Take Out Grocery

05/21/2016

The Journey (part 8)

The Gift : To the small business owner and the professional



For as far as we can remember, both small business and the working professional's income have been intertwined with how well the working class is doing. Over a decade ago, the small business owners were thriving and living a very comfortable upper middle class lifestyle. The reason simple being that inflation was not what it is today and many of the average workers were able to afford their services, however, today is a different story. Not too long ago I was working on a part time basis as a pool expert and took care of the opening/closing of pools in addition to solving any technical issues with the pump systems. Many of the neighborhoods where the work was done were located in the suburban areas of Toronto, filled with middle class houses. Throughout all of the summer the majority of the customers were constantly trying to negotiate a lower deal than the very generous one we provided. They even often took the time to explain all the financial issues they faced. Being that I have personally lived in a suburban home some time ago, I know first hand that looks can be deceiving. We had the house and the yard but our family struggled every single day to make ends meet. However unlike in our case, a large portion of those financially struggling clients of ours were either middle/lower end professionals or small business owners. I can also recall several times spent on part time construction site were the owner had a hard time paying their workers. The decisive factor for this financial decline that this group, whom used to be upper middle class, is the spiraling effect of the impoverishment of the working class. In other words, the small business owners and professionals future literally depends on the future of the average worker. Therefore the same promise of change in commerce ideology spoken about in Part 7 of The Journey would be my gift to this group as well. The small printing shops, the accountants, the dentist, the small clothing shop owner, the owner of a small construction firm, the marketing specialist, the travel agent and agency, the cruise trips organizer, the massage therapist ,the tutors etc. I could keep on going for days but the point is that the majority of the clientele for all these groups I have just mentioned is and has always been the working class. And the more impoverished they get , the further away you get from the comfortable lifestyle you once had and move towards poverty . In addition to this, your descendants, who would one day inherit your business (if it survives) or follow after your profession, will most likely have it even worse. Therefore empowering a concept and a company such as Take Out Grocery is really a step in empowering your own future and that of your loved ones. Crowd funding organizations such as GoFundMe needs to be looked at as more than a charitable network. It is an important decisive tool. It is a chance to put in power someone or something that will benefit you without having to choose between pre selected groups of people (such as they do in political events). It’s a place where politicians have no say on what you do with your money or the ability to manipulate the decision you take. It is freedom. It is the ways of the future. Use it wisely.



For full biopic on the Take Out Grocery journey, please access our page by searching Take Out Grocery.




Please remember that more important than the amount donated are the amount of different donors.

Dimitri Youbi has posted a new update!

05/07/2016

The Journey( part 7)
THE GIFT : To the workers

The question than of course becomes what do you get out of this as a donor? Not to disappoint, but no we do not intend on sending out free pencils, magnets, gift cards etc. Our gift will be the creation of a new commerce ideology. For the past 20 years the average everyday workers have been lied to. Made to believe that unless they held some sort of bachelor degree or masters’ degree, that they deserved to get a salary that could barely get them out of a state of poverty. Made to believe that the needs of their customers and employers always came before their own well being, that they are of minimal to no importance within society and with all the agencies available they could easily be replaced at the snap of a finger. Made to believe that no matter how stressful the workplace environment is or how stressful of day they have had, breaks will always remain at 15 minutes apiece. The everyday worker has been told the greatest lie for so long that people have come to accept this as truth and even come to blame themselves for their condition, even disregarding the fact that some of these everyday workers do in fact hold college and universities degrees (but unfortunately could not find work in their field). In actuality, the message that was broadcast loud and clear for everyone to hear, could not have been further from the truth. The regular day to day worker is in fact the most important piece of society. It is no secret that the everyday workers make up the largest group of a society’s economy, followed then by the professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc) and then the top 1%. This means that all the roads, hospitals, schools, subways, city maintenance fees, community centers, and libraries, are in fact paid for by the tax dollars of this specific group of people. The people that wake up every day to go work in a call center, a fast food chain restaurant , a grocery store , a gas station, a Wal-Mart , a manufacturing factory , at UPS, as janitors, etc., this group are the ones that hold the largest voting power in a political election of any sort. Take Out Grocery intends to change the way things are done. We will do so by offering our workers flexible shifts and by allowing the majority of the delivery fees to go directly to the employees. Generous bonuses will be provided once the time comes and the company is in a position to do so. At Take Out Grocery, our call center agents will not have to continue dealing with disgruntled and rude customers (if an investigation concludes that the agent was not at fault), and our employees will be able to join various organizations within other organizations to generate multiples streams of income. In addition, there are numerous other benefits as well that we can not mention here due to possible competition. From the start, Take Out Grocery’s infrastructure was designed to benefit the financial, mental and general well being of all parties involved; the employee, the customer and the company. The everyday worker is you, your brother, your daughter, your parents and your friends. For them to be able to afford a decent living is what is supposed to differentiate a third world country from a developed one. Unfortunately the majority of them struggle and are drowning in debt, the only exception are for positions located in isolated locations, where those employees basically live where they work(called work camps). An oil or gold rush may take place but as soon as the population increases or the demand for oil decreases, those workers get thrown out like yesterdays trash.

To sum it up, our gift to the worker would be that of us leading by example. If we are successful, the trend will continue and will be duplicated from city to city. Customers will then choose to spend their hard earned cash with these types of companies instead of greedy corporations. As a result those decades old companies stuck in their ways, would have no other options but to change their approach towards the everyday worker, to a more fair and favorable approach. And in the meantime, a new generation of entrepreneurs will arise, using a similar model for each project they create.

Campaign goes live tomorrow May the 7th. Please stay tuned for the direct link.

Payment can be made via any major
• credit or debit card with a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express logo

Please donate whatever you can and remember that more important than the amount donated is the amount of different donors. For the more people who choose to donate, there is a higher probability of being showcased on the front page of the website. This will allow us to reach even more people with our campaign efforts. Please visit www.gofundme.com for more info.
Stay tuned for the next piece of the journey, including the gift to the professional, the small business owners, the parents and the customer.

05/06/2016

The time is almost here for the official launch of the GoFundMe campaign.

This Saturday May the 7th, it will go live. Please stay tuned for the direct link to the campaign,

Payment can be made via any major

• credit or debit card with a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express logo

Please donate whatever you can and remember that more important than the amount donated is the amount of different donors. For the more people who choose to donate, there is a higher probability of being showcased on the front page of the website. This will allow us to reach even more people with our
campaign efforts,.
Please visit www.gofundme.com for more info.

Stay tune for the next piece of the journey

05/04/2016

The journey (part 6)

The vicious cycle

I had tried everything within my power to avoid getting funded by an investor, because I knew that in doing so they would likely want me to compromise on the foundation that my business plan was built on. A foundation of not only providing a high ranking grocery delivery service to my clients, but also ensuring that the majority of the delivery fees went directly to the company’s drivers and call center employees. It took approximately one year for the plan to be completed and this was done so with the assistance of my advisor. With my business plan in hand, I began to approach various investors, and to no surprise, the division of funds did not sit well with a single investor I met. My strategy, based on economy of scale, did not make any logical sense to them and they found it to not be worth their time. That is unless I could come back to them with proof that a set amount of deliveries were being completed on any given day. Meeting after meeting, I ran into the same brick wall. The reaction I received from investors baffled me. They viewed my approach as almost comical and I simply could not understand why, especially when you take in consideration that a country like China practically stole the whole economy from the United States of America (a country that once had the greatest economy in the world), with these exact same economy of scale tactics. Perhaps I could have done whatever it took to reach the requested target to get the investment but the results would have been something I could not compromise on. Not only would I loose the majority of my shares but I would also loose any say concerning how my employees were paid, which I am certain would have been cut to minimum wage for a larger profit. Not only would that be a disservice to myself and my future employees, clients would also loose out as the services provided to them would have been downgraded for a more attractive bottom line (greater savings). The other option of course would have been to approach these investors when the company began operating at full capacity, and this would have allowed for me to have more say in the negotiation process. But of course for that to happen, funding was needed for promotion and employees. Being someone else’s puppet was out of the question.In addition, financial gain was not my sole purpose for getting in business. Changing the way business was conducted for the better was equally as important, especially after witnessing and experiencing the lack of value and respect shown to the everyday worker.Only a free man could bring about this change. Being the uncompromising man that I am, I have been stuck in this vicious cycle ever since.

Campaign launch date set for this Saturday May the 7th.

Payment can be made via any major

• credit or debit card with a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express logo

Please donate whatever you can and remember that more important than the amount donated is the amount of different donors. For the more people who choose to donate, there is a higher probability of being showcased on the front page of the website. This will allow us to reach even more people with our campaign efforts; people across the globe. Please visit www.gofundme.com for more info.

Stay tune for the next piece of the journey and the the official crowdfunding link .

• Images from left to right : business plan , receipt for plan creation

05/04/2016

Campaign launch date set for this Saturday May the 7th.
Payment can be made via any major

• credit or debit card

Please donate whatever you can and remember that more important than the amount donated is the amount of different donors. For the more people who choose to donate, there is a higher probability of being showcased on the front page of the website. This will allow us to reach even more people with our campaign efforts; people across the globe. Please visit www.gofundme.com for more info.

Stay tune for the next piece of the journey and the the official crowdfunding link .

05/03/2016

THE JOURNEY (part 5)

Glass ceil-ing


glass ceil•ing:
noun
1. an unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities.


The sudden increase in calls certified the legitimacy of my business . As a result, I went for my business license and on July 7th 2010, Take Out Grocery was officially a sole proprietorship. I also momentarily started the application process with the Canadian Intellectual Property office to have the company banner trademarked. This finally was completed years down the line. Answering client calls from my cell phone had served me well so far but the time for growth had now came. I needed to have someone other than myself taking the calls. In addition to this, it was also time to start training another delivery driver in order to stay 2 steps ahead of the projected growth. To shift from hustle to a well balanced infrastructure began. My first recruiting attempt evolved around friends, family and acquaintances. In return for their involvement and assistance with the company when it was in its early stages, I promised them a position as the head of whatever division they choose to help me with (either drivers or call centre agents). To my surprise a very small percentage of the people I approached showed any real signs of interest, and the ones that did would eventually disappear. This resulted in such a growing frustration towards them, that it led to verbal altercations and clashs between us. Finally, I simply just cut off all communication with some of them, including a really good friend of mine, for nearly 4 years. How could they not want to be a part of this or at the very least hear me out. Are they blind? Do they not see all the evidence I've shown them of what I have been able to accomplish on my own thus far? Do they not understand that anything done on a small scale can be duplicated on a larger scale? Did they not wish to become creators and not continue to be followers? Eventually it hit me, perhaps they could not or would not understand, after all, their imagination and creativity had been caged. Caged in the confines of a college textbook, the confines of the computer screen they stare at while at work and in the confines of the music videos that they watch repeatedly day in and day out. Could it be that the spirit of wisdom that came upon me all those years I spent in the cave gave me eyes to see things they could not? Could it be that the cave was the equivalent of the red pill that took Neo out of the Matrix only to wake up to a generation of zombies in the real world? That seemed like the only logical explanation. To think that nearly 3 years had already gone by trying to make them see the light. Time to switch up the plan, first I had to find a way to pay them a decent salary then I could worry about rewiring their brains. The answer, so I thought, was government grants. The grants, I later came to find was all a mirage. I had come to find that the majority of the grants were set in place for people who already had the money they were asking for and had a clean credit record. To think they sold me the dream that these grants were accessible to all. To top it off, I had gotten information from an inside source that most grant organizations charge hopeful candidates a fee to assist them with the grant application. All this, while knowing full well that the majority will be denied. A full time job perhaps? Not a chance. A full time job would keep me from taking client orders, in addition, it would break my spirit and being that I have all the odds stacked against me (times ten), my spirit was all I had left to fight through. Suddenly I remembered a conversation I had with an old family friend of mine. He kept on pressing me to complete a business plan and attempt finding investors. Perhaps Dub City was right, perhaps it was time. My approach to business was totally different than the old profit/margin formula the entire continent seemed to abide by. But perhaps by meeting as many investors as I could, perhaps by attending as many business related trade shows and taking part in various organizationsizes, I would eventually find at least 1 person that could think outside the box…………. Or could I ?????

Campaign launch date set for this Saturday May the 7th.
Payment can be made via any major

• credit or debit card with a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express logo

Please donate whatever you can and remember that more important than the amount donated is the amount of different donors. For the more people who choose to donate, there is a higher probability of being showcased on the front page of the website. This will allow us to reach even more people with our campaign efforts; people across the globe. Please visit www.gofundme.com for more info.

Stay tune for the next piece of the journey and the the official crowdfunding link .

* Images from left to right: Sole proprietorship, trade mark certificate, Company banner

05/02/2016

The journey( part 4)

** 7 **


Spiritual: The CREATOR is the one who created 7 Heavens (sūrat l-ṭalāq)

Physical: Earth's Atmospheric 7 layers: 1.Troposphere 2.Tropopause 3. Stratosphere 4.Ozone Layer 5.Mesosphere 6. Ionosphere (Aurora) 7. Exosphere

Spiritual: Indeed the hell fire is the dwelling place of them all. It has 7 gates and within each gate there is an appropriate punishment for each inhabitant…" (Hijr: 44)

Physical : Inner earth 7 layers: 1. Crust 2. Lithosphere 3. Upper Mantle 4. Astenoshpere ("sic") 5. Lower Mantle 6. Outer Core 7. Inner Core

Spritual: The 7 (Seven) Days of Creation (Genesis 1:1-3:24)

Physical: The 7 elements of earth: 1.Earth 2.Water 3.Fire 4.Air 5.Space 6.Metal 7.Wood

Superstitious : 7 days of bad luck / 7 days of good luck

Facts : 7 years shared with demons / 7 years shared with angels

Announcement : On this Sunday, May first , the 7th day of the week, 7 days after my first Facebook journey post, 7 years after my first Take Out Grocery order; I hereby announce the official GoFundMe campaign launch date set for this coming Saturday, May the 7th.

Donations are payable via:
• Any major credit or debit card with a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express logo

Please donate whatever you can and remember that more important than the amount donated is the amount of different donors. For the more people who choose to donate, there is a higher probability of being showcased on the front page of the website. This will allow us to reach even more people with our campaign efforts; people across the globe. Please visit www.gofundme.com for more info.

Note: The official link to access the Take Out Grocery campaign will be posted on the 7th

*Images : Atmospheric 7 layers, inner earth 7 layers , circle 7 logo

-Stay tune for the next piece of the journey and the link to the GoFundMe campaign page.

04/30/2016

Journey (part 3)

THE UNION

Spending hours constantly walking from block to block to cover 45 buildings/week had begun to take its toll on me. Especially in the mist of the coldest winter I had experienced to date. I noticed that there was 3 other flyers consistently found on the information boards of just about every building I went to. Back at the cave, the thought of unifying all 4 of us to get the job done crossed my mind. If successful I could cut the amount of time spent putting those flyers up by 4, while increasing the number of buildings we covered to 60/week . The benefits would be that each one of us would only have to cover just 15 buildings/week but in addition to putting up our flyers we would also put up the ones of the 3 other members. Each one of us would have a particular section of Scarborough to cover, the dead line would be every Sunday and each member would have to post the address and main intersection of the buildings they covered on a page I created specifically for the task. The reasoning behind this was so that we could always go verify whether or not they were doing their part. For the sake of competitiveness, I also set a rule to remove any flyers in those laundry rooms that were in direct competition with any of our businesses. So if you are reading this post and had flyers disappearing weekly during that time, I am partly to blame. I apologize for that but the marketing budget was tight, nothing personal it was just business. I decided to name the organization The Union and organized a meeting with everyone enlisted on the flyers. The meeting proved to be successful and everyone welcomed the plan. The strategy paid off with an increase in calls for each party involved and soon after, I had my first day ever with 4 orders placed in a single day. To keep up with the increase I forwarded the business calls to my cellphone and carried a second registration/order book with me everywhere I went. This allowed me to take calls while on the road. Things were starting to look good and the future was looking bright. Little did I know though, that there was still a lonnnggg bumpy road, full of dead ends, still awaiting me. Little did I know….

*Images From left to right : 3 out of the 4 flyers from original union member including myself, line sheet that I wrote my building address on before posting them on the page, original map of Scarborough used to delegate each member's territories and front/back agreement I drafted for each member with steps for Facebook entry and completed sections.

Stay tune for the next chapter of the journey and the announcement of the official crowdfunding launch date .

- Please remember to like and share page with friends and family

04/30/2016

The Journey (part 2)

LET THE GAME BEGIN:



Located on the east side of the city, Scarborough was the jurisdiction I choose to operate my business until further expansion became possible. It was the place I called home since returning to the city and the place I lived before my departure at the age of 6. The early marketing strategy I implemented was simple. Put the business flyers and cards on the information boards inside the laundry rooms of various apartment complexes . My goal was to cover 45 buildings per week. At night was my preference to get this job done because it was easier to access the buildings. Gaining access to the laundry rooms of the high-rises located on the Southside of Scarborough was an easy task. Getting out of the complexes and away from particular areas in one piece was what concerned me more. Once it came to the Northside, access was far more difficult and it was fairly common for me to wait up to 40 min in the front lobby or by the laundry room until someone was able to give me access. Nevertheless, after a month of consistency in my tactics, the calls began coming in and after another month my first order was placed. While the company was in the beginning stages and the policies and procedures were being drafted, the initial charge was $10. I made it a point to frame a $5 bill from my very first order as a memento of a vision turned reality (see image bellow). A second order soon followed and so on. My initial analysis proved to be right; a demand for the services did indeed exist.

*Picture bellow from left to right: Framed bill from first order, registration form and order receipt



Stay tuned for the next chapter of the journey and the announcement of the official crowdfunding launch date.

04/27/2016

The journey part 1

THE CAVE:

Throughout human, history some of the most revolutionary ideas came to their founders after experiencing extended periods of isolation. After the fall of Savanna Medical, I was laid off from a part time position I held at a credit card processing company called Global payment. With no job, money or business to run, coupled with no girlfriend and no cable, little was left for me to do but be alone with my thoughts. I literally spent hours daily, alternating between walking around my neighborhood and simply sitting in solitude in my tiny studio apartment. When I did venture out into to the world, it was usually a trip to my local grocery store, and this, after time, opened my eyes to a new business opportunity. I would witness countless elders struggling to carry groceries in overfilled buggies that look to weigh more than them. Struggle to push them home or struggle to get them onto buses. There were mothers with young children, juggling grocery bags and screaming children into cabs and I couldn’t help it think how often they did this or how much money they spent. Was it weekly, biweekly, monthly? There must be a grocery delivery service out there, I thought to myself. However, what I witnessed day in and day out clearly showed that if they did exist they were unknown or simply unused by the majority of the population. The question that remained however, was why? Over the next few months I spent even more time in my apartment, which I began to view as my cave. During that time, I spent it not only trying to answer the above questions I posed to myself but I began to seek out solutions for the problem. Within my mind, I came up with a large part of the current terms of use for Take Out Grocery, the general marketing plan(see images bellow) and even a draft of the databased(see 2nd image bellow). This all took place way ahead of its time, approximately 7 years before the drafted database turned into a physical manifestation, which just occurred this year. The years I spent working with the Global Payment database gave me the needed experience in drafting a custom made version for my future clients and employees. Loosing my job and being isolated from society for so long, gave me back something far more important than a part time salary. My imagination. Something that we all used daily as children but loose as we transition into adulthood through the confinement of educational insinuations and workplace environments that are set up to be followed not improved. In addition, conscious awakening of my surrounding , the world we live in and how it actually works took place. Throw my business savvy into the mix, and the formula for Take Out Grocery was founded.

Stay tune for the journey part 3 and the announcement of the official campaign launching

04/25/2016

PREFACE

Long before the vision of Take Out Grocery and before the physical manifestation of the vision, before the crowd funding campaign and before the page, there was Savanna Medical. And what exactly was Savanna Medical? It was a company that me and my associate set up, which sold accessible bath and shower chairs to those in need, such as elders or those with physical disabilities. Two and a half years we spent working on that project. Following a sufficient amount ground work, we got into various trade shows and our product was even showcased throughout the province at MEDIchair(medical home equipment store) store locations. The product can be viewed below via the YouTube link for those who wish to do:

http://youtu.be/kuJ7-Vz_SpE

Although the success level of this venture was moderate, what came out of that period was the first hand experience and recognition of seniors and housebound indivuals in need of, independence and personal care . The information acquired therefore would prove itself to be valuable in the building process of the Take Out Grocery Infrastructure. Another valuable outcome from that venture was the business relationship that ensued between myself and Donald Baylis. You all will get a chance to hear from him personally once the official crowd funding campaign page has launched. Donald has been an invaluable addition to the Take Out Grocery team and currently holds a consultant position and overseas all IT operations.

Thank you all for taking the time to read a bit about past and take this journey with me into the future.

Stayed tuned for further updates/posts.

03/22/2016

Friends, Family, collegues and associates; I would like to welcome you all to the Take Out Grocery page and thank you for accepting the invites . This page has been set up with the purpose of keeping you guys updated and informed on what is happening with my crowdfunding campaign. Over the years, many amongst you have heard of this business which runs out of Toronto. The company has been fully operational since 2010, first as a sole proprietorship and as of this year, as a corporation. Although the service is available for anyone to utilize, Take Out Grocery has a long standing history of helping people in need. These people include seniors and/or people with varying levels of disabilities, whom have really came to depend on the service the company provides.

There have been numerous instances where I have been disheartened and discouraged by the lack of financial support the company was receiving to even attempt to keep the business afloat. There were times I completed client orders and deliveries when I simply just felt like giving up. What kept me going was knowing the fact that the clients literally depended on service the company provided to eat. The reasons for the dependency on the service varied from clients physically being unable to complete the task of grocery shopping to not being able to afford the inflated rates that the few other companies who offer such services charge. Because of these reasons, I found the motivation to continue with the business and to complete client orders even on those days where my morale was quite low.




Crowdfuding is defined as 'the practice of funding a project or venture by raising various amounts of money from a large number of people'. This allows entrepreneurs to be able to finance the vision of their business plan. I would like to ask you all to please like and follow the Take Out Grocery page on Facebook. The official launch of the crowdfunding campaign will take place shortly and at that time you will be able to access the page and read, as well as watch videos, that will be break down exactly what we stand for and the good we plan to bring within communities across the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and eventually the globe.

This is the time for a change in the way businesses are conducted. Imagine a business that exists not only for the sole purpose of maximizing the profits of the company but ensures all parties involved reap the benefits of its success. In order to have this vision come to fruition, it first needs a financial backing. Independent financial backing, so that the hands of angel investors hold no power to dictate how the operation should run and how the profit made should be distributed. A successful crowdfunding campaign can do just that. Please share the link with all your friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. Thank you all in advance for your continued support and stay tuned for what will be a successful crowdfunding campaign launch.

www.takeoutgrocery.com