Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
Tuesday October 16 2012
AS promised here is the video for the Bug a Salt, in the best Spaghetti Western tradition.
My point here is in this Wall St Journal Story about the inventor. He offered free shipping on the initial orders hoping for $15,000. He alreaday has $67,00. The problem is that he will not make any money if he pays the shipping. No matter how novel an idea, all ideas need a good budget and an understanding of the break even point, something we study in cost accounting.
I have taken some marketing and management classes lately and whenever the professors talk about the businesses that failed, even entrepreneurs like Lorenzo Maggiore, it was because of a bad business/marketing plan. If Lorenzo Maggiore would have prepared a better business/marketing plan he would have calculated a more accurate break even point and then determined the price required with shipping to make a projected profit.
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I made money (currency converted into rounds of beer) from flies and salt myself. Back in the day when I supervised a bunch of great guys (200+ drivers), they would often invite me to their favorite watering hole. In CC, this often meant one around the Agnes, Leopard, Baldwin, or Port street area. I would catch a fly (without damage or injury) and drown it dead in a cup of water. The guys made sure they were satisfied it was dead and I bet them rounds of brew that i can bring it back to life. Once we were all in agreement, I placed the fly in the middle of the table and poured salt on it until it was completely covered. Then we waited. After about 2 minutes (and with the looks of free beer on their faces from my defeat) I softly flicked the salt a couple of times. Then there before us like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon came out a bewildered fly, confused no doubt before it once again took flight. Free beers for me!
( It has something to do with the salt absorbing the liquid from inside the fly allowing it to once again breathe but has to be done within 5-10 minutes.)
As for the article, I applaud all the suckers he will get (and lowly suckers too) that want to kill some bugs. I enjoy making money at their expense too. Even though I am in agreement that some bugs deserve to die, I would challenge his buyers to go feed a family or two or to give to some worth while charity before they buy into his silliness.
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Professor Elam 
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