Good morning, everyone!
Just a quick check in to remind the world that Tom, and TBT, ain’t dead. Just busy with, you know, real life stuff. I have written a couple of pieces for the blog that are sitting, unpolished, waiting for me to re-read, edit, link, and post. I’ll get back to them. Especially the 1700-word “Joe Biden is a better president than you think” post I’m pretty proud of. Seriously. Compare him to the other 9 who have been in office since I was born in June of 1968, and you’ll see what I mean. That’s what I did (in 1800 words or less).
But, yeah, we’ve got to grade him on a curve to get that C+. Don’t blame me, I voted for Bernie.
Back to Tom, though, since that’s what we’re here to discuss. I mean, that’s the topic in the title, right? Twice. If the blog were named “Airplanes Being Big Airplanes” we’d be talking more about ABBA. And if it were called “Bad Ass Notes About Nothing And Such” the whole thing would be BANANAS. But it’s not. It’s about Tom, Being Tom.
What’s he been up to?
Stress. He’s been up to his armpits in worry. Really. My bandwidth is low, my every thought and being focused – day and night – on the One Big Thing (OBT). The One Big Thing.
See, sometime after my last entry the boss came to me with the number. The number? Well, for a couple of years we’ve been talking about his impending retirement and him selling the business to me. Remember that? But it had no legs for a while. He kept saying, “whatcha thinking about concerning the thing?” and I kept saying, “Don’t know, how much you want?”
That’s where the conversation would stop. He didn’t know how to figure that part out. And we’ve been REALLY busy the last couple of years. Historically good numbers. How to put a figure on it that is (a) healthy for him, (b) doable for me, and (c) fair to all parties involved?
So, then, late August he came to me and said “This is what it appraises for and I want something less than that for all your years of service. My number is X.”
And X was really cool. I mean, really cool.
So, I said “deal!” and called my finance guy and my finance guy said “uh, probably not,” which I kind of figured he’d say after being in the lurch for two years or so. So I said “cool, no problem” and I went about finding alternative means of funding (AMF).
Tomorrow I turn paperwork over to the “alternative means of funding” and cross my fingers in the hopes that, by January 1st, I might be the next owner of a little shop called Appliances Direct. Seriously excited. Seriously scared. Seriously drained of bandwidth.
I mean damn.
So, that’s the thing. TBT has been trying to get AMF to secure X and do the OBT, and the whole thing is just BANANAS.
Hope your life is just as exciting and a little less complicated than mine right now. See you soon for more about Joe and maybe less about Tom.
Maybe. 😏
Good luck with the alternative means of financing. I hope it comes through and you’re the proud owner of a TBT business soon!
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Thank you, RG! Bananas for everyone!
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You selling shares?
Are you evaluating the greater locale regarding city/county planners and their expansion intents? Redding / Shasta County will be adding 15,000 new homes in the next 5 years, kind of thing? Would such analysis substantiate your funding requests?
Cool that you’re taking the plunge. May the appliance gods smile upon you.
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I have not, but it ain’t a bad idea. What is working in my favor – or at least is supposed to – is the success of the business over these last 22 years, especially the last few, and the fact that I have been in the business, and essentially running the business, for 18 of them now. Lenders, it seems, look at this: the longevity of the current business, the experience of the borrower in the industry, and the credit worthiness of said borrower. If those are the factors most taken into account, this should be a breeze. “Should be” being the operative phrase here.
Wish luck!
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Surprised you have time to even think about blogging.
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Well, this week happens to me my week off. What I am affectionately calling (possibly) “my last vacation ever.” 😉
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I’ll drop by for more about Tom (plz not Joe again!)
Take my advice: don’t compare not so brilliant a president with a bunch of lousy ones. The lesser evil can also be evil, you know.
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Noted. More Tom and less evil world leaders. I can handle that. Still, in the Mount Rushmore of my lifetime, Joe would probably rank better, as an American President, than most of the nimrods holding that seat since 1968. Whether that means he’s a “good” president or just another “evil” world leader is open to interpretation, but on a sliding scale it places Joey in the above average category.
Essentially that means we need to do a better job picking leaders, to push an admittedly underwhelming Biden down the list. Maybe we could switch to just pulling names out of hats? I mean, we couldn’t do worse, right?
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Maybe…
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Well, at least you’re getting enough potassium. Just don’t slip or get yellow, and remember that if things go bad you can always a-peel.
Seriously, though, I hope things go well and that it all ends up being more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
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You are the king of puns, Christopher! 😂😂😂
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I’m late to this party so I hope it all worked out re the finances😊 Owning your own business is exciting and terrifying at the same time!
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Thank you, Suzanne! I am, as well, late to respond. Weird times!
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Good luck
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Thanks, Steve!
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