Over the years Jane and I have done a lot in our community and a lot with this business. We never claimed to be perfect but we learned a lot along the way and we’re willing to share with local businesses, small (and medium) businesses (SMBs), and women-owned businesses (WBEs) too.
About Carl: Not for the purpose of bragging but to give you an idea of who I am and where I’m coming from. I’m not an introvert but, at the same time, I’m not pushy about putting my ideas into action, whether it’s to help a business, helping a family create a better future, or recruiting volunteers for local nonprofit organizations.
While in high school I scored a perfect score in math on the SATs, twice, and I didn’t do badly in verbal skills. As a junior, my combined total was 1376 and the next year it went up to 1402. My skills lend themselves to proofreading both numbers and text. FYI, inconsistency can kill what is otherwise a good business plan.
In SAT aptitude tests, I scored in the 99th percentile in nine out of nine types of engineering. In five of the nine, my percentile was 99+. Putting my skills to use in the business world has been easy (for me) AND productive for my employers. As a consultant, let me know your challenges and we’ll see what’s available to help you and, if needed, let’s invent something together.
I do my own research and documentation for ideas involving intellectual property. The first patent attorney I ever worked with wanted to charge me $15,000 for him helping me with a patent application. When I played ‘dumb’, he started to explain how complex the process was. When I showed him my “Prior Art Search” and other required documentation, i.e., the description and abstract plus illustrations, he changed his tune. In fifteen minutes, his price went down to $2000.
For what it’s worth, I’ve taught pro bono classes for Google’s tools (Docs, Sheets, and Slides) and done one one one tutoring, too.
I was Race Director for the Crooked Creek Triathlon from 2002 to 2008. The six-page planning document I was given by the lady who initiated this popular fundraising event became 15 pages over the next eight years and was a great tool for onboarding new volunteers and committee chairpersons.
In 1996, I was foreman for a $10.5M subcontract in San Francisco out of a total project price of $110M. There are at least three success stories I could tell from that job site alone but I can also say I learned something there. One of my coworkers told me privately “You need to laugh more” and he was SO right!
I was recognized as a problem solver for many of the companies I worked for. In one situation, three other journeyman glaziers were unable to come up with a solution for an engineering glitch that became an installation problem. I figured out how to fix the problem in approximately 45 minutes and applied my solution for the next couple of hours, catching up to the crew in front of me before lunchtime. After lunch I was ready for a new challenge. Stories available on request.
During slow years in construction, I earned a real estate license in California. From 1992-94, I worked in finance to learn that end of the business. I learned directly from the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac manuals which gave me an edge over my peers. On one purchase loan that I put together for a 20 year old first time buyer, my officer manager (also a loan agent) who had been in the industry for 17 years told me “I didn’t know you could do that!”
In 1994 I switched “real estate licensee” hats and started listing property for sale and representing buyers. My first listing had been For Sale By Owner (FSBO) for a year before the sellers got serious about getting it sold. They appreciated my financial background and I coached them in a nearly risk-free strategy of carrying a 10% second mortgage on the property to attract more buyers. The risk wasn’t extreme for them; their retirement home had already been bought and paid for. Outcome: We had five offers in the first five days at a price that ended up $12,500 over the previous asking price. Bonus: The sellers had their extra 10% in hand within two years.
Although I claim LifeLong U. as my alma mater and might not ever earn a sixteen-year sheepskin from a traditional university, I believe my ad hoc research and situational problem-solving have made me a more well-rounded person than many college grads. I have been a lifelong student (and researcher) and have outperformed engineers in their own field through my unique (God-given) problem-solving approach. As I stated before, stories are available on request.
Related pages:
- Family Fun – learn how to use Family Fun to bring you new customers and keep the old ones.
- New Memories – as your business grows, you will have stories to share and we want to help you celebrate success.
- Advertising – Local4All is the name of our business and, while Local4All placemats are great for family fun AND getting the word out for less, that’s not all we do.