fees on this shipment due to their incompetence, which of course I am going to fight.

Keep in mind all this work and headache is over some stupid product that is going to net me like $10,000 or some pittance like that. Plus I still have to do all of the work in order to even sell these goods. Plus all of the horrible fees UP FRONT that I have to pay for.

The amount of work does not change whether I am dealing with the business that has the potential to generate income for my great grandkids, or this crap that pays for a few bills or office supplies. What would you rather work on? I know which one I pick...

Hours are hours. Keep that in mind when you are working on your "business". Are you working on a "time for money exchange" or are you working for something that can actually make a difference in your life. It is actually significantly more stressful for me to be working on this small shit than trying to blow up some massive deal. It is enjoyable when I know I am trying to move mountains, it is a pain in the a$$ when I am fighting over tens of dollars.

Absolutely right. A very uncomfortable truth. It is, more often than not, easier to think bigger than it is to duke it out with small economies of scale.

Sucks man, keep us posted on how you inevitably solve this issue satisfactorily.
 

QDF

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The small stuff - This. F*cking. Sucks.

So I have a single pallet of material coming in from China. It has to land in Vancouver, clear customs, and then ship mainland to Calgary. I am out of the country for a month in Mexico, so not going to be physically present for any of this.

I have been in constant contact with my freight forwarder the entire time because I need to arrange all of this from out of country. They are aware that I will be away as well. The last time I heard from then my order "was delayed at sea due to a storm". Then magically on Monday they tell me that my product has landed and I need to pay for my shipment and customs ASAP. I pay these on Tuesday, to which they reply I also need to pay for 8 days of storage in Vancouver since my product has been sitting there too long.

Once I paid for my customs they released the pallet to Calgary and it should arrive by tomorrow. Now the real fun starts because the storage fees in Calgary are 3x more than they were in Vancouver.

The best part about all of this? My father was going to pick this up for me and handle it on to the final destination, with the caveat that this had to happen before March 8th. March 8 happens to be the day it gets to Calgary, so his help won't happen.

I am trying to figure out WTF happened with my FF, but I am guessing that this is a case of dealing with people who don't give a damn about their jobs. If they had done their jobs and told me when the pallet arrived so that I could have it clear customs, there would have been no extra charges and it would have been handled nicely in Calgary. Done and done. But instead I am looking at close to $1000 in extra fees on this shipment due to their incompetence, which of course I am going to fight.

Keep in mind all this work and headache is over some stupid product that is going to net me like $10,000 or some pittance like that. Plus I still have to do all of the work in order to even sell these goods. Plus all of the horrible fees UP FRONT that I have to pay for.

The amount of work does not change whether I am dealing with the business that has the potential to generate income for my great grandkids, or this crap that pays for a few bills or office supplies. What would you rather work on? I know which one I pick...

Hours are hours. Keep that in mind when you are working on your "business". Are you working on a "time for money exchange" or are you working for something that can actually make a difference in your life. It is actually significantly more stressful for me to be working on this small shit than trying to blow up some massive deal. It is enjoyable when I know I am trying to move mountains, it is a pain in the a$$ when I am fighting over tens of dollars.

I've worked with similar freight forwarders in the past. It was like pulling teeth just to get a simple update on my shipment, and when there was some sort of delay, I would receive no notification unless I asked them about it.

I've started working with another freight forwarder a couple months ago, and so far they have been truly world-class. Constant updates, great customer service, better prices, and everything I need to scale. I've already moved probably 5 shipments with them from China and Malaysia to the US, and they've been great. They also work with a lot of other large brands that have already scaled big.

If you want their contact info, feel free to shoot me a message.
 
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GPM

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Well it has been a long and hard battle.

Our first meeting with our potential customer was in November 2017. As of this morning we just received our first PO.

Some small details on the timeline involving this are as follows:
  • July 2017 - Communications begin
  • November 2017 - We drop off our material for testing
  • Summer 2018 - Our material completed lab testing and approved
  • Fall 2018 - We jump through a million hoops to be able to be a vendor of this company
  • December 2018 - They tell us they want to order, and send an email stating as much
  • March 2018 - I have been the squeaky wheel for 3-4 months trying to get them to actually put the order in. This includes flying down for meetings. They finally put an order in, which I received this morning
So this was the first major hurdle to overcome. Everything prior to this was essentially just a bunch of work with no payoff, now the real fun starts. This first order will prove out our concept in the real world, not just in the laboratory. Once this is successful it essentially opens the door for us to be able to generate contracts with our customers. We want steady orders, we will provide guarantee pricing and availability and whatever else needs to be done in order to make everyone happy.

One nice thing about the order being so slow, is that while all that was going on, lab testing was continuing on expanding the need for our material. The potential keeps increasing, and now that we have jumped through all the hoops and actual orders are being placed, it will be as easy as them asking for more and we get them more. No more games.

The real fun is that we now have the most respected name in the industry as a customer. The weight that this carries will be massive, and I can now take this with me as we increase our customer base. We literally started with the top dog in the entire industry, and won.
 

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Well it has been a long and hard battle.

Our first meeting with our potential customer was in November 2017. As of this morning we just received our first PO.

Some small details on the timeline involving this are as follows:
  • July 2017 - Communications begin
  • November 2017 - We drop off our material for testing
  • Summer 2018 - Our material completed lab testing and approved
  • Fall 2018 - We jump through a million hoops to be able to be a vendor of this company
  • December 2018 - They tell us they want to order, and send an email stating as much
  • March 2018 - I have been the squeaky wheel for 3-4 months trying to get them to actually put the order in. This includes flying down for meetings. They finally put an order in, which I received this morning
So this was the first major hurdle to overcome. Everything prior to this was essentially just a bunch of work with no payoff, now the real fun starts. This first order will prove out our concept in the real world, not just in the laboratory. Once this is successful it essentially opens the door for us to be able to generate contracts with our customers. We want steady orders, we will provide guarantee pricing and availability and whatever else needs to be done in order to make everyone happy.

One nice thing about the order being so slow, is that while all that was going on, lab testing was continuing on expanding the need for our material. The potential keeps increasing, and now that we have jumped through all the hoops and actual orders are being placed, it will be as easy as them asking for more and we get them more. No more games.

The real fun is that we now have the most respected name in the industry as a customer. The weight that this carries will be massive, and I can now take this with me as we increase our customer base. We literally started with the top dog in the entire industry, and won.

Persistence. Pays. Off.

Great job bud!
 

GPM

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If anyone was wondering what happened with the warehouse and my goods. I called the Calgary warehouse a few times while I was in Mexico but was never able to connect with their customer service gal, I had left her a few messages explaining my situation though and asking if they could put a hold on my charges.

When I went to pick up my goods there was no mention of any charge, and the paper I signed said that all fees had to be paid upfront before pickup, so there must not have been any. Either way I ended up with my stuff and it is at my own storage location now.

I still have a bill for the Vancouver storage. I told my freight forwarder that it was not acceptable. They held the package all the way past the free storage date, and into 8 days of paid storage before they even told me that my goods had arrived. They tried to pin it on me and say it was my fault. The beauty of communicating over email is that it is all date and time stamped. I just pulled all that data and sent it to them and told them again that it was unacceptable, and that if they had done their job and notified me of when my goods were landing that there would have be 0 fees, and that I would have the goods in my possession before any fees would have appeared.

I have not heard back from them and that was nearly 2 weeks ago now. I hope they don't put it through to collections as I don't know what I would do at that point, but right now if they ask me to pay for that bill again I will tell them they can take me to court and get it from from me that way.
 
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GPM

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PO is in. The ball is rolling. I estimate* that it should be three more months to know how this all went. At that point I can begin working on setting up recurring orders with these guys. In the meantime we are working on a second product with them as well. Word on the street is that they continue to build out the usage for our material, so the original yearly estimates should be incredibly low compared to where this will end up.

I had some fun with these guys on some changes we wanted to the PO. Some of the terms and such which were negotiated before hand, and they promptly wanted to throw out and put new ones in in their favor. We ended up having them meet the original terms, and had it all put in writing on the order sheet and emails. Our asses should be covered. We also got a little screwed by some other details on our manufacture. I will detail this some more once everything is 100% done and done and we have some contracts in hand


My personal life was thrown for a bit of a loop this weekend. Our rental lease is up the end of April, and we had planned on signing for 1 more year. That would give us lots of time to settle into some recurring revenue and move into a proper house for a family. The owner ended up selling our condo to their grandson, and he wants to move in at the end of summer. So we are out the end of July. The bind is that I have technically not been "employed" since summer of 2017, and these ventures have not paid out yet. So I am in the position of not having a large bank account, and not having any income statements for the next rental location.


*I pray that this doesn't take 6-12 months like everything else seems to take. I am going to be on them HARD to keep moving forward. After all, it is in their best interests to roll this out as quick as they can.
 
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MTEE1985

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PO is in. The ball is rolling. I estimate* that it should be three more months to know how this all went. At that point I can begin working on setting up recurring orders with these guys. In the meantime we are working on a second product with them as well. Word on the street is that they continue to build out the usage for our material, so the original yearly estimates should be incredibly low compared to where this will end up.

I had some fun with these guys on some changes we wanted to the PO. Some of the terms and such which were negotiated before hand, and they promptly wanted to throw out and put new ones in in their favor. We ended up having them meet the original terms, and had it all put in writing on the order sheet and emails. Our asses should be covered. We also got a little screwed by some other details on our manufacture. I will detail this some more once everything is 100% done and done and we have some contracts in hand


My personal life was thrown for a bit of a loop this weekend. Our rental lease is up the end of April, and we had planned on signing for 1 more year. That would give us lots of time to settle into some recurring revenue and move into a proper house for a family. The owner ended up selling our condo to their grandson, and he wants to move in at the end of summer. So we are out the end of July. The bind is that I have technically not been "employed" since summer of 2017, and these ventures have not paid out yet. So I am in the position of not having a large bank account, and not having any income statements for the next rental location.


*I pray that this doesn't take 6-12 months like everything else seems to take. I am going to be on them HARD to keep moving forward. After all, it is in their best interests to roll this out as quick as they can.

What you have accomplished in this process is nothing short of incredible. I hope the payoff is every bit what you have earned and then some.
 

GPM

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@MTEE1985 as much as I like to pretend like I know what I am doing, I am just along for the ride.

Someone came to me with this idea, and this is their baby. They are the rock behind this, I'm just running with it and trying to make it as big as I can.

They had the legwork done, and handle the tricky finances and such. I had the industry knowledge and contacts. I don't think that either one of us could have done this the way it is playing out without the other.

It started out as a potential business opportunity and some phone calls. It is turning into what will be an industry disruptor that will change the game, and a strong friendship as well.

I read somewhere that business from friendship is generally utter crap, but friendship from business is amazingly powerful. I am blessed to say that I am experiencing this first hand and it is life changing.
 
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Andy Black

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I read somewhere that business from friendship is generally utter crap, but friendship from business is amazingly powerful.
Rep.
 

GPM

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I can't believe that my last real update was March 30th. So things have been a whirlwind since that time.

We are just now having the funds on this order transferred to us. It was a bit of a rodeo that I can't talk about just yet, but we went through some shit to make this all happen. Everything ended up working out, and the end user has our stuff and is setting it up for a real world trial WHICH IS F*ckING MASSIVE!! I had to yell that out, because once that is done this makes us so legitimate in this world it is not even funny.

We are in the early stage talks on another product with this same customer. This came about during a lunch meeting with them. Fingers crossed that we can build on our relationship with them and start another product with them.

Another customer has a US and a Canadian division, and they don't always talk to each other. However, doing business with one automatically builds credibility with the other. We have previously tried to make some things work between us, which just never ended up happening. This looks like it will finally happen now, which is excellent and will get that ball rolling on growing this with these guys. The cool part is that I have been only trying to push the US business lately, and it was their Canadian division that came to me and wants this. A little bit of that pull-action going on? I hope so.

I can't wait to be able to update you guys on the shit that we had to go through to make this work. It makes my brain want to bleed thinking about it, but most of that malarkey is past us. Going forward this should be as easy as throwing a greased pig down a slip and slide.

We are still looking at 6-12 months before we can get a contract in place for recurring orders, and we are very excited for that. That is where the game really starts to heat up.
 

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