We called 911 after getting stalked in Los Angeles

On our trip to Los Angeles to visit Andrew Cherng (owner of Panda Express), Rayfil noticed a car that kept popping up close to us on our car ride around the city - a white van. I thought Rayfil was paranoid, but he wanted me to copy down the license plate of this car that we kept seeing during our 40 minute trek around the city.

Brian: You serious?
Rayfil: Yeah, copy it down.

I asked Rayfil to make a U-turn....and then another...and then another. During each of the 4 U-turns, we were followed by the white van. We couldn't lose them even if we tried.

Along a busy street we pull into a residential neighborhood. The white van flies by and never comes into our side street....wait! Less than 2 minutes later it turns back around driving on the other side of the busy street. The driver doesn't see us, but we see him whizzing by.

Time to call the cops?
Rayfil's paranoid again.

Rayfil: Call the police.
Brian: 911?
Rayfil: Yeah
Brian: Are you serious?
Rayfil: Yes.
Brian: Hesitating, but dialling 9 - 1 -.....I couldn't do it.
Rayfil: Grabs the phone and finishes dialing the last 1. He hands the phone back to me.
Brian: Uh....hello?

Operator: 911 Emergency.
Brian: This isn't quite an emergency, but we're driving and being followed.
Operator: Hold on a moment while I transfer you to the sheriff.

Sheriff: Sheriff's department.

I tell him what has happened and I tell him we're on the way to a meeting.

Sheriff: If I come out are you going to be there to talk to me or are you going to the meeting?
Long pause.
Brian: We're going to the meeting.
Sheriff: If you see the guy when you come out of your meeting, give us a call.
Brian: Okay. Thanks.

We come out of the meeting and see....

Nothing.

This time I'm paranoid. I slowly approach our rental car and drop to my knees. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for under the car. Wires? A bomb? In the movies I've seen with car bombs, there's sometimes a cassette tape lodged into the dash board cassette player. I see nothing.

We open the door slowly.

Nothing.

We're safe.

S.T.E.A.K Land the Perfect Interview

Happy Super Bowl Weekend!

This is a response to our special FAN gharwell1
Click our (Youtube Video)

-------------------------

Its difficult to say the right things during a JOB interview.
You're excited. You're tense.

Structure your interview answers to increase your chances of getting the job.

Here's how:

Interviewer: "Describe a time when you worked well in a group setting"
You: Structure your interview answers by summarizing an event. Memorize this....

S- situation
T- task
E- engage
A- action
K- knock out

-------------------------

Think Marvin Harrison of the Colts during media day - He sucks at interviews.
Tiger Words is endorsed by Buick and Accenture Consulting - He carries a conversation well.

Great interviewer = $$ (bling bling)

My prediction- Colts win by 7.


BUSINESSPUBERTY.com for updates.

Choice between ethics and my job

Being faced with the choice between my ethics and my job, I chose my ethics. Not everyone can just quit. Understood. Family, car payments, rent. I'm emtpy. I took off. Sorry boss.

THE STORY:
As a part time employee and senior designer at the engineering firm in Oakland, I had other jobs on my plate. Some call it outside work. Moonlighting. Boss knows it. That's how we met.

Background:
- I work part time. I do others stuff on the side. That's how I met my boss. He was my client and then I became his employee.
- In 5 yrs, my coworker brought 4 jobs to the engineering company. He knows people. Good networking guy.
- He was underpaid and wasn't given the involvement he was promised. When 5th job came along, he takes it himself and chooses not to share it to the company.

Bzzzz....bzzzz. (my cell is always on vibrate). Boss calls me on my day off and asks me a series of questions regarding a project I am working on. I happen to be building a model for one of his employees on an outside job. I tell him what he needs to know. We hang up.

Bzzz.....bzzz.
Brian: Hello?
Boss: Brian. What's the address of the project you are working on?
Brian: Sorry, I can't disclose that information Client privilage of confidentiality.
Boss: What? What do you mean?
Brian: When I did projects for you, I never told anyone about anything we were working on. I cannot disclose the address. I don't have any long term interest in this project. I worked as a consultant much like when I built a model for you before I started working in your office. I do not know the name of the client. I have never met the client.
Boss: I'm putting you on speaker phone here in the conference room. Gerald and Susan (names have been changed to protect the innocent/guilty) are here. What is the address of the project you are working on with Susan?
Brian: Sorry, I can't disclose that information.
Boss: I will talk to you later. Hangs up quickly.

Wow, did my boss just hang up on me? That was weird. Meeting continues in the office while I am away. Boss later tells me he understands people do outside work to make up for extra money they may need that they are not earning under his employment. Boss fires employee for lying about the situation during the conference.

I arrive at the office and tell the boss we should talk,

"I like working here. You're the boss and you have the right to fire me. But until you do, I plan to stay here. I feel caught in the middle and if you have any further questions about this project, I prefer that you direct them to Susan directly."

Boss tells me what happened at the meeting that day and how Susan was telling lies over and over. He needed me to confirm the lies. I didn't give him the ammo he needed. We laughed about the crazy lies she told and we shake hands. Boss says he feels like it's a girlfriend/boyfriend relationship and he needs us to be apart until further notice. I'm on suspension. We agree that he will call me in two days to let me know if my suspension will be permanent or if I will be invited to continue working.

Mom: Suspension? Does he (boss) think you're in highschool???
Brian: I guess.

Boss does not call me two days later as promised. He didn't forget. He expects the little employee to call the big boss and ask if he can work again. Dream on. I make no such choice. Monday. I step into the office.

"Thank you for the opportunity to work here, but I think it's time that I leave." He doesn't say much other than that he hopes maybe we can work again in the future. Neither of us are breaking our bridges. I ask him if he can verify my employment (for licensing purposes). I ask if I can hop onto the computer to calculate my hours. He says to go right ahead. 10 minutes later the paperwork is done, I thank the other employees, shake their hands and leave.

Another job gone.

$59,000 annual full time salary gone. I'm back at $0. What now?

Website

Awesome.

We have new webpage layout.

What I learned today: Conflict resolution
Scene: distressed employee at Lee's
Resolution: listen first, don't try to be problem solver

#1 reason why people stay at a job.
a. $$ b. environment c. people d. affirmation

answer:

B, C, D

also, view

timecapsule.yahoo.com

amazing

Good tidings

Venture Capital

Business + Puberty

VENTURE CAPITAL
Industry expert lingo: VC's (not Vince Carter)

I had lunch with the Danoo guys. (www.danoomedia)
David and Anup. (not Harold and Kumar)

Overachievers. Both have Phd's. (MODEL ASIAN MINORITY)

Working with top VC.

Problem: Need $$$ to fund your company
Answer: Venture Capital

Venture Capital = give you $$$
You give them = part of your company


Lunch.
Ordered Ravioli. Not bad.

Found out Lucas is a Jew.

Jews = smart
reasons--
1. entrepreneur
2. well educated
3. immigrant mentality

read: Jewish Phenomena (good book)



RAYfil

I got fired!

My mom comes into my room early one morning and says, "Maybe you should tell people you got laid off instead of telling them you got fired." It's not called getting laid off if you're the only one being asked to leave the company. I'm sticking with, "I got fired." It's more fun that way. "Mom, no. I got fired. It's fine. I didn't have the guts to leave myself, so getting fired was better for me anyway."

If I shared all the juicy details of what exactly happened, you'd be scrolling down this blog for 30 minutes. If you know me well enough, you know I got a lot to say and I'll never shut up. You don't have that much time, so let's get to the what's important.

WHAT TO DO AFTER YOU GET FIRED:
1. Never argue with the boss because you lose either way. If you argue and they let you stay, you'll end up continuing to work for a company that doesn't even want you there. Surely all the employees or at least a majority of them love you, but when you walk by the boss and look at her in the eye, it just gets uncomfortable. Not worth it. You lost your job. Get packing. But before you do.....

2. Tell all your coworkers you got fired. Yes, literally. I walked into each of the rooms in our office and made this statement, "Everyone, can I get your attention?" Everyone looks up excited that I may have scheduled another office field trip like I did the week before. I continue, "Today will be my last day. I was let go. I just want to let you guys know so you won't wonder where I am tomorrow." It actually felt good to see everyone's initial reaction. Some you could tell really felt for me and would miss me after I left. One felt guilty for something he probably told my boss about me. Another guy was happy I left. (All the people on his team hate working with him and the projects are coming along too slowly. He's getting fired soon too. I'll bet $100 on it.)

3. Go around and shake everyone's hand (everyone you've met before. If your company owns the entire 10 floors, don't go to every floor. Duh). Say thank you and tell them it was good working with them. Yes, I even did this to the girl who pulled rank on me and the guy who looked like he was happy I was leaving. Leave as the better person.

4. Proceed to the door with your box of belongings. (Yes, take everything. CD's and CD's and more CD's of all the work you did. You'll need it. Rumor has it that my coworker at the time brought in his entire computer and transfered the entire office drive to his personal computer!).
Walk with your head up and smile on your face. You're happy to be gone from a place headed by a person crazy enough to fire someone everyone at the firm loved.

My boss tells me,

"Everyone loves working with you, but this just isn't working. I'm sorry Brian. I'm sorry. I know you'll be a great architect someday." I knew I did nothing wrong, so I asked her to write a referal letter for my next boss. She says she doesn't write referal letters for anyone, but instead hands me a stack of her business cards and urges me to ask anyone to call her and she'll say good things about me blah blah blah.

5. Drive off into the sunset.

6. Go home and put together a new resume.

NOTE: Prior to getting fired, I read a book advising readers to always have an exit strategy. Know when you'll leave a firm and under what conditions. In situations where you get fired and the timing is unexpected, know ahead of time what you would do just in case. In my case, I rushed home printed 30 resumes and planned to head straight to 30 restaurants after dinner that night to apply for a position as bus boy or waiter. Don't worry about moving from Junior Architect to bus boy. It doesn't matter. You need money now and this job's just temporary. My parents have too much pride and they couldn't handle their son waiting on people (even though one of them slaved at one before). I ended up looking for another job at an architect's office and found one 4 weeks later.

If you haven't left your firm and you haven't been fired, plan your exit strategy today! Know precisely what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. Don't get surprised. Get a plan.

FRIENDS: This story was from 2 Decembers ago. I was not fired from my current job in Oakland. Things are going well....sort of.

My Second Worst Enemy

I discovered my second worst enemy 4 days ago - fleas. You've probably seen these little critters on the carpet before, but I bet you haven't found them in the most private of all places. Getting ready to shower one evening I shed myself from the infested clothing to discover two fleas....in my underwear. Yes, I was naked jumping up and down screaming in my room. Aaaahhhhh!

Walgreens convenient store made quite a few bucks from me that night. It was 12:30 midnight when I grabbed my keys and darted for the door. I couldn't find the thermal underwear to protect my entire body, so I came home with a flea collar for my cat Tiger. The next few days I bought 3 products for insect repellent and treating bites. Walgreens had a good week. I bought enough for my entire family.

Chinese Tony Robbins

Its about time! I just signed a contract with

Learning Annex

to share Millionaire Habits of Martin Yan of Yan Can Cook & Andrew Cherng of Panda Express.

Come. You will laugh. You will learn. Take my tips. You will make $, thank me later.

www.learningannex.com

SF-June 12th Monday.