Mike Chandler

I picked up this Camaro a couple of weeks ago after deciding I had what it takes to fix broken cars.  I finally just grew tired of having a dependency on auto mechanics and started fixing miscellaneous broken things on my truck.  Soon, that turned into an engine repair project on a BMW.  Ultimately, it led to an addiction and I picked up this disabled car to fix and turn back into a workable car.

It’s pretty amazing what people will let a car go for when they think it’s broken beyond reasonable repair costs. For the most part, they are right.  It costs a bundle to fix cars depending on the problem and if the repair cost exceeds the blue book value of the car, why bother?  But if you know how to do these things, you can really score some good deals!

The Camaro has a blown head gasket for sure and possibly a warped cylinder head.  This is evident when you open the hood and look at the little puffs of steam coming out of the seal.  The ignition switch is also shorted out in the steering column.  A new ignition switch is about $12 and I’ve ordered a new gasket set and replacement cylinder heads for a grand total of about $250.  The car itself, due to the level of engine damage, was only $1400.

The BMW was an even better deal!  An over heating problem was quoted to the previous owner as a defective radiator, with an $800 quoted repair cost.  I flushed the radiator, cleaned it, filled it with coolant and replaced the coolant level sensor to find that it was in perfect working order!  I took the engine apart and found a crack on the cylinder head.  The car cost $400 and the new cylinder head and gasket set cost me about $300.  I’ve also spent about $500 on various new parts and auto paint.  For a reasonable amount of money, it’ll be a perfectly working, nice looking car that burns a lot less gas than my truck.

I am a failed business owner. No matter how many different ways I try to rationalize what happened when my business closed its doors, the simple truth of the matter is my business failed and as a business owner, I failed.

Oh, how wonderful it was to climb to the top. Gaining recognition at small, niche conventions like Gnomedex, to becoming the dominant local website provider for the local community. It was genuinely exciting getting more phone calls, more requests for bids, and high profile contracts for the city and larger, well known clients.

Sadly, differences between myself and my partner led to the company’s demise. Our inability to reconcile required us to liquidate and close our doors. It was a tragedy. We both have creative ways of blaming each other, but the bottom line is we never should have started a business together. That was the first failure, and one that I take 100% responsibility for. Further, when problems began to arise, it was easy for me to dismiss them. Lastly, I lost interest entirely when it was no longer fun… when it became a target for financial acquisition by the woman I was divorcing, the business became a weight, a burden, a source of true angst. It had become 100% of my identity and it was now simply an item on the bargaining table in a divorce. And I sat in submissive silence and let it all slip away. Yes, years later, I see this as my fault.

Nevertheless, people still approach me with business opportunities. They seem so eager. Of course, I’m completely hesitant. I don’t identify myself as an effective business man, while I truly used to believe that I was. I reference my failure with my business, but these people dismiss it. It’s truly odd. But I reject all business plans with my name as part of the proposal and wish these people well only to have them return months later, or have new people approach me with similar proposals.

My point? Despite the temptation to jump aboard and enjoy the thrilling ride of taking an idea and making it a business reality, I won’t do it. I still don’t believe I’m an effective business man. There’s something I’m missing and until I can put my finger on what that is, I can’t in good conscience pursue business opportunities with a partner. It just doesn’t make sense.

Instead, I’ll stick to the things I enjoy, such as my career, my family, my project cars, restarting this sorry blog and getting into media distribution as a hobby.

And so it begins… long winded posts about stuff that only I could ever possibly find interesting. Yes, blogs are the devil.

I have managed to fool myself into believing that I have something to say that everyone wants to hear about and have published a blog. This is my first post… and yes, it’s something to celebrate.

More to come… I think…