tthe secret to success, whether it's women or money is knowing when to quit. I oughta know - I'm divorced and broke.

WHAT A SHOW*

,MISAMAMI VICE


RUN WITH US!

Cyril mutherclubckin sneer

 

Specifically - Wheeljack for about £58 here, Prowl about £50 here.

 

Annnnd back from AA. Firstly, no offence to any Brummies (sorry Brum Bot) but fuck Birmingham. The satnav on the courtesy car had no idea where we were going (it took us to a retail park in Birmingham to begin with) then basically couldn't get us out through Birminghams bullshit roads. Then it turns out the Metropole hotel was a further half an hour away! Nightmare.

AA itself, well events were thin on the ground, but it was an opportunity to hang out with all the London Pubers, but in another city. Basically hung around with a bunch of TFWers for lunch, trawled around for toys I didn't even know I wanted and thanks to some keen eyes on my part and a fantastic heads up by everyone else I have come away with (I feel) a very satisfying haul.



Real Gear Wire Tap 320.
Spider-man Jumpstarter (doing this collecting thing all wrong!)
Legends Leo Prime, Onslaught and Bumblebee from Returner,
Not in the Eye book from CZ Hazard... wierdly not in the picture. Hmm.
Classics Deluxe Optimus Prime
Complete G2 Laser Optimus Prime for £30 (which now means my Optimus Prime collection is pretty much complete. No Hot Toys James),
Micromaster Off Road Team
Micromaster Powertrain, to replace the broken Powertrain in the team,
Micromaster Race Track Patrol
Micromaster Countdown, MIB Complete for £50!
3P Headmaster Soundblaster and Nemesis Prime.
Sushi Robot.
Signed Simon Furman poster on his and Geoff Seniors new project, (he actually knows me as 'the Dragons Claws guy'. I am pleased.)
Transformers The Complete Works pt 2
Thundercats Collected Comic
Convention gumph.
I also joined a raffle for a Spark Blue Music Label Soundwave for a fiver. Why not take a punt eh?

And it was all less than £200, because that was my budget for the entire day, which included Diesel (the fuel not the toy), Lunch, parking etc etc. So yeah, it was a fantastic day, meeting and hanging out with some lovely people and talking and talking.

My throat is gonna be sore tomorrow.

Awesomesauce. Toys must wait until tomorrow. It's been a long drive.

 

It's completely normal. I hoovered mine today matter of fact. Daughter jumped on the almost dead bean bag and popped it, beans spilling everywhere. Rather than let the beans compost radioactively poisoning the slugs over the next 40 years i thought just hoover them up. It was abit dicey for a moment with flashbacks of when we first bought the beans at Dunelms, beans blowing all over the retail park car park. It was like some kind saturday night gameshow where they give you a bag full of beans so big it doesn't actually fit inside a normal car, then they laugh at you as you try and figure out how to fit in.

Ironic, fair enough. I think you really earned your mega opening sessions.

 

Excellent prices on the G1 Countdown/Rocket base & the G2 Prime.

 

Nightwatch! Well morning watch.

I've not been to sleep yet... Partners in labour. Running on coffee.

Rather fittingly for Nightwatch a massive spider ran across the floor and I caught it much to the midwifes horror.

 

I'm starting to think my maths are wrong and that Masterforce has actually lost a lot more money than I'd thought. I've got someone interested in buying it, though I suspect nothing will come of it. Increasingly I think MF is superfluous anyway so maybe it's time to give up and just do blogging instead.

 

Awesome, thanks. He almost never comes up on eBay over here. I was originally looking at theh Takara version..... but it just doesnt look as good!

Let me guess, circa 2010 paints with a flip top lid? They never last more than a couple of years in those pots before turning to a rubbery substance. Its generally not worth the hassle, and better just to replace them. I moved away from GW and into Vallejo but I think GW changed back to screwtop pots and these last a lot better, so worth replacing those pots that are now beyond saving.

Ah, the curse of KS. I look forward to getting my KS reward in a couple of weeks then. *le sigh*

Good luck, and remember to breathe! Oh, and your partner should probably do that too! Hope all goes well.

 

It's poor cash flow that kills businesses. It's quite easy to recover from a loss making position, even a bad one providing you have cash or a quick means of generating cash, eg sale of stock. If you have no cash, minimal stock and no profits then the fun really begins.

Making a trading loss in a small business after you have paid salaries, bought stock and paid all over heads and creditors is actually quite efficient as long as turnover and cash flow are forthcoming. If for example though, you haven't drawn a salary and are relying from dividing on profits then that can often be the wrong approach where it artificially under values monthly/weekly sales targets in the retail model. Its different in a service industry where you are simply selling someone's time/knowledge/skills and dividends are more efficient and often forthcoming.

You need turnover and cash flow to grow and resource investment more so than profit; providing you are in a market place that can a) sustain x retail outlets from total market volume of y or b) total market y can grow to new volume z with x+n (increased retail outlets).

If masterforce has the capacity to be profitable, then you don't need to sell it, you need a decent business partner. Great business usually have a figure head personality who has the industry knowledge and passion for the product then the technical partner who leverages that into growth and profit. You need both in business and it is rare one person can do it all and (the most important and) find the time to make a business work.

I would also say that the problem with instigating altruistic aspects to any business, are that they are a time and money sink; and whilst noble are of limited benefit unless you are already profitable or have or can easily generate significant cash reserves. No one is helped long term if the business underpinning a Chartable outreach collapses.

 

No no, I picked up the book from Sid yesterday, I had it out on the floor along with everything else, took a picture but it must have been out of shot.

It was only after I put everything back in the bag I realised the book wasn't in the photo! Can't even take a picture of my haul. Fail Kobayashi, FAIL.

Anyway it was great to hang out for basically the whole day with a bunch of UKTDers, Sweeny, Loosecannon and Pandagash, plus the usual suspects from London, Scuba, McCluskyism, Maz, Stevil, Swoop plus meeting a bunch of fine folk again like CZ Hazard.

When I swung around the room to Simon Furman he recognised me from before (we have actually met quite a few times now and apparently I'm quite distinctive) so I recounted the first time we met was at Botcon Europe where I asked about Dragons Claws and he thinks he remembers me from that! Well I was the first in the signing line that day (years ago) and got my Deaths head #1 and Dragons Claws #1 signed by him.

Then we chatted a bit about his new online project with Geoff Senior which funnily enough revisits a lot of themes of... Dragons Claws! Hahaha! I am well up for this project. Anyway when Scuba went to chat to him and said his friend Kit had sent him, Simon responded with 'the guy who likes Dragons Claws!' Haha. I is famus.

I met a few new people as well, and briefly talked to Nick Roache and James Roberts.I wanted to say hi to Andy at the Kapow stall but everytime I swung around he was busy, then later on he wasn't at the stall.  

The venue was a bit poop, Swerves Bar food was school canteen fare (again) and hotel food was waaay overpriced! Swoops hotel chicken wings took ages to arrive! Ras's orders came wrong (he ordered his pizza with a beer, the hotel tried to fob him off with a can of coke)! Plus for a venue 'in' Birmingham it was suspiciously distant from... well anything.

But like I said, it was great to hang out with everyone again. Hmm. Maybe next year if my eldest is old enough I'll bring her along and book the whole weekend. No more Satur-fuck off after 5:30-day pass?

Edit
Oh and I couldn't find either of the 2 main things I went there for. Boo!

 

I'm in no place to offer advice, as I wasn't able to run a successful small business, but it sounds like Prescient knows his stuff.

What I can say is that running a business that's losing money (essentially your own), puts a lot of strain on you, both financially and personally. If you have stock you can sell to claw back some of the lost cash, then that sounds like an idea. Plus, not taking fully paid pre-orders means you don't "owe" anyone anything, meaning you could cease running Masterforce with no bad feelings. This would then free you up to concentrate on the aspects of the hobby you've perhaps missed out on that bring you joy, like the blogging and social sides. Plus, and probably most importantly, you could really concentrate on your health.
No one here would think badly of you for doing that!

 

But Kit, you ended up buying things I said you should buy. Twice! Thats winning double hard.

I bought a mental lizardbot so i obviously win the best.

Ace day though, everyone was amazing. Basically felt like Pube on tour. 'Haul' pics in a bit when i'm properly caffienated.

 

I had a dream again last night that I was Tupac, and Dr Dre was trying to kill me in an Asda

Cool.

 

Yer, and I wish he was closer as I would happily give him the time needed to make MF work.

 

 Neither would lower themselves to dying in an Asda - they would be Waitrose kinda guys. Just say no kids.

Morg, do it your way, or go into partnership with Captain Obvious up there 

TT BoringSor is on the way from HLJ so that's something else I'm looking forward to that's going to attract a Custom's bumming. Ratfudge. The Govt can suck the fun out of anything.

Doesn't seem like CW Wave 4 will be making these shores afterall (now that's a massive surprise.....) so get em where you can to avoid pages and pages of "where can I find......" In the next few months like effing Wave 2. It's up at all good UK Retail buds, and at least one Bad one too.

Logan - Congrats/Good Luck as appropriate.

 

That rain was biblically bad, thanks to Pandagash for steering a way through it!

Awesome day yesterday at AA, great to meet all of you lovely folk from t'south and elsewhere; Loosecannon, Tikgnat Scubaboy McCluskyism, Maz, Stevil, Swoop and the rest.

Really fun day, seeing heroes like Furman and Wildman, staggered at the variety and volume of robots on sale, the amazing Cosplayer costumes and reeling from the crap quality food on offer in Swerves bar.

Managed to keep purchases to a modest level but still walked away with:
PE combiners hand and feet
G1 Powerglide
G1 Snap Dragon (fully complete   )

 

Nice haul. I'm envious on your MISB Countdown. One of the few Micromaster bases I still need to get.

 

Well at the Post Office we say (Sub-Offices not POL HQ, they just say UK gov more money please)

"turnover is vanity, profit is sanity but cash is reality"

and we also say

"the only thing footfall is guaranteed to do is wear out the carpet"

I also highly recommend never taking business advice for me  

 

Ohh missed it, good luck Logan 001!

Yeah I'm quite pleased with that Countdown. If I understood right Scuba spotted it and said to McCluskyism that tikgnat had to own it, and then McCluskyism showed it to me and said 'imagine how good it'll look in your Autobot city...' annnnd toy bought.

Then I showed Scuba a Classics Deluxe OP I bought and said it was pretty much one of the last Optimuses I'm missing, abd then he pointed out the G2 Laser OP and asked have I got that? Well no, but it has to be complete... flip it over and the card says complete for £30.

It's like I was blind and everyone else had a water diviner...

 

CW wave 4 isn't coming here? Where'd you hear that?