Questions & Answers
Here is a list of the most frequently asked questions I receive about my services, my life, and about my business.
General & Personal Questions
Have you been in prison?
Yes. I was convicted in federal court in 1992 for a variety of bank fraud and income tax violations, and spent almost 5-years (1992 - 1997) in federal prison. If you're truly
curious for details, you can read my extended biography here.
Why on earth would you make that your first FAQ topic? Believe it or not there is a large group of people in this world with a huge blind spot in their thinking when the word "felon" is brought into the discussion. If you are one of those people, we should not waste each other's time attempting to form a business relationship. Frankly, I am fatigued from dealing with case after case of having new business deals or consulting projects evaporate when someone on the other side of the deal decides it just isn't proper to be associated with me, due to my having had criminal convictions two-decades ago. Yet again (January 2008), I recently invested several hundred hours and an international relocation into my effort at starting a major new consulting relationship with a USA company, based on the verbal commitment of a senior executive. At the very end of their elaborate administrative process to formalize the relationship, somebody not actually involved noted my felony history, and killed the deal. That act cost me and my wife about $30,000 in damages.
Do you really just 'trust' clients to pay you?
Strange but true. Yes, my consulting services contract clearly spells out that the risk of loss in a client relationship is mine, not the client's. If the client does not
believe that I have earned my billed fee, they can simply toss the bill in the trash. It's really that simple. I truly just put myself completely at the client's mercy as far as whether I get paid or not.
Why would you take such an enormous risk?
Risk? I see it as an act of faith in my own skills. Why should a client be forced to express such faith in a complete stranger? If I am as good as I claim,
I am the one who should 'put up or shut up.' If I can't deliver more value to a client than the size of my bill, I need to find a new line of work.
Is all of this true?... A lot of it seems farfetched, that one man your age could have done so much.
Yes, everything on the web site is completely true. I am just one of those rare individuals who has done more, seen more, and
faced more in my half-century of life than most people can comprehend. And, today, I carry the lessons, both good and bad, from all of those experiences.
I have found all sorts of derogatory information about you on the Internet.
Yes, the web is a permanent virtual chalkboard where any crackpot with an opinion can post anything they wish to post about somebody, and it stays there forever. As
I clearly state on this site, I am not a nice guy, I am an arrogant bastard, I am not polite, and I have no issue pissing people off if they get in my way in doing my job to help my clients,
my family, or my own ventures find success. And, I am not shy about posting my beliefs on the Internet.
Describe your ideal client.
My dream client is a self-made guy with a burniing determination to make his business the leader in his market space. People who are satisfied with mediocrity piss me off.
What is your education?
I attended one of the finest prep schools in the United States where I was a National Merit Scholar finalist. Over the
following few years, I accumulated about 120 semester hours of college credits at three southern universities, focused in the engineering and economics areas.
Since that time I have been engaged in day to day learning experiences in the technology and management arts.
So, in short, I am a very well educated college dropout with an immense set of personal experiences.
What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
I actually rarely eat plain ice cream. However, I am a complete fool about the Double Fudge Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard served at Dairy Queen.
Did you really live in Africa?
Yep... in Nyali Beach, a suburb of Mombasa, with my beautiful Ethiopian wife, Betty. We started out there in early 2006 in Diani Beach, about an hour south along the coast
highway, and moved to a new house in Nyali Beach in Fall 2006.
Do you live in China now?
Yes... Betty and I moved to China in June, 2007, where we live in Nanshan, a district of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. We have a nice 3-bedroom apartment on the 12th floor of a high rise development overlooking the
High Tech Industrial area of Nanshan, home to many of China's largest electronics companies. We also regularly spend time at our family home in Hendersonville, Tennessee in the USA.
Did you work for a China company?
Yes... I was Vice President/Strategic Development for Tsinghua Tongfang for one-year, a US$20 billion market cap China tier-one consumer electronics manufacturer. During my time there I
designed and brought to market five category defining new hit product lines, including the LimePC brand of PowerPC based miniaturized consumer personal computers at CES 2008.
Consulting Services Questions
What do you charge for consulting work?
See my fees here
I only accept long-term relationships, I charge a monthly fee that we will negotiate. It will be in proportion to the amount of time I commit to your company's needs.
I Just looked, and that's pretty expensive, Jack!
My clients always earn a profit from hiring me. I do not cost you money; I earn you money by providing a range of profit increasing
steps you can begin to implement in your business, often after only our first contact. If you do not clearly see that value from my work, you can just toss my current bill, unpaid.
What is your guarantee?
I guarantee that you will always be grateful that you hired me... despite my 'high' rates. And, if you don't think I delivered more than I charged... you do not have to pay me. Really.
China Services Questions
I am a U.S. manufacturer. What can you do for me?
I can quickly determine if there is any rational opportunity for you to increase profits through any sort of relationship with China. If there is, I can work with you
to develop the smartest plan for realizing that increased profit. And, I can take any role in your ongoing China related operations that you desire, from turn-key management of
whatever program we set up, to training your staff, to managing handing off the effort to a qualified third-party. From enormous experience, I know the ins and outs of working
with China based partners.
I am a China based manufacturer. What can you do for me?
I can help you move away from low-margin contract manufacturing work. I can help you cautiously develop high-margin branded
product sales in the United States. I can do as little or as much as you desire for me to do in creating and managing your Western Market operations, up
to actually establishing a full U.S. based subsidiary of your company.
I am a China based manufacturer. What is the most valuable service that you can provide to me?
I can tell you what product you should be building for the United States market, then design the product, packaging, marketing,
and distribution to make certain that the product is a hit.
Jack you are apparently the widest generalist on Earth. My business is extremely specialized. How can you help?
There is an adage that a great salesman can sell anything, because professional selling is a systematic vocation that can be applied to any product or service. So is
my approach to drilling down into the core strengths of your business to find opportunities for hit products or services. I don't care if you are an optician, a mortician,
an insurance executive, or, the CEO of a Fortune 100 technology or consumer products company... your business has core strengths that a savvy outside observer can
find and figure out how to exploit.
