Notes from 6/1/17 to 6/2/17 - our efforts - AFB and Adilas - what is the goal? - what are we trying to become? - we are seeing time and hours being eaten up on both sides of the fence. - Russell is helping us, we are helping him, they are selling things we are selling things, etc. - we are wanting more and more to protect the adilas name. too much confusion and liability. if it is a 3rd party, we want to make more of a separation. - if it is a real 3rd party, we need to keep things serparated. - AFB would like to be part of adilas - powerful, easy, and good looking. - They (AFB) want to add a number of new pieces that make it really shine. - AFB would like adilas to virtually buy them out. - AFB as AFB has their own drive to build things out. This is one of the advantages of being separate. - This has been a great benefit - providing vision and ownership - They have really enjoyed the dreaming it up and driving things forward - They have also been able to generate some of their own monies - They would want to do cost plus a little to help cover things - If they sell back to us, we then own it and they then work for us - basically they bring it back to us and ask us on everything - They don't want to do tech support - If we bill enough, we could cover both parties - If we own things (adilas), we then get to drive and control things - however, the cost and other resources then fall back on us - Do we want to own and control everything or do we want to share in that role. - AFB is somewhat searching for power - they want to make themselves known. - They are proposing that once they get what they want, they are willing to fall back a bit. - As a note, once you have power, it is really hard to give that back up. just a note. - price tag for ecommerce $20,000 - price tag for the market $10,000 - price tag for the theme $5,000 - price tag for web site $6,000 - If we do a merge who is going to take care of tech support, training, chasing monies, paying for servers, etc.? - If we do a buy out, we (adilas) gain more control? What would that look like? - AFB is using this whole thing as an investment... they want the payback. - Owning the house vs. working at the house? - AFB is capitizing on some major veins... very direct in trying to fulfill their vision - They wanted to make waves and make people notice them - that was their intention - AFB wants the system to be to the level where they wanted it to be in order to sell it - AFB claims $60,000+ on investment to help build adilas. What about the millions and millions that adilas has done? - Russell wants to focus on what pieces have been improved - Russell also wants us to know that Brandon virtually opened up the doors and handed them the silver platter - Things were pitched as if you build it, you may own it. This was how it was pitched and presented. - For the record, we were under major pressure and really needed some help. We virtually opend the door. - We were very spread out and needed help and ofered some major pieces because we couldn't manage it. - We want Russell to keep helping us - he has some major skills in certain places - however, where do we want him to play? - Russell's strategy is to totally redesign adilas (a virtual pro version) - and then sell it either directly or a virtual white label. - Russell has said the word "power" multiple times. He says he is willing to give it up and/or redirect it. - There was some light talk about the hub or shop model (it has all of the extras). - This includes: sales, marketing, design, upsale products, setup, consulting, custom code, training, etc. - Russell and Chris want to make enough waves to make people go through them first or because they have so many cool features. - Notes from Steve - Now all of us are seeing why Steve doesn't like the word "employee". If the person works on their own, they have that vision and self modivation to build what you want. Steve really likes the word "depenable". - Steve doesn't really like the word "ownership". He likes to share in the vision and participate where possible. He likes to join forces with other parties. Steve would like to get rid of the ownership for adilas. - We are building a product together. What it is called doesn't really matter. - What if we put all of what we have (adilas and AFB or whatever) into a virtual trust? No body really owns it, we just all own it together. - Steve is very good at softening things and smoothing edges. He likes to look at the bigger picture. - Steve doesn't want to do a buy out... we want to harness the people where they can shine and what their virtures are... the asset is in the people and what they do. - Chris Johnnie - what is his role and/or position? - What if he was more of an internal investor, vision guy, or helping with funding in some way? - What about sales and how to sell things in bulk and/or setup new channels. - Help him get what he wants and play a key role. Help promote him into the right spot. - Keep him in the loop and part of the family - doing his role - He doesn't want to be in the nitty-gritties - he is more of an investor or idea guy of sorts - We all need help so that we don't hurt ourselves (we all need this) - stop the bad deals before they really happen (jumping in to quickly). - looking for the quick buck or full slam dunk - Steve wants to change the way adilas ownership is distributed... - Who is contributing? What are they offering? If they are playing and helping, we want them to virtually have some ownership or join interest of some kind. - Let's redefine what we are... - Steve wants to limit control to who we trust and virtually let in - Looking to the monies that it takes to build this thing out... it takes tons of both time and money - Steve was comparing Russell to a master cake decorator... it adds the value to the underlying cake... when you mix both form and function, you can make it sale - Steve made some comments about interest and debt... we only owe some small numbers vs. millions and millions. - Steve was even talking about how the code was sold from Morning Star to adilas. He was also pulling in some stories about bankrupcy and other financial levels and decisions. - How can we come together as one entity? - Russell as the designer and helping with some vision and pushing things forward - How are we going to get funded? - Internal? From owners? Investors (soft and internal)? Doing custom code? - What if we put some of the monies being paid in on the balance sheet? This is monies owed back to internal investors - think of internal people who want it to succseed. They pitch in and then either get paid back with interest or they become a virtual stakeholder of sorts. More of a soft or benefit investor of sorts. - Coming back to other verticals and doing some niche marketing and packages. - team building: forming, storming, norming, performing - where are we? - Russell would really like some power in the following areas (his modivation - internal drive): sales, functionality, financial structure (budgets and allowacating funds - rules and principles), look and feel, ease of use (processes). - New notes as of 6/2/17 - Russell talking - 1. a full buy out - Russell would keep working to build going forward - 2. merge and then manage certain departments - certain amounts of money coming over the fence - current magic number is $3,500/month - this would be Russell's favorite option - 3. merge - some monies (less than the other merge option) but more influnce inside of adilas - Russell feels that he will be bugging us if it goes this way - stepping on some toes - somewhat forcing his hand - One of the ways Russell is funding the project is by doing custom code. He is billing at $50/hour and then paying him self out at $35/hour. The other $15 goes to cover expenses. - Russell really wants to help with the budget - This will help all of us as we go forward. - Russell does play hard ball when it comes to certain things... that is needed at times. - We need to have each person help with what they have tallents and skills in. That would be awesome. - We may need to setup certain rules to help us be more effective. This may be limits on tech support, paying for custom code and requests, etc. - Russell would like to do some market research and get our prices to a more fair level - Have the customers pay for as much as possible - basically, use other people's money to fund your business - Who is going to manage the outside developers and other people resouces. - Maybe some of the new accounts coming on are willing to pay... that may be a huge key to the kind of customers we are looking for. - We need to stay within our means - in all areas. - We are seeing lots of people that would like certain features. If we can circle the wagons and get them to pitch in, that helps all of us. - Russell has been changing the bid and quote process to an estiment or rough budget with progress reports - Steve talking - 1. where is Chris at? - He is more on the investment level and wanting to make some money back on those investments - Chris wants us to be more organized so that we are more sucessful and can make some more monies - We need to find him a good spot so that he can play in that spot - Steve would like to abolish the ownership piece somehow. Steve would like to talk to his attourney and CPA on a trust - We don't fully know - We may need to record who has monies invested and maybe time... We then put that on a balance sheet. - We are seeing: 35K Chris Johnnie, 35K Russell, 150K Steve, 15K Kiva, 15K David, 15K Brandon, 10K Brandon's mom and dad, 10K Steve's mom, 10K Kelly, etc. These are just rough numbers and haven't taken into consideration any time and service that has been rendered. Some of these monies may need to be on the balance sheet as an "I owe you". These moneis would be paid, but it may take some time or strategy to play things out. - We are willing to sign off and say, all of our ownership is part of the trust that Steve is proposing. - We, as adilas, tend to give a bunch of stuff away for free. - We can figure out monies coming in, monies owed, and monies paid out - We each have pieces that we really really want to be part of. If we come together, maybe we could have a meeting and figure out who needs to be where and what the rules or requirements are. - On pricing... is it all one big price? or is is more of a smorgus board with packages, up sales, and pick and choose. We could have all kinds of different levels. - We could up the monthly and then redistribute as needed. - Everybody at adilas could be considered an independent - How can we get enough funding to help pay for Brandon and Steve's time? - There are tons of cool ideas to make more monies... dedicated servers, custom code, add-on ecommerce packages, etc. - A good software system is worth tons of money. An employee costs $2,000 to $5,000 a month. The system needs to be along those same levels. - We may need to start charging for some adilas time - planning, project mangements, code sign-off, Brandon time, Alan time, etc. - Going forward... - Let's help these guys get enough custom work to keep them going. - Let's figure out who has what monies and what are owed back. - We need a constitution (rules for playing in our trust and system). It could be a charter, by-laws, engagement rules, or whatever. - As far as percentages... We would like to structure things so that a percentage is on a semi-fixed level. Say they are at 5% of deposits until they get to a number of $5,000 per month. Once we hit that mark, we want to reserve the right to lower the percentage but still keeping them at the same basic dollar value. It is all a factor of the whole. - We need to grow up and become a business - Let's keep moving the ball forward with talks, research, and additional meetings. Yee haw, here we go... :) - Brandon talking - Brandon was mostly taking notes and pitching some small ideas. - Adilas is an idea farm... let's make sure we can harvest those ideas - Quote from Russell - "Adilas is a great companion software package for any business." - We need to train our clients how to treat us - mini conversions and related items - other projects coming down the pipeline - level of clearance