Wednesday, December 28, 2011

More Money, MORE Problems?

I had a conversation with The Lifer tonight that was rather entertaining.  The first part of the call was strictly business.  We were discussing numerous details about the upcoming event.  It seems The Parole Board will not be getting much sleep in the next few days! 

The last minutes of the call were spent laughing about how broke we are because of LBB.  You see, each one of us on The Parole Board puts in a lot of money, time and effort into the company.  To say that we are passionate about LBB would be an vast understatement.    

At times, we all question whether we are going to be able to get LBB off the ground as we envision.  We never did start this to make money.  The original idea was just to share some stories.  That's been the plan for years.  But, since the formation of the facebook group, things have accelerated faster than any of us could believe.  The growth in popularity has pushed us creatively and allowed us to conjure up some great concepts/ideas for the future (in my opinion).  However, in order to take LBB where we want to go, we will definitely need money.

So, there have been several instances during The Parole Board's daily meetings where at least one of us mentions the fact that we need more money to take LBB to the next level.  We know we are on the right path, but it's a difficult one.  This is not a company funded by investors.  There is no bank loan.  And we aren't wealthy individuals.  In fact, we are all broke.  And we are putting in a lot of hours into the company.  I know that I am personally putting in about 30 hours a week in LBB related work.  I would say The Lifer and The Warden each work at least that much on the company also.  This is, of course, in addition to our other jobs.

Without a steady cash flow we will never be able to start our non-profit organization (charity).  We want to create a charity that will help raise money to pay for living expenses of INMATES that are injured/sick and cannot work.  Most INMATES, if they aren't working, don't have a way to pay bills - the plan is to help them out.  Maybe we won't be able to pay too much to each individual person, or maybe you have to work a certain number of hours per week to qualify, but some assistance is better than nothing.  We don't have all the details worked out yet, but what we do know is that if the Screen Actors Guild offers catastrophic insurance for actors, INMATES should have something similar.  We also know that it takes money to run a charity.     

Anyway, the point is, we have a lot of ideas that will help benefit the service industry but without money, none of those will happen.  This was discussed in tonight's conversation with The Lifer.  We laughed about how much we work for nothing.  Running LBB is akin to unrequited love because we all love LBB despite the company not showing us much love in return.  Each dollar we make goes back into the company with what seems like $4 or $5 of our own money!  The Lifer said in jest that he's so broke he can't even afford to replace his old ragged boxers so he's just going to have to start wearing the LBB boyshorts.  That proceeded to start us down a path of laughing so much that my stomach hurt.  And we ended up the call on a positive note. 

Anyway, I'm not even sure what the point of this article is.  I do know that the best part about running a business with two other people that are as dedicated as you is, knowing that every minute I spend working on LBB, my business partners are doing the same thing.  And I can promise you this, the fact that the INMATES have been so supportive of the company helps motivate The Parole Board to work even harder.  Accomplishing our goals means every single person that has supported LBB will benefit and have fun along the way. Toast! 

4 comments:

  1. It's tough starting a business. Some people get lucky and their business takes off almost immediately, but that doesn't happen often. And even worse, there have been many great business ideas over the years that have failed due to lack of capital.

    What you guys have started here is a great idea, and I'm certain you have many more great ideas to add that will promote growth and enough strength for your business model to stay alive and be fruitful.

    As always, if there is anything I can do to support the LBB, don't hesitate to ask. Toast!

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  2. We had this talk while I was sitting at the Improv and you were holding back from throwing pens and papers while still at work. I personally think that all of the INMATES will do whatever it takes to help get everything off the ground and keep scuba in real mans boxers (i do believe we need pics of him in the LBB boyshorts though)

    Maybe the next RIOT should be to pay for the website. That's the least we could do... I know everyone would be down for that! You three are the ones that brought the website to life and helped everyone meet new amazing people that honestly, we might not ever know if not for LBB.

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  3. We really appreciate the support guys. Reading and hearing things like this makes all the work worthwhile. The website is finally paid for, it's just a matter of getting it at a good place to launch...and we are so close I can taste it! Toast to you!

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  4. If you can some how get each LBB member to donate $5 to this cause a month that would help. I would certainly do it. I have been where I couldn't work and as you know the bills still came. We all pay insurance why not all pitch in to help fellow inmates? The only thing is this will mean more work for the parole board!!

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