Had a bit of an edgy day today – very overloaded in terms of scheduler – so no satisfaction from any accomplishments.
Started the day at 7AM and worked on the ecommerce presentation, and 3 hours on administrative tasks. I passed on interviewing the junior developer and had the team make a hiring decision (they decided to hire).
Then I run off to Oriental Plaza to checkout the facilities for the presentation 
tomorrow – check the microphone, audio/video systems, get the lay of the room, etc.
In between, on my wireless in taxis was reviewing the work from Mina on the costing and statement of work. Not a great way to focus on a task, but nevertheless it worked – I had an hour in transit and had a good chance to review the work (it was great work so it made it easier).
Ended up running late for an interview with a Financial Controller guy, which I hate doing as it makes our company look bad – but nevertheless Mossy stepped in and helped out. The candidate was good, but the skill set doesn’t match what I need right now. This triggered the fact that I really do need to get a CFO in place ASAP. I have been hoping that Klaus would be coming on board, but that has been dragging – so I had a come-to-Jesus call with Klaus (in a car on the way to get Alex) – about weather he is in or not. Klaus is a great friend, and he right now was planning to take 3 months or 6 months off for his ‘personal’ time. So, in a way I felt a bit like an a**hole pushing him to change his life plans to come and work for me ASAP. BUT, BUT, I need a CFO, I need financial visibility, I need systems in place, I need to be able to step on the gas pedal – and I need this CFO to get the fog off my windshield. So, in a way, I realized that I was in limbo because of someone else indecision (albeit a friend) – but in business – limbo means death – so needed to get past that and move on one way or another.
Parent teacher interviews with Alex today, so I saw Alex for 30 minutes after school and then 30 minutes before I dropped her off at Lise’s. Nevertheless, this was probably the best 1 hour of the day – and seeing her and hugging her is truly one of the more rewarding moments! So, this part of the day was great.
I had asked Bert to come in and coach me a bit on the German options and also on the financial options for Klaus. My dilemma her was about being fair and ensuring that I would put forward to Klaus a fair offer, so that he could make a decision of a go/no go. Bert (and his CFO Bob) where my 3 reference point on this topic, with a consistent message from all the coaches I tapped into – so that had enabled me to put forward to Klaus a tangible offer – a finders fee plan and also an on boarding option into RedStores.com. My dilemma here is probably because I’m friends with Klaus and it can easily skew my business outlook – another words – I could be ‘overpaying’ from the business point of view simply based on the fact that I really like Klaus and that he is a friend. So having 3rd parties help with this, gave me confidence that I was not mixing friendship and business together and that my offer was based on market conditions and market standards.
So, offer went off to Klaus and the deadline for on/off is end of next week. Feels good.
After the all with Bert, I finished the SOW and budget for German project and send it off to Germany. It was really strange, but when I had left Germany after my ‘rough’ guess I had expected a number X. When the costing from Mina came in, it was literally within 0.5% of what I had guessed at. The thing is that I did not set any expectations for her for price, nor did she even have all the data. So, bottom line, its good that I am able to have an inherent knowledge of effort and costs involved to get a site up. Indicates a deep level of integration of my brain with the tools at my disposal.
From the German side, I’m looking at this from all angles and it continues to be clear that STRATEGY for this play will be the definitive factor in the go/no go for the venture and the Business Terms. Another words, if the strategy will be to be #1 German online shoe retailer in 3 years – and capture $150MM EU in volume, the Business Terms will be much different than going after a few million EU of business. Much of this will depend on the risk preference of the German partner and their vision and ambition in this field. Since they are a partner, it will need to be a joint decision as how this play, plays.
I think going after #1 German Shoe ecommerce business in Germany is the ticket – and it would actually make it a much easier play than going for #10. But, everyone in this deal has to be comfortable with what is going on – so more discussions need to follow.
Got home around midnight – put on some nice Brad jazz – and relaxed for an hour before catching Z’s.
Overall, I felt edgy through the day – but then again – I know this already about me – multitasking seems cool – BUT in reality, to put it in high school terms, it sucks! 🙂