What Universal Health Care in America means for my small business?

Ok so the Senate has presented a bill that will cover 96% of Americans and cost us $800+ Billion dollars. Republicans are crying foul & Democrats are marching the streets in victory.

What does this all really mean for small businesses?

I am not sure I am not an expert on small businesses. I am an expert on my small business and universal health care means nothing to me. My company already pays 100% of the cost of health care. We have been for 2 yrs, we have been waiting for the rest of the country to catch up.

Universal health care to me as a CEO may mean lower premiums but that may take some time to reach me. It may mean better coverage and that may also take some time. But most importantly UHC means that new workers will be held to strict health guidelines that are a benefit to them vs being a burden.

Sick days take as much away from a small business as loosing a "large client" or "profitable customer." currently all our employees exercise a minimum of 2 days a week for a minimum of 2 hrs at a time. As CEO I am required to exercise 4-5 days a week and a minimum of 2.5 to 4hrs, I have to set the example.

If we(as a company) are going to pay 100% of your health care then we rather u not have to use it for something you can prevent. Accidents happen, that's why you have health coverage. Be productive enjoy life and "work to live" not the other way around.

So Senate people, hurry up and catch up to what we have been doing for 2 yrs. Oh and the rest of the world has been doing for a while already. Pass legislation that provides every American, not just the 96% of Americans, with health coverage. We small guys have already been doing it.

You can reach me at Q@Growverde.com

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.

We are buried under a mountain of paperwork

After doing six months of research about carbon credits, cap & trade, and various other govt. plans in circulation. We have come to realize that we have to choose a route that best suites our companies goals and focus on that one plan. We built this company as a transportation offset program. Use carbon credits to fund the growth and daily operations. Provide the service to locals for free after gatherig some information about their driving habits, and tada!

Sadly that's not the case for us with the economy tanked and funding dried up. We are forced to look at the core of our business model and evaluate it.

Q. Will people use a service that's good for the environment?

People already use Mas transit in many different cities, some cities more than others. People already take the bus, but because they have to not because they want to.

Q. Do people care if the service is good for the environment?

An overwhelming number of people are speaking with their wallets when it comes to green initiatives. Buying locally grown food, services, and products to reduce their carbon foot print.

Q. Can we overcome the stigma associated with public transport?

We will have to see! Currently our project is privately funded but as it grows in scope I am sure some federal or public money will surface. This creates hurdles from people who will be quick to judge our intensions.

Bottom line: today as well as yesterday is a struggle for us to climb our way out of the mountain of paperwork we are buried under trying to get this service out of 2 years of beta testing and onto a full scale citywide test.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone. For comments or suggestions email: Q@Growverde.com

Jay Leno proves us right with an Aptera test drive

Look for video from me later this year after the company purchases an Aptera for me (the CEO) as part of my salary package. The video speaks for itself..enjoy

How the State of Arizona helped us with our Vespa rescue?

OK first let’s start with the obvious question.

Why would a Miami based company have a Vespa in Arizona, Shaq's new home?

The simple answer that is where our GPS partners are located. The long version would involve thirty two hours of driving through the vast territory of Florida and its curved highway system, a three state sprint through the recovering "Gulf of Mexico" with its small towns and cities and slipping into Phoenix at night as the sun was setting. So let’s get to how the Vespa got to Phoenix in the first place...

The obvious question, "how did your Vespa end up in Phx?"

I had a vision of a GPS based system that would allow members to use access cards vs. keys. I knew this system, as I saw it in my head, did not exist and I wanted to know how much of the system could be built with off the shelf applications. Could I really make this happen? Is this even possible? And is it cost effective? I researched the net for info on GPS devices that are small enough to fit into a Vespa or could even be used with a Vespa scooter. After almost 3 months on the internet searching around for answers and numerous calls I discovered a small company in Az. that had a device small enough to fit into the Vespa. I called and spoke to the then owner, heads of various dept., and the resident "Guru" on whether their system could work for our application. We decided that more testing would be needed and the best way to get that done was to have a Vespa on site to "tinker" with! I leapt at the chance to have a company that was showing so much enthusiasm for our vision, work on a solution that would help us scale up our services as we grew.

Could I build a system around this device with the companies help?

The company then arranged to have the Vespa picked up and shipped to their main location in Phoenix Az. (which has a special place in my heart as they city I learned how to run a business from the ground up with a direct sales company). The team’s enthusiasm always matched ours and they moved fast with development, testing, and coding the API (the language that allows systems to talk to each other) well almost!

Monkey wrenches come in all sizes!

At some point before we got down to the "nuts and bolts" of the actual API and what was expected we hit a function issue that could be a major "gremlin." Long story short, the device was draining juice from the battery and the Vespa would not be able to start within a couple days! So we halted all talks until the "Guru's" could figure out how we could work around this issue...

The sky is falling!

The state of Arizona receiving over 300 complaints via the BBB of Phoenix was investigating the owners for 38 counts of violations of Conspiracy, Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud and Transactional Money Laundering which caused 3,000 victims to lose a total of approximately $6 million dollars (you can read the details of our nightmare in more details following the link)..

AYFKM!

Once we found this out (we found out the weekend before they were sentenced) we scrambled to find a way to get back our Vespa. We made numerous calls to schedule the Vespa for shipment but an uneasy feeling came over us when the price of shipping it went from $200 to $300 to $700 in a matter of days! With our options limited by mistrust we serviced the company truck, checked the tire pressure, filled up the gas tank and drove 36 hrs to AZ from Miami... On our way (we left on Friday night) we spoke by phone to the office over the weekend then suddenly nothing! When we pull up to the office Monday night turns out the office is closed! No one picking up the phone lights off, nothing...With few options left for the night and after 12 hrs of straight driving we decide dinner and some sleep is in order, we can always come back in the morning when the office should be open

Tues. morning and the office are still not open and people are not picking up the phone. What do we do? Luckily we checked the leasing office to see if they had any info on the company or when the doors would be open. "They shut down yesterday (Monday) and high tailed it out of here with their tails between their legs!" or something like that was said. Flabbergasted and confused we pleaded our case to the owner/manager of the property (luckily the office was located in an office park, ironically the same office park I worked out of, in fact the exact same office address I just never put two and two together to realize it was the same location I spent a year in). The company had 6 offices 4 connected together and 2 separated by a wall. When we walked in it was like a scene out of "Boiler room" the movie with Ben Affleck working for scam brokers (simplified version see the movie).

Boiler room!!!

The scene was unreal one room had 5 shredders in it and paper scraps were everywhere! Bags of shredded documents piled to the ceiling and computers ripped from the walls and desk, chairs strew everywhere, and in general the place looked like someone (s) left in a hurry!!! We ran from section to section room to room trying to locate our Vespa with no luck. After a quick search of the main section we persuaded the manager and the property assistant to open the last set of offices...

There to our right was our Vespa in the last office tucked against the wall and safe but how do we get the manager to release it to us without a big legal battle? "If you can provide proof you own it I MIGHT release it to you." It has always been "company policy" to leave a copy of all registration and ownership papers on the Vespa's, and this was no different. I opened the storage unit and there was a copy of the registration and my OLD business card stapled to the registration, oh what joy! But will he release the Vespa to us, the company no longer exists and they still own him rent!

Thank goodness there are still business people who are honest and fair, he copied my license, business card, and the registration and released the Vespa to us with no further hassles. It seems that people who gave money to this company in hopes of becoming a distributor would parade through his office every day for info on where the company has disappeared to.

So what did we learn?

We are currently searching for a new GPS provider but will limit our involvement to "work for hire" and we will require proof of reliability, and ask more questions since we know what questions to ask now

Ironic Twist

By way of the internet I have discovered that the company has since changed its name and is doing the same exact thing it was doing before, just under a different name. Wonders never cease at the depravity of some people to make a fast buck.

Check out this latest news story and make up your own mind on this company and then drop me a note!

Horizon Technology / ISkyUSA / Millennium Plus

Wire frames are in!!!

I now have in hand the first round of wire frames. And according to our agreed upon schedule, Micstura, is right on schedule. The goal of our website and registration process was to make it as simple as possible. This week we are focusing on the questions needed to support our VER application to the CDM. By collecting the data during the application process we can provide that data as backup to our claims of carbon reductions. Wire frames are by no means the "look of our website" its more the framework, hence the word "frame."

IPhone app:

Our developers are mapping out the IA for the new IPhone app we will launch on the heals of our new website launch. Together with our "paperless" application system for our sales partners and our introduction of LO.R.A. our resrvation system. We believe that Grow Verde apps will become industry standards.

LO.R.A.:

I would love to talk more about LO.R.A. to you but I am told I have to save it for a later date. But what little I can say is this...LO.R.A. loves to play with GPS functions and she can locate our entire fleet at the touch of a button! Check back for more info on LO.R.A.

Paperless application system:

Paper work! Paper work! Paper work! This one aspect of business eats into profit as much as labor does. It was a part of our mission from the start to have a paperless application system for all members. Our sales partners are good at one thing, and that one thing is, finding good customers based on a set of criteria we provide. But the one main issue during the sales process has always been "paper work", when done correctly the process is seamless but time consuming. When done incorrectly, it becomes a nightmare for all involved and most of all for the potential customer who usually goes without service, or without the services they signed up for.

At Grow Verde, we had our developers focus on creating an application that our sales partners could use that would allow the "Feet on the Street" sales reps to enter customer info directly into our data base. This would allow the rep to review any mistakes with the customer in "real time" and make changes as needed. This would also eliminate the need for "Data" entry clerks, a major drain on profits. By having the reps enter all the info for each user into the system complete with business billing info and personal billing info. We eliminate the additional opportunity for "human error", not to say it can't happen during the sign up process! But we have taken steps to reduce these "error" issues during the process.

With this small steps forward we have provided the sales rep with a digital sales tool that allows them to carry less over all weight in the field, concentrate more on "customer needs" and combined several sales tools into one device. Paperless applications also streamline the billing process on the back end and helps to identify payment issues in real time, versus the post auditing method favored by most industries. Keep your browsers pointed in our direction for more updates and notes on how this process is coming along.

Website update schedule

I am so glad we now have a schedule in place for our new website and when it will be up and running. Micstura has generously placed a realistic schedule of deliverable in our hands for the stronger, faster, and more capable website! For example by the end of the 12 (this week)all of our content analysis will be done along with the registration process and the information architecture will begin.

We spent over 4 hours with our Web partners talking through the process from the end user POV. Over the next 13 weeks they will be completing stages that will bring us closer to our COMPA pilot with the city of...(sorry can't say it just yet).

Here are some of the exciting benchmarks we look forward to over the next 13 weeks:

Phase 1: Content and Information Architecture (IA)
Phase 2: IA final wire frames, etc..
Phase 3: Design Phase approval from us on the "new" look of the website...
Phase 4: Design phase continues..
Phase 5: Design phase final
Phase 6: Website testing and functionality testing
Phase 7: Public Launch and start of COMPA pilot...(with a city we can't disclose yet)

We are very excited about the options members will have, something I will discuss in other blogs. Until then all of our members who are part of the member program now will have their fees waived until the new site is up and running.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at

Info@GrowVerde.com

Q Fortune
CEO/Founder
http://www.growverde.com/

R&D goes very well for Grow Verde this week!

I just got this exciting video from our GPS partners at Horizon Tech. in AZ. The video shows how the RFID reader installed in our Vespa can act as the key to the vehicle. This will allow us to monitor usage, automate billing for each member no matter how many members we have (the system is being built to handle 1,000,000 unique member access cards). This will allow us to focus our efforts on building out our green zones and increasing usage, key factors in our growth for 09'.

Give us feedback during the R&D stage that we may not have seen or thought of. History has proven that many minds are better than a few. Post your suggestions at this blog or email them directly to me at Q@Growverde.com and I will read and respond.

without further delay here is the update video from our GPS partners:

Testers needed for Eco-alternative transport system called Vespa sharing...

Grow Verde and local city officials have struck a tentative verbal agreement to pilot a Eco-Alternative transport program called Vespa sharing. Testers will be required to submit a drivers license and agree to a driving background check. once qualified testers will be required to pay a $35 activation fee for personal accounts, $45 for business accounts (up to 15 employees). The monthly fee is waived for the early adopters and a credit card will be required for usage rates that are 20-35% lower than the normal rates once launched. testers will be responsible for giving the city and Grow Verde feedback on the reservation system and ease of use. During the pilot testers will also provide feedback on services and or locations that should be added once the system goes live.
Grow Verde is a local company that has transitioned from scooter rentals to tourist. They now are providing municipalities with a scalable addition to a transit infrastructure at little or no cost to the city. Started in 2006 Grow Verde grew from a small rental company catering to the 4-5 star hotel properties into a carbon reducing leader. Each Vespa saves 3.00925 TONS of CO2 each hour it is used. This opens the door to a Carbon credit program that can benefit the city and it's locals. The over all goal is to create enough carbon credits from the usage that the already low monthly fee is reduced to ZERO! and members only pay for what they use!
If you would like to be considered as a tester please submit your info to Info@GrowVerde.com and in the subject line put "I WANNA BE A TESTER!"
You can read more about the journey to D-Day on Grow Verde's daily blog at: http://growverde.blogspot.com/

Live Search Maps

If your concept is great, it does not matter as much as your experience!

I was in a meeting today with a city official who is in love with the concept of Vespa sharing. As I walked him through our presentation my VP's of Operations noticed that I was loosing him. So he interjected and said "You are preaching to the Choir! We see the value of a service like this and we understand the concept. I am more interested in you, your back ground and experience."

I was happy to hear he was on board but understood his desire to get to know who I was as a person and as a leader. So I walked him through a brief history of my "Local boy makes good and goes off to college", shared with him some of my college stories and we bonded because we shared a common thread, the college experience. The grandeur of a high level collegiate program and all the hype that surrounds it. We both have had a chance to travel and in the end he cut to the chase and offered an olive branch.

Normally big cities are not that easy to crack open and most of the time things that are good for the city take a long time to get to the public. With some luck and good old fashioned elbow grease. This program will have a great jump start and be the model for cities around the country.

Crude closes at $136.68 a barrel!

There has been talk of crude climbing to $150 a barrel in future trading on or near July 4th weekend. The official start of family vacations.

With crude trading at record highs (these record highs are being set every day) EVERY DAY. Its no wonder that most families are being squeezed weekly out of the crucial $ that fuel their current lifestyles.

What was affectionally called "sunday cars" that found there way to everyday use are now being retired to Sunday use only. This of course never stops the new money millionaire who buy every thing that fancies them, just on a whim. But this is not about those types of people.

This is more a focus on the forced changes we make when faced with diminished resources. How many families did not take the boat out on the lake this weekend because a tank of fuel is now X2 the amount it was last year or even last week! Ok so not X2 as much as last week but it took $60 to put only 14 gallons into the company truck we use for special deliveries (the truck will be gone soon enough as we switch it out for a Prius). Luckily we only fill up once every 2 weeks.

Which brings me back to my main point $150 a barrel will translate into a $5-$7 per gallon range. So what does this mean for Verde members in the near future? Nothing!

We built into the back end economics a price point for gas of $10 a gallon. We use premium gas and when regular gas climbs to $5 a gallon. Premium will climb to $10 a gallon. So from day 1 we will budget at $10 a gallon. As prices stay below our projected high we will take the surplus and plan infrastructure with it. Our own gas storage facility (future) in each region. This will allow us to control our cost when we reach 1 million members. These savings can be transferred to our members in the form of reduced hourly cost. Our goal is to get the hourly charges down to sub $5's.

By developing our business to evolve to a lower usage charge and building the infrastructure for gas distribution on a regional and local level. We leverage the cost of the infrastructure with the long term savings and cost reductions/savings. These savings translate to our members and provide us with the resources to add additional value to our growing list of services.

Where else do you see we could benefit by building an infrastructure?

Q CEO