Can you elaborate on what happens during that 3 months?
Not really Rob. It would be like you writing down bit by bit for the last 500 days exactly what you have done. Even if you did all that, it'd wouldn't be any good to anyone, as the things that are missing, like being Johnny-on-the-spot, "seeing" opportunities that others gloss over during their internet searches, like using the appropriate tone and inflexion at precisely the right moment to get the deal over the line, like hustling up all of the contractors and players who make the deal come together, would kill the deal stone dead.
It's been my full time job since July last year bagging these last two for the family. It won't be over until probably mid Nov, so that's 16 months all up, full time, for two deals. Not many people would be prepared to put up with the nonsense and frustration (especially in today's Banking climate) that you absolutely must wade through to get over the line.
Is it all just reading and re-reading contracts, leases, sourcing finance, etc? Or is there more too it?
Yes - heaps more. It's a lot like conducting an orchestra to make a piece of music. A couple of individuals banging away on a drum in the corner, a couple over yonder twiddling on a flute, someone scratching away downstairs on a violin, another person who was supposed to turn up to play the French horn but didn't show.......
As the deal maker, you've gotta be the conductor up the front, bringing all those different specialists together who couldn't give a rats about each other, to actually ;
(a) Turn up
(b) Turn up with their instrument
(c) Turn up with their instrument with a happy disposition
(d) Turn up with their instrument with a happy disposition and play when told to
Most of the job is organising and hustling, cos I can't play any of the instruments.
Meanwhile, in the audience, you've got two very harsh critics ready to tear to shreds the ensemble you are trying to co-ordinate.
Firstly, you've got the Seller who is going around listening to other orchestra's.....one wrong note out of key, one wrong stanza cos the woodwind section didn't show up, or a motley performance which started too late and they walk off to listen to someone else.
Secondly, you've got the Bank, who's in charge of ventilating the auditorium so everyone can actually breathe. If they bugger off and don't do their job, then everyone simply falls down and dies....including the Seller.
Your question Rob entailed some of the tasks necessary of a conductor.....but I cannot teach you how to put together a good concert....that's up to the audience to decide.....and like a real life concert, you'll only know right at the very end whether you were a flop or a success.
Mores to the point, every single piece of music is uniquely individual, working out how to successfully play one piece is no guarantee that the next won't be a complete flop.
