The good news is his flight was cancelled which allowed me to get a ride in before he got here. His new flight was to arrive at 1:40 am. It was cool out and called for rain in the afternoon so I bundled up with two shirts and one jacket and did a 3 hour ride. About half way through the rain started, albeit very light.
My heart rate was low for most of the ride, hard to get it over 110 bpm. I still persevered. Mentally I felt good and physically my legs were hurting, I felt I was still getting a benefit. I wanted to give my legs another blast after a 3:30 ride on Saturday and a 2 hour run yesterday. I also didn't eat on the bike and only had one bottle of water the entire time.
Afterwards I showered and my nose was running. It was running last night and this morning and during the ride it was fine. I was on the cusp of getting a cold and was trying to fight it. I started to pump up the vitamins and cold remedies. It didn't help.
I picked up my brother and shortly thereafter I couldn't stop sneezing. Good thing I had restaurant napkins in my glovebox. I went through most of them. I can't remember the last time I sneezed so much in my entire life.
From the airport we drove around to all the malls in my area and looked at the retail franchises. I also took him to parts of Oakville and Milton. The growth in Milton is amazing. I still can't believe it myself. From what it looked like two to three years ago to now with respect to home growth is amazing. We even stopped by Jamie's store in Milton and did a walk around. In virtually every mall everywhere there is a hair care place. I really think he's on to something, having a niche. His plan is to have two locations side by side, one for kids/ girls and the other for men / boys with a sports team. The sports team ones are big in the U.S. and have yet to make it to Canada. The sports one really has my interest too.
I got a number of phone calls and emails from some companies I applied to get franchise information from this weekend. Prompt return calls is always a good sign. One from from Panago Pizza. I spoke to the girl and realized it's not for me. The franchise owner needs to work 6 days a week, in the store and out in the community drumming business. In the first year you may get about $60,000 to cover your living expenses and then if you do really well you're store will do $800,000 in sales and you will make 11-15% before paying yourself and deducting interest expenses. That doesn't leave a lot of money for the owner. I graciously bowed out of that one and said I may have a cop friend, aka John Barclay, that's retiring in a few years that might be interested in that one.
When I spoke to the girl I told her I'm not looking to work that hard and I need to find something that throws of a minimum of $150,000 to $200,000. I think for many people owning a franchise that they can make $50,000 plus is a good deal depending on what they are used to making now. I'm glad that I have a higher standard of living it helps keep me away from the work your ass off for less than you're used to making franchises.
I did get a call from a couple of massage therapy franchises. These ones really have my interest. First of all I believe in massage. I don't believe in Chiropractors. I've always been a leader with new stuff. I went to Chiropractors 25 years ago when they everyone thought they were quacks and you might find 5 in the entire city of Winnipeg. I also started going to massage therapists 25 years ago when it was standard fare for all of them to work from their homes. I can't tell you how many homes of people I went to. Over those 25 years I've realized that Chiropractic is a joke, I wouldn't wast my time. I do however believe in massage. I also think that physic-therapy has it's place when severely injured. Things like acupuncture and electrode machines are cool to use. I also believe in ART.
All which brings be back to massage. In the U.S. they have massage clubs, like a health club. Membership is committing to one massage a month at full price and then all the rest are greatly discounted. You sign up and all your family can use your membership for the discounted massage. In Florida, my sister has a membership and the first massage is like $60 and the rest are $39 - $49 and the place is jammed. I contacted some of the big ones in the U.S. and they don't have plans to expand to Canada at this time. I did find a couple in Canada, that have about 4 or 5 locations that I'm speaking too. I also found one that is more of a massage and facial place no discounts. I'm not sure I'm interested in that sort of day spa massage. I'd rather go for a therapeutic massage place. If my instincts of predicting the future are right, it's the right direction. I'm usually well ahead of my time and after 25 years of knowing massage is great, the time might be right.
For lunch, Bob and I went to Licks, I had a turkey hot dog. Then we stopped at the Bulk Barn, I wanted to show him the franchise concept and more importantly I wanted to pick up M & M's. Big mistake, I think the sugar excellerated my cold. I couldn't stop sneezing from that point on, it was disgusting. I was going to go for dinner with Bob and the haircut guy and bailed, I was too sick. Instead I stayed at home in my room upstairs and sneezed away. Lying down did seem to help though.
I dozed in and out of sleep, I think Bob got back around 11 pm. I heard him, Alice and Alyssa talking. I then woke up at around 2 am and Alice was still not to bed and I heard them talking. I figured they were having a little bit of a party. I was going to get up and when I did it seemed like the party had just ended, Bob had went to bed and Alice was cleaning up. I'm glad, most of the time I have a tough time being able to sleep if Alice is not beside me.
On the work front, Al spoke to Rino today about not putting all his work through AG. Al has been having trouble getting competitive pricing on sheetfed work and didn't want to lose his customers. He made an arrangement with another printer that specializes in Sheetfed book work and will still represent AG in digital. It's a bummer, but I understand Al's position. He has to feed his family and I'd do the same thing without a doubt. I'm sure I'll be hearing from Wayne or Rino in the next day or two. Al mentioned that Rino was a little disappointed yet understood.
Mod Bike - 3:09:28 / 93.03 km / 29.5 kph avg / 119 avg hr.
3617 calories
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