Fallen On Hard Times

[Paul Elliott]

Bill, I'm so sorry to learn of your temporary difficulties. PM me for my phone number and we can talk.

Paul Elliott

[WarrenD]

Given your vast experience in sales, couldn't you start a sales and marketing agency ? Many years ago I interviewed for an agency that took up sales responsibility for various companies and made a commission out of the sales proceeds. They'd started small, with just 2 partners, but eventually grew to a 50-60 employee agency. That seems like something that would be well suited to your skills.

[Bobjob]

Bill, like Paul E said these troubles are temporary. I appreciate you posting about hiring your friend. I know it made me reflect on my business.

Can you give us or PM us a resume so we can do the best we can for you?

I would say get rid of the truck as soon as possible and purchase a vehicle that is reliable and that could be used with Uber. I have no first hand knowledge of working with Uber, but it may be a decent job. It may not be what you want but it may be what you need.

[cbscreative]

Hey Paul, I haven't seen you around here in a while. Then again, I've taken my share of absences from here. I've found after a certain period of time it becomes easier to be absent longer. Getting caught up in daily tasks tends to fuel that but it's good to interact with people we've known virtually for years in many of our cases.

Bill is on that list and we exchanged a few PM's a while back so I'm aware of many aspects of his situation. I would second Paul's "temporary" statement and hope the PM exchanges have been encouraging to Bill.

As for Uber, I know Uber drivers and the challenges they face made me curious to check them out further a while back. How well you can do is determined by how mature they are in the market. When they swoop in, drivers are baited with a pretty good deal. As they get more entrenched, the deal for drivers gets worse over time. They have a very sizable hate club due to their business practices. Based on what I found out and the things I've learned from drivers I know, the criticism is well deserved.

[SumpinSpecial]

Billbenson, what are your thoughts on doing some small-volume manufacturing? I have a few things that I want to sell in my shop, but my suppliers for those things are... not the best for various reasons. I'm not crafty at all, so I can't make them myself. Would love to find someone else who can make them. (dog harnesses, bird toys, that kind of thing)

[Business Attorney]

Bill,

Like Steve Chittenden, I've been absent from the forum for a few weeks and just read through this thread. I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. I hope Irma didn't add to them.

Not knowing what's available in your city, I can't really comment on your local options. As for the web, there are still a lot of opportunities but I think that the changes Google and Bing have made to provide answers ahead of search results have made it harder to do attract business on the internet doing what worked in the past. Personally, I think that selling services is still your best bet unless you can get products in a niche like you did before. It seems to me that giants like Amazon, Walmart, Target, eBay are hard to compete against in general merchandise unless you have a big niche like Chewy.com or Wayfair.

Is there any hope of rebuilding in the niche you already know? Or has something changed that makes it impossible? I have had clients who have reinvented themselves in the same niche and built successful new businesses by learning from what caused their prior business to fail. Of course, if its a lost cause, you are better off focusing your efforts elsewhere.

Building on your knowledge of OSHA related products certainly makes sense. It's not an area I am familiar with, since in my business the biggest safety issues are paper cuts or carpal tunnel syndrome, but even with the anti-regulatory focus of the current Federal administration, OSHA is still going to be around.

Keep us posted on your progress.