If you want to find the beginning of the end of our economy as we know simply go back to November 1999 when the Glass Stegall Act was demolished.  What is this act you ask?  It was enacted in 1933 and specifically designed to protect our money by controlling a banks ability to speculate…i.e. it forbid any bank from owning insurance companies and/or investment banks and vice versa. 

It doesn’t take a genius to see that once overturned the die was cast setting up the economic debacle we are now facing.  You see, banks can only make money when the move piles of cash from one place to another and in order to make more money they needed to create more piles. So with the blowing up of that act, they could now finally express their financial creativity. The problem is that they HAVE NO CREATIVITY! 

I know this first hand having been a banker for many years and it’s precisely that lack of business sense and creativity that drove me out. Let’s face it; they are bankers for a reason…because they don’t know crap about business.  They’re the guy who never has the balls to make a bet; he just holds everybody’s cash (for a fee of course). 

So they put their collective pea brains together and over the years created financial instruments that (to their way of thinking) removed all risk.  Oh…a $300,000 home to someone making $60K a year, no problem.  We’ll just bundle it in with these others, lay the risk off on a wide group of investors and voila!  No more risk!

Bankers, get a clue!  You aren’t entrepreneurs…you have no idea what real risk is nor do you know how to handle it!  So from now on, take my cash on deposit, make loans to people who have the ability to pay them back and give me a fair return for doing so.  PERIOD!

Oh, and please step aside to let the real business men and women take the lead – where we belong…

Dwain

The Biker Guy

As a famous social commentator once said “This is just my opinion, I could be wrong”.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you.

This past Friday I gave up a killer Central Florida afternoon (78 degrees and blue skies) of riding to judge 11 business plans at Rollins College. That said, I still rode the bike over and got at least some wind in my face. This was also a day filled with blue skies for the economy because according to the New York Times the ‘not so bad news’ of the day allowed the stock market to go up and we now had a reason to be optimistic.

What I want to know is why in hell is the stock market the barometer of progress in this country? Isn’t that the same as waiting outside of the casinos in Vegas and gauging the mood of America on how many people won or lost that night? Let’s call it for what it is…a sports book for business where everybody is betting on their favorite horse.  But it ain’t real business!

 No – real business is what I judged all afternoon.  Eleven former students of the University’s business school brought out plans that ranged from a start-up airline to web based companies to the more traditional software launches. None were scared or worried about the economy or its prospects – instead each expects a future filled with opportunity.

All with the exception of one team that is.  They presented their plan and in the middle of it announced that due to the economy were shelving it for a year or so.  OK, I get that – maybe this isn’t the right time or perhaps you simply don’t have the balls to go for it now.  No big deal other than the fact that you’ve just taken up 30 minutes of time that a real entrepreneur could have used to test their idea out! 

To me this was a very real example of the difference between a business ‘want to be’ and a ‘wanna be’.  That team was made up of three individuals currently working for major corporations who presented nothing more than an idea on making money to which the judges made it painfully obvious they’d better not quit their day job because they’ll not make it out there in the real world of entrepreneurship. They were MBAs applying science to a decision that must come from the heart and gut rather than the head…when to launch.  

            Rarely is there a perfect time to launch a new venture or tactic and at no time in history has every sector of the economy been in a growth mode and vice versa. To be sure, there is more of our economy slowing down than not, but that doesn’t equate to NO opportunity out there.  Much like the fool a hundred or so years ago who proposed we close down the patent office because everything had been invented, many so called entrepreneurs out there are thinking that their economic blue skies are behind them.

            Those who feel this way are, in my opinion, run of the mill business people. They don’t make a move unless the signs are clearly there and their charts and graphs agree.  Real entrepreneurs on the other hand follow their instincts and go for it…damn the torpedoes! Tom Peters once said that the biggest sin in business today it ‘not trying stuff’ and I totally agree. But that ‘go for it’ attitude doesn’t come from a book; instead it comes from a mentality that refuses to fail. 

            Seth Godin, in his excellent book Tribes wrote that people do not necessarily fear failure as much as they fear what people will say and think about them if they do. Real entrepreneurs don’t give a damn about what other people think because if we did, we’d be just like that group, waiting for the sun, moon and stars to align. No, instead we turn our face into the wind and make stuff happen.

What America needs now are more entrepreneurs and fewer business people. Which are you?

Dwain

The Biker Guy

March 09

As always – This is just my opinion, I could be wrong.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you.

During Bike Week I rode with a few of my Business Biker buddies and after decompressing a bit from our initial 45-60 minute ride the talk turned to the economy. I found the range of emotions very interesting as they ranged from no big deal to being totally pissed off. One buddy has never been busier as it appears he may be somewhat recession proof, while the others ranged from being down anywhere from 10 – 40%.

All have been in the game well over 20 years so this isn’t our first ‘economic rainstorm’ we’ve had to ride through. However, the mixed signals and information out in the marketplace is a definite cause for concern because it’s as if we’re living in two economies. On one side the news media is just waiting for the economy to go all ‘Thelma and Louise’ and drive off the cliff, while the other, the forgotten small businesses, continue to chug along. 

I don’t know about you, but all of the entrepreneurs I know are waking up every day and focusing on what it is that we do. Yes, the game has changed dramatically but we’re used to our world being shifted. And yes, there’s a certain element of fear as we roll along but as usual, we prefer to focus more on opportunity than the danger.    

After all, the real problems lie with the big boys who got a bit too large for their respective saddles and have wiped out. Now their worthless corporate asses are being picked up by our tax dollars when in reality they should be left on the side of the road (that’s a BLOG for another time).

And adding insult to their injury, our friends, employees and customers continue to freak out while hearing about how much good money continues to flow after the bad. Hey, if a Citi Bank or GM eventually goes under there will be economic hell to pay, no doubt. Anytime companies that large go under there’s the associated ripple effect through the marketplace, but like I said, entrepreneurs are used to taking those hits. 

Everyone simply needs to stop, take a breath and remember that this country is founded on and driven by solid entrepreneurship and that will continue. Yes, this is one bad-assed rainstorm we’re slogging through right now, but if we stay upright and focused, we’ll eventually get through it. All it takes is faith and confidence…

Dwain

The Biker Guy

March 09

As a famous social commentator once said “This is just my opinion, I could be wrong”.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you.

Ahh the anticipation of BikeWeek. It’s our Mardi Gras on wheels and a great reason to break away from the office with your buds and enjoy the day. So this past Friday I hooked up with my fellow poster boys, Dave, Rick and Rich along with about six other biker guys  and headed out for the day.
First stop was our official ‘Board Room’ aka The Cabbage Patch that since 1937 has been a favorite watering hole of racers and biker’s alike. We love the place, not so much for the always cold beer but for the ambiance. It’s not unusual for a group of us to pull up there on a Friday morning before it even opens and sit outside discussing the latest challenges facing us before continuing our ride.
It’s a great stopping off point because there’s something about having ridden for 45 minutes before getting there to clear the cobwebs and quiet the background noise of life. And then, sitting our front on that old picnic table while a rooster walks between your feet ensures the conversations don’t get too serious.
On this day however, it was just a quick bit of business and then nothing but mindless fun. We dropped off about a thousand ‘Board Meeting’ postcards to Ron, the owner, to handout to the bikers coming through over BikeWeek. Ron, owner of The Cabbage Patch thought it would be great publicity so we took him up on the offer.
That’s the cool thing about being in business and being a biker. Business Bikers bond on two very special levels and are always open to new ways of helping each other because it’s the right thing to do. A brotherhood that extends far beyond any office and can only be forged in the saddle.
Hanging out for the day with great friends who are also great colleagues in a place that both knows and understands you…doesn’t get any better than that.

Dwain
The Biker Guy