CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE CRASH!
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success when they gave up”
Thomas A. Edison
Now the story keeps repeating itself! One of the target clients for Exbrus was Electrolux, which really liked the End-to-End concept and they were about to begin operations with Exbrus. Taku and Carmen were negotiating with Electrolux that, which was working with a competitor of Exbrus. If Exbrus could get the business they would be out, and that was their big account. It would be a big loss for this competitor. When Taku left Exbrus he called the competitor and told them the whole story and offered to help and told them to hire Carmen, who was the best sales person Tony had ever had and had been with him for years. She was the consummate professional.
Carmen was now aware of the Exbrus challenges and Tony already had told her several times that she should find another job, because he could not guarantee how long he would be able to hang on, but she refused and wanted to stay. So Taku introduced her to the competitor and they made a plan of taking over Exbrus as well. The idea was to hire Carmen, but she would continue to work at Exbrus and give them all the information, so they could acquire Exbrus.
Tony was the only one who knew that Exbrus was completely broke now; everything outside looked great, but inside it was tearing apart! And like I said before people always believe what they see.
So Carmen accepted the offer, and influenced Tony to hire one of the directors of the competitor, and of course, Tony had no idea of the plans and hired the guy, whom he had already met. This Harry Namata, another Japanese guy, ex-director of General Motors, Valmet and Case, was a well-known person on the market, with a lot of contacts. He immediately accepted Tony’s proposal to come to work, and his strategy was to work for Exbrus under the command of the competitor, so they could acquire Exbrus.
Harry arrived and quickly gained Tony’s total trust; he tried to become his friend and pretended to be the greatest guy on earth! Carmen would stop bringing in new orders. She was a very good professional, every week she would close a new client. Suddenly she stopped; Tony thought that maybe Harry would help to overcome Exbrus’ current situation, and little did he know he had other plans as well.
But in fact he really helped, since this time his intention was to buy the business and not destroy it; of course they wanted to do it at the lowest cost possible. So he brought new people as well, and lots of projects came with it.
Tony needed to go to Belarus to visit the tire supplier and get the contract; he already had a loan on the mining companies.
Before he went Tony asked the person who represented this supplier in Brazil to come with him, but he couldn’t make it and assured Tony that he could talk to the people in Belarus.
When Tony arrived in Belaz, Belarus the first thing he did was to go to the US Embassy to get a referral on this supplier. Much to his surprise the people in the embassy told him that they do not support any American company to do business with any Belarus company. This was because it seems that in Belarus they are not serious, and just a few people make decisions here, and normally it is for their advantage only.
Tony had no other options; this was the only business he had at the moment, so he asked for some attorney referrals and got it from the Embassy.
Next he tried to set an appointment with the supplier that initially would not talk to him but only to their Brazilian representative, so Tony had a long talk over the phone trying to explain what goes on, and finally they accepted. At the meeting Tony explained Exbrus’ role in this transaction and the End-to-End concept, where that would be the only way they would be able to do business, on their requirement of advanced payment. He also explained that he had no intention of by passing their representative in Brazil, as the Exbrus job was to provide the trade finance, and manage the entire logistics process. He explained in order to pay in advance; the contract must be in Exbrus’ name, otherwise he could not do the transfer. So after two hours they seemed to understand. Tony agreed to new terms, and they were supposed to get meeting notes and send them to everyone, and as long as their representative in Brazil approved they would do as Tony suggested. But Tony made sure that he would only wire transfer the funds once his local attorney received the contract signed by them.
After that Tony called the local press in Belaz, Belarus and convinced a reporter from a local newspaper to publish an article about the recent transaction. His intention was to send a message to the Belarus supplier; if they messed up with him, he would go to the press with it, and for sure would not look good for them. So he thought.
The following is the article heading translated into English:
American middleman of BELAZ By Dmitry Zajats
The President and founder of EXBRUS Corporation, Mr. Tony Lima, visited Belarus last week. The company that he is a head of is dealing with the supply of products to the countries of South America. The visit of the American businessman was concerning the interest of Brazilian mining companies to “BELSHINA” (Bobrujsk) and “BELAZ”.
And Tony also made sure that the most important related Trade Finance Magazine knew about this, and they published it as well. The following is the article heading published in the Trade Finance Magazine, London, England:
EXBRUS supports Belarus-Brazil trade
Exbrus, a trade finance and logistics Management Company, is facilitating the export of heavy-duty trucks and tires from firms in Belarus to mining concerns in Brazil.
Now let’s talk about this Joe Blow representative of the Belarus tire supplier. This guy became a friend of the Belarus consul in Brazil who got him the representation. He tried to sell directly to the mining companies and nobody advanced money, so he found Exbrus. That not only helped him to make the deal, but also by now was advancing his future commissions, as he was complaining that he had expended lots of money to get this transaction done, and he needed to get some money now. Tony had agreed to that and approved the advance payment to him. He had told Tony that the re negotiations on the deal would be impossible with the Russians, and naturally Tony got this done!
So Tony returned to Brazil and celebrated, as he got it the way he wanted. But now Joe Blow got very upset and was afraid that Tony would take the representation away from him, and obviously Tony got into his EGO (especially with all articles published in the press). And he now did not agree with Tony’s proposal, and changed the contract to his company’s name. We are talking about someone who has no assets, no credit history, no background, in a transaction over two million dollars.
So now the Belarus people made the contract with Joe Blow’s Company and wanted Exbrus to pay it. Tony would not accept it, because this guy’s reputation obviously was not good, and once the goods were released out of the factory he would be the legal owner of the goods, and he could take possession of them, and Tony knew the outcome of that.
Meanwhile, Harry Namata helped Tony to get additional credit for new orders from other mining companies as well, to acquire tires from the same supplier in Belarus. All Tony needed to do was OK it and it was approved, by a Brazilian bank, but Tony put it on hold for now.
Harry also advised that the people from Mitsui (one of the biggest Japanese logistics operators) were interested in purchasing Exbrus. This was part of the plan they had put together. So thinking this was a serious proposition, and Tony was so happy to see a future, he hired a company referred by Bill Fisher to do due diligence and an evaluation of the business, and finally to put a business proposal together.
Tony tried by all means to make the people from Belarus redo the contract in Exbrus’ name, but this time they wouldn’t deal at all!
By now all the money that Exbrus got in this deal has been spent on old interest charges and suppliers that were threatening to sue Exbrus. If Tony could get the contract done correctly, he may be able to survive with the new orders that he got, because this was a very profitable transaction, as the risk was high!
His attorney was trying to talk to the Belarus supplier people but had no success.
A few days later his attorney in Belarus informed him that one of his final customers from Brazil was in Belarus with Joe Blow and the supplier sold all the tires available to this client.
You must understand that about this time there was a shortage on the market of these tires as China’s demands had increased. In the middle of this Joe Blow convinced one of the Exbrus customers to bypass Exbrus and get all the tires direct from the supplier, so that way he would be the only who had those type of tires in Brazil. This was business all right! It was like one vulture eating the other one alive!
So Tony now was tired of this mess; this had become a no end story. He wanted to renegotiate with the bank or close the doors. That is it! “I can’t handle it any more,” he proclaimed. So he talked to specialized attorneys in Brazil and most of the attorneys said not to do anything, since the note would be due in another 60 days; they suggested waiting until the due date, asking for an extension, and only then trying to negotiate with the banks. But Tony felt that he should try to negotiate now!
One of the interesting things was that Tony, most of his life, had learned everything by himself; he never had a coach so he really trusted good books, good cassettes, and good seminars, and he tried to apply all that seemed to be good for him, and of course that made sense to him. So by now he got the book “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill (you must read this book, I also read it). This book was like the cassettes tapes from Tom Hopkins to him, for the first time he got a book based on real life research about all the most successful guys who ever lived, like Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie among many others. Also it showed you in a very simple way all the secrets (that is no secret) and how to get it. And the most interesting thing was the relation between love and sex that he never heard before. Everything made so much sense to him now. And he thought that was because his relationship had been bad, and when this happened for sure everything goes wrong in your life. He learned the meaning of what they say about a woman can either make or break him, which loves comes and goes whenever it pleases. And the most amazing thing, the mystery of sex transmutation; that was a big one for him since he had never heard of it. I love sex! How come I never learned this before, he thought.
So once more he talked to Sharon, and once again he talked to her about his intention to divorce, as he was not happy with her; he had tried everything, and nothing worked and that he had no one (and this time he did not have anybody), and again Sharon went into crisis mode.
So right after that, out of the blue he met this girl from Curitiba, state of Parana named Adriane and he became “Don Juan” again and everything seemed to go in synchronism again, and he was thinking that maybe she could be the one. He very badly needed someone to be by his side, as he felt so lost at this point. So he dedicated himself to her, and at one point in their dating she suggested that he see a Brazilian movie called “Francisco’s Children” based on a real life story of how this country duet got to be one of the most successful country singers in Brazil. Just like him they were born on a farm, very similar to his own. The music that was playing when they first met (“How are you,” from Roberto Carlos) was the main theme song of the movie. And now he really was thinking that she was it! He got so emotional that he laughed to the point of tears.
Adriane Ramos was Brazilian born of German descent, 29 years old, she hosted a TV and Radio show at the local network, extremely beautiful, brown eyes, hard worker and very energetic.
Tony found a kind of renaissance with Adriane; she really motivated him and he now decided to talk to this specific bank and he did not accept any more loans from any other banks. He had an idea that might work, as this bank could be the partner he had always looked for, and he firmly believed that he could convince these people to be partners of Exbrus and he had all the evaluation and due diligence done by now by his consultant, Julian Soto. That would be the perfect solution; he assigned the Exbrus stocks and they could have total financial control, and he could do what he knows best, bringing in new clients and developing new projects for Exbrus!
Tony set the meeting with the bank and brought along Harry Namata and Julian Soto. The meeting was set for 6:00 P.M. and Tony prepared his best Exbrus presentation. There was one presentation he would bet his life on, this would the one. He was prepared!
If course the only thing that this naïve guy did not know was that this was not in the interest of Harry Namata and the people behind him, and just like Blacker in the past this guy manipulated the bank people as well as Julian Soto, providing them with the wrong information. And telling them that this was the worst business he ever saw in his life!
Tony made his best performance ever; he was super motivated. There were three directors of the bank, who carefully listened to the whole of Tony’s presentation. At the end they said, “Where is our money, and by the way please sign this document here”, as this transaction was done by Taku Moto, and the proper paperwork was not signed by him. Tony could not believe it, it was like doing a presentation to the walls. At least he did not sign anything! As that was their mistake!
Right about this time Tony received an invitation to be a speaker at the 8th Annual Structured Trade & Export Finance in the Americas Conference in Miami. Remember the article published in London? Because of that article he got invited to speak at this major event on Trade Finance in the world. We are talking about just very specialized and well known people get invited to speak at such an event.
Tony tried everything possible to make a settlement with the bank; he offered the house in Miami and the current building property in Brazil, although the Miami property was titled under Gary Noble’s name, he spoke with Gary and he agreed to release the property to the bank as he never wanted a guarantee from Tony. He trusted and knew Tony’s capacity! And all the bank wanted to talk about was the settlement of just one of the operations of PAB Mining, which belonged to the bank. For this transaction they would do any negotiation and accept anything, but Tony wanted to negotiate everything. Later on he discovered that according to the Central Bank of Brazil’s regulations they couldn’t do this transaction with PAB Mining, and that’s why they wanted to negotiate this note so badly!
The only advantage Tony had at this point was the whole transaction had been done by Taku Moto, and by now Tony learned that this guy was a specialized crook in getting bank loans; he would do it on an irregular basis, bribing the people of course. And Tony had no idea about his background once more. When is this guy going to learn?
Tony brought his children and Sharon back to Jaguariuna. Sharon became completely desperate now and she wanted a house. Tony had no way to get it, but again he had another coincidence. He meets an old college friend, who insisted on selling his house, giving him 90 days to pay if off. He bought the home but had no idea how he was going to pay his friend off!
The relationship he started with Adriane finished the same way it started: fast! And Tony saw his world fell apart once more. This never ends, he thought. But he couldn’t stop. He had to go on!
So he lay off all employees in Sao Paulo as the bank by now asked Exbrus Brazilian Corporation for bankruptcy. He closed the Miami office down, filed for bankruptcy in the USA, once more, and also closed the Hong Kong office as well. He was really upset seeing all this go!
He talked to Gary Nobel and he agreed to sell the house in Miami and paid for the house he just bought in Jaguariuna. (Is this guy a friend or what?)
Chile was by now the only office left. The good news was that this office was growing very fast, and since in Arica is the only place Exbrus has a logistics operation, and it has no link to the other corporations. He managed to settle Sharon and his children in Jaguariuna, and made sure they have everything possible.
He rented an apartment in Arica, Chile and he intended to live there, and run the Chilean Corporation, as this was the only option he had left. Once more he invited Anna Paola to spend a weekend with him in Arica; she came and for sure this relationship also had ended.. There was no more synchronism!
Tony had one last business to do with his good friend and client Davie Palumbo, as he gave to Tony all the import logistics of a large operation he had with Nestle in Brazil. Tony dedicated his best on this operation, as this also would be a profitable transaction for him, and even knowing his current status Davie had trusted him!
Everything was set, the goods arrived in Arica and he hired people to do the job for him. It should be no problem. So he sent the first shipment to Brazil. On the day the goods arrived in Brazil, the Brazilian Customs Department issued a new law, that from that day on established a minimum value for customs to base the taxes, and this value stipulated by customs was ten times higher than the true value of the goods. Tony again felt completely lost and did not have the strength to go on. He gave the operation back to his friend, as he did not feel capable anymore knowing that he would have to lose more money and time by giving it back.
Well, this is the end! I guess it could get worse! But does that make you feel better?
Poor Tony - he is lost by now!
Tony had a meeting with Carlos Costa and Alexandre Smith (directors of Exbrus Arica); and he told them that he did not feel good, he could not go on like this; he wanted to take some time off and he said: “My life today seems to be like this. If I die today, it would be perfect, not that I want to do such a thing, but I am tired of fighting like crazy and get nowhere!”
Tony had one last mission: He had accepted an invitation to speak at the Miami Conference, and chances are something that Tony doesn’t let go by, he takes all chances, always hoping that there will be a miracle waiting for him because he believed a dream never ever dies!
His plans are: he will go to the seminar, he will employ whatever force he has left, and he will do the best he could at this conference and after that he would go to Hong Kong and after that, India; his old dream that for a long time and now was calling strongly to him, somehow.
He stopped at a local book store and bought the book “The Monk Who Sold His
Ferrari” by Robin S. Sharma and he had in his briefcase a book he bought some time ago, but never had chance to read called, “The Spirituality of Success: Getting Rich with Integrity” by Vincent M. Roazzi and he intended to read both of these books on his trip.