CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WANTING TO GET OUT
“I was in love with loving”
Saint Augustine
He set a new appointment and wrote a letter, because he knew he couldn’t say everything that was on his mind to Sharon. He showed the letter to the psychologist and she asked him: Are you sure about this? And he said yes! Everything set, he told Sharon that he wanted to talk to her, but wanted to do this together with the psychologist. When they got together he explained to Sharon that he wrote a letter to better describe what he wanted to say. Tony really took his time explaining everything that had been happening and why he was making this decision, but when Sharon read the letter the only thing she could read was the name of Anna Paola. Some things are already written, she had an argument with Anna Paola during the Rodeo Show Festival, it was like she already knew this! So, she loses her senses, and started to break everything in the doctor’s office and hitting Tony as hard as she could.
The doctor tried to calm Sharon down by saying that this was a love proof!
Bullshit! I just want to be honest! I want to get out of this marriage! Tony was thinking, but he let the doctor continue as he wanted to calm her down. Later on she calmed down, but was very aggressive; after they left the doctor’s office on the way to Tony’s parents she tried to jump out of the car. Tony had to hold her as strong as he could. When arrived at his parents she began to hit him again. After seeing all this, Tony led her to believe that he would not separate. At some point Tony wanted to laugh at Sharon, to see her as crazy as she got. I guess when you mix too much emotion; you lose even your feelings!
Try for a moment to be in Tony’s shoes. What would you do based on the information he got? He seems to be completely lost and I guess when you start one thing wrong, the next follows, and so on. And to make matters worse he hired a private detective to follow Anna Paola, he wanted to make sure that she loves him (what other proofs does he need?) and not his social status. And guess what? The detective finds that she has going out with a person. He has no proof of anything, just reports that she was with this guy.
Well, Tony is lost; Sharon now pressured him to break up with Anna Paola. So, he called Anna Paola and told her that she has five minutes to tell him what is going on or it is over! Anna Paola became very irritated and told him that she had nothing to say and Tony decided to break with her. His decision was done!
Late January, 2003 - Tony followed his plan to go to Hong Kong to search for new business, because according to Blacker, it would be impossible to get new business in Brazil. He got a second mortgage on his home in Miami and paid all debts for the corporation, leaving it with a zero balance for all suppliers. Out this amount he reserved five hundred thousand, in case everything does not work, and the way things were going, he was sure he would have to close the business.
In Brazil, Blacker kept up with the construction of the warehouse in Arica, taking all kinds of money to build it, but according to Blacker was a good investment for the company. But the truth was that he was using this, among other things, to get money out of the corporation.
Sharon now completely changed herself! No more depression! She became a new woman, she dressed differently, she lost weight, she wanted to go out and all of a sudden she was the woman Tony dreamed about some time ago. So, Tony thought maybe this whole thing happened to make his relationship work out. Maybe that was the purpose. So he decided to give Sharon another chance and brought her with him to Hong Kong.
But even with all of the changes in Sharon, no matter what he did, Tony couldn’t forget Bella, she was everywhere, and now he hated the nickname he has given her, everywhere he looked there seemed to be a Bella written. Notice how popular this name is next time you are on the streets. Tony would go to same places he had gone before with Bella, but it was not the same thing, the magic was not in the air, the synchronism wasn’t there! And his mind was with Bella at all times.
But Tony kept his word, did not speak with Anna Paola anymore and dedicated himself mostly to Exbrus Hong Kong. He brought Marcos Paz to help with presentations to partners and prospects. They spoke with lots of people and as usual Marcos was a great collaborator. Tony really enjoys working with him; they have a good synchronism as well.
On early April, 2003 Tony started to receive reports that suppliers are not being paid in Miami, because no more are coming from the Sao Paulo office. Tony called Blacker and got very aggressive with him saying, “What is going on, Blacker, I paid all bills, why are you not making the payments, do I have to go there to handle this?” He was quite mad! And of course, yet again there was sweet talk and excuses from Blacker. What a guy?
Soon after the SARS crisis came and Hong Kong looked like a ghost town now, the press overreacted and Tony was forced to return. Sharon came back a week early and went to Brazil.
On his way back to Brazil he stopped in Miami and looked at the books and discovered that the bills were almost a million dollars again! He spent his birthday in Miami and took the day off, going to the beach trying to think what to do now.
Tony was more worried about the people who worked for him, than himself, he knew that no matter what he would survive, but those people who had been working for him might not have the same luck. So, he began to think how to make everyone OK if he decided to close down.
He planned to shut the operation down, and would give part of the operation that was still good to Bernard Silva, Carlos Costa, Carmen Cardoso and Magda Bremen in Brazil and the Miami operation to Robert Johnson and Neli Brux. Blacker would keep the operation in Chile, that Tony had invested almost a million dollars in by now and Tony would keep the Hong Kong operation, which was an office with no assets.
Neli Brux: She was Brazilian hired by Tony in Miami, she knew nothing about logistics, she was trained and Tony would have applied for a business green card for her in the USA.
Carmen Cardoso: She was hired by Blacker in Sao Paulo. She was in a sales representative for Exbrus; she was famous for her crises in the company, but she was a really good professional.
Magda Bremen: She was hired by Tony, and was the first receptionist for Exbrus in Sao Paulo and the oldest employee by now. She was a perfect receptionist! Always had smile on her face and always ready to help.
Tony returned to Brazil, got his parents, Sharon and Blacker and told them that there was no way he could continue like this. He had been holding this company for the last two years, and had no more money to continue to hold it. He wanted to shut it down and lay down the plans he had made up.
I believe that on this day Blacker had his dream come true! He got it! He finally completely destroyed Tony and, on the top of that, he would get to keep the business for himself alone. This was the perfect crime! No one would ever know!
But the greed is always there, so the bastard was not happy yet, he wanted to finish like a perfect gentleman. See, he knew how Tony would react, he knew that when Tony made a decision he would not change it, so he very politely said:
“No, Tony you can not do this, we are going to get out of this mess! If we have money anyone could do it, we can do it. I know it!”
So, for the first time Tony reconsidered a decision. He thought, man what am I doing, I am being selfish, those guys want to fight, and I am giving up! So, that was the day Blacker will regret from this day until he dies, as Tony came back and said:
“OK, Blacker, we stay on, let’s make it happen!!!”
Not a word came out from Blacker’s mouth that day! I keep wondering if Blacker could not sleep that night; he wanted to eat his words, he had messed up all of his devilish plans!
So, once more Tony gathered up all of his energies (I don’t know where this guy gets so much of this) to get the business back on track. He devised some plans. First he could not put up with all the briberies going on everywhere in Brazil, according to Blacker, (and obviously that was made up 90% by Blacker) so he decided to get a politician to be a part of the business, so he would be able to protect himself, according to what he had learned and heard from other people, and he also would bring an investor into the business. If he could get this, it seemed that he would have solved the two major challenges of the business.
The planet earth is a small world and people sometimes forget this, but remember the private detective that Tony had hired before to follow Anna Paola? Well, in a conversation with this guy he explained the problems that he was facing at the company, and the detective told him that one of his clients and friends was the congressman Pedro Cano and if Tony wished he could introduce him to Tony, and logically Tony said yes.
Pedro Cano: Brazilian congressman, at a young age, and his motives are: You name your price and I can get it for you! His father was the famous Senator Paulo Cano, ex-director of the National Agency.
So Tony met Congressman Pedro Cano, and he liked the kid, although he was a politician and it seemed his interest was about money at all times. He informed Tony that he was looking to get a real estate lot at the Rodeo Show in Jaguariuna, and if Tony could help him to get it (for free, of course). And since Tony knows everyone there and just had made the event, he offered to help him, and Tony saw this as an opportunity to show his background as well.
It’s amazing what a person’s actions are, if they are manipulated wrong.
Otherwise, your decisions are based on the information you have. If you have the wrong information for sure you will make the wrong decisions, and that’s what Blacker had done, he nicely provided all of the wrong information, not only to Tony, but to everyone around, so he could gain control of the situation and benefit from it. And for most of the people Tony’s actions was crazy. But if you look back this only happened when he lost control after the argument with his parents and his brother’s death, which really made things easy for Blacker.
Now let’s talk about the big mistakes or luck of Tony’s. By now Tony could not resist the pressure of Blacker, who knew Tony still had personal money left. He would manipulate Tony to put personal money into the business, and would manage not to get it back to Tony. Tony had made friends with Albert Santos in Campinas, and he wanted to sell Tony a helicopter, and of course, Tony was in no condition to get those things, although it would have been nice to have one, especially now living in Campinas, as it would make his life a lot easier.
Albert Santos: Owner of a local helicopter dealer in Campinas, they share the common experience of living in Los Angeles, although they just met in Campinas. He is also Tony’s neighbor and Tony likes him very much!
So after many times talking with Tony, Albert wanted to sell him a helicopter, not knowing Tony’s situation. So one day Tony made a proposal to him. “I know you need money, so I can do this for you, you give me the title of one your helicopters, and I will loan the money to you, and part of the interest you can pay in flight hours. That way I can have the helicopter when I need it, and for you there are less costs than getting money in a Brazilian bank.” Tony’s idea was to tie up his personal money somewhere, so he would not put this money into the corporation, as he had done until now and at the same time have the helicopter hours for free.
Also, Albert asked Tony to help him out in the USA to purchase some used helicopters. Tony always loved aviation, as a matter of fact, he started his pilot’s license in Los Angeles, back in 1981, but he never finished the pilot’s course. He did, however, learn enough to fly small planes, and aviation was always something that he liked as well. And in the middle of so many challenges, that would work like a getaway for him. So he started to look for ads in newspapers and on the Internet. Understand, Tony is always looking for new opportunities, and he found an ad that interested him, for a Cessna 421B twin-engine plane that had an incredible price. He decides to call. The plane was located in Memphis (FedEx town), and Tony always wanted to visit FedEx, so he decided to take a look at the small plane. He also learned that the price for cargo planes had come down a lot by now, and you could buy a DC-10 for less than two million dollars.
On a weekend Tony went to Memphis to see the small plane and visit FedEx operations. When he arrived, a FedEx pilot and his son came to show him the plane, and they took it for a two hour flight. They reported the plane was good; it only needed to upgrade the avionics and to fix the air-conditioning, so Tony knew the asking price was half of the blue book price. He recognized an opportunity to invest his personal money and to make some profit as well. When they landed he called the owner, who was a broker, and negotiated to lower the price, but he made no commitment yet, so some other people from Florida arrived and tell them they just bought the plane. Tony got mad now, call the guy and he closed the deal and bought the plane. What an adventure!
The next step was to fly the plane to Florida. The FedEx pilot could not fly there that same day, but Tony wanted to. So he called several people and finally found a pilot as crazy as him in Miami, and he flew to Memphis to bring the plane back. The pilot arrived late a night, and at 11:30 P.M. they took off, and Tony was amazed with all the planes from FedEx, they would stay on a traffic hold for almost an hour before they could fly to Miami. They got to Miami about 6:00 A.M. and when they were about to land, the landing gear light did not turn on, so the pilot had to fly by the tower a couple of times, in order for the ground people to see if the landing gear was down. It was, but to be on safe side the firemen were called and they were able to land OK. But for a minute there the adrenaline was rolling!
Tony was now so determined to bring in new business he decided to lease a new warehouse in Miami, so he could bring more customers and that would be a new source for additional income. He looked for it, and found a great deal on a sublease from a Japanese company.
In time Blacker called Tony and told him that his parents were spending too much money in Sao Paulo, and suggested that they should return to Jaguariuna, where the expenses would be less. He created a fake report and Tony believed him. Mr. and Mrs. Lima were very upset with the decision, and Blacker stopped sending money to them, (they were on the payroll) without Tony’s knowledge. Now, although Tony was not talking to his parents much, he never let them down; he always made sure they were OK. Again, Blacker’s intention was to make sure no one was around, and of course, now he was really mad, now like never before he wanted knock Tony down to the ground!
Blacker also managed to stop the operation with an Exbrus corporation in Vitoria.
He setup a deal with a customs inspector that put the import license on hold, and then reported to Tony, but told him that he already had the solution, because he got a company in Curitiba with better incentives. What Tony did not know was that this corporation was in Blacker’s name, and bought with Exbrus funds of course, so he could control everything without anyone’s knowledge. He already had setup a new plan to destroy Tony completely now!
But Tony looked at it with good eyes and saw a new opportunity, since the fiscal benefits were higher than his old corporation and added two and two and got a new idea.
Remember the cargo plane he saw at the newspaper ad before? Well, he got an idea! Remember, we have a guy desperate to save his business, that he thinks is going down, and he would try everything to save it… after all, this is big dream! His idea was inspired by the fact that he had worked with two other companies in the past that had a project with air cargo routes from USA and Brazil, and the demand for it was very high by now - with air-freight rates high. He also knew that if he was able to establish a new route he would be able to get financing for the project and with a venture like that would be easy to get funds to finance the project. And that could help to save the corporation as well.
So the plan was to get a new route from Miami to Curitiba, and initially he would charter the flights and later on once he had the route established, he would lease a DC-10 and would get the necessary financing for the project, but he had to establish the route first. In addition to his idea, he was to purchase and sell the products. That way he could benefit with the taxes savings program of Curitiba, and even if he had to give half of that benefit to the clients, he still would be able to get some money for the business as well. It really made sense; all you need is someone with the courage to make it. And we have Tony Lima, where courage is not a problem!
He called virtually all of the cargo charter companies on the planet and began to negotiate, and I tell you this is his specialty, that is what made Exbrus succeed so quickly in the past! After getting the best price around he negotiated with a local company, and got them to match the best quote he had received.
Next thing: to get all the licenses, and permission in Brazil and most important: Clients! He called his friend Alberto Santos asked him to send a personal jet on his credits and puts his EGO really high and went to talk to the local authorities at the Curitiba airport. He quickly got all of that done and approved. Next, to visit the clients, this time he got a helicopter and started to make cold calls at all of the large companies around that state. How many people do you know who make cold call by helicopter? I only know one: Tony Lima. And he made a point, and got everyone’s attention, everyone knew about the new route. And of course he let all of the press know about it, too, which made free advising for him.
Everything seemed to be working well; everyone liked the idea for the route, although they had many experiences in the past of companies that started the route and give up after some time. So business people wanted to make sure he would come to stay, and for sure they would give their business, and there was plenty for a weekly flight.
By now Exbrus Miami had moved in to the new warehouse, and had already gotten new clients, but not enough to cover the lease payment. He also got agents in Miami and Brazil to sell air-freight as well.
Everything set, he needed to start the route, and for that he needed money. So he went to the banks, drew on all of his personal credit, sold his Porsche and hired the four charter flights.
Next step he needed to bring the plane at full cargo and that is 62 tons (136,400 lbs) to fly in and 62 tons to fly back; pure and simple no? For a regular person no, but for Tony Lima nothing is impossible, he believes impossible is a state of mind, it is impossible only if you believe that it is impossible. He walked into the warehouse, and saw the major stock of air-conditioning units that belonged to the landlord client. So he called the landlord and asked who was his client and discovered that it was a Korean company, and he called the company and asked them if could sell it to Exbrus. Of course the Koreans would sell but on a cash advance basis only. But you know, when someone says no to Tony… No means explain it to me better, tell me more, repeat again, convince me more, show me another way, etc…. So one thing led to another and he invited the responsible guy for a drink at his home (the renovated one). And I tell you, once the guy walked into his house; he only would get out if Tony got what he wanted, and no need to say that when the Korean guy left his house, Tony could buy the whole Korean corporation on a credit basis!
Perfect, Tony thought, if everything goes wrong we sell it at cost in Brazil and we still have 90 days of floating money. So let’s go, set a date, notify all local press, get an ad in the Gazeta Mercantil (similar to the Wall Street Journal in the USA) and let’s make history.
He personally helped to load the plane with the 62 tons, fully loaded! And he flew on the first trip. That’s a moment you could take a picture (a Kodak moment) of Tony while inside of the plane, flying together with the pilot and first officer in the cockpit of a DC-10, that emotion and the responsibility together is something hard to describe, but not fear, that is something that Tony’s learned to control; as a matter fact, instead of having fear, he actually had fan, as he likes to have the adrenaline on!
They were able to take off early and got to Curitiba ahead of schedule, just like everything else that Exbrus does. It was a beautiful day, clear skies, although it was cold, and the weather was fantastic! And Tony had no idea about the impact he was about to make! When he arrived all possible press was there: TV newscasts, newspapers, magazines, you name it was there!
At night with Marcos Paz celebrating the success at this local bar, they could not believe it made the news on all the local TV stations, and on the national TV, with a whole block of 10 minutes on the news. Do you have any idea of the effect of that? And if you were to pay, how much would that cost? But steadily working to bring in new clients, guess whose attention he got? All the major airlines! And they did not want competition! They believed that Exbrus was so big that it would take most of their business, so they retailed by lowering their prices, no matter what, whatever price Exbrus would offer, they would give a lower rate. And of course, Blacker gave a little help to make it not work as well. And to make things worse he could sell the air- conditioner units for no price, since that was a very unusually cold winter. So to make a long story short, he couldn’t keep up with project, lost his ass on it, and had to bring all the air-conditioning units back to Miami to the Korean supplier.
Remember Gary Nobel (Tony’s friend from Jaguariuna)? He had by now loaned Tony three hundred thousand dollars and he loaned another two hundred making a total of five hundred thousand, and to secure that loan Tony made Blacker sign over the stocks of the corporation that owned the property to Gary, even though Gary never wanted that, as he had full trust in Tony (thank God, Tony did some thing right!)
In the middle of this mess, Tony missed Anna Paola a lot, so he called her and she agreed to meet him. It was unbelievable, when they looked each other; it seemed that it never ended! It looked just like six months ago! So they decide to reestablish the relationship.
Tony once more talked to Sharon, to ask for the divorce; Sharon returned with the aggression again (that’s how she manipulates Tony), although this time he made no mention of Anna Paola, (at last he had learned something!) he just said that he was not happy and wanted to get out. After that, Sharon went to the office and made a scene with all employees, reviewing all credit card bills, Tony’s expenses in the past with Anna Paola.
Blacker informed Tony about the opening of the Exbrus Arica Bonded Warehouse in Chile. Tony felt so bad with all that was going on that he almost did not go to the opening; he just decided to go because Marcos Paz insisted.