Watch me reinvent my business

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by snide

Hope it's just a false positive.

Me too

Originally Posted by SteelCityBlue

This an abnormal PSA or something more substantial?

It’s a little complicated. My PSA shot up to 13.9 so they cut off my HRT. As of last week it was 9.3.

I have to explain over and over to doctors that injecting testosterone is not a lifestyle choice. For me, the consequences are devastating.

I literally can’t stop the treatments because I need that hormone plus B12 injections to produce enough red blood cells to overcome a rare blood disease (curse #2).

Because it’s a controlled substance, non of my doctors will prescribe it so I end up going to “mens health” clinics. These places are sloppy and questionable from a medical expertise standpoint. They certainly should not be treating someone with complex medical problems.

But I have no choice.

So I wait for a month to see my urologist. He won’t prescribe it because my PSA is too high.

So now I have to have a biopsy but a different doc does that (his partner). He can’t see me for three weeks.

The problem is, my blood levels of Test are down to 100. What follows is pernicious anemia and random passing out, waking up at the hospital, blood transfusions, iron infusions, etc.

I will most certainly be hospitalized within four weeks.

So, I rack up medical bills and I’m too exhausted to work at the worst possible time. If you have started a business from zero, you know what mean. To make it worse, last year we grossed $35k for the business. So this is year two we are starting with zero revenue.

I’m not even recovered from my last surgery. Every ****ing time I go to the doctor I end up in an operating room.

I doubt it’s cancer. Part of me hopes it is so I can just let it go. I’m tired. My quality of life sucks. I would really like to get off this merry go round.

I may resort to taking speed to get through the days. But that won’t keep me out of the hospital.

Doctors just assume it’s a lifestyle drug and for most men it is. For me it is a critical part of my treatment.

Jesus Christ, what next?

This idea that we must do everything we can to live until 90 is nuts. You spend the last ten years of your life miserable, you lose your mind and shit yourself in a home full of strangers.

All so the people around you aren’t sad. (My moms theory “you have to live because your family would be devastated”)

We put down dogs to avoid suffering. If someone in my family had zero quality of life and they decide to off themselves, I might be sad but I would understand. And I would get on with my life.

I’m reaching my absolute limit. Sorry for the depressing post. I just have nowhere to turn.

All I want to do is work. I’m not asking for charity. I know if I can stay on my feet, within a couple years we will be back to normal revenue. But only if I can function mentally and physically.

In fact, we’re it not for the COVID shutdown, we would be in a tight spot from all the surgeries, but we would not be here.

It’s the worst possible time for randomly passing out. Although if we can get it on video, we could get a laugh out of it. I tend to bounce off of hard objects when I go down.

[SnikPlosskin]

I’m in bed right now because I got too tired to work. I’ll work over the weekend to launch the new website.

Monday, I’ll hit the desk and keep the ball rolling. I’m a very skilled salesman with fifteen years of formal training. I just need to stay on my feet.

[SnikPlosskin]

Today I’ll launch the new website. Not looking forward to it. It’s always more hassle than you think.

[LisaJohn]

Best wishes for health and business.

[NEED-A-VETTE]

You got this, Pete!!

[Hardluck]

Hang in there Dude! You sound incredibly tough to me with all you've gone through!

[SnikPlosskin]

9 hours today stripping all the content from the old site, backing everything up, trouble shooting, proofing, testing and it’s live https://claritymarketingsupport.com

When we are ready we will change the logo and this will be the new company’s website.

We are attempting to get some Austin cool in there. Not sure we are there yet.

Lots of issues on the mobile version. More work tomorrow.

[DAB]

is his name spelled correctly?

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by DAB

is his name spelled correctly?

Nope!

[snide]

I think I know who the brains of the outfit is...

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by snide

I think I know who the brains of the outfit is...

Yep. She did that illustration. It’s not auto traced. It took a good week to do.

[UniqueDoug]

I was just thinking about you today, your future sounds encouraging!

[SnikPlosskin]

I have decided to get another PSA test. It turns out there are a lot of things that can drive up the PSA score besides cancer. Before they start taking chunks to test, I want to be sure the first test wasn’t skewed.

Apparently if you nail the wife, or ride a horse or a bunch of other activities within 72 hours of the test it can cause high numbers.

I’m getting very tired without the HRT.

Also had a good sales call yesterday. Hoping to close the deal Friday.

[SnikPlosskin]

As we wrap up week 2, we have some deals on the table and lots of feet dragging. There is some speculation among colleagues that there is a hesitation due to economic uncertainty but there is a lot of activity.

In my line of work, I have to hunt down prospects constantly. They don’t just come to me. You would think marketing firms could drive leads but most of the stuff that works for clients doesn’t work well for small consultancies.

Instead, we have to sell. I’ve had 15 years of training on a sales methodology that really makes selling a pleasant, honest activity. Very straight forward and non-manipulative.

It’s funny that prospects notice how different I am from competing companies. The other firms are trying to talk them into things where I’m getting to the root of the problem to fix it.

Overall I’d say outlook is positive.

I will have to get that ****ing biopsy. I had them run new labs and PSA is 8. (Should be under 4 for someone my age). Sigh.

[Steve_R]

Good luck Pete. Prostate biopsy sampling is a minor PITA. BTDT.

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by Steve_R

Good luck Pete. Prostate biopsy sampling is a minor PITA. BTDT.

Good to hear. My medical PTSD is a bit out of control.

[simpleman68]

Great to hear you're back in a game you're familiar with.

Hope the mcnuggets are healthy and fine.

I believe you have things to do here before you go. Not sure what the hell they are, but you're still here for a reason; hopefully it's not to outdo Old Testament Job.
Scott

[Bill]

Originally Posted by snide

I think I know who the brains of the outfit is...

Originally Posted by SnikPlosskin

Yep. She did that illustration. It’s not auto traced. It took a good week to do.

Your doggie has awesome drawing skills!

[SnikPlosskin]

Closed a modest web development project yesterday. Turned down an idiotic solicitation for logo development.

In this case a $5m+ association wants to pay a small stipend to produce 3 concepts to us and a student group. Then a committee will choose the “winning” concept and get paid to finish.

This means a whole bunch of people will put in a bunch of time and get 1/4 of the time paid for.

Homey don’t compete with students, work with committees or do speculative work. Homey not born yesterday.

We have a sliding scale for logos. It goes up depending on size of company and how many people are involved in the process. We actually don’t just do logos - we create entire corporate identity systems.

But dipshits think it’s just a logo.

[snide]

Originally Posted by SnikPlosskin

Closed a modest web development project yesterday. Turned down an idiotic solicitation for logo development.

In this case a $5m+ association wants to pay a small stipend to produce 3 concepts to us and a student group. Then a committee will choose the “winning” concept and get paid to finish.

This means a whole bunch of people will put in a bunch of time and get 1/4 of the time paid for.

Homey don’t compete with students, work with committees or do speculative work. Homey not born yesterday.

We have a sliding scale for logos. It goes up depending on size of company and how many people are involved in the process. We actually don’t just do logos - we create entire corporate identity systems.

But dipshits think it’s just a logo.

I got a logo from Fiverr. And another one by my son. If my company grows to the point where I would need a professional presence, I'd call you.