Phone call with Steve. Heather, my wife, joined us for most of it. We were going to talk about a new internal shopping cart but Cory wasn't able to join us on the call. Today was Labor Day and she was off.

We ended up talking shop and talking about adilas in general. We covered the gamut and talked about all kinds of topics. I took a bunch of notes and was even writing Heather some notes as Steve was talking (interpreting and filling in gaps). Here are a few of the topics that we spent some time on.

- Defining the company structure and what does that look like or what will it look like? We all wear lots of hats and do all kinds of stuff. Who controls what, who manages what, and who reports to who? That all (company structure) needs to be defined. We've been able to skate along and skip some of this, but we really, really, need it now. We are getting too big not to have it. This lack of structure is starting to affect other parts of the puzzle. It is amazing what we have done, up to this point, but we also see that some changes are needed. We both agree on that, we just aren't sure how that needs to be done. We need a plan for this.

- Communication lines and who knows what and when do they know it? Some of our communication lines have been struggling.

- Steve and I were both able to vent a little bit. We are coming from different angles, but both wanting similar things. Heather chimed in a few times as well. I think that it was good for all of us on the call.

- The terms "plan" and "projects" are not the same thing. If we have a project, then we have to make a plan for it, meaning the project. The project is not the plan itself. We also talked about short term, long term, etc. The plan that we are talking about is a long term plan (small mock-up outline - not the finished product). Not just the next project. There is a huge difference.

- We have been really good at bootstrapping (working with minimal funds or funding and making things happen on a shoestring budget). We are super good at just in time project management. We are really good at seeing a need and coming up with a solution. We are not very good at long term planning. We also struggle with communication and expressing ourselves.

- Steve is very good at sales. He is good at watching out for people and helping them achieve their dreams. He hates being in debt. He hates owing people money and not being able to pay people for work that has been done. Especially, in a timely manner. That just adds stress. He is one of our best doers - he just goes for it. Super hard worker. He has sold more adilas systems than any other person. He has trained countless companies, employees, and consultants. Originally, he was the mastermind and brains behind the whole concept of adilas. It's been an amazing journey. One of his strong points was explaining what he wanted and then letting us figure out what steps needed to be taken to get there. He has done this over and over again.

- Due to lack of funds or any outside funding, we have had to run super thin and lean. In some ways, that has been really good and we've advanced the ball further than anybody else could have (us and our team). That same lack of funds has a downside as well. That doesn't give any flexibility for creativity, experimentation, testing, documentation, and even marketing. We are missing some key pieces.

- We spent some time talking about selling part of our company to raise some money. That has pros and cons as well.

- ROI (return on investment) and budgets

- We tend to follow the dollar - if a client wants something and is willing to pay, even if it not quite or even close to enough, we tend to go that way. Steve was talking about an old saying - "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." Meaning, you just keep getting what is available and real vs chasing something that may or may not come to pass.

- Building up a company, any kind, especially a SaaS (software as a service) company takes time and money. No way around that.

- All of us have been running at max for a long time. That takes a toll.

- The end goal is a reoccurring revenue stream or model. We are getting there, it just takes a lot of everything to keep that up and running.

- After the meeting with Steve, I was talking with my wife Heather and my daughter Amber. We chatted about a few things. Amber was saying, maybe downsize and then rebuild. If it's hard to manage right now, how will you manage it if it's bigger? We also talked about a possible board, council, or someone to help manage things. We may need more than one leader. We need to define and fill the correct roles. It's way too big for a single person. We'll have to plan that out and then make it happen. Good phone call.

Emails and recording notes. Small sort order change on the Bear 100 DNF pages. Ended up recording notes for 9/1/23, 9/2/23, and 9/4/23. It just keeps going. I guess that is both good and bad... :)