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For Your Consideration...

Started by drice6900,

16 posts in this topic

drice6900

drice6900

Posted
Posted

... Chuck's latest newsletter! Nothing overly melodramic, but I post it here because it has some interesting information on the financial status (past and present) of Mile High Comics, and thought you might like to read it as well. Chuck was losing $1000/day! 893whatthe.gif

 

 

 

I want to start off by wishing everyone the very best for this New Year. The great thing about drawing arbitrary lines for the beginning of a set portion of your life is that it gives you the opportunity to reassess where your life is headed, and to possibly initiate some positive changes in direction. While the "New Year's Resolution" has become a trite joke for many writers, I take it quite seriously. At the beginning of each year, I draw up a small list of goals that I want to accomplish during the next 365 days. I try to keep my list very conservative so that I won't be disappointed in myself when the end of the year rolls around. My biggest goal for 2003 was to find some way in which to pay off the huge short-term loan we had coming due on January 1st of 2004. It took some hard work, and much very creative financing, but the closing on our new long term loan was last Tuesday, and a check for the balance of the old loan was sent off by FedEx on Wednesday. Hooray!

 

In case you're wondering, we went deeply into debt long ago primarily to build the www.milehighcomics.com website. At the time, in early 1997, that I decided that we needed to transform our old catalog-driven back issues company into an online retailer, we were darn near broke. Our paper catalogs were not generating diddly squat for revenues, and our inventory had been so decimated by years of financial losses that we could barely fill orders any more. The only way I could see out of this spiral of doom was to try something entirely different. It was risky to abandon our traditional catalogs in favor of only selling online, but my attitude was that when you're already in a situation that's functionally non-viable, why not try something entirely new? If it doesn't work, you're still not much worse off...

 

To make a long story very short, my gamble on selling on the Internet paid off. To make it work, however, I had to borrow more than $2,000,000 to build the website, convert our operating systems, and buy enough inventory to offer a decent selection of back issues. I guaranteed those loans not only with all the assets of Mile High Comics, but also with everything I personally owned in the world. Then, midway through the process of our building our website, our primary lender asked us to accelerate repayment of our 5-year term loan to only 24 months! While they did provide us with some very substantial benefits for agreeing to go along with this rapid repayment of the loan, the fact remained that our new loan terms contained default clauses that would have bankrupted Mile High Comics (and me) if we missed making even a single payment.

 

Blessedly, we made every payment exactly on time. One way, or another, I figured out how to make each one of those 8 huge quarterly installments. Then I found a new lender to pay off the remaining balance with a new loan that has much easier payments, and no immediate default triggers. In effect, for the first time in four years, I am going into this New Year without a financial gun to my head. I can't even describe to you how much brighter that makes my outlook on the world.

 

The reason I am telling you this story is two-fold. First of all, I want to genuinely thank all of you who have supported us during the past 7 years that we've been selling on the Internet. Your kind patronage is what helped us make the difficult transition from being a nearly bankrupt catalog company, into an e-commerce company with a rock solid financial base. Without your help we would never have been able to turn the corner. I appreciate your help during this difficult time very, very much.

 

The second reason I am passing along this story is because I want to provide some measure of optimism and hope to those of you who are finding yourself today in a similar situation to what I was forced to experience going into 1997. Being nearly out of money, and losing over $1,000 a day, was an incredibly scary situation. Especially when I had a family and a dedicated team of professionals who were relying on me to make the right decisions to get us out of that jam. In my case, the only solution to our problems was for me to have the courage to make radical changes that seemed to imply an even greater level of risk, but which ultimately proved to be the only path of redemption.

 

The lesson here is to not freeze up like a bunny in the headlights when you're in danger. If something isn't working for you right now, consider for a moment whether a radical change in behavior might not be in order. I am certainly not recommending tossing aside that which anchors your life, but reconsidering how you approach your difficulties might well present you with options you hadn't previously visualized. Even then, however, you need to remember that most solutions that really work take time and effort to implement. Perhaps a New Year's resolution to begin a new path during 2004 might not be so trite after all. Small steps, over many years, can eventually lead to great things! Why not get started today? 'nuff said.

 

Returning to the more mundane subject of business, our current systemwide 40% off sale is ending next Tuesday, at noon. I am keeping the 40% sale going for that long because I know that many of the members of our online community receive our newsletters in their offices. With so many "Out-of-Office" responses coming in after our newsletter mailings, I know that there are many folks who have yet to even know that there we held a sale during the holidays. It is for them that I am keeping this sale going for so long.

 

Once Tuesday rolls around, however, I have to stop that systemwide sale, and return to a far more conservative schedule of weekly sales in specific genres. For the time being, however, you can still order any back issue comic, new trade paperback, toys, collectible cards, etc. for a full 40% off of our usual list prices. The sole exceptions to the sale are new comics, supplies, new card packs, statues, and Dallas Stephens consignment books. Free shipping also is in effect for all domestic orders over $40, and all International orders over $100 (no express carriers).

 

For those of you who shop in our retail stores, the 40% off sale is also still in effect. Simply mention the Holiday Sale, and the staff member at the register will deduct 40% from the full cost of your order. This is genuinely a great sale, and I have no intention of repeating a sale with discounts quite this high for a significant period of time, so this might well be the weekend you need to work on filling in the holes in your collection.

 

My final item for today is to let all of you who already have placed an order with us know that we're rapidly working down the backlog in shipping that was created by the huge mass of orders that have already resulted from the Holiday Sale. Over half of those orders have already been shipped, and another big batch will go out today. With luck, we should be nearly caught up to our usual 24-hour shipping by next Friday. Many thanks to all of you for your patience.

 

That's it for today. Believe it or not, I need to get back to the farm to work on preparing our huge greenhouse for the first plantings of early crops. On January 17th we'll be transplanting seedlings of bell peppers, hot peppers, basil, tomatoes, kale, red chard, and leeks into specially prepared beds. I'll shoot some pictures at that time so you can see how we're trying to pull off such early plantings.

 

Happy collecting!

 

Chuck Rozanski,

President - Mile High Comics, Inc.>

 

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DiceX

DiceX

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... our primary lender asked us to accelerate repayment of our 5-year term loan to only 24 months!

 

Ah, the joys of dealing with loan sharks. cloud9.gif

 

You took the words outa my mouth. thumbsup2.gif

 

And to think that I was actually going to order a few books I've been looking at on his website when the 40% off sale was announced. At that price the books would almost be within a reasonable price range.

I checked the books and he had marked them up over 50% before the sale.

Thus...after discount...they cost 10% MORE than they would have BEFORE the sale.

 

Chuck stuck a fork in the chance of me ever buying from him.

Thanks Chuck, for making me realize what a mistake I was about to make. 893applaud-thumb.gif

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drice6900

drice6900

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... our primary lender asked us to accelerate repayment of our 5-year term loan to only 24 months!

 

Ah, the joys of dealing with loan sharks. cloud9.gif

 

27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif Man, JC - you have been on a roll lately! thumbsup2.gif893applaud-thumb.gif

 

What cracks me up about all this is: if you needed the money so bad, why didn't you make your prices more competitive??? Ah well, it appears his method worked... confused-smiley-013.gif

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DiceX

DiceX

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How can a guy find a huge Golden Age collection, a huge Bronze Age collection - pay pennies on the dollor for them and face financial ruin several times in his life?

 

 

It involves a long tube filled with water. You light one end and suck the other.

confused-smiley-013.gif

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Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

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How can a guy find a huge Golden Age collection, a huge Bronze Age collection - pay pennies on the dollor for them and face financial ruin several times in his life?

 

 

Better yet, how does he manage to pay $2 million for a crummy website? makepoint.gif Who built it, his son-in-law? insane.gif

 

A website like that connected to an inventory and pricing database shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred grand. foreheadslap.gif

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greggy

greggy

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Sounds like he's borrowing from some guy named Vito of the Italian mafia wink.gif

 

Brian

What color of horses head would you like in your bed tomorrow morning? mad.gif

893whatthe.gif
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Timely

Timely

Posted
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How can a guy find a huge Golden Age collection, a huge Bronze Age collection - pay pennies on the dollor for them and face financial ruin several times in his life?

 

 

Better yet, how does he manage to pay $2 million for a crummy website? makepoint.gif Who built it, his son-in-law? insane.gif

 

A website like that connected to an inventory and pricing database shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred grand. foreheadslap.gif

 

 

If you read it carefully he says the 2 million covered building the website AND getting inventory for his website. In other words the Mile High 3 collection! insane.gif

 

Timely

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Freiherr

Freiherr

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I had to d a double-take as well when I saw the 2 million for the website. My brain didn’t process the “and inventory” because emphasis was already placed on the technical side.

 

With equipment and 7 years of administration/support/service, I am sure it was only a small part of the 2 million. Sounds to me like he rather blame the equipment for the hardship than the $1.5 mill of inventory that sat in the wherehouse.

 

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