A cautionary tale: MazdaManiac
08-04-2011 | 02:31 PM
#376
Well, it was a journey for me. I don't even know if the journey is out there in a prosaic form. I guess here is as good as any a place to lay it out there.
It'll probably end up looking long-winded, self-indulgent and pathetic. Hopefully, it will also be cathartic, enlightening and instructive.
_________________
First, in May of 2008, I fell victim to two customer scams in a row – one upgrade kit and one completely upgraded turbo system. Because these customers were in foreign countries and because, as it turned out, PayPal’s seller protections were practically non-existent, I ended up losing the entire amount on both transactions - well over $8000 - which entirely erased the profit ten times over from the total amount of kits I had sold up to that point. This setback put me in a cash flow situation that was doubly difficult because I had also just spent thousands of dollars to buy into the Cobb PROTuner system and the minimum initial purchase on the AccessPORT as I was helping to develop the application for the RX-8 and wanted to be a dealer. The AccessPORT didn’t become profitable (on paper) until 2009.
Then, Niki left.
Apparently she wasn’t happy, said she hadn’t been for a long time and, for all practical intents and purposes, no longer had any use for me. Along with 12 years of time and money spent on paying for her education so that she could help support us while I switched careers, went the only reliable remaining source of income in a $3000-a-month household.
Then, when the economy tanked, my house suddenly became worth less than 1/3 of its purchase value. Now I had no money, no income and no assets except those that were sitting in my garage. At the end of 2008, I still had a few turbo kit orders coming in and I was suddenly faced with having to sell off my possessions of value just to eat and keep the lights on.
In an attempt to fulfill the outstanding orders, I farmed the work out to some local companies and paid for that with my last remaining cash. These companies closed shop and ran off with my money and the last parts I had (about $6000 worth), leaving me with less than nothing.
For all of 2009, it was a day-to-day struggle just to come up with the mortgage, utilities, etc. All the tuning gigs and AccessPORT sales just barely covered the bills. Some months it didn’t make it, but I scraped together the funds to try to finish those last outstanding orders for the upgrade kits. I also took the decision half-way through 2009 to stop selling the kit – not because it wasn’t profitable (it wasn’t) – but because I didn’t feel I could ethically continue to offer it for sale while I had old orders outstanding. Every time I had some extra cash, I would buy a part here and there to build those kits, each time thinking I was just mere days away from a breakthrough that never quite materialized. It also didn’t help that, when I finally did have enough money set aside to purchase most expensive part of the kits from a new vendor (the turbos themselves for a bit less than retail price) at the end of 2009, that vendor took my money, closed shop and disappeared. Something about lightning striking twice comes to mind. I guess I shouldn’t have been standing in the same spot.
Honestly, at the beginning of 2010, I was pretty much ready to just throw in the towel, except there were always reasons to keep going, not least of which was my sense of what I felt was right. I had done a fairly good job of finding ways to creatively finance the things I enjoy doing and I was always surrounded by good people that made things easier to bear, but, it was pretty bumpy all the time. I came from a poor family (who are all gone now) and couldn’t just hit dad up for a loan. I never really met the man, come to think of it.
Most of 2010 was the same as 2009, except the cash flow was slightly improving, until another out-sourcing led to the loss of all of my jigs for the flanges and brackets for the upgrade kit, as well as the engineering drawings for those parts AND the money I had paid to have those parts made. But I pressed forward.
So, here I sit, more than half-way into 2011. Having capitalized on the success of the products I created with Ray for BHR, and after taking the decision to stop paying on the $260,000 mortgage for a $380,000 house that is now worth $160,000, I have finally delivered the last of the turbo upgrade kits. To date, the MazdaManiac GReddy Upgrade Kit has netted me -$13,000. Yes, that is a negative sign.
My house is now entering foreclosure, I have $700 to my name, I muster only enough AccessPORT sales a month to keep the lights on, but I have a better girlfriend.
The future looks bright!
It'll probably end up looking long-winded, self-indulgent and pathetic. Hopefully, it will also be cathartic, enlightening and instructive.
_________________
First, in May of 2008, I fell victim to two customer scams in a row – one upgrade kit and one completely upgraded turbo system. Because these customers were in foreign countries and because, as it turned out, PayPal’s seller protections were practically non-existent, I ended up losing the entire amount on both transactions - well over $8000 - which entirely erased the profit ten times over from the total amount of kits I had sold up to that point. This setback put me in a cash flow situation that was doubly difficult because I had also just spent thousands of dollars to buy into the Cobb PROTuner system and the minimum initial purchase on the AccessPORT as I was helping to develop the application for the RX-8 and wanted to be a dealer. The AccessPORT didn’t become profitable (on paper) until 2009.
Then, Niki left.
Apparently she wasn’t happy, said she hadn’t been for a long time and, for all practical intents and purposes, no longer had any use for me. Along with 12 years of time and money spent on paying for her education so that she could help support us while I switched careers, went the only reliable remaining source of income in a $3000-a-month household.
Then, when the economy tanked, my house suddenly became worth less than 1/3 of its purchase value. Now I had no money, no income and no assets except those that were sitting in my garage. At the end of 2008, I still had a few turbo kit orders coming in and I was suddenly faced with having to sell off my possessions of value just to eat and keep the lights on.
In an attempt to fulfill the outstanding orders, I farmed the work out to some local companies and paid for that with my last remaining cash. These companies closed shop and ran off with my money and the last parts I had (about $6000 worth), leaving me with less than nothing.
For all of 2009, it was a day-to-day struggle just to come up with the mortgage, utilities, etc. All the tuning gigs and AccessPORT sales just barely covered the bills. Some months it didn’t make it, but I scraped together the funds to try to finish those last outstanding orders for the upgrade kits. I also took the decision half-way through 2009 to stop selling the kit – not because it wasn’t profitable (it wasn’t) – but because I didn’t feel I could ethically continue to offer it for sale while I had old orders outstanding. Every time I had some extra cash, I would buy a part here and there to build those kits, each time thinking I was just mere days away from a breakthrough that never quite materialized. It also didn’t help that, when I finally did have enough money set aside to purchase most expensive part of the kits from a new vendor (the turbos themselves for a bit less than retail price) at the end of 2009, that vendor took my money, closed shop and disappeared. Something about lightning striking twice comes to mind. I guess I shouldn’t have been standing in the same spot.
Honestly, at the beginning of 2010, I was pretty much ready to just throw in the towel, except there were always reasons to keep going, not least of which was my sense of what I felt was right. I had done a fairly good job of finding ways to creatively finance the things I enjoy doing and I was always surrounded by good people that made things easier to bear, but, it was pretty bumpy all the time. I came from a poor family (who are all gone now) and couldn’t just hit dad up for a loan. I never really met the man, come to think of it.
Most of 2010 was the same as 2009, except the cash flow was slightly improving, until another out-sourcing led to the loss of all of my jigs for the flanges and brackets for the upgrade kit, as well as the engineering drawings for those parts AND the money I had paid to have those parts made. But I pressed forward.
So, here I sit, more than half-way into 2011. Having capitalized on the success of the products I created with Ray for BHR, and after taking the decision to stop paying on the $260,000 mortgage for a $380,000 house that is now worth $160,000, I have finally delivered the last of the turbo upgrade kits. To date, the MazdaManiac GReddy Upgrade Kit has netted me -$13,000. Yes, that is a negative sign.
My house is now entering foreclosure, I have $700 to my name, I muster only enough AccessPORT sales a month to keep the lights on, but I have a better girlfriend.
The future looks bright!
08-04-2011 | 02:41 PM
#377
Well, it was a journey for me. I don't even know if the journey is out there in a prosaic form. I guess here is as good as any a place to lay it out there.
It'll probably end up looking long-winded, self-indulgent and pathetic. Hopefully, it will also be cathartic, enlightening and instructive.
_________________
First, in May of 2008, I fell victim to two customer scams in a row – one upgrade kit and one completely upgraded turbo system. Because these customers were in foreign countries and because, as it turned out, PayPal’s seller protections were practically non-existent, I ended up losing the entire amount on both transactions - well over $8000 - which entirely erased the profit ten times over from the total amount of kits I had sold up to that point. This setback put me in a cash flow situation that was doubly difficult because I had also just spent thousands of dollars to buy into the Cobb PROTuner system and the minimum initial purchase on the AccessPORT as I was helping to develop the application for the RX-8 and wanted to be a dealer. The AccessPORT didn’t become profitable (on paper) until 2009.
Then, Niki left.
Apparently she wasn’t happy, said she hadn’t been for a long time and, for all practical intents and purposes, no longer had any use for me. Along with 12 years of time and money spent on paying for her education so that she could help support us while I switched careers, went the only reliable remaining source of income in a $3000-a-month household.
Then, when the economy tanked, my house suddenly became worth less than 1/3 of its purchase value. Now I had no money, no income and no assets except those that were sitting in my garage. At the end of 2008, I still had a few turbo kit orders coming in and I was suddenly faced with having to sell off my possessions of value just to eat and keep the lights on.
In an attempt to fulfill the outstanding orders, I farmed the work out to some local companies and paid for that with my last remaining cash. These companies closed shop and ran off with my money and the last parts I had (about $6000 worth), leaving me with less than nothing.
For all of 2009, it was a day-to-day struggle just to come up with the mortgage, utilities, etc. All the tuning gigs and AccessPORT sales just barely covered the bills. Some months it didn’t make it, but I scraped together the funds to try to finish those last outstanding orders for the upgrade kits. I also took the decision half-way through 2009 to stop selling the kit – not because it wasn’t profitable (it wasn’t) – but because I didn’t feel I could ethically continue to offer it for sale while I had old orders outstanding. Every time I had some extra cash, I would buy a part here and there to build those kits, each time thinking I was just mere days away from a breakthrough that never quite materialized. It also didn’t help that, when I finally did have enough money set aside to purchase most expensive part of the kits from a new vendor (the turbos themselves for a bit less than retail price) at the end of 2009, that vendor took my money, closed shop and disappeared. Something about lightning striking twice comes to mind. I guess I shouldn’t have been standing in the same spot.
Honestly, at the beginning of 2010, I was pretty much ready to just throw in the towel, except there were always reasons to keep going, not least of which was my sense of what I felt was right. I had done a fairly good job of finding ways to creatively finance the things I enjoy doing and I was always surrounded by good people that made things easier to bear, but, it was pretty bumpy all the time. I came from a poor family (who are all gone now) and couldn’t just hit dad up for a loan. I never really met the man, come to think of it.
Most of 2010 was the same as 2009, except the cash flow was slightly improving, until another out-sourcing led to the loss of all of my jigs for the flanges and brackets for the upgrade kit, as well as the engineering drawings for those parts AND the money I had paid to have those parts made. But I pressed forward.
So, here I sit, more than half-way into 2011. Having capitalized on the success of the products I created with Ray for BHR, and after taking the decision to stop paying on the $260,000 mortgage for a $380,000 house that is now worth $160,000, I have finally delivered the last of the turbo upgrade kits. To date, the MazdaManiac GReddy Upgrade Kit has netted me -$13,000. Yes, that is a negative sign.
My house is now entering foreclosure, I have $700 to my name, I muster only enough AccessPORT sales a month to keep the lights on, but I have a better girlfriend.
The future looks bright!
It'll probably end up looking long-winded, self-indulgent and pathetic. Hopefully, it will also be cathartic, enlightening and instructive.
_________________
First, in May of 2008, I fell victim to two customer scams in a row – one upgrade kit and one completely upgraded turbo system. Because these customers were in foreign countries and because, as it turned out, PayPal’s seller protections were practically non-existent, I ended up losing the entire amount on both transactions - well over $8000 - which entirely erased the profit ten times over from the total amount of kits I had sold up to that point. This setback put me in a cash flow situation that was doubly difficult because I had also just spent thousands of dollars to buy into the Cobb PROTuner system and the minimum initial purchase on the AccessPORT as I was helping to develop the application for the RX-8 and wanted to be a dealer. The AccessPORT didn’t become profitable (on paper) until 2009.
Then, Niki left.
Apparently she wasn’t happy, said she hadn’t been for a long time and, for all practical intents and purposes, no longer had any use for me. Along with 12 years of time and money spent on paying for her education so that she could help support us while I switched careers, went the only reliable remaining source of income in a $3000-a-month household.
Then, when the economy tanked, my house suddenly became worth less than 1/3 of its purchase value. Now I had no money, no income and no assets except those that were sitting in my garage. At the end of 2008, I still had a few turbo kit orders coming in and I was suddenly faced with having to sell off my possessions of value just to eat and keep the lights on.
In an attempt to fulfill the outstanding orders, I farmed the work out to some local companies and paid for that with my last remaining cash. These companies closed shop and ran off with my money and the last parts I had (about $6000 worth), leaving me with less than nothing.
For all of 2009, it was a day-to-day struggle just to come up with the mortgage, utilities, etc. All the tuning gigs and AccessPORT sales just barely covered the bills. Some months it didn’t make it, but I scraped together the funds to try to finish those last outstanding orders for the upgrade kits. I also took the decision half-way through 2009 to stop selling the kit – not because it wasn’t profitable (it wasn’t) – but because I didn’t feel I could ethically continue to offer it for sale while I had old orders outstanding. Every time I had some extra cash, I would buy a part here and there to build those kits, each time thinking I was just mere days away from a breakthrough that never quite materialized. It also didn’t help that, when I finally did have enough money set aside to purchase most expensive part of the kits from a new vendor (the turbos themselves for a bit less than retail price) at the end of 2009, that vendor took my money, closed shop and disappeared. Something about lightning striking twice comes to mind. I guess I shouldn’t have been standing in the same spot.
Honestly, at the beginning of 2010, I was pretty much ready to just throw in the towel, except there were always reasons to keep going, not least of which was my sense of what I felt was right. I had done a fairly good job of finding ways to creatively finance the things I enjoy doing and I was always surrounded by good people that made things easier to bear, but, it was pretty bumpy all the time. I came from a poor family (who are all gone now) and couldn’t just hit dad up for a loan. I never really met the man, come to think of it.
Most of 2010 was the same as 2009, except the cash flow was slightly improving, until another out-sourcing led to the loss of all of my jigs for the flanges and brackets for the upgrade kit, as well as the engineering drawings for those parts AND the money I had paid to have those parts made. But I pressed forward.
So, here I sit, more than half-way into 2011. Having capitalized on the success of the products I created with Ray for BHR, and after taking the decision to stop paying on the $260,000 mortgage for a $380,000 house that is now worth $160,000, I have finally delivered the last of the turbo upgrade kits. To date, the MazdaManiac GReddy Upgrade Kit has netted me -$13,000. Yes, that is a negative sign.
My house is now entering foreclosure, I have $700 to my name, I muster only enough AccessPORT sales a month to keep the lights on, but I have a better girlfriend.
The future looks bright!
Wow. Well, I for one respect you tremendously for owning up and taking care of this so you can move on. Happy Rotoring!
08-04-2011 | 02:45 PM
#378
Good for you .....been there...got the t-shirt so I can totally understand .
Very familiar story...a lot of people and businesses have had to close up shop since the economy has tanked the last few years.
In my case my ex-wife left me...went bankrupt..and left me with all of the bills, It took me almost 12 years to dig myself out of that hole. New wife, new house....everything is getting better...but for a few years it was really thin......Like you my car was the only thing that I spent any personal money on....I have 4 kids so that made the whole thing even more fun
Glad you got this monkey off your back...good luck with the foreclosure...not sure how that work in the US.....but it is a PIA here.
Very familiar story...a lot of people and businesses have had to close up shop since the economy has tanked the last few years.
In my case my ex-wife left me...went bankrupt..and left me with all of the bills, It took me almost 12 years to dig myself out of that hole. New wife, new house....everything is getting better...but for a few years it was really thin......Like you my car was the only thing that I spent any personal money on....I have 4 kids so that made the whole thing even more fun
Glad you got this monkey off your back...good luck with the foreclosure...not sure how that work in the US.....but it is a PIA here.
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