The Mage

I am asking again why do you have the same IP as the company?

Why do you have the same IP as the company?

What health industry are you in? When choosing the “healthy options” is everyone on board? Often when these types of choices are made for people they tend to rebel, often by eating more bad stuff outside of work. (Hey, doughnuts for dinner.) It’s always better to get everyone on board and work together for those solutions. Getting everyone’s input and vote on everything. But there’s another problem with “healthy” vending, it isn’t all that healthier, and sometimes is worse. Healthy vending is more marketing than anything, a buzz word. The healthy aspects are based on what people think is healthy, or what is marketed as healthy, not anything based in science. People see honey and forget that it’s sugar, or fall for the idea that it’s a healthier sugar. One “healthy” bar being promoted on a healthy vending site has honey, glucose syrup, and sugar. That’s 3 types of sugar. These bars are really close to the same calories per gram as a snickers bar. Some are just under, some are just over. The healthiest food generally does not have a long shelf life, and the ones that do are more often than not are only healthy in small quantities.

If you are doing it just because you need one for the office you might want to just get a vendor to do it. They will know what machines to put in, they will pay for the machines saving you that $5K, fix them if they break, and keep them stocked.

I have been working toward improving myself, and my life for a few years now. It’s still a work in progress, but I have learned a few things along the way so I decided to write about what I have learned. There is a lot of stuff that is just fluff, and I have found people who really do not know what they are talking about. Is somebody giving real advice, or is somebody just making up crap trying to sell something? By searching through books, blogs, and podcasts, videos, and meeting real successful people I believe I have found a lot of what actually works, and isn’t just hype. I have tried my best to think through anything before I reject anything somebody says, and at the same time I attempt to think through things before simply accepting anything. As I put some of these ideas into practice I needed to figure out if my success or failure was a result of the process, or me because I didn’t, or wouldn’t follow the process. In the process I have also learned a lot about myself. That is probably the hardest part of this endeavor. Happiness Why am I talking about happiness first? The biggest reason people work to achieve success is to attain happiness. That is the elusive goal that keeps people motivated, but many people do find that if they attain happiness that it is just a fleeting experience. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they treat happiness as a reward, and they put conditions on it. “I’ll be happy when…”, or they put it on other people, like their parents, spouse, kids, friends, that person they have a secret crush on. Maybe they are waiting for that random stranger or event to change their life, and make them happy. Happiness is a choice, a state of mind. Not the result of anything else, but a conscious choice that we make to be happy. Why spend time being miserable to get to happiness when both the journey, and the goal are happy experiences. I experienced depression on a regular basis for decades. I am talking about from grade school into my 40’s it was a constant part of my life. It prevented me from a lot of success in my life, but at the same time it motivated me first to search out a better life, then to figure out what was going on with me. My next discovery was that I was the one driving my depression. Choosing happiness isn’t easy after spending 3 plus decades driving yourself into depression. Depression was a very strong habit that I had to break. I did enter into another depressed state after learning this, but I also paid more attention to what was going on, and decided I would start fighting it. I found that there was a pattern to what would happen to me. Some minor event would happen, and I would start by making it worse, then start talking negatively about myself in my head. As I felt bad it would feed those thoughts, which would make me more depressed, when would drive those thoughts further. The more depressed I was, the easier it was for those thoughts to drive me further into depression, and the more irrational those thoughts became. Logic went out the window. I did come out of that depression, and made a conscious effort to prepare for the next time it happened. I practiced arguing against some of those negative thoughts instead of just thinking them, and feeling bad. Then something happened, and those same thoughts were there to push me into depression again. But this time I recognized them, and I thought, “Wait a second, how accurate is this thought?” (Not the exact words, but effectively what I thought.) This is what is called a pattern interrupt. I found out what the pattern was and proceeded to alter it. Once I changed what was happening my mind was no longer on its familiar route of heading toward depression. It couldn’t get back on track, so I didn’t end up depressed. This happened again, and I knew I have to be vigilant, but every time it happened it was weaker and weaker. I had built up a new habit and it got in the way of the old one. There are other steps, like spending a little time visualizing something negative in your past as an outside observer, then blank your mind or think of something neutral, (this is important,) then think of a good memory as if you are seeing it through your own eyes. (Associated vs disassociated states.) Do this often and your mind will start to alter your memories to fit, and start doing it automatically. Later on, try to actively think of the positive memories often, and try not to think about any of the negative. If one pops up follow the routine above. At this point you can notice happiness creeping into your life, and as a choice, not the random event it used to be, or the reward at the end of some rainbow. It becomes a choice. Satisfaction At this point your motivation may drain away. If happiness was your goal having it could take away your motivation. So, what do you do? Be happy, just don’t be satisfied. So now instead of achieving to be happy, you happily achieve. You can enjoy the journey, not just the destination. I put satisfaction goal extremely high. Technically it could be infinite, but an extremely high goal is fine. Then break down that goal into more manageable chunks so that while you are “shooting for the moon” you still have plenty of sub-goals to hit. Let’s say your goal is to run a marathon. (Would never be my goal,) Before doing that, you should set a goal to run a half marathon. But why not set a quarter marathon before that? How about a 5K before that? Or a 1 K before that? How about just getting used to running around the block every day first? (About 320 meters, or a fifth of a mile based on the average block.) There are multiple reasons to break up goals, but increasing the number of times you achieve a goal is good for both happiness and satisfaction. Not to mention it’s an indication you are on the right track. Summary Happiness is a state of mind, not a goal. Enjoy the journey, not just the destination or goal. Always be happy, never be satisfied. Break down goals not only to track progress, but to give you more successes.

I moved it out of the Other Vending. I created a new forum as the new home for Fantasy Football.

When I reopened the blogs, I hoped people would use them more than they have. From what I have read I get the impression that people are mixing up the purpose of a forum, and a blog. You really don’t want to post questions, or start conversations in a blog. It is more of a one-way conversation, more like an article, or a journal entry. It’s a place where you can tell your story. People can follow you as your build your business. Another idea is to write about what you have learned. The tips and tricks that help people become more successful. Maybe you are good at locating, found a quicker method for servicing, or ideas about increasing revenue. You could just journal about your day. Later you can go back and see your growth, and remember things you forgot. The above is just advice not set in stone rules, you could do it in a way nobody has ever thought of before. Creativity has no limits. Whatever you do make it yours.

The addition of a day isn't perfect. A year is 365.242199 days. Adding a day every 4 years is 365.25, which overcompensates by by .00801, and to accommodate this error they skip the leap year every 100 years, but now it is short by .002199, so they add the leap year back in every 400 years. It's now over by .00037801. This means the leap year in 2000 was a once in a 400 year event, and at the time I don't think many people knew about it. I haven't been able to find out if they take it any further or not, but corrections at that point would be in the thousands of years. I assume any idea of adjusting will be left to the future.

So I'm a Pre-vert? I don't think I ever used the term Nubile, but I have had to cut out that joke since the Nassar incident. For me when a big football game is on there is no better time to go see a movie. I don't understand things like Pass Interference. (Isn't that what the other team is supposed to do?) Football might be more interesting if they allowed weapons. "He's on the 40... He's on the 30... He's on the 20... Oh he's been shot. Tough luck for the Jets." I will say I was surprised when I was told that my job was to create a trophy banner a couple years ago. I created a blank one that I hope I can find so I don't need to build a new one from scratch again. Although matching the past one was the issue, I could create a whole new one. Somebody will need to keep me updated when there is a winner since I might not catch it.

What would people think of VENDiscuss adding a Micro Market forum? It seems a form of Beverage and Food so I had thought people could discuss it in this forum, but now I am wondering if it should be a forum section on it's own, possibly a sub-forum of this one? I figured I could check out the communities thoughts on this idea.

I should really move this to our coffee section. And exactly how do we know this? You write as if you are the owner, and are trying to get sales, not like a customer reviewing a company. I haven’t been able to prove you are who you say you are, and looking up the company the website was registered 14 months 10 days ago. But hides the ownership of the registration. Also, the company is also set up in a way that hides ownership. Anyway, if you are an actual customer than when did you invest, how long did it take you to get your machines, and how much are you currently making? Any business should be able to give these numbers. Also you shut off notifications, so I doubt you will be back. So, they don’t have any guarantees? Don’t they back up their business model? What are you paying for it they don’t back up anything? I found complete kits on eBay for $500. Keurig, vending machine, and the little condiment caddy. It didn’t come with the credit card reader. Speaking of which I am confused how it works with a bulk type of machine? You get sick, don’t you? Minimal inventory? How many machines do you have? Don’t you buy in bulk? How do you define minimal inventory? I’d discuss the employee part, but that is a complex discussion, and would spark a large separate discussion. Built? They have to build them? The exact same machines are available on eBay now, without having to be built, so why are yours being built? How long of a timeframe is given? If none than the FTC 30-day rule kicks in. Also, many credit card companies do not allow a card to be charged until items are shipped. Are they charging way ahead of time? And again, it sounds like a sales pitch, not like an honest review. But we know that you can get a used vending machine for $50 or less, and make “cashflow” the day it’s placed. I paid $1,000 for 20 bulk machines on location. (Admittedly 8 years ago.) I thought there were no guarantees, and it was all up to me? Uh, yeah. When you buy something you generally own it. But yeah people can take it from you. Some guy could just walk in, grab the Keurig and take it home. Plenty of people have had vending machines stolen. Now it’s up to me again? Can you make up your mind? Do you even know what forum this is? The only reason it exists is because we believe in the potential success of vendors. But one of the obstacles are the BizOps. They make pie in the sky claims, overcharge the potential business owner for low quality equipment, give horrible advice that makes it harder to succeed, then ignore them when they need real help. That’s a hell of a lot to overcome. But, there are plenty of people who have started their businesses, and succeeded with the help of this forum. And it was done without an ulterior motive. Just out of the goodness of our hearts. It may surprise the people running those BizOps, but it is actually possible to make money without screwing anyone. In fact, it is easier to not screw people. You don’t have to hide, run, or worry about spending time in jail for not screwing people. And this shows that you don’t even understand this business. You are not competing against Starbucks, and it is foolish to think so, and act like you are. People don’t give up Starbucks for a Keurig. Especially when they could customize over 80,000 different coffee drinks. (2014 number.) You are the Chef Boyardee to Olive Garden. You are frozen fish sticks to Joe’s Crab Shack. You want a better business model? I have found many medical offices that have Keurig machines with the kcups available for the patients in the waiting room, and the staff. The office pays for it. All you need to do is supply the Keurig, (there are commercial grade ones available,) supply the condiments, and charge only for the kcups you supply. Walk in, refill the kcups, and condiments while running a cleaning cycle in the machine. Wipe it down, and bill the office. Why do anything else?

I have attempted to let Joseph Zapata post his position onto here. I do believe people and businesses have a right to defend themselves, and our reviews should generally not be one sided. But I have recently received a profanity filled rant from him demanding the removal of negative reviews of him and his companies, along with a threat of legal action. I don't accept intimidation especially where freedom of speech is involved. He has been banned, and flagged for SPAM, which both blocks him from the site and removes any posts he has made.

Quit trying to get around the profanity filters. I will be adding that in, but comments deleted.

Don't forget we do have a classified section of the forum.