First of all I would like to give a big shout out to MICHELLE - I hope New Baby Girl and Mom are doing well.
After a volatile January we are trying to continue to kick ass in Feb.
I have five big things going on right now: My Main Job, My "Big" Website idea, two inventions I'm trying to bring to market and my Truck Washing Business.
My main job and truck washing business have been getting most of my attention because money from these endeavors is what I have been pouring into the others. I am all risk right now. No savings; only investing. The risk is minimized because I'm betting on myself.
THE TAX MAN- DA DA DHUMMMM!
Well my business had a great year; so I figured I better legitimize things and get an accoutant.
First of all - Do you know how much a good accountant costs? How about $300 per hour? The actual write up work and tax preparation stuff can be done by a lessor member of an accountant firm, but the consultation and prep is typically done by a partner. All news to me.
Second of all - Do you know how important each and everything you put into and pull out of your business account is. Very important.
The first thing he told me was, "If you want to go to jail, Then Keep Doing What you are doing". He said you are more likely to get away with killing someone then not paying your taxes.
I told him to do whatever he needs to do to get me right. I brought in my huge "Timberland" box of records and printouts from Quickbooks. 16 hours later, he had my 2005, 2006 and almost 2007 taxes done. That's right I haven't filed business taxes in 3 years. "How could someone that is so smart be so stupid?" That is the same thing my accountant asked.
It's because I'm thiking survival! Who cares about taxes if you aren't even going to be in business. When you have no money - you have no choice. Now I have a huge Accountant Bill, and three huge IRS bills.
To maintain everything on the Up and UP so to speak, I had my accountant set up a payroll service. He then tells me that I should set up a check for myself twice a month. This means that I have to pay myself a check, pay taxes on that income, have the business pay taxes on that money and then put the money back into the business.
How sick is that.
When it's all said in done I have a huge problem. THE TRUCK WASHING BUSINESS IS IN THE RED!.....Again.
My first order of business is getting more customers. I haven't had this problem in a long time. The days of me printing brochures at home, searching for addresses in Yahoo Yellow pages, and printing labels and folding are long gone. I contacted three agencies and I am waiting for a quote.
So the bad news - All savings and business savings have been exhausted to the tune of slightly under $20,000.
The good news - Your boy is not going to jail. It appears that Wesley (Snipes) was aquitted too.
So not only do you get more blogging but you might get Blade 4!
I am aware that everyone doesn’t really know who Crazy Eddie is, but he was the szhit back in the day. He had the late 80’s on lock down. These commercials used to come on like every 5 minutes, to the point you were repeating the slogan in your sleep. That guy we all knew as Crazy Eddie on the commercials was not really crazy Eddie. He was DJ Jerry Carrol. He was a face man cleverly hired to bring in the masses. What better then an average looking, white guy with his own electronics store. Almost like a favorite Uncle to make you feel comfortable about purchasing electronics from him. Similar to Richard Goldman’s dancing for DOC glasses or Marty Hartunian given his spiel for ABC warehouse.
Richard Golden, 59President and CEOD.O.C. Optics Corp., SouthfieldRevenue: $108 millionCivic and corporate involvement: Gilda’s Club.Golden made eyewear sexy. Golden, with his aggressive advertising campaign, coined the term “sexy specs” and was one of the first retailers to market glasses with an emphasis on fashion. D.O.C. was founded in 1946 by his father, Donald Golden, and Richard Golden has been president and CEO since 1986. D.O.C. has grown into the 10th-largest retail optical chain in the country with more than 100 locations in six states, and it also operates 14 stores under the name SEE, or Selective Eyewear Elements.
Gordon Hartunian, 73President and CEOABC Appliance Inc., PontiacRevenue: $390 millionHartunian’s ABC Appliance is Southeast Michigan’s only remaining regional chain of appliance and electronics stores. Hartunian has outlasted other competitors such as Highland Superstores Inc. and Fretter Inc. and continues to battle national giants Circuit City Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co. Founded in 1964, ABC has 35 stores in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana and is known for its commercials starring Hartunian.
The crazy Eddie empire peaked with 43 stores in four states and 300 million in sales. Not a lot by today’s standards but that was pretty good back in the 80’s.
The real guys behind Crazy Eddie were Eddie Antar and Sam Antar. Eddie Antar was fraudulent from the beginning. Excerpt from Wikipedia “Almost from the beginning, Crazy Eddie's management was engaged in various forms of fraud. The Antars paid employees off the books, and regularly skimmed thousands of dollars (in cash) earned at the stores. For every $5 Crazy Eddie reported as income, $1 was taken by the Antars. In 1979, the Antars began depositing much of this money (hundreds of thousands of dollars) in Israeli bank accounts. The Antar family skimmed an estimated $3-$4 million (US) per year at the height of their fraud. In one offshore bank account, the family deposited more than $6 million between 1980 and 1983.[2] In preparation for taking Crazy Eddie public, Eddie Antar initiated a scheme in 1979 to skim less each year. Since more income was actually being reported, this had the effect of showing drastically increasing profit margins. While the company's actual profits (taking into account skimmed profits) from 1980 to 1983 increased approximately 13%, reported profits rose nearly 37%.[4] Despite the misgivings of people closely associated with Crazy Eddie, the company held its initial public offering on September 13, 1984 (symbol: CRZY). Shares of the company sold initially for $8. By early 1986, Crazy Eddie stock was trading at more than $75 per share (split adjusted).[1]” Eddie Antar became the focus of SEC and Federal investigations, and was eventually charged with a series of crimes. Antar fled to Israel in February 1990, but was returned to the United States in January 1993 to stand trial. His 1993 conviction on fraud charges was overturned, but he eventually pleaded guilty in 1996. In 1997, Antar was sentenced to eight years in prison and received massive fines.
Here is the story behind their low price guarantees in Sam Antar’s own words; who is also currently doing time as a convicted felon.
"Much attention has been paid to Crazy Eddie’s famous price policy – “Shop around. Get the best prices you can find. Then go to Crazy Eddie's and he'll beat it!” Even more attention has been paid to its legendary commercials featuring Jerry Carroll. However, many people do not know the real story behind Crazy Eddie’s aggressive sales tactics. Yes, we “offered” the best price and at times it was sometimes true. However, most customers never purchased the items that they initially came into Crazy Eddie to buy. We had an entire procedure built around Crazy Eddie lingo code words described below to maximize profits for the company. We had in Crazy Eddie lingo called an “SW” or “switch the customer” policy which was to initially seek to sway the customer to purchase a more profitable item that offered “better value.” If the initial sales person could not SW the customer he would “TO” the customer to let another more experienced sales person “take over” the sales pitch with the customer in order to “guide” them to the more profitable purchase. If the customer was still insistent on buying the items that they had originally come into Crazy Eddie to purchase rather than lose the sale we would sell them the merchandise but try to sell them high profit accessories and long term warranty contracts to make up for the low profit of the units purchased. If the merchandise was not in stock we would sneak the display item off the shelf and “lunch it” or repackage it and sell it as brand new. Finally, if a customer decided not to purchase a product for any reason after going through various phases of this process Crazy Eddie has a “NAD” or “nail at door” policy where a sales person located at the exit would try to “kosher” the customer. The Crazy Eddie Empire was built on deceit. The massive financial fraud that followed was based on a culture of deceit the permeated from the Antar family that ruled Crazy Eddie. There are many lessons to be learned from the Crazy Eddie frauds. Specifically as it relates to your commentary I would suggest something I learned in my first day in economics class, “There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.” Company’s have costs and must earn a profit. Yes, some companies can make money more efficiently than others. However, as a former criminal I can assert that old line, “If it looks too good to be true, it is probably is.”
All this Crazy Eddie Stuff's got me nervous. I'm going to see my accountant on Thursday!
Roger is from the old school - Shirts, Ties, and Business as Business. Here was his take on modern times:
"The problem with most people who don't suceed is that they see options. It's the way I was brought up. I dug ditches, I put in sewer pipe, I put in guardrail. When I was18, my dad looked at me and said, "Where are you going? You can't live here...Are you going to go in the sevice? You want me to put your name in up at the shop? Try to go to college!
So I went to a cheap state school so I could work three jobs.
When you don't see options you don't give up easy. The real problem with our society is we've taken the word responsibility and turned it into entitlement, and we sit around thinking that that's an option. "
re likely to get away with killing someone then not paying your taxes.
"The problem with most people who don't