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Each issue we give away a free item from our catalog! Last issue Phil Cohen of PRN Funding in Cleveland, OH was the first -- and it was VERY close! -- to respond and won a free copy of the Unlocking the Cash eBook. Congratulations, Phil!

I’d like to thank all who emailed your replies...sorry I can’t reply to each of you. And now for the Free Give Away for this issue:

This time, be the third person to email me at info@factor -tips.com (Subject: Free Give Away) and you will receive a free copy of our Growing Your Company without Debt eBook. Good luck!

Jeff Callender
Editor

Unlocking the Cash in Your Company
2 versions are now available -- order here!

Unlocking the Cash in Your Company is available in both a Regular Edition (full version) and Special Edition. The Special Edition is available at quantity discounts, which you can personalize for marketing campaigns and use as a giveaway to prospective clients.

Features of the Special Edition:

• Your company logo and/or name can be printed on the front cover in the lower right hand corner (the authors name is moved to the left to make room). This is not just a sticker, but printed as part of the cover itself!
• The book’s first two pages are reserved for your own special information. You can make this a letter to prospects with your letterhead, put client testimonials -- say whatever you want!
• References on the back cover to the Small Factor Series are omitted.
• The chapter Finding a Factor is omitted.

For pricing and more information click here.

Reflections on Cash Flow 2003
(and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders)

Now that I’ve been home from Dallas for a few weeks, life is nearly back to normal. Some might describe “normal” in my home office as resembling quiet, controlled chaos; but in the midst of this activity I’ve been thinking.

“What is a working equation I can use in the future to calculate how long it takes to catch up after an out of town trip?” I’ve wondered.

Now why would any sensible (let alone busy) person contemplate coming up with something as obtuse as an equation for calculating catch-up time? The answer is: I can’t help it; my son’s home for the summer from college. You see, he’s a math major -- where he gets such remarkable powers I have no idea -- and his quiet but lightening-quick mind makes me feel like I’m five cans short of a six-pack when it comes to anything having to do with math. I mean, he has books on Advanced Calculus and other mathematical subjects I can’t even spell, let alone comprehend. I’d say it’s all Greek to me, but I studied Greek years ago in preparation for my previous profession. Sad to say, all that helps with now is knowing the names of a few of the symbols in the equations he works on. Beyond that, I’m clueless when thumbing through his books.

Anyway, my algebraically simple (“pathetic” might be more descriptive) Equation for Figuring Out How Long It Takes to Catch Up after an Out of Town Trip is this:

     x = y * 3.5

     where x = number of days to catch up
     and y = number of days gone.

The asterisk, for those more mathematically challenged than I (if there are any) is a multiplication sign. I remember learning to say it this way: “times.”

Now despite its lack of sophistication, if this formula is correct I can take solace in the fact that I’ve nearly arrived at “x”: gone one week equals three and a half weeks to catch up. At least this is math I understand, that makes sense…and actually seems to work.

Like many of you, I was in Dallas attending the Cash Flow 2003 convention. This annual trek started for me in 1994 and I’ve missed two since then. For those of you counting on your fingers, that means I’ve now attended eight conventions. (Yes, I had to resort to that time-honored means of digital computation, too.) Each year I’ve seen improvements in smoothness of the planning and execution and this year was no exception. While there, I heard generally positive comments about the convention as a whole.

The only nay-sayer in Dallas was on my trip to the airport heading home; one guy in my blue airporter van griped about various things I hadn’t even noticed. The others in the van, however, like most new broker consultants, were generally in a dazed fog brought on by information overload from all the stimuli that had bombarded their senses the previous three or four days. All the workshops and presentations and exhibit hall booths and handouts and bookstore browsing were just about too much to absorb.

And then…having eight Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders right there one evening, close enough to reach out and touch, just about sent a few folks over the edge. As we were entering the large room for the evening’s event, there they were, seated at three tables smiling and schmoozing and signing autographs. Because several people were standing in front of me, at first I didn’t see them seated at the tables. Then someone said, “Look, some of the Dallas Cowboys in their outfits!” I turned and noticed the outfits were definitely not filled by Cowboys. Anyway, getting all eight autographs on an 8 by 10 glossy (...I did it for my son, mind you...) was a memorable event. Yes, those ACFA people do know how to both educate and entertain their constituents.

For me, the only unfortunate part about meeting the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders was the reality they brought crashing down on my sense of identity. There I was, standing in line with several other pot-bellied middle-aged men with thinning hair, waiting for autographs like a bunch of 10-year old kids, eagerly waiting our turn to reach the front of the line. When I finally arrived and they actually spoke to me, the realization hit me like a load of bricks: these women were about the same age as my son. Oh my God.

I didn’t feel twice their age, but…alas, I was. Twice their age or more, as my son would have quickly pointed out had he been there and read my mind. With a few of these beauties the equation was hauntingly close to my Out of Town Time Catch-up Equation:

     x = y * 2.5

     where x = my age
     and y = the Cheerleader’s age.

My goodness; these women were the peers of a potential daughter-in-law. And when they introduced themselves during the high-kick routines during their show and each said her age, my depressing guess proved to be correct. One was actually a year younger than my son (who’s 21), and the oldest…an enfeebled 27. Lord help me.

Anyway, once I arrived home, two factor colleagues were kind enough to share with me their opinions about the convention. Neither mentioned the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, for whatever that’s worth -- and both men are considerably younger than I. So I couldn’t help but wonder…did they sleep through this particular convention event?

Now I have noticed that for some reason, when it comes to evaluating a conference, factor-types tend to be a rather critical lot in general. Is this because, after a few years, we’ve “seen it all” and have become jaded? After all, old salt factors have a steady diet of unbelievably lame customer excuses for not paying previously verified invoices, clients who willingly bite the hands (ours) which have so generously fed them, and raw, awkward broker consultants who are eager to learn but need a boatload of help. Do these daily doses of reality jaundice our outlook on life in general – and conventions that are intended to make us more professional, in particular?

I think so. After attending the IFA convention in Salt Lake City last April – an event for factors and attended only by factors – I saw a list of their gripes about that convention...many of which frankly seemed rather petty to me. All in all I thought that was a darn good conference.

Griping about an event is certainly easier than putting a conference together and doing one’s best to make it come off. What seems to me to be more important than the quality of the hotel carpets or food that was or wasn’t available is this: what valuable information and/or contacts did those in attendance obtain? Is the overall benefit greater than the minor inconveniences, the number of unhelpful workshops, and time and money spent to attend? To me it certainly better be, or I wouldn’t attend each year.

Yet I’m just one person, and am curious to hear from more than two other people. So those of you who attended Cash Flow in Dallas (and/or the IFA event in Salt Lake City), attention! I would really like to hear from you. Just a sentence or two summary would be welcome. What did you think? What did you like? What didn’t you like? Will you attend next year? What would you like to see at such a gathering? Do we need an annual, national conference similar to IFA’s or ACFA’s on a smaller scale -- just for small factors?

Please let me know and I’ll be happy to put your well-considered comments in an upcoming issue. The first two remarks just mentioned – and I sincerely appreciate these individuals’ honest assessments – are printed in the Reader’s Question section below. Now let’s see more! Email your comments to info@Factor-Tips.com.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…summer’s officially here and I hope you can take this time -- for many in the factoring world, the slower season -- to catch up, relax a little, and enjoy the nice weather. I’m going to try. And I’m also taking this time to work on some new projects I’m very excited about, which you’ll hear more about in the coming months.

I’m also going to celebrate the summer with two weeks of jury duty in August. If you can’t reach me then, leave a message and I’ll call you back. Who knows, maybe federal court will provide unanticipated grist for a future FactorTips issue.

One last thing. The autographed Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders picture I brought home to my son will be prominently displayed in his dorm room next fall, and will no doubt duly impress his fellow dorm residents. The autographs address him personally: “Cowboys Cheers to Andy!” with eight signatures over eight bare, shapely midsections. He happily acknowledges the peer value of my gift. That acknowledgment has made my standing in line, feeling like both a 10-year old kid and a cragged old man at the same time, worth it.  But if I were half as smart as he is, I’d have gotten two autographed pictures when I had the chance.

Obviously I’ve never been a math major.

Jeff

Each issue we print a question from one of our readers. We welcome questions -- as well as your answers to these questions because...well, we don’t know everything! Plus you get a free plug for your company when we use your answer.

Please submit your questions and answers to: info@factor-tips.com and put in the Subject line “FactorTips Question.”

The last issue’s question was:

I’d like to hear readers’ reactions who attended the Cash Flow 2003 Convention in Dallas recently. Was it worthwhile for small factors? What was the most valuable information you gained or experience you had? Do you plan to attend next year in New Orleans?

We received two responses whose highlights are below.

First response:
I guess that you can say that I was quite disappointed in the meeting.

• The meeting was overwhelmingly attended by first timers and those new to the business.
• Presenters as a whole were more interested in touting/selling their services than educating the attendees.
• A full agenda was not available well in advance of the meeting. I am not willing to commit a full three days to this meeting and would have appreciated the opportunity to plan my travel with some educated insight as to the schedule of presentations.
• As someone who is focused on only one cash flow, I often found it difficult to identify whether topics would be relevant to factoring.  This could have been resolved through some sort of coding scheme for each presentation.  Twice I found myself in what seemed like interesting sales and marketing seminars that turned out to be focused exclusively on how to obtain notes.
• Very little diversity of presenters.  This was my second meeting and the agenda was filled with the same people saying the same thing as last year.  In fact, some of them had multiple forums during the meeting.  I understand that there is a special relationship with Sun Capital, but the number of presentations conducted by their senior folks was astounding (although I have to admit that they are good presenters with interesting marketing ideas).

Having vented, I will probably attend in New Orleans, because invariably I meet a couple of good folks and come up with an interesting marketing idea or two.  I wish that the IFA could figure out a method to run a solid marketing track at their meeting.

Second response:
Some parts of the conference were great and very useful. Other parts were very, very disappointing.
a) The General Sessions (Two thumbs down!):
 A motivational speaker hosted the first session. I thought it was both informative and entertaining.  No issues here.

Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen hosted the second session. They spent a lot of time promoting Allen’s "get rich quick" methods involving real estate, infopreneurism and other stuff. Pure show-biz.

Ron LeGrand hosted the last session. He also touted some real estate "get rich quick" methods. Again, not a lot of useful information here. It was mostly a sales job.

Both sessions were sales presentations done by professional promoters. I’d suggest that readers read materials from their local libraries or buy them on eBay (I was surprised at how many people are selling these “great methods” for “pennies on the dollar”) before enrolling in any expensive classes.

My biggest disappointment is that they were endorsed by Mr. Pino’s organization and that I had to PAY to attend the “sales presentation”.

b) The Normal Sessions (Two Thumbs up!):
The conference had a number of breakout sessions hosted by a number of people in a whole variety of areas. Everything from specialty cash flows, to marketing. Too many to list, really. The sessions I attended were informative and very valuable. They contained useful information that I have put to use. Some of the presenters also had products to sell, but that was done in a low-key fashion and ALWAYS after providing a lot of valuable information (no complaints there). These sessions are one of the few reasons I would come back.

c) The Contacts/Friendships (Also Two Thumbs Up):
I made a number of useful contacts and CF 2003 provided a great setting to network with other small factors and brokers. Again, this part was great.

Summary: Overall I am glad I went, though this is not something I’ll do yearly. I’ll probably go to it every few years, mostly for the breakout sessions and the contacts.

We have 2 questions for this issue:

Let’s hear more reactions from those who attended Cash Flow 2003 in Dallas...

and

Would you attend a convention that is specifically for small factors and those interested in becoming small factors?

Email your answers to info@factor-tips.com and put “FactorTips Answer” in the Subject line. We’ll include the the names & answers from replies in our next issue.