I have a vending business account in downtown and it is located in a federal building.
This is an account which I held for a long time already.
The building has around 1000 employees working there and my snack vending machine is located in the top floor and it also has access to a smoking area.
I’m very surprised that whenever I visit downtown there are a lot of smokers, it’s either the marijuana or the cigarette smokers and they always go in tandem.
I’m glad I already got rid of the bad habit which was extremely difficult for me.
Construction again.
I got a call from a lady and she told me that the lunch room will a construction zone and I have to remove the machine and I answered back. My machine will be going back after the renovation right? She didn’t say anything. So before the day that the construction will be commencing I visited the building and I mentioned the story to them.
The maintenance personnel and the security guard gladly offered me to place the snack machine within the building for temporary storage.
I think I would still have a fighting chance to do business since they agreed to let my machine left in the building.
Early part of the week I was doing my vending route and there was a call from a location in Richmond.
The location is not a great account but of course every little thing counts for me. To my surprise the guy on the phone was saying to remove the machine from the premises since they have sold the building for $20 Big ones.
Well of you are in Richmond city.
This place is like a boom town right now with majority of the populace coming from overseas bringing them with lots of money for investment and at the same time a new land of opportunity or perhaps a peaceful place for retirement for some.
I got to the location and I emptied the machine and the contents will be placed elsewhere over the weekend. I was talking to one of the employees if he is fine leaving this place. He told me that the business has sister locations and he will be transferred there. I was happy for him.
While I was leaving the location.
I asked again if they are still going to do business since the place was sold. He told me that he is partnering a sister company and it has a small vending machine. And continued to say that to quickly email him tonight and the new location might have space for a combo vending machine.
So maybe I was hoping that my money didn’t go down to waste.
Since I initially paid around $1,500 for this location to a locator about 1 to 2 years ago and until now have not recouped the investment that I have made.
While im writing this article.
I have already sent email to him that im offering a newer vending machine which is sleek and accepts debit credit card and is also all see thru glass refrigerated vending machine.
I hope a better tomorrow will follow suit.
I just have to communicate and do some follow-ups.
I also visited a location in east downtown during the early part of the day.
This location is always patrolled by cops and there seemed to have endless ambulance and fire truck whenever you are in the vicinity.
It is a haven on used personal items that is sold on the street. I got myself a big snack vending machine inside a pub bar and they normally open at noon time.
I was surprised that the snack machine is empty because I normally just visit the place once a month but most of the time it is still half empty.
Where is Ming ?
I also promised the bartender that I will be contributing $10 every month if the sales is good. I was looking for Ming ( the guys name ) and he was not around. I thought he had the luxury of visiting his home town in Hong Kong again. In my thoughts I wish I have the luxury of time sometimes.
As a vendor, I only spend around 20 minutes maximum in a location with 2 machines that is doing the checking, loading and refilling of products. I get bored and impatient if I’d stay more than 45 minutes on a location. I just wanted to finish my job and would avoid distracting people with my dolly and all that stuff with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3-MHW96Cs4&index=1&list=RDI3-MHW96Cs4
I remembered when I approached this location and there was Ming, he was a nice gentleman and he even assisted me in moving the snack machine and connect it to the outlet.
During my 1st month of operation I took out only a handful and it was under $20 for 2 weeks which is minuscule considering the time and effort that you have to put up with and pay the parking and everything.
I offered him 10% of the sales which is $2 but I was thinking it was too small and offered to him $5 instead and Ming told me to keep to money to myself.
He told me to give him on the next few months when the business picks up. He is an extremely gentle and nice person. I know he has difficulty in communicating with English which I perfectly understand. If you grow up in Hong Kong or anywhere in southeast Asia with the exception of Philippines and Singapore.
If you put yourself in his shoes where you only know how to speak English. Migrated to Indonesia or Thailand perhaps and found a work. I think you’d get the picture.
My acquaintance with Ming was very brief and quick introduction since I mentioned that vendors should be lightning quick and moving all the time.
I met the elegant lady landlord next door who owns the building and she mentioned that it happened 2 days ago.
Ming was stabbed and he apparently didn’t survive the wounds. She even told me it was headline news. I checked it myself when I got home and indeed the crime was news.
Sometimes im out of touch with reality and what is happening because im so immersed with learning all the online lessons that I can learn whenever I have some free time.
My passion is learning all the time in everything really.
I’d imagine if I would ever have Alzheimer’s disease !
The point that I am driving at is everyone is trying to make a buck. And forgot to treasure the quality life that is supposed to be deserving.
Everything has to be in balance.
I didn’t know the details what sparked the fight between Ming and the person which lead to his death.
But in everything that we do, sometimes we have so many convictions to your own belief so much that sometimes you ignite a rage towards another person and would result into violence which has to be avoided at all costs.
It is just like my journey in my self employment business. You have to go with the flow.
At times when you tried your best in offering proposals and email presentation.
Calling prospective customers who inquired earlier that you had some hope in obtaining another vending location.
But they never replied or called back anymore.
Sometimes there are 1 or 2 locations that you held so long and suddenly doing a mega renovation and you got to move your machine into a temporary retirement situation.
In my longest time in business. Not everything is in my favor. Not every time is in my favor.
There are victories such as obtaining a location myself or spending $1,500 for a location that goes sour after 1 year and loosing that hard-earned money.
In my line of self employment of work. I always have to keep a cool head and be a yes-man all the time. One wrong move, out your machine.
I’ll tell you a story. I had a location in west Broadway in a nice company and they are mostly doing graphical work. I was so confident that the facilities’ manager is on my side. I was serving them for like 2 years and I have paid the location with machines for about $10,000 that time. I normally go there early weekend as not to disturb people working there.
There is always a guard dog when im around doing my work and constantly barking. I tried not to speak and keep calm and there was an instance while working on a Saturday. While a was hurrying up my work suddenly a large dog appeared near me and barking very loud at me.
So I got very clam and doing nothing. The handler came and told me that everything is taken care of. I was raging inside and was angrily staring at her. But after the few seconds of angry stare at her, I was calm and didn’t speak and left the premises.
To my surprise I got an email saying that the machines have to be removed immediately.
I just don’t get it what the people are thinking in that location.
It seems to me that offices and companies with lots of people have constant complaints, rules and regulations.
It seems that they wanted to get a piece of me and eventually wanted a mutiny.
Sometimes I don’t know how to act anymore. Sometimes you wonder if doing business has to do anything with your persona. I wish I can change personas at will.
Is it because my entrepreneurial spirit is too strong that sometimes people get disgusted and wanted you OUT ?
It seems that a location works out very well if I secure it myself and performs poorly when it is secured by paying someone else to find a location.
I guess the locations that are always available are the ones that are very hard to deal with. I sincerely hope that everyone knows how hard it is for a vendor to shell out $150 for a move, $1,500 for a leftover or undesirable location which are constantly changing hands.
