I Love Boise!

I haven't written anything on this blog in a long time. I think it's been over two moths. Inspirations for a good blog take time to build, and I hope this one has brewed long enough. 

I love Boise! I've made my bunk in places ranging from one coast to the other, but by far Boise has infected my heart. There are many reason's my wife and I choose to make this our permanent residence. Lots of sun, few bugs, mild winters, hot dry summers, and good camping spots are just a few. However, I find the people to be my main reason. 

I found Boise as a result of falling in love with Sarah. I would never have thought to come here on my own. It was back in 1994 that we met, and it's been an incredible ride since. We came out here to visit her Dad a couple of times while stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas in the U.S. Army. After our wedding that fall and another year of service we decided that Boise would be the place to raise our family.

We got here in the late fall of 1995. Sarah was pregnant with our first child, who was born the next spring. What I found upon arrival was an openness unlike anything I had previously encountered. People here are willing to look you in the eye, say hello as they pass by on the street and offer assistance at the the first sign of dismay. They care deeply for their surroundings and take pride in their property. Every town has pockets of decay, but none so few as Boise. From the most grandiose house on Harrison or Warm Springs to the little neighborhoods that blanket the valley, people just seem to take a bit more pride in their property, than in most of the other places I've lived. It isn't so much the place as it is the people that make Boise a great place to live.

For instance, I became a member of the George Fox University Toastmasters. It is made up of people who are there to improve themselves in a safe and constructive environment. I don't do very well in front a crowd, as I learned presenting various topics during my MBA coursework. I gave my first speech in a Toastmasters meeting and I can tell you that I was more comfortable during that talk than any time during school. Today's meeting featured three speakers; each amazing in their own way. Not only did I receive great information on three topics, but I was able to learn about giving a captivating speech. But the point here is that Boise is the place to find people of this caliber in concentrate. I know it's biased, but if you're thinking about moving here I recommend a second opinion. You can check out Move2Boise. They'll tell you a lot of what you may want to know. And if that isn't enough, come for a visit and ask people. You'll pretty much always find what you expect, but in Boise you'll find so much more.

PS. If you are thinking about coming to a Toastmasters, comment here and I will get in touch with you. It is really a good time.

Close the Door!

How many times has someone yelled at you to close the door? How many times have you yelled at your kids to close the door?

I recently met a man who has a very helpful occupation. He tests your house to see how well it's keeping in the heat when it's cold outside, or how well it's keeping in the cold when it's hot outside. His name is Lee Cotten and he is the owner of Idaho Thermal Imaging. He has a device that he uses to scan your home for heat-leaks in the winter, or cool air leaks in the summer. On his website you can see pictures of the trouble spots most homes have for heat transfer. You'll be amazed at some of these pictures. 

Better yet, lee has effective solutions for sealing out the cold (or conversely sealing in the cool air in summer). Sure comes in handy in Idaho for thosetimes when the heater (or AC) seems to be kicking on all the time. 

Those of you with older homes that have wood-burning fireplaces typically lose the amount of heat equivalent to leaving a window open 365 days a year. Or almost like leaving the door open year round, imagine the yelling? Lee has a range of services to keep you warm in winter and cool in the summer. Both of those prospects are nice, but what is really great about Lee is that he'll keep your heating dollars from leaking out of your wallet as well. "Stay warm and save money" Sounds pretty cool to me. 

Repo Business

I spent a great couple of hours the other day with the owner of J2 Recovery Services. He helps banks get cars and other things back from people who aren't making their payments. Its a pretty interesting business. Of the functions he performs for these lending institutions, skip tracing seems to be the most interesting. A skip trace is performed when creditors can't find the person who owes the money or the collateral. Bail bondsmen, and repomen have to get very creative to legally find out where a person has gone. Apparently the more creative the better as far as the banks and finance companies are concerned (At least that's what I've found after asking lenders what they are looking for in a recovery agent). Sometimes it takes sifting through a ton of data to find that one little tidbit of information that will give away someone's location. It reminds me of the movie "Midnight Run" with Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin. In the movie Grodin is an accountant who works for the Chicago mob. DeNiro plays the lovable and honest bounty hunter sent to track down Grodin when he skips his bail. In order to find the accountant, DeNiro's character gets the number the accountant used for his one phone call after arrest. DeNiro calls that number to get some other piece of information about the accountant. The woman he talks to then calls Grodin, and DeNiro traces the call and gets Grodin's location. Ingenious! But this is what recovery agents and bounty hunters do and J2 does this better than any. He finds stuff that nobody else can find; even cars that have been on the list for months.

I have always had this mental image of what a repo man is supposed to look like. I guess it comes from that cult classic, "Repoman", with Emilio Esteves. You know, kind of seedy, not someone you would trust to watch your house for the weekend while you went on vacation, lots of tattoos. But J2 is different in this regard. The owner is a regular, clean-cut guy, no tattoos, wife and kids, average joe, who is trying to break out of the stereotype. And doing it quite successfully. He's got some great goals and there is no doubt that he'll reach them.

Once we get his website up, I'll be sure and link to it. You bankers and finance companies out there would be wise to switch. J2 is a real go getter, in the true sense of the term!

Got Inventory Extras?

I received an e-mail today from a friend who owns a ladies' shoe store. She was looking for advice about what to do with the summer inventory that didn’t find a home. The lines at Perfect Pair Shoes are very specialized and may be difficult to sell because of the high-fashion nature of the styles.
As an early riser, I tend to wake, check e-mail and listen to the radio. Here in Boise, Idaho, Wall Street Journal Radio plays from 4:30 to 6:00 am. It is a wonderful source of quick business information, that doesn’t require a pair of glasses. Who wants to try to find a pair of glasses at 5-am?
Today, Gordon Deal, the host, mentioned that Overstock.com has a new competitor -Redtag.com. It has almost everything you could possibly want, and allows you to sell everything you possibly don't want via online auction. The parent company to one of the five selling channels is Enable Holdings, which operates several inventory control sites.

Ubid.com sells inventory by auction and ensures security with a rigorous screening process, and provides customer service with a United States based call center. 

Redtag.com launched a couple of days ago and is a fixed price site. Redtaglive.com is an offline marketplace where buyers can get great deals and sellers can offload that extra inventory.  For businesses with excess inventory, consider Dibu.com, a global B2B trading company for wholesalers who need to move large quantities of inventory, and Commerce Innovations, currently still in development, is for bulk inventory lot selling and buying.

In order to become a seller you need to have a FEIN, or SSN (Federal Employer Identification Number, or Social Security Number), a valid credit card, Dunn & Bradstreet Number (These guys track your business credit), three business references, and bank account information. It seems like a lot to go through, but if you can get your money back on the seasonal extras, and free up shelf space for the new Fall and Winter lines, it just might be worth it.
Weather it’s a pair of pumps, a flat screen, or a few palates of outdoor speakers,
Redtag.com can help you make room for that next round of goods.