an open letter the family, a.k.a. the 1099 Mafia a.k.a. those people

Hey guys (and gal),

You all have your own kingdoms you're building.  You all work your asses off.  You all have helped me out a ton over the years.  I want a way to thank you by getting us all in the same room, pulling up the sleeves and working on each other's passion projects for a few intense, whiskey-fueled days ... in New York City.

So I'm thrilled, and somewhat terrified, to publicly / officially announce <pause for effect> the Small Biz Triage NYC Retreat.

GOAL:  Help Get Small Biz Triage $10,000 into the black.
 

PRIZE:  A completely free trip to the Small Biz Triage NYC Retreat.

That's 1 round-trip to New York, NY from wherever you happen to be (even Ireland, John), 4-days  and 3-nights in a rented condo, a handful of working meetings, training in the latest and greatest PLUS a ton of partying.  When it's all done, we'd have all chipped in on helping build each other's 'kingdoms' while learning a bit and experiencing a well-earned hangover.

HOW?: Keep doing what you've been doing, but better.  

Keep building great products that truly help small biz owners (Drew & John).  Keep delivering great customer service and iron-clad management (Marti).  Keep building a great community for our clients (Seth). Keep the creative juices flowing even when others insist on normalcy (Billy).  Keep finding great clients and projects (me) ... but better.

WHY?:  After Small Biz Triage's itty bitty identity crisis was nipped in the bud (thanks Drew), and my money- / sanity-saving move to Chico, CA (thanks me) the debt is gone, the customers are happier and my own ass is protected a little better.  Looking back on it all, I realized that I would probably cry myself to sleep every night, if I didn't have a good team of wacky, high-maintenance, highly intelligent weirdo's covering for all my misguided salesmanship.

And now for all that that pesky fine print bullshit.

• $10,000 must be in the company piggy bank AFTER everything has been paid for the month (digital subscriptions, money owed to freelancers, etc...)
• $5K will be set aside from that savings to fund the retreat, the rest I'll leave as a safety net for all the small biz shenanigans I get myself into.
• Tickets won't be bought until we hit the goal AND sorted out everyone's schedules.  Based on my overtly-conservative estimates we'll hit the goal in Spring at the earliest, and will hit the city some long weekend during the summer of 2013.
• I'll provide a weekly email update to report current earnings, expenses, etc... Not going to say what each of you all is getting paid, just the generic line-items.

I'm not expecting any extra/free work from you.  This is simply the best way to say thank you for muscling through all of the delayed projects, and nut-busting negotiations, and low-ball rates, and shitty clients, and shittier projects  - a little something for the belly, a little something for the brain, and whole lot for the soul.  

And before anyone asks (again), "Nate, what's in it for you?"  Well, 1) it provides some public accountability to a community of hard-asses giving me a better reason to run a tight ship, 2) it will force me to stop using the vacuous piggy bank of Small Biz Triage as my paycheck, and cut myself a regular check every week ... apparently the IRS isn't a big fan of my special way of doing it, 3) I want an excuse to go to NYC and party with you all, and 4) because I started my own business because I wanted to build something f-ing story-worthy (and occasionally nonsensical) ... figure this latest scheme accomplishes both.

We kick-off today.  First update is due in a week.

Until then,

- Nate Wright -

Owner, Manager, Bill Collector, Writer, Ball-Buster, Website-Breaker @ Small Biz Triage