Today was very tactical – with a touch of strategic thrown in.
Start off moving cash around, and getting it into the right places and right companies. Xmas cash flow is like a waterfall, so the physical cash moves seems to take a bit time. Update my overall cash flow for 2009 and 2010 using current forecasted sales. Things look nice and strong. Missing P/L reporting BUT cash flow is good for a few years out. I was thinking today that my goal for this month has to be to get a CFO in place by January 1. Going to have to get Eileen on it.
Reviewed some HR policies and was VERY happy to see that the team is really stepping up to the plate. They are suggesting beautiful things and working together and I’m just being used as a sounding block and point of last check. Love seeing it. Organize a corporate retreat through Eileen to plan 2010 – its going to be a first one for us of this style and I’m quite looking forward to it.
Further, looked at the site today and double bonus is on, shipping deadlines in place – all auto magically happening – without me having to even thing about it. I’m noting this here since this is the stuff that 2 years ago I was deeply involved in – so its an amazing reminder how far we have come.
Hired a lawyer today to deal with the driver issue. Perfect guy for the job – fights nice, low, dirty and below the belt. Exactly what I wanted for this situation. Its going to really suck for the guy suing me when he ends up loosing money after this – another words – he will go after me, but in the he will be poorer for it and that is after he had originally been offered 2 months payout. If I wasn’t so pissed of at him, I would almost feel bad for him.
Managed to my mind around the corporate structure again – it has been taking a lot of my brain cycles to get this right – and quite a long time – I can see why people would spend $100k+ on doing this – its bloody complicated. But, really nearly there.
Decided to go for a ERP system and farmed out the research for a new system via odesk – thinking of SAP, SAGE, etc. – something that has legs and will give me life into the $10MM–100M range. Its a bit of an over kill for now, but I had realized that every time I invested in good software in only paid me back and more.
Had an EO event this evening and had a presentation from one of the guys from YPO. Emery, the presenter, reminded me of the CEO I worked for in Canada. He moved out of the daily, into the board level and now moving into IPO stage. He is doing it for the love of it and I could very much relate to that. Lesson learned from this session is the value of relationships, networks and public image. Hmmm…nice reminder.
Sales are holding steady and volume is huge, I think we must be close to 120K customers by now, but haven’t had time to add it all up – need to do that soon – the volume amount is just phenomenal and way beyond expectations. Scaling is so clearly defined in my mind that I can literally see it. My road block now is financials – so as soon as I get that in place – we are going to take this baby off like a rocket ship. This remind me that I need to reach out to J in new year and see if there is synergy for us to work together.
On a personal note, my apartment is one more delivery away from being fully decorated. Seve did a great job decorating it for me and its been very fun coming home – such a cool place – and that was the idea. The point is, that my personal side is becoming more stable –and I think that will empower me to really bring more change to the business side. My mental energy now can change focus from personal setup into 100% business growth. Personal trainer lined up for January. Kick Ass Club, first meeting is on Saturday. Looking forward to it. Will talk more about it on Saturday (its kind of work I guess! 🙂 ) Listened all day today to “Touch & Go” – just really jazzed up day.