Halloween Hope

Wednesday October 31st, 2007 - Lake Villa, IL

Today is Halloween. That’s when people dress up like someone else on the outside. I am becoming someone else on the inside. This is going to be the best holiday season I’ve ever had. That doesn’t say much but I know how miserable they’ve been in the past so I’m glad this one is looking up. Usually Halloween is when it all starts and then it’s a torturous two month reminder of how much I missed out on family stuff as a kid. I dread it every year.

This year is different. I have a little HOPE for a change. This business idea is going to be my calling for the rest of my life and I finally found my purpose. It is the most exciting and challenging project I’ve ever done and it totally plays to my likes and strengths. It’s ideal.
I was on my way to lunch with Marc Schultz when I got a call from the attorney’s office about the trade marking of the name. The process is nationwide and it costs $500. If some other business is using the name or something similar they are going to recommend I don’t use that particular name and that’s when it will get tricky. The name is a gimmick in itself.

I’ll gladly tell you what it is immediately as soon as it’s registered to me but I just can’t until that happens. Supposedly it will happen in the next day or two unless there is a glitch. I know my luck in the past. It’s all about ‘the glitch’. I’m not going to focus on that. I’ve come way too far and this is a great idea so I will take what I’m given and run with it all.

There’s nothing I can do now except wait it out. I feel like an expectant father. I am just hoping to see ten fingers and ten toes at this point, not two lobster claws or worse. I hope I get the name I’m after and I’ll go from there. The attorney asked me what category I am planning to sell merchandise and we settled on ‘mail order apparel’ for now. I will not get the other ideas I had in the mix now because there is no discount for more than one. What I need to do is get ONE category and secure a trademark and then set up a site to sell it.

The firm is going to help me with incorporation too and this is going to be quite a hassle at first but not a deal breaker. This is how to do it right and I absolutely do NOT want it a back alley under the table fly by night con game to scam a few bucks and then disappear. I want this to be a legit enterprise with a tax number and stationery and the whole shebang.

I talked to Max today and he had some very nice things to say. He is working hard with his own endeavors down in Springfield, IL. He’s got two ice cream shops and he’s been in the same boat I am and he called today to encourage me to stay with it and not give up. It was great to hear from him and he’s totally right. It would be easy to give up and it’s not a small matter to give up $500 to some lawyer I never met just so he can tell me I‘m legal. It doesn’t include the cost of the lawyer’s time or incorporation fees either. It will all add up.

There will be a lot more costs I’m sure but I’m rolling the dice with this project. I am on board for the duration and one way or another I am going to keep going until I get it up to what I envisioned it to be. I am starting the process so that’s all I can do. Now I need a list of things to do to follow and I need to DO them. Talking about it is fine but I need action.

I thought about the business all day as I got ready for the new month. I paid my rent and got that out of the way early and then prepared my Toyota to sell tomorrow. That’s a hard decision but unfortunately it’s the correct one right now. That car is SPECTACULAR. I’ll hate to see it go but if there’s one thing I do not worry about it’s finding another vehicle.

My friend Jack Bennett has a car lot in Fond Du Lac, WI. He can sell the Toyota quickly and make a few bucks for himself. I owe Jack a lot because he’s turned quite a few paying comedy gigs my way that were much appreciated at the time. He always thinks of me so it feels like I’m paying him back a little for his kindness. Plus I am making a profit on it too.

I will come out about $500 ahead of what I bought the car for and he’ll make money too so we all win. I can use the cash after my recent incident of getting my clock cleaned from my business partner making an unauthorized withdrawal of funds so the timing is perfect. I am off tomorrow and he’s got a check and we’ll hopefully do the deal and that will be it.

I suppose I could keep it if I really wanted to but the Mitsubishi is running fine and it’s a solid little machine for winter. The Camry is almost too nice for me. I’d hate to see it have to plow through a winter. That thing has seen only garages. It’s in way too good of shape.

I can always find another car. If this business works out the way I think it can I’ll be able to buy a dozen new Toyota Camrys but I probably won’t want to. I love to go hang out at the auction and I don’t see why that would stop if I had millions of dollars. I like the hunt.

I bought a couple of books today about mail order as if I need any more. I have quite an elaborate library of them and I’ve been collecting them for years. Any time I see anything I haven’t read I buy it and study it. The ones today were very different. One was from about 1975 and it was very cheap and had a few good theories. The other one was written in ‘96 and updated in 2005. It’s got a lot of current info and tips about how to work the business in the cyber age. I invested in myself and purchased both of them. I will devour each one.

I also bought a book called ‘The Tipping Point’ on recommendation from my friend Ted Perry of Fox 6 in Milwaukee. Ted said he loved the book and it might help me find a point or two I haven’t thought of yet so I’ll put that one on my reading list as well. I have all the books I need to read for the next year at least so I don’t have to buy any for a long while.

This is all coming together and I can feel it being totally the right thing to do. If I have a ‘glitch’ I’ll deal with it and learn from it and grow from it. I feel a wily wisdom from years on the road but also a wide eyed youthful rush of energy of getting into a brand new thing. If I have to change the name I’ll worry about that if and when I find that out. For now I’m grooving on the excitement of it all and I am putting together all the tasks I need to finish.

The holiday season is officially starting tomorrow and I am not the least bit depressed. I have too many fun things to do so I won’t allow myself to get down this year. I hope I am able to find some place to go to cheer others up at some point like an orphanage or an old folks home. I don’t want to sit and mope and stew about my past. That’s OVER. Hooray!