I had a nice morning. My brother in law bought himself a nice birthday present today. The problem is that he is in Utah and his truck is in the shop… and the boat was in San Diego. I went to pick it up for him and along the drive had some time to ponder. I like pondering.
First of all when I got to the house where the boat was I had to check out the view. Growing up in San Diego and spending a portion of every summer in Mission Beach and Mission Bay I was in love with the view from this street. The boat seller bought the house in 2005 for $1.3m and it’s probably dropped a bit in value but the view is priceless. This photo does not do it justice, but is from the yard of a nearby home (I knew I should have brought my camera)
Side note: If you’re the Realtor selling the house that I am using this photo from please do your clients a favor and hire a professional to come and take the pictures.
After a nice inspiring ocean view and hitching up the boat I was driving up the I-15 and needed to stop and and get some things so I figured I’d pop in and see my friend Devan who I grew up with back in the day. Devan and I were always coming up with fun ideas when we were kids, but I have to admit he was the more creative one. He is President of Sephra, a company that although you may not know of hand, you may owe a bit of your love handles to. When was the last time you were at a wedding reception and saw one of those jazzy chocolate fountains that you could dip strawberries, pound cake, pretzels and the like into? Chances are Sephra made fountain, and if the caterer knows what’s best you were probably eating Sephra’s chocolate. I got a nice tour of their warehouse and offices and was really impressed with the operation.
So why do I love entrepreneurship? (and what has this post had to do with the title thus far?)
Devan’s company employs 18 people directly. They also ship between 5-20 pallets of goods per day! Think of the economic benefit that they provide as you follow the chain from inception to consumption and think of how many people this one little (or not so little) entrepreneurial venture benefits. There are people working in manufacturing, shipping, packaging, graphic design, etc just to get the products from A to B. Let alone the fact that they had a pretty good size warehouse so their landlord is happy to get lease payments. My favorite part isn’t the direct benefit so much as the indirect benefit. I picture a Chinese man coming home from work after a long hard day of manufacturing the high end Sephra fountain and smiling at his wife and kids and saying to his wife (in Chinese of course) I’ll always have a job as long as Sephra keeps selling fountains. Being able to be a part of providing that security for somebody else makes me feel good (pleasure).
What about the house and view… what did that have to do with entrepreneurship?
I’m glad you asked. The sellers of the boat are in the same boat (pun intended) that I am in. They are Mortgage Brokers in a maelstrom of a mortgage crisis. Luckily I built my company on a sustainable overhead business model and I’m not having to worry about getting out of a lease on a 4000 sf office like these guys are. We spoke for a while about what is needed to keep a company, and personal finances, alive in this market and there is actually a lot of opportunity to help people and make money. That’s the second thing that I love about entrepreneurs, they know how to adapt to the situation. We’re like chameleons, or at least we have to be if we don’t want to get picked off and eaten by the crows.
Even Devan is a bit of a chameleon when his business is going well. He has a couple of other cool products that he’s having success with, I got to sample the edible chocolate bullets (thanks Dev). He’s a diversified chameleon.
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