It's amazing to me the amount of mail I receive and how much of it is supporting. Since the end of last month over 90,000 people have visited this BLOG, 2212 emails have been sent to me and we've served over 300,000 pages of information. Perhaps it's because this domain was so popular as Microworkz.com but it's strange to me that the numbers keep going up. In any regard, I've taken the 5 questions that seem the most asked and answered them below:
- You have started a lot of businesses, why is iCarMagic different than all the other ones? - Nelson C - Tampa, FL.
Nelson that's a great question and one that I get asked all the time. The truth is that being an entrepreneur is in my blood (my grandfather started Schwab's Pharmacy in Hollywood) and is really what I enjoy to do. As you probably know it's not easy to start a company and although there are mentors out there (www.score.org among others) I've never found a manual or lecture that provided much assistance. I learn from my mistakes, have made a more than my share, and I try very hard not to repeat them. You'll notice that iCarMagic (now www.imagiclabs.com) has nothing in common with Microworkz except that we have innovative ideas that have won the attention of our target customers. All the Microworkz mistakes (production, growth speed, over sales, etc) have been pre-eliminated from our model. We have built a scalable system, using open-source software as a back-end that can handle my ability to sell large quantities without adding an undue burden on the infrastructure. Don't forget that a couple of my business have been sold to major companies and continue to go strong even today. At the end of the day ideas are great, but execution is better and that's what we've done at iMagicLabs - Do you see yourself back in the hardware business at any point in the future? - Marjorie L - Seattle, WA
This is a hard one to answer because hardware, as in consumer devices, is actually a product of software and physical equipment. While I don't foresee that I will ever try again to build an enormous manufacturing infrastructure, it is quite possible that I will again be involved in a major consumer electronics product. As when I started with the iToaster, my desire to empower lower-income people with computing devices has not gone away... - How has the criminal case and your guilty plea affected your life? Bill K. - San Francisco, CA
Wow. When I first read this question I started to really quantify, perhaps for the first time, how this has changed me, the people around me and my business life. The case itself closed a long chapter of change for me on a personal level. The criminal conduct that I engaged in (which related to hiding assets on a personal tax return) occurred at the lowest moment in my life. My marriage was falling apart, Microworkz had just closed down and I was absolutely unemployable due to the extensive publicity. I am not making excuses here, what I did was wrong and anytime you sign a document or testify for any reason it should be accurate. All that I am saying is that well before this case started I began to learn the hard lessons that trials and sentences are supposed to teach. For the last 6 years while the government investigated my finances and conduct, I worked on why my life collapsed and what changes I needed to make. It took a lot to acknowledge that my crimes were not in the "grey" area and that I truly didn't respect the need for accountability. Finding out your problems and admitting them to yourself is the only way to start fixing them. So, to answer your question directly, the "charges" per se have not negatively affected me at all. Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Currie, my attorney John Wolfe, the U.S. Marshals Service and every person that I have encountered during the process have been professional and reinforced the changes that I have so desperately made. I am not saying this was fun, but it did provide closure for me on a chapter of my life and an event that I wish I never did. Just to be clear: I've been on "trial" for 6 years in my own mind and began serving my sentence long ago. These charges are the conclusion to the matter for me, not the beginning.
Footnote: Half a decade later my life is completely different, my kids are healthy, I'm married to the most wonderful woman on the planet, have great friends across the country and my business is doing extremely well. I learned the hard and the painful way that being born with a golden tongue will not get you into the chocolate factory. Maybe somebody reading my story will look at their life and make the changes needed before it's too late (and that's the only reason I am writing this). - Do you think your past will hurt you in your future? Sabrina S. - Taiwan, ROC
That's a good question because you can never run from your past or wish it away. I think the lessons I have learned and the person I have become could not have been achieved or absorbed in any other way. My competitors today (Dealer.com, Ralph Ebersole and various desperate folks who have trouble competing on merit) forward the news articles etc to every customer they can, but they still lose. I have a history of honesty and integrity in business dealings that spans back over 2 decades and my professional reference list is quite long. My biggest failure, Microworkz.com, crashed because I failed to plan for success effectively. This is not a mistake I will make again.... - What's next Richard Keith Latman? How do I invest? - Brain L. - New York, NY
Only two people know this, and my son Michael promised he won't tell anyone. Let me just say that I've got a few years left here at iMagicLabs finishing what I've started. We've built an amazing company, but we're far from done.
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