Friday, I received a message from an old Kansas friend. He was coming to town for the weekend and was curious to know if I was interested in meeting for a drink. Naturally I accepted his offer. "I got to ask you something Robbie. What's the deal with Roxy? You haven't said much about her lately." Turns out my friend is a fan of the blog and had a few questions for me: Roxy is an interesting story, she was a Las Vegas call girl friend of mine and every so often she would give me a freebie. I considered her my part time girlfriend with the hope of it becoming permanent. One problem, the feeling wasn't reciprocal with her. Anyways, I told him this, "Roxy left town on me. She ended up moving back to San Diego with some 'Johnny California' type. Before she left, she told me she was giving up the life and starting anew with this douche bag. Bottom line, she was a mile and a half out of my price range." The two of us shared a chuckle and then he asked me what my price range was, my answer. "Free or they pay me. That's what I am looking for nowadays." Unfortunately for me, a plan like the one I quoted only works in 'Fantasyland.' How do I say this? The gals in Las Vegas are far too adept for a strategy of my sorts.
We were three or four drinks in when he asked me about a business idea I have been blogging about. "I have been reading your blog since the beginning and I am curious to know what you would do with, oh let's say, a thousand dollars. How would you improve your blog? What would be your first step? Most importantly, how would you make money?" I answered his questions directly. "Starting a web based business is all about hits! The more people who hit the site/blog the better chances of monetizing. The first thing I would do with an investment of that sorts is doll the blog up with video and pictures. Once the blog was dolled up. I would hire a number of panhandlers to push it; and when I say push it; I mean face to face interaction with as many people as possible. The money would be distributed piecemeal and the effectiveness would be judged by keeping track of hits through the analytic features of the site. If we get new hits/users (specifically in Las Vegas) to the site in a certain time frame, it is working, and then we look to sell product and services, but before that happens, a street level database has to be created! If we're not getting the intended results through the strategy, and we will know fast, a retool will happen immediately."
By now we were eight drinks deep when he said this to me. "I need to know one more thing; are you really as tight with the Chinese as you state in your blog?" A few months ago I was doing some contract work for an online food delivery/ordering site. I utilized my connections in Chinatown to sign up ten restaurants. I say this with all the confidence in the world! If I had a site of my own, one that I controlled, signing up another ten restaurants in Chinatown, even more, could be achieved lickety-split. With that in mind, I told my friend this, "I don't know what your politics tell you. Frankly I don't care, but if a would be entrepreneur isn't willing to shift some of their focus to both Asian businesses and consumers, especially in Las Vegas, well, in my humble opinion; that would be foolish. They are buying up the country and areas such as online food delivery/ordering are ripe for the pickings in Chinatown! That is just one area where they are under served! One last thing, look high, look low, look anywhere you want. It is impossible to find a gringo who knows and is connected in Chinatown better than me. That may not seem like much to some, but think about where the Asian economy is headed, especially in Las Vegas! I have been emphasizing this for a long time, and one of these days someone besides myself will take it to heart: There is plenty of room for small town white guys in China. The key is in the approach!"
My friend is a hell of a guy, he brought his daughter with him to Las Vegas for her twenty-first birthday. The three of us spent the better part of Saturday trying to drink every beer and bottle of Crown Royal in Las Vegas. We did our best but fell short. It was getting late and they had an early flight to catch in the morning. Right before we parted ways; he said something that I appreciated and pray it comes to fruition. "Robbie, I love reading about all your adventures in the blog, and so do a lot of other people back home. I am convinced that one of these days you will figure out how to make things work. When that happens, don't forget about your old buddy from Kansas."
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