Purely
a Business Venture
I
don’t really know where to begin this story because it really comes in two
parts. No, not two parts but probably four or five. Life cannot ever be simple
it seems. It started off with our company hiring a Mrs. Park, a somewhat
controversial commercial agent. Not that she was so controversial but rather
she marched to her own drummer and had difficulty with Real Estate rules in
Canada. I spent a lot of time sorting out her real estate problems during the
course of her business. She somehow couldn’t get the hang of doing business in
Canada, more or less following her Korean ideas.
Her
husband was an entrepreneur, buying and selling things between Korea and here
and he seemed like a personable fellow. We first got involved in a meat plant I
had for sale in Killarney. It didn’t work out in this case because the plant
was only provincially licensed and in order to export one needed a federal
approval.
Well
we got to talking on the way back and I discovered that Peter had apparently
escaped from North Korea and had come to Canada. While here he had written a
book on martial arts of some sorts. He had opened a grocery store which had
been highly successful and had become an elder in the Korean United Church. He
had also been an elder and advisor in the Korean community. Something happened
to his business and he had to sell the store, causing a diminishing “respect”
in the community for him, but somehow he prevailed and exercised a still
formidable respect in his community.
All
of this is a pretext to the story I want to tell. I had been working with an
Indigenous group of artists in connection with a non-profit organization I had
founded. One day I get a phone call from
a fellow who said so and so had recommended he speak to me about an animated
video project he was trying to get published. He needed me to find him some
funding and/or some means of getting it done. Could I please meet with him?
Well of course I could! This would be another adventure.
We
had to meet at his place since he had everything laid out there. I got to the
door at a nice little place in Fort Garry and it was all surprises from here on
in. Firstly, a six foot six bodybuilder filled the door frame as he welcomed me
in a soft spoken voice as his big hand closed over mine.
Up
in the loft of his house there were drawings and notes of all sorts spread out
over a variety of tables set up between weight lifting equipment. His day job,
or rather night job as it turned out was being a bouncer at a local bar, which
then turned a light on in my head. His friend who had referred him to me was
also a bouncer (and an artist). I couldn’t figure out how that squared up but
paid it no particular mind.
Basically
what my new friend had was a whole raft of beautiful and articulate drawings
that followed a story line, but he hadn’t got beyond the concept of what he
wanted to achieve. There was another thing he wanted to achieve (which didn’t
make any sense to me on the surface of things). He wanted the proceeds (or a
portion thereof) to go to rescuing the endangered white rhinoceros. That didn’t
make any sense to me either until I discovered that the L.A. zoo was working to
do just that. Also, Lou Ferigno was in the area and would do a video on the
animal. The light went on. My client wanted to meet Ferigno. Well alright then,
who was I to argue?
When
I told all this to my Korean entrepreneur friend, his eyes just lit up. He
could accommodate this. He knew people in Korea who did this sort of thing. He
would make a few phone calls and get back to me. I in the meantime got to work
to complete a formal business plan including naming all the stakeholders and
payment schedule for each.
There
are many side stories I could tell about this adventure but the whole thing
would become too cumbersome, so I’ll just summarize as best I can. To start
with, I completed my business plan for my friend with what information I had
and left it with him. Funding was scraped together by my Korean investor for
the trip to L.A, and for a trip to Korea to meet the animators which was
apparently necessary according to custom. Five days in Korea got the business
started and the animators were then to come to Winnipeg to present their story
board to my client.
The
first thing I know (just before the arrival of the Korean delegation) my
investor is driving a brand new Cadillac. Well, he reasoned, you can’t drive
around in just any crummy car so he dipped into the budget for that. Another
five days went by and I heard from my animator client that he had been
approached by my Korean friend to have me removed from the equation. What did
he need me for anyway? By eliminating me from the profit picture, he would save
a lot of money.
Things
went quickly south from there. Apparently the Korean company had been cleaned
out (by my investor friend) and they had to go home with their tails between
their legs and declare bankruptcy. He in the meantime saw his chances of being
a big time movie director slipping away. So he decided to have it out with me
and came to my office.
Well,
we sat down and began discussing the whole affair. It didn’t go particularly
well. Did I get paid for any of my services, he wanted to know. Yes of course I
did. That seemed to inflame him. Didn’t I know he had come from North Korea? He
had killed a lot of people before and it wouldn’t bother him to put me away
too. When I didn’t react to his threat, he decided he had other things to do
and left my office.
I
don’t think I ever spoke to him after that, but came to a satisfactory
conclusion with my animator friend. In fact, he sent me the most hilarious copy
of the tape with Lou Ferigno trying to get that stupid rhino to co-operate
while he was speaking. That in itself was reward enough.
I
didn’t much stay in touch with the animator/bouncer after that. His father had recently
died and left the family in somewhat of an uproar. I did speak to his mother
though a few times on advice about their real estate, but slowly that all
petered out and I went on with my business.
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