FAILURE! I'M QUITTING

Just kidding ; ) I placed two more machines today. Now before I go into details of my day I want to write in about one quick phone call I made this morning.

My mom knows this lady, and she and her husband own like 15 auto places around town. So my mom called her and told her about my business and she said for me to give her a call. Well I did, but her secretary said she was in a meeting and I left my number, name, and who I was. She hasn't called back. Should I call back tomorrow on a Saturday? Also, that was her work phone. I also have her cell phone number, is it ok to call her on that do you think?

OK TO START: I went to about 22 places today. It may have been a few more. When I get to walking around the damn shopping centers I sometimes forget to write one down. Anyway, here's the break down.

I started off at this plaza with a small movie theatre. We have a much larger new one in town so I don't even know if people see movies there anymore. I started at some ship and mail places, and then some Chinese restaurants, and then I went into this lunch/dinner/bar place. They have candy machines in there. Anyway, I talked to the manager, he said he was in a good mood so why not. He asked what other types of candies were over there and what I would be adding. So I told him I would put candy since all he had were gumballs. So I didn't put gumballs in the center of my machine. I want to go back sometime and put gumballs in there. The other machines looked like crap. I moved them around and put mine in the prime location. (They are all on the way to the bathroom so they get a good amount of traffic.)

So after I got one in there my endorphins were pumping and I was ready to go. So I went to a bunch more places. Finally I went to a new plaza and there is this dry cleaning place. So I went in, a very small lobby, very small, but you could tell they did a good business. Now it is hot in Florida, very hot, it was like 95 today and all they had were fans in there. But I figured the temp was around the 80's in there so I figured I would risk it. A nice black guy was the owner, he said sure why not, bring it in. So I did. I hope the chocolate doesn't melt. Now, I didn't have any luck the rest of the day but I did find this cool restaurant and went in.

The restaurant story: She said the manager wasn't in but she didn't think he would be interested because there was no room up front. You could tell that she wasn't in a great mood and if she was the manager the place would probably be out of business. Anyway, she gave me a card and said call at 5:00 tonight when he would be in. Call? There's no way I'm calling. I'm going back tomorrow to see if he's there. But anyway, I looked around and there really wasn't any room. But, she was busy with people, everyone was busy, and I was up front by myself. So I sort of moved stuff around a bit. Just a little bit. This here, and that there. So now there is definitely room for my machine. In fact I'm going to point out the place to the manager before he has a chance to say there is no room. I hope this works. Sometimes you have to go stealth!

SO THEN: Remember the Pizza place that I had on a 1 week trial run? Well I had been thinking about this guy all week. I remembered that I put it in a bad place in the corner of the restaurant. And people were going to have to walk by tables to get to it. I figured when I went back he was going to say take it out since it bothered people at some of the adjacent tables. BUT, he said no great, loved it, let's keep it. I said great. I said you know, it would probably be better there right by the front door, and you can move the hi-chair that is there now over into the corner. He said and I quote "Great Idea, Do It." And I did. It's in prime real estate now.

After that I saw a restaurant to the right that I had not seen before. I go to the bar and see this very cute (being modest here), young bartender so I go to her and ask for the manager. She says "you're looking at her" (sort of). So I do a little charm and say, wow. I give her my speech. She loves the idea. Says she doesn't see why not. The head guy will be in around 5 today and she will ask him. I left her a flyer and said I'll be back tomorrow. Let's hope on this one. It would be a killer location. I feel like I have been getting a lot of outstanding locations for my machines.

THE CHINESE AND THE PACK AND MAIL PLACES DO NOT LIKE ME. I have been turned down by every one. I need a new way to tackle the Chinese. Any ideas?

I may drive to Miami on Monday to get more machines. I only have 2 left. I am considering getting some gumball only machines but I just don't know.

I want to say one more thing. It's hard for me to get started in the morning going from place to place. It's hard to get into that first place, period. But after about 3 places I get back into the groove and it's easy. I stopped at more places today than I ever have in one day before.

8/10 MACHINES WITH HOMES.

Candyman Can