Let's start this post by venturing back in time to the spring of 2013. I was tasked with signing ten restaurants for a food delivery site a than associate was launching. I remember, vividly, writing the names of a number of traditional restaurants on a legal size piece of paper. I visited those restaurants on a number of occasions and was given the same answers every time - "You have to call corporate. The manager isn't in." After hearing the same rejections over and over I was close to throwing in the towel and than an Asian friend suggested I approach a lady he knows in Chinatown who owns a restaurant about the service. I was unfamiliar with Chinatown and the comings and goings. But I had nothing to lose so I followed his advice. Turns out - I have never been given better advice in my life!
I remember it like it was yesterday, I sat down with the owner and explained in detail how the service will bring her more revenue. She asked a few questions that I answered without hesitation and the next thing you know I had a signed contract for a nice restaurant. As I was leaving she told me to go next door and talk to her neighbor (Lee) at the Korean restaurant - "Tell him I sent you and just signed up," were her parting words to me. I did exactly as she said and the next thing I know I have another signed contract. After the experience I decided to recruit a couple of locals in Chinatown to help me with the effort and in no time at all I had ten restaurants. Fast forward to present time: Turns out a number of restaurants I signed have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for the site. Did I see any of it? No. Am I upset about it? No, not really. I didn't have any control over them once I gave them to the site. Should I have done things differently back then? Yea, but the truth is those restaurants are a very small sliver of what can be done in Chinatown.
Present day
I called my friend Flash in Wichita the other day to share with him my thoughts - "They're a number of things I would do differently if I could turn back time. A million people share the same thoughts as me. I don't want to spend any of what remaining time I have left looking back and thinking, 'Man, I should have done this; or man I should have done that.' That's why I am so stoked about VIAD. I am positive the people who attend will be enlightened like they have never been before. It will be an absolute look in to what Trump style thinking, as pertains to the economy, can provide if people are willing to get ahead of it." I cherish Flash' opinion as much as anyone, so when he asked, "How much are you looking to raise?" I answer, "250K." There was a brief silence and he says - "That's a lot of money. What are you going to do with it." I proceed to give him the rundown and he says - "Look, I am going to do my best to come out for VIAD. You have me intrigued," he then adds, "250k is a lot of money. You better be damn convincing."
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