I just about slept 12 hours last night. I went to bed super early around 7:30 maybe 8:00. My alarm went off around 6:00 am, but I sat up in bed thinking until about 7:00 or 7:30. I consider myself to be sleeping until I get out of the bed! I must have been really tired. I do know that my body is sore.
This weekend my brother took his family out of town to celebrate his wife's birthday. I was left to take care of the deliveries; by myself for the most part. It was the first time I did anything like that. Every other time my brother has gone out of town, he had someone help me out that knew how things worked. It was interesting.
On Friday, I had one delivery; when I left everyone was at the house and when I got back the house was empty. The bounce house went to a nice lady, she ran a day care out of her home. We had to go in the garage to plug the blower up it was oddly messy. The garage was mostly empty, but there was no room in it; stuff was scattered and strewn about all over the place. The funny part about it all was that she was embarrassed by it. She should see my garage at home. I brought up the fact that I was from Kentucky, I think it is because we were talking about grass and it is hard to call anything in Vegas grass coming from Kentucky. It is more like people are growing grass in their garden's than actually having a lawn. Therefore, I feel the constant need to clarify why my perspective is as it is: I'm not from here. She told me never to move to Vegas.
Saturday was a bit more intense. First of all I thought it was going to be an easy day. I had two rental agreement sheets for the day and one was early morning and the other was mid-afternoon. I delivered the first one and came home to find out what football games I could get on the TV. The only one I really wanted to watch was WKU's home opener, but I knew that would be highly unlikely. I was only at home for a little while and my brother calls asking me how far away from the delivery I am, the customer is calling. For a little bit of understanding, the customer is one of his biggest repeat clients. I have been there about seven times since July 7th. I can think of only one other customer that I have been to more than once since I have been here. Needless to say, I had made an invoice before my brother left and he intended on me making the rental agreement too. Currently his system is based mostly on handwritten paper contracts and he puts everything in the computer after delivery has been made and product has been paid for. Except for incidents where a customer needs an invoice and then he puts it into the computer before delivery. The way it is now, it seems more like two different systems than one. Needless to say, I threw the order on the truck and cut out. I got that taken care of and headed to pick up the first delivery off the day.
It was at this point that I almost smashed my brother's truck. I was in a bad area for traffic several roads merge together, I had already been there this morning, but there was no traffic at 7:30 am. I knew the exit I wanted was getting close, so I glanced at the GPS and when I glanced back to the road the cars in front of me were coming to a complete stop, on the interstate! Luck was on my side, somehow the truck came to a stop before going through a bumper.
At this point, I was determined to not make any more mistakes. So I went to the house and loaded up the next delivery and started trying to take care of them early. I called the customer and no answer. I waited a while and decided to just go and see. Well I get probably halfway there and my brother starts texting me. Apparently, the customer is not available and I need to call their friend to confirm delivery. Oh and he also has an add-on delivery that wants it immediately. So, even in trying to take care of it early, I managed to screw up. I now had to go all the way back to pick up the new delivery, then make both deliveries a.s.a.p. However, much to my dismay, I got through the day fine. The add-on delivery turned out to be a guy from Nicholasville, Ky that had lived in Vegas since 1992. He was a UofL fan, did not like UK, and knew who WKU was. I guess that turned out to be the highlight of my day. We had a good talk as I worked.
Sunday was the busiest day of the weekend. It turned out it was not even as bad as I anticipated. I started out with 5 deliveries, but another add-on a.s.a.p. came in about midday. No matter how hard I tried to prepare, I still made little mistakes. Like for the second delivery of the day, I loaded it on with the first delivery, but forgot the balloons that came with it. I spent a lot of time running around like I was behind when I really was doing just fine. By the time I started picking up the remaining deliveries at 6:00, I realized that most of the work was done and it was not going to be a long night, like I initially thought it would be. After all, I did scheduled the two deliveries that ended at 10pm for pickup Monday morning.
At the end of this long weekend there are several take-aways. The first is confidence. I can do this; the physical labor is the hardest part, setting up and taking down. This weekend I showed that I can do it alone. It is not as bad as I imagine. On Sunday when I delivered the add-on a.s.a.p. it was around 12:30-1:00 and I told the guy that I would be busy until at least 8:00pm. As it turned out, I was done before 8:00pm. Though I could have picked up 2 more at 10pm I saved them for Monday morning. Driving around a city that you do not know can be rough, but even when I miss my exit or just do not pay attention to the GPS and go straight when I should turn, it helps create connections that would not exist otherwise. This weekend I got a better understanding of where several roads are that I drive on regularly. I just never drove on them in the right place to make the geographical connection before.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Las Vegas (part 5): Jump N Kids, Inc
This is my brother's small business that I have been helping out with. Hopefully one day I can duplicate his business model back home and give my family a solid business to provide a source of dependable income. At which point I can either expand the business anywhere I want, or finally start down the path that is uniquely my own.
Still asking what is Jump N Kids exactly? No worries, that is what this post is all about.
Jump N Kids is a company that offers party equipment for rent. From bounce houses/inflatable jumpers, water slides, party concessions, tables, chairs, dunk tanks, to inflatable carnival games.
The majority of Jump N Kids business comes from these inflatable rentals. Above are a sample of the bounce houses/jumpers, water slides, and inflatable games.
However, as I said he has plenty of other items available for rental. Party concessions like popcorn machines, sno-cone makers, cotton candy machines, and hot dog rollers/steamers. Also as I mentioned in another post, my brother has the beginning of a dj kit with speakers, a dual cd player, microphones and an amplifier w/mixer. All-in-all this is all the equipment one might need to throw a pretty bangin' party, that will bring a smile to any kids face no matter the age.
Still curious? Check out the website: jumpnkids.com
Any ideas as I begin the process of expanding this business and taking it back to Kentucky? Don't be shy, let me hear it! I may start working on a website of my own in the near future, when that happens I will be sure to share it with you.
Still asking what is Jump N Kids exactly? No worries, that is what this post is all about.
Jump N Kids is a company that offers party equipment for rent. From bounce houses/inflatable jumpers, water slides, party concessions, tables, chairs, dunk tanks, to inflatable carnival games.
However, as I said he has plenty of other items available for rental. Party concessions like popcorn machines, sno-cone makers, cotton candy machines, and hot dog rollers/steamers. Also as I mentioned in another post, my brother has the beginning of a dj kit with speakers, a dual cd player, microphones and an amplifier w/mixer. All-in-all this is all the equipment one might need to throw a pretty bangin' party, that will bring a smile to any kids face no matter the age.
Still curious? Check out the website: jumpnkids.com
Any ideas as I begin the process of expanding this business and taking it back to Kentucky? Don't be shy, let me hear it! I may start working on a website of my own in the near future, when that happens I will be sure to share it with you.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Las Vegas (part 4): Been a while
I initially started this with the intention of writing every week. The sad part is, most of what I wrote part 1-3 happened all in one night. Part 4 was supposed to be the second week, but by the time I got done with part 3 the second week was already over. My issues with writing persist, but I have been wasting most of my time writing in yahoo! comments. Which is a much worse idea than blogging and there are more than just this one idiot there.
I had pictures to post, but they are all on facebook; go look there to see them. As I sit here wondering what to write that will not just be one tangent after the next and at the same time take me nearly 4 hours to write (it's already 11:30 PST), I cannot help but feel like it is hopeless. There is so much to write and yet nothing that I really want to write about. This is only compounded by the knowledge that hardly any one will read it.
So, my day went as follows: I awoke at 7:17 am not sure why so early. I have not used an alarm clock since I came to Vegas. Mostly because I do not want it going off while I sleep through it, or maybe that is just my excuse to sleep in until 9 am. I grabbed a bowl of Trix cereal and hopped on the internet. I did a search for something like "beginner's guide to dj equipment." For an hour and fifteen minutes I read about effects. However, I would have to read it again to even repeat back what I read.
At 8:30 my brother says we need to be leaving for the Nevada Get Your Business Online seminar. Yeah it started at 9:00 am, we would ultimately arrive a few minutes late. I did not even realize we had to be there so early until he said something, I just happened to be up. Two and a half hours hearing about search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and building websites with sitebuilder all dumbed down for people that had to be walked through signing up for a g-mail account. I thought it was a big waste of time, but my brother made a good point. We did learn a few points and we did not pay for the bill, but somebody did.
It rained all day. It was raining when I got up, it had been raining during the night. My brother was delighted he said he loved days like these. After the seminar we stood under the awning of the convention center for a while. It did not really protect from the rain. We drove to the World Famous Pawn Shop, that place is packed with tourists. I spent almost the whole time we were there on the phone.
I called my Dad. He loves karaoke and somewhere along the way he got the idea to be a karaoke dj and he has acquired some equipment. However, he needs an amplifier (minimum specs of 450W x 2 @ 8 ohms). The problem is that it costs a lot of money, especially the one he wants. Nevertheless, my brother and I have been searching for amps, despite not having a lot of understanding. My family is not big on talking, but today I talked to my Dad and Brother a lot. Not that I liked it at the time, I am one of them too (it's true, we are not big on talking). Yet in retrospect it was nice.
So by 12:30 we arrive at my brother's house and I am starving. I am not quite sure what the plan was, but my brother already talked about getting something to eat. Seems like I spent an hour or two, just being hungry and wondering what we were going to do. Finally, I went to the refrigerator and got out last nights beans, rice, and a couple tortilla flours. With my stomach finally quieting down, it was time to do something productive.
I hooked an amplifier, speakers, and CD player up that my brother has been keeping in storage. He wants to start renting it out with his business, providing a DJ for musical entertainment. Which is why I have been talking to my Dad and reading up on the internet all day. My brother does not really have a full DJ kit though. He does not even have a big playlist of songs. The more I read, the more I am thinking there is more to this than just popping songs into a playlist.
I spent some time hooking a laptop up to the equipment and then we had a mobile dj come over and talk to us. Unfortunately, he speaks English as a second language, my brother's wife was interpreting for the most part. I wish I spoke Spanish, hell I wish I learned French (if I just tried a little harder, maybe I would have). I have not looked at any French for about 3 months now, probably lost it all again. We did learn some things, like where exactly the RCA jacks plug into the amplifier from the laptop. I was told the wrong place initially. Also apparently the speakers we have are good for indoor, but outdoor parties would need better speakers 700W.
Other than that, I spent more time studying beginner dj guides. After which I wasted some time on youtube. I just finished applying for a couple jobs; probably should do many more tomorrow. That is pretty much it for the day, got plenty done, but not sure anything was accomplished. I have plenty more to talk about, but my patience with writing/typing it all is beginning to wane. Perhaps I should get some sleep.
I had pictures to post, but they are all on facebook; go look there to see them. As I sit here wondering what to write that will not just be one tangent after the next and at the same time take me nearly 4 hours to write (it's already 11:30 PST), I cannot help but feel like it is hopeless. There is so much to write and yet nothing that I really want to write about. This is only compounded by the knowledge that hardly any one will read it.
So, my day went as follows: I awoke at 7:17 am not sure why so early. I have not used an alarm clock since I came to Vegas. Mostly because I do not want it going off while I sleep through it, or maybe that is just my excuse to sleep in until 9 am. I grabbed a bowl of Trix cereal and hopped on the internet. I did a search for something like "beginner's guide to dj equipment." For an hour and fifteen minutes I read about effects. However, I would have to read it again to even repeat back what I read.
At 8:30 my brother says we need to be leaving for the Nevada Get Your Business Online seminar. Yeah it started at 9:00 am, we would ultimately arrive a few minutes late. I did not even realize we had to be there so early until he said something, I just happened to be up. Two and a half hours hearing about search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and building websites with sitebuilder all dumbed down for people that had to be walked through signing up for a g-mail account. I thought it was a big waste of time, but my brother made a good point. We did learn a few points and we did not pay for the bill, but somebody did.
It rained all day. It was raining when I got up, it had been raining during the night. My brother was delighted he said he loved days like these. After the seminar we stood under the awning of the convention center for a while. It did not really protect from the rain. We drove to the World Famous Pawn Shop, that place is packed with tourists. I spent almost the whole time we were there on the phone.
I called my Dad. He loves karaoke and somewhere along the way he got the idea to be a karaoke dj and he has acquired some equipment. However, he needs an amplifier (minimum specs of 450W x 2 @ 8 ohms). The problem is that it costs a lot of money, especially the one he wants. Nevertheless, my brother and I have been searching for amps, despite not having a lot of understanding. My family is not big on talking, but today I talked to my Dad and Brother a lot. Not that I liked it at the time, I am one of them too (it's true, we are not big on talking). Yet in retrospect it was nice.
So by 12:30 we arrive at my brother's house and I am starving. I am not quite sure what the plan was, but my brother already talked about getting something to eat. Seems like I spent an hour or two, just being hungry and wondering what we were going to do. Finally, I went to the refrigerator and got out last nights beans, rice, and a couple tortilla flours. With my stomach finally quieting down, it was time to do something productive.
I hooked an amplifier, speakers, and CD player up that my brother has been keeping in storage. He wants to start renting it out with his business, providing a DJ for musical entertainment. Which is why I have been talking to my Dad and reading up on the internet all day. My brother does not really have a full DJ kit though. He does not even have a big playlist of songs. The more I read, the more I am thinking there is more to this than just popping songs into a playlist.
I spent some time hooking a laptop up to the equipment and then we had a mobile dj come over and talk to us. Unfortunately, he speaks English as a second language, my brother's wife was interpreting for the most part. I wish I spoke Spanish, hell I wish I learned French (if I just tried a little harder, maybe I would have). I have not looked at any French for about 3 months now, probably lost it all again. We did learn some things, like where exactly the RCA jacks plug into the amplifier from the laptop. I was told the wrong place initially. Also apparently the speakers we have are good for indoor, but outdoor parties would need better speakers 700W.
Other than that, I spent more time studying beginner dj guides. After which I wasted some time on youtube. I just finished applying for a couple jobs; probably should do many more tomorrow. That is pretty much it for the day, got plenty done, but not sure anything was accomplished. I have plenty more to talk about, but my patience with writing/typing it all is beginning to wane. Perhaps I should get some sleep.
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