After the Win Pt. 05

"Judge, since Linda is so close to graduation, why don't you go ahead and hire her and give her a job title and description. If you want her as a PA or assistant or whatever, so be it. If you want her to take on a company, so be that too. Let her start doing research and start writing motions for you if you like. You know where she can do the most good for the family but also make sure that she is doing what she wants or needs to do. Personal satisfaction is paramount to success as you know so we want her happy as a clam if we can arrange it.

"Next up, should be our organization. We need to incorporate so we will need a corporate name and list of officers for the application plus a complete listing of each of as majority shareholders. We will also need phone numbers and fax numbers for the corporation. When we set up the assorted offices we will each need private phone numbers and internet access and listings for each employee and we will definitely need a human resources manager to handle all the paperwork and insurance and such that will occur. This person should be either our first or second outside hire with the other being a receptionist to handle the phones and traffic that will be stating about Monday afternoon or Tuesday at the latest. Let me suggest we call a temporary personnel service and get a receptionist here immediately. Who knows, we might even find our first employee. Once we have those two on site we will need to see about employees for the different areas we will be working in. We can talk about quantity and types later, but as fast as this is all happening, we need to be able to hit the ground running and never look back or slow down. We probably won't find many or very few who have the knowledges we need but we will need smart people, preferably with some experience and expertise." Continued William.

"Expertise on a product is not nearly as important as good sound business knowledge and knowledge of business practices and marketing strategy, so don't let not having a lot of expertise stop you from taking a position if it sounds like something you would want to do.'

"Now, on a different matter, we need to decide who will take what office we will each take and let's take the time to at least plan our own little personal staff. Any special needs or requests can be discussed shortly. There are 10 offices if we counted correctly, one for each of the family members and one for HR and one for someone else, maybe safety and loss prevention. Personnel and payroll will need a suite of offices, probably an entire floor or at least half of one. On second thought, let me suggest we find a really good HR person and make them the vice president for personnel and give them the job of finding the necessary other HR staff and people to manage the insurance and payroll areas, coordinating that with Angie's people and give that person one of the executive offices.

"Accounting and Finance will need at least one whole floor and maybe two or maybe the other half of the one Personnel uses. What if we place the HR department to hire the people we need on the ground floor? I think we need at least some of them here now to start finding our assistants and other office staff? We may need quite a bit of room for Legal to work in as they work their way through this multitude of law suits. All this can change as it is simply a thought so far. I think each one of us needs a PA of your choosing and also a secretary as there will be many times when your PA will be with you or else on a mission or trip at your request. The PA would have the smaller private office just outside your office and your secretary at the cubicle at your entry door. At this time, we do not know what is going to happen with the companies we will be infiltrating so we must be prepared for anything. And I do mean anything. I had even considered hiring some rent-a-cops for a few days to ensure your safety, but that decision is still up in the air.

"Look, it is getting dark out so it is getting late, almost 9:00. May I suggest we either adjourn this to one of our houses or maybe even have a late supper meeting right here, if you want to continue tonight that is. What do you think?"

It was decided that they would continue right there where they were and when someone mentioned an office supply store just down the street, several jumped up and ran out and bought an all in one printer that could scan and copy and a couple of reams of paper and some extra ink. Several of them had laptops with them so a new computer wasn't necessary as yet. Note pads and pens and pencils and erasers and other sundry items were also purchased as was a coffee urn and coffee and cream and sugar and a couple of tubes of Styrofoam cups and stirring sticks. A couple of trash cans and some can liners was added to the list. Enough stuff to allow them function almost normally until they could get properly set up, but no one was even going to make a guess as to when that might be. Stephen paid and they left and returned to their new business office to set up a temporary office and get started.

An assortment of food to include pizza, chicken, and pasta and soft drinks had been ordered but had not arrived as yet, so a business session was started with the first order of business being the new company name. Names like Family Services, Survivors, Inc, Close Family, Inc., Family Ties, Inc, and a wealth of others were brought up, but in the end, it was AFT which stood for A Family Together that won out over the others and surprise of surprises, it only took about 5 or 10 minutes to decide. Now if the rest of their decisions were that easy.

The next order of business placed William as CEO as he was the oldest family member and also the most experienced in business and law. Mike was voted in as President and COO for now. The Judge was elected as special counsel and corporate attorney for the new firm. At first the judge had not wanted a title but that notion was quickly shot down when everyone said that a nice sounding title let everyone know they were dealing with a someone and not just another lackey. Angie was named the CFO.

After looking at the executive offices again it was noted that they were all the same size and set up the same way so it should not matter who took what office as their own. The only real difference was the view of the city from the different windows. A receptionist area was out in the small foyer by the elevators that would serve all of the executives.

The task of getting the office set up fell mainly to Christine as Stephen was going to be busy with the agriculture side of the business as Robert had several thousand acres that adjoined his and Christie's place that he evidently had for a hobby farm so to speak and had a full time ranch manager and assorted cowboys and other workers to care for the animals and feed and cleaning the barns and stalls. Stephen would have to look it all over and talk to the ranch manager and a couple of the other guys, especially the cowboys to see how the wind blew for sure. He was going to look over the ranch house because he thought that if the ranch was larger than his, then the house might be larger and nicer also and if so, then Christie and himself might take it and set up their home there even though it was quite a bit further from town and the office. He would also have to look into what quarters the ranch manager and the other employees had, too, as housing was often a part of a cowboys pay package.

All together now with their ranch and what Robert had there was around 67,000 total acres, almost 105 square miles to farm, ranch and put the AFT Brand on. He would have to design a new brand for the cattle and register it with the state agriculture department and the cattlemen's association quite soon.

Christine was told to first call a temp service and ask for a good receptionist and then find a good office designer at an office supply store and get him or her in gear to go over what they had versus what they wanted. Was it a good idea to have all the furniture the same, just the upper management, or just the lower management leaving the upper management to personalize their office as they saw fit and so forth and so on. They should prove to be invaluable. Get it done for the individual and just let the rest see it to make sure none of them fall over from the color or anything. However, the task was hers.

Next came the communications part of the office. It was decided to first have full satellite TV service in each of the executives, their PAs and secretary's offices and the conference rooms and then have the news and weather channels everywhere else. Internet service with individual passwords for each office staff member with a wealth of future use passwords available for the times when employees changed or new ones hired. Passwords would have to be changed at least monthly for security purposes.

Reception areas would have switch boards and the private secretaries and PAs were to have numerous lines at their desks, as would the executive's desk. Intercom service would be available also. A phone company salesman could come out and look it all over and help decide on what to get. Gas. Water, and electric had to be changed into their new corporate name. Fax machines with their own extension numbers for each department, executive, and manager, maybe in the PA or secretary's areas

Someone had to go to the bank and set up accounts for them and also arrange credit cards in the company name from several sources plus American Express for each of them plus some generic cards for future use by someone traveling for the company. How much money was going to be needed right now? Most everyone had their money at work for them so they had little available cash to use. Stephen said that he would take care of it first thing the next morning and asked if the family thought that $50 million was enough to get their attention and grant those credit cards with a high limit of each to a green company or not. If not, maybe the next bank would be more agreeable.

He would need the full name and address of the new firm and all that plus the full names and social security numbers for each of the officers. Angie should go along and get the style of checks she wants and make sure the bank accounts and everything was set up as she needed it to be.

As they were hitting the ground running, carefully worded ads needed to be placed where they could get the most exposure to quality applicants and not just a bunch of people just wanting a paycheck. The girls would handle that part. Stephen and Mike got some real dirty looks and choice comments when they said not to get anyone under an 8. Christie said he would be lucky to even get a female and if he did, she would be 5 foot 2, brunette and weigh around 350. This brought a laugh for a bit.

The last item was whether the family wanted carpet or tile on the floors. Most was in favor of carpet throughout the entire building as this was to be a professional office and not a manufacturing office so people should keep their feet clean. A cleaning service would be needed quickly.

The hiring of a good Human Resources manager was of the upmost importance and needed to be done as quickly as possible. Hopefully a good one had suddenly been made redundant when their company merged or something that caused him or her to be out of work through no fault of their own. Stephen had a sudden idea and asked what everyone thought about checking with some of their larger new companies and seeing about either transferring an experienced HR Manager or asking if they knew of any available. Although stealing one from one of their companies might inconvenience that company for a time, but he doubted it as they should be functioning at full speed. The new home office was where help was needed, and speaking of their new companies, what was the possibilities of moving some people around to better serve the family. After it was thought about and discussed, Angie agreed to check with a couple of their new companies to see what might be available, but the general consensus was that if they could find a good person outside the organization that they would be better off and have fewer hard feelings, so again, Angie would place ads for HR people the next day.

"Well, folks, it looks like it is time to go home and try to get some sleep. Angie, why don't you drive tomorrow and meet Stephen at the bank and then you and Christie can do your thing. Don't forget to call the other girls. The adventure has started folks, it has started for real."

The next morning, Stephen was up and dressed before Christie came into the kitchen and gave him a toe curling kiss that took his breath away. "Wow, are you trying to distract me from what all I have to do today young lady?" He asked.

"Well, you will be with the beautiful Anne this morning."

"Yes, but then I leave and you will be with her. Remember?"

"Yes, but then you will be gone and there I will be with that beautiful creature so I wanted a kiss to make me remember my husband."

"Woman, you are something else. Come here and I will give you something to make you remember me by, dang your hide."

"Oh, that sounds interesting. Too bad you love me so much that you let me sleep to long and now we have to run, Darn, Darn, Darn."

"If I thought for a minute that you were serious... You ready to go Honey?" He asked.

Once inside his pickup and heading for the bank, he told her that he was going to miss her that day and that was the first day they had not been able to spend time together and he was going to hate being apart because he loved her... a lot.

Christie leaned over to him and kissed his cheek and rubbed his crotch and said that maybe their work would not take all day and that she loved him right back, even more. And soon they were at the bank and Anne's car was there so they went in to take care of their business as quickly as possible.

When they were about finished setting up the new accounts, Stephen asked about corporate credit cards in each executive's name and allowances for several for future executives and PS's. the woman said she did not know as this company was so new and all she doubted they would do that.

Stephen asked if he needed to talk to the bank manager about this or did he need to visit the home office. This made the girl blush and get all red in the face especially when Steve asked if he was keeping her from her shopping online or anything. This made her go crimson and loose her voice for a bit. Then she recovered some and raised her head and said that as the bank did not know them as a company, that it would take a considerable deposit from them.

Stephen looked at her and said "define considerable. I was going to make an initial deposit of $50 million, but if that is not enough, I can make it more but I don't want to that at this time and would probably go look for another bank, one with better cooperation and service." This last statement really got her attention. She asked who was financing their office building and looked shocked when she was told it was paid for and so were the two corporate jets (there wasn't any jets that he knew of, was there?? Would have to check on that.) Anyhow, the girl was now very impressed and cooperative. Christie and Anne were in shock but were about to bust.

At last the business at the bank was finished and the bank cards that had been requested would be in the mail the next day, or at least should be. He left to contact the bulk feed supplier to order some horse feed for his horses and talk to them about servicing all 3 ranches now, then he would have to head to Robert's old ranch and introduce himself and see the other ranch for himself. At the feed store, he found out that they already supplied bulk feed for both horses and cattle but that the checks for the bill from Robert's old ranch did not come quite regular enough to suit their accountant. Stephen told them that from this time forward that they should have no problem with their payments and gave them the new address to send the bills and told them that if a problem ever did pop up to not hesitate to call him personally as he was the new owner of the place. Well, him and his family anyhow. The feed store management seemed quite happy to hear that there was new ownership at Robert's old ranch.

Stephen headed out of town to visit and tour his family's new ranches but as they were so large, he knew it might take up to a week to see it all so he had to be conscious of his possible obligations to different boards that he had been placed on so as not to miss any meetings. He had the idea of chartering an airplane or helicopter to tour the ranch quickly to get an idea of what was there and where. Something to think on for sure. 105 square miles is a lot of land to look at if you want to look at it closely.

When he got to what had been Robert's hobby ranch, albeit a very large hobby ranch to say the least, he drove through the gate after noticing the No Trespassing and Posted signs scattered about. Those would have to go he thought. He followed a pretty good gravel road far into the ranch. He knew that the backside of this ranch joined a government wildlife area so wondered why the headquarters area was so far off the main road as he had seen what had looked to him like prime building sites where a headquarters could have been established. He would reserve judgment until he saw the whole operation though he decided.

When he finally arrived at the ranch headquarters, he was startled to see what looked like a very long concrete runway starting behind what looked like a large hanger building. There were several other building scattered about but before he could look at it all, a pickup with two men each with a rifle pulled up and one of the men told him that this was private land and that he had 30 seconds to turn around and head back the way he had come or else.

Stephen just looked at him for a second and said calmly "You are not very friendly, are you?"

The man said they did not have to be friendly as they were the ones with the guns. Stephen said that might be but he was the one videotaping everything while he was on the cell phone with the county sheriff. That stopped the man momentarily and then before they could recover he told them that he and his family were the new owners of the ranch and that he would talk to them about their future employment with the ranch just as soon as the sheriff left. The driver of the truck started to get ugly but the other one stopped him when he got out of the pickup and came over unarmed to Stephen's truck and stuck out his hand and introduced himself as Jim Severs, a cowboy that had worked there for about 4 years and really liked the ranch but not most of the people on it. That caused Stephen to ask him to come around and get in so they could talk.

Jim Severs asked if Stephen had really called the sheriff and after being told that he had, Jim told him that he should call the sheriff back and tell him to bring a few deputies and a drug sniffing dog out with them and to come red light and siren as soon as possible but to please leave his name out of things if he could.

Stephen told the other man to go to the ranch office and wait for the sheriff to come and verify his family ownership of the property. He told him this so as to not alert him or cause suspicion on his part.

Stephen asked Jim Severs about the runway and was told that Robert had two jets, a Gulfstream and a Citation as well as a twin engine turboprop Cessna they used for short hauls. Stephen carefully asked what was hauled and Jim said money in and drugs in and out. I cannot really prove it but that is what happens all the time. There are 4 pilots and either 2 or 3 of them are as dirty as can be and guilty of smuggling drugs and people in and out of the ranch and that is why the runway was built in secret and was so far away from the highway and two miles from the wildlife refuge boundary.