I am sitting
at the Barnes and Noble bookstore right now ( 11:17am, CST). I had an
appointment at 10am with Penguin Air and Home Furnishings which
didn't come off.
I arrived at their
office about 9:55pm, and found the door closed. I called the company
office---he was the general manager for their Austin Branch, the
other one is Arizona, and they are corporately owned.
Well, disappointing,
right? Well, come to think about it, this is not his fault, offering
to hear me out with an appointment, because I think I did a poor job
of explaining my criteria for the kind of businesses I was talking
to---local, independent, and family owned businesses. Well, no
worries, lesson learned about making things clear in my presentation,
and time to make my time count for the morning.
I had a few things
to take care of online. The 3 bus showed up, I boarded it, and
went to the Barnes and Noble Bookstore. I needed about an hour or two
to finish up some things, and they have free Wi-Fi.
I had edited
the Oh!Boy conversation in Audacity last night, and cleaned it up as
well as I can to email it to the CEO I had interviewed on Monday, Rob
Almaguer, today. Got to admit, I am still learning how Audacity
works, though I know the basics---clipping, saving projects,
importing and exporting files, and a few others. But I am further
along in being familiar with it than I was last week, which is good.
I prepped the email
and sent it off to Rob. That done, I took time to check out
Screencast-O-Matic's software for recording my computer screen. I
will need it in the event that I have to explain some online things
to others, and it's free for how I want to use. It worked out okay,
only I had to download it, which I didn't want to at the risk of
slowing down my computer.
Well on to other
things. I made a call to confirm a meeting I had at 4:30 pm
with Torres Plumbing. I spoke to him on Monday, and set a sort of
tentative appointment for an interview on Wednesday at 4:30pm.
Cecilia, the lady I spoke to today to confirm said he was in a
meeting, and would give my message to him after, and call me to
confirm. I didn't hear back.
It sort of dawned on
me that "tentative" maybe turning to "cancelled,"and
maybe too late to do anything about it. Well, I have the rest of the
day to be useful, and off to that I went after wrapping up my online
work. I had a good feeling, having learnt some very useful things
online that morning at the bookstore.
"Are you just
getting off work?" I asked a petite lady walking toward the bus
stop. I was waiting too, for the either the 3 bus or the 383
bus, both of which will get me where I was headed for prospecting.
"Yeah," she responded. We got into small talk about where
she lived and where I lived. Telling me about where she lived
led into my knowing she had lost a lot of her personal possessions in
a flooding in an area of William Cannon last year, and was only
saved---she doesn't know how to swim---only because she was at work
at the time.
Most others, she
told me had lost cars, and a lot of other things. As proof she showed
me the pictures of the flood, and yes, the flood did do her house a
lot of damage. It knocked her fence over and flooded her home
as it rose to door knob level. The picture was taken by her neighbor
who had taken refuge on top of his own home, and carried a camera
along to take photos.
"Thank God,"
I said, and asked if she had given a testimony at her church. She
did, and I added that that's good, considering that when there's life
there's hope, and without it, there's nothing.
Moments like this
during the day bolsters me, and makes me appreciate little blessings.
"I am Mel," she said. "Kingston," I responded,
and noticed my bus arrive, the 383. I boarded it, and waved at
her. In about 15 minutes, I was talking to a business that was
corporately owned, and had over 60 locations worldwide.
It's not always
possible to tell if a shop is locally and independently owned, so I
often walk-in to check. Some that may look corporately owned may turn
out to be individually owned, and vice-versa. And this was the case
with Tech One Automotive, which seemed corporate but was owned by
Kathy, a local---as Danny the associate made me know. Danny took a
copy of my survey to show to Kathy, who was not in at the time.
My next business was
a locally owned, a maker of bumper stickers. Bumperactive has been in
business since 2008, and was owned by Kyle Johnson, who was not in.
Bumperactive not only makes bumper stickers but t-shirts, hoodies,
and mugs. And Campbell the young man I spoke to there, suggested I
email Kyle with my project. I was not sure if I will email the owner,
but I will put it on my to-do list anyway.
I walked around the
building to the office of Wedding Shoppe, whose owner was also not
in, Aubre, the attendant told me. The story of absent owners
continued with Austins Maid Service, HoneySuckle Acupuncture, Tip-top
cleaners, and Tint World, until I got to Black Forest Shop.
Crossing the street
to work the businesses on the other side, having decided to leave the
businesses on my current side for another day, I walked into the
office of Mr. Lee Rector. Lee is the owner of Black Forest Werkshop.
He heard me out and
kindly offered me a seat. We talked further about my project, and my
blog. Wanting to take a look at my blog, this very blog you are
reading, Mr. Lee tried different word combinations similar to my
blogs URL to see how given to Google search my blog is. Eventually he
went directly to the address.
He had some
useful pointers on Google search, suggested possible URL changes to
make it easy for folks to find my blog online, and took a quick look
at my podcast page on my blog.
We talked some more
of how my project helps others and owners, in particular. With that
clear, I shared how I approach my process. For starters, I offered
owners an opportunity to share their story through an interview, and
then decide how else I could be useful to them. Considering he had a
booked week already, this week, we settled on 10am next week Monday,
the 24th, for a 30-40 minute interview. We also discussed how I could
confirm the appointment before I head out on Monday. Overall, Mr.
Rector seemed willing to hear me out, and thought well of my
initiative with the project. That's goad to me, and I appreciate it.
I dropped off
surveys at a few places, chatted with some friendly associates, and
called it a day. I was getting weary and my tummy's patience for food
was running out. I had not had much since some slices of bread and
peanut butter in the morning.
Well, here am at
home punching the keys for the day's report, and ready for dinner,
and an hour or two later, for bed.
Alright, let's pick
it up for day 8 tomorrow.
