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The move seemed exciting , It was like a new
beginning something really positive. Natasha came and helped me paint
and decorate the shop walls, we had no lights and used candles to
see.
The shop was a Chinese restraunt for years,
it had an upstairs area which would be perfect for the computer room.
It had been sitting empty for some time and all the wiring, floors
and fittings had been ripped out. Dust was impregnated into the grease
film on the carpets and spider and cockroaches had plenty of well-established
homes.
First the walls needed cleaning because there
was a film of oil and grease all over everything which had built up
from years of Chinese cooking we had to set up candles and a torch
because there was no electricity or wiring and it was going to take
a while for the electrician to get it sorted out
After we finished cleaning the walls we painted
them in a Matt black finish to fit in with the space theme I had decided
on we went and bought packets and packets of glow in the dark stars
and planets which we applied everywhere. we cleaned up the shop as
best we could considering how dirty it was it came up not bad. We
chiselled off nail and screw's poking up threw the all over the ground
floor and painted the floor with black paving paint. We set up a Display
of software boxes and posters in the main window as a coming soon
display and arranged what little amount of stock we had around the
windows and in what display racks we had available. Natasha was great
she helped with it all.
Eventually after we gained power and had the
benches installed by a friend of mine who lent us a light so that
we could finish of the rooms décor. We started setting up the
office area as best as we could with the few benches and the desk
we had and I worked on setting up the computer network upstairs I
worked into the nights until I dropped sometimes 3 or 4 in the morning
laying cables and installing all the software painting and detailing
the cables to blend in with the walls and benches. While I did all
of this Natasha was cleaning the toilets, windows scrubbing carpets
and polishing the wood work.
Over a period of a couple of weeks we cleaned
the shop from top to bottom and got it ready.
Natasha and I at this time had been struggling
with making an extremely important decision of whether or not and
how far we should persue our relationship. She was pregnant and we
needed to decide if we where going to go threw with it but we still
were not ready to announce it.
By now John was eager to start work from there
and wanted to know when everything would be ready He was eager to
get in and start making money. I arranged some arcade style video
games to be setup in the shop on a profit share basis and a coke machine
ready for long night sessions. John started coming in during the days
so that he could answer inquires from passerby's and start generating
some business.
I phoned around and found some people to handle
the outsourcing of additional work such as TV-Video repairs and a
young bloke by the name of Gambert started coming in who liked the
concepts we proposed and joined us as one of our first members he
was later to became an employee. Eventually a TV technician approached
us and I gave him a video of mine to fix, he proved to be keen, quick
and very reasonably priced things seemed to be falling into place
as far as getting our services sorted out.
Natasha and I worked on the members information
packs for about 2 months late into most nights.
I went around seeing different suppliers of
games and software telling them about our shop and asking for their
support. I collected allot of promotional material, posters and the
like which Natasha helped me to decorate the showroom and back areas
with. We began to establish procedures for cleaning and maintenance,
record keeping and attempted to develop routines and procedures for
the daily running of the shop. Unfortunately we had great difficulty
getting John to conform to these routines and we often found ourselves
cleaning up after him.
John was coming in to work around 10am and
leaving between 12-3pm with lonely a few later nights here and there
occasionally when we started with the courses. He was suffering from
stresses at home he told us and consistently left the area he worked
at in a very messy state .He was showing little interest or enthusiasm
for his duties regarding the Web site and newsletter which was we
really needed to have produced and updated by him on a monthly basis.
Instead he moved from month to month putting back issues or starting
one from scratch again.
I could see that he was stressed and whenever
I put any pressure on him for any thing he would get upset so I started
not taking problems to him and avoiding touchy issues. I decided not
to confront him on his untidiness as he had told us that he was ill
and I thought it best to leave him alone and let him come around by
himself.
John started claiming that he was falling behind
on his bank loan and that Internet payments collected from customers
and due to Netway where not available he wouldn’t sit down with
me or Natasha and show us his paperwork regarding the bank loan and
had no form of Internet customer receipts or adequate details of the
Internet accounts. He started putting Netway payments above all other
matters and pressured me over shortfalls. When I tried to discuss
the money situation and how we had none in the bank and needed more
money to pay other debts he would threaten to leave the business and
would tell me the conditions of his remaining with the business was
that His bank loan and Netway where put first above all else. He spoke
of the Internet as if it was a separate business of his own and his
only priority.
At one point Due to the condition of
the Internet accounts and the fact that I could not get adequate information
from John I refused to pay Netway anything one month until it was
sorted out properly. A meeting was called with Netway in which I wanted
to know how we could be behind so far as John was always stating that
we did not have enough money to pay Netway and I felt that was not
possible as the Netway money should make a profit which paid the bank
loan and still left a small profit to put towards other expenses.
It was decided that Natasha would have a go at handling the Internet
accounts from that point on and that Hoi (from Netway) would help
her. John wouldn't give Natasha all of the details and explain how
things where wupose to work and so eventually she gave it all back
to him because it didn't make any sense to her. She also felt that
John did not apreciate her help and was exploiting her by giving her
more and more responsibilities of his while he worked less and she
was not qualified and did not want to handle the workload. She was
only trying to help us out .
After struggling with paying the bills and
falling behind in rent and payments to suppliers of goods in our first
few months operation and with in being November and the lead up to
Christmas Natasha and I approached John trying to discuss our financial
position with him on several occasions only to have him walk out on
me saying that he couldn't deal with the pressure and threatening
to pack it all in, He again told us that his marriage and health where
both suffering due to the stresses related to the business. It was
obvious I was on my own as far as trying to raise some capital and
we needed it fast.
Due to the financial position of the business
and the fact that we desperately needed to start doing some advertising
and marketing Natasha agreed to get a joint loan in which we would
purchase a decent vehicle as the $350 Gemini we had needed fixing
and was old and dangerous and not fit for our soon to arrive baby.
John encouraged our intentions and he signed letters ( LINK
COPY TO FILE) stating that Natasha and I where
under his employment at Gameznet for evidence to be shown to the bank.
We secured two bank Loans and purchased a vehicle
and some goods needed for the baby which came to a total of about
$8000 with the remaining $12000 going into the business as deposits
into the bank, cash purchases for new equipment and bills being paid.
We also placed advertising and put together a sales team and purchased
much needed office and workshop furniture and stationary items.
We employed several salespeople including Steve
Guy who became a valuable guide and source of hardware he also became
a consultant for us. None of the other salespeople where retained
for any length of time as they didnt show any aptitude or bring us
any new business and simply cost us money.Due to the lack of funds
we saw that they were not going to be a viable solution to our cashflow
problem so the whole salesperson idea was dropped.
Around this same time John approached me with
a typed partnership agreement (LINK TO FILE ) which he asked me to
look over and make comments and any changes to, we agreed that we
should get a working agreement into practice ASAP
We also contacted our accountants firm (ATAS)
to do the tax figures for the previous and current financial years
(1997-98, 1998-99)
John needed to get the tax sorted out ASAP
so that he could regain his parenting allowance
The accountants where also requested to help
us figure out what Edge where doing with the invoices and come up
with an actual payout figure so that we could negotiate paying them
off and ridding ourselves of the debt associated with them, this seemed
to take a great deal of time and I began to ring them to push them
and was told that Simon was very busy and that we where in the pile
we where also told that Simon was soon going on holidays but would
try to get it done before he left.
John had been leaving early each day whenever
Gambert arrived at the shop and claimed he was out canvassing and
negotiating with contacts on our behalf or going home to work on the
website, newsletter or fliers. He never showed us what he was doing
and I was suspicious of him setting himself up and holding meetings
with Netway without my knowledge or consent. however I never voiced
or confirmed these concerns.
Johns wife Fernanda received information from
her bank stating that the bank Loan John had taken out with the commonwealth
bank had not been paid for several months.She was understandably extremely
upset, John had aparantly been keeping our real position from her
and she had no idea that we were struggling as much as we were.
We received a court order regarding Roadshow
Interactive for a sum of approximately $3000 (Acountants held )
John started taking money home which was generated
from the use of customers accessing the Internet from the computers
upstairs without lusing the agreed bookkeeping and against my wishes
as I still felt the Internet income was supposed to be adequate to
cover His bank loan and the money was better placed paying other bills..
John stated that a condition of him remaining with the business was
that this money goes into his bank the commonwealth account to cover
his loan.
Fernanda now became aware of our financial
position and wanted to meet with Natasha and I to discuss what was
going on. Fernanda stated that she felt that I was ripping her off
and wanted it explained why her bank loan was not being paid and where
the money had gone that John put in and what the shop was turning
over. (it was clear that John had not been telling her the truth about
how the business was doing)
I explained to her how spread thin I was and
started showing her the books as they where and explained that because
I was left to come up with ideas, decorating, shop procedures, promotions,
cleaning ,network management etc etc and look after customers, jobs,
stock control etc etc that I could not find the time to learn how
to book keep and do all of the financial figures and it constantly
fell behind which left us somewhat in the dark as to our position.
I stated that I was not good with math and didnt know how to use accounting
software and that I had been stating that we needed help for more
than a year. I reminded John that I told him from day one that I was
not a bookkeeper and he had said he would help out with all that .
I asked for time to work on the figures as all we had where hand written
lists of items sold and rented etc and folders of invoices and notes
on bits of paper. I said I needed more time to complete it and that
I was learning as I was going so it was very difficult for me. Fernanda
told us she believed Both John and I where hopeless with the financial
side of things.
I stated that I have needed help since the
beginning but we could not afford it. Natasha was doing her best
to
help and was much better than John or I but it was all new to her
aswell and because it had all fallen behind it was even harder
, But
since she had stepped in and taken some of the load from me and prepared
things better it was now much clearer and obvious what we needed
to
do in order to get staightend out. We were growing steadilly and
the income was riseing however we were still at a very early stage
of the
business were we had not grown to the point were we were generating
enough business income to cover all of the costs. On the bright
side we had
acumulated all of the equipment we needed, we had all the stock necesary
and the business was generating a great deal of support from the
local
comunity which meant that there was little to no more money needed
to be put in or accounts to run up. IF We could stay afloat for
another
6 months we would break the back of it and by then be generating
enough business to cover all costs and start generating a profit
which we
could draw from.
She offered her help stating that finances
where her strong Point I said if we had someone who would look over
the books and update a software program at the end of each week that
it would be a great relief to us all and a tremendous help to us.
John stated that he wanted her to take over
the financial side of things completely and dictate how things
ran
however Fernanda stated that she didn't want to dictate to anyone
or take it over completely only to help out, she said that
it was
John's and my business and all she could do was be there for us to
help us out.
Fernanda and John then came to another meeting
(see meeting notes 23 Jan 1999)in which it is documented that we where
to go ahead with implementing changes that should benefit the business
They acknowledged Natasha as a Financial part of the business after
having signed on the load and helping us out with getting things going
and agreed that she would be paid for all the time and effort she
had provided us when the business is built up in a year or so.
