Working downtown, I get approached by people asking me for money. They often call me \u201cSir,\u201d and will say \u201cThank you\u201d after I decline to give but instead wish them the best of luck. <\/p>\n
I quit giving money after a couple of experiences of trying to help. One time a guy approached me in a parking lot with a story about not being able to get his wife and child back to Marietta on the bus. They were waiting for him at the MARTA station. Could I give him seven bucks? My gut said he was possibly telling the truth. I gave him a ride to MARTA and said if he could produce his wife and child, I would give them the seven bucks. He couldn\u2019t. So I wished him the best of luck and drove on.<\/p>\n
One night I was locked out of my car downtown. It was nice out, so I walked home. Along the Freedom Parkway, some guy said he needed money to stay at the shelter. I told him that if he would follow me he could sleep in my extra bedroom. He said he didn\u2019t want to walk that far.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want to be callous and I know that as a struggling entrepreneur, I\u2019m just a step or two away from joining these comrades on the street. But I don\u2019t think giving them money is the answer.
\nThe other night, I was standing outside our office building on Peachtree Street and saw a guy open up one of our Atlanta Downtown newspaper boxes and pick up about 50 of our papers. <\/p>\n
\u201cHey,\u201d I said. \u201cWhy are you taking so many of my papers?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re free, aren\u2019t they?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, yes, but each one of those costs me money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, I homeless,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd these are my pillow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut why my papers?\u201d I asked, pointing to the other boxes of free newspapers lined up together.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d he said. \u201cThis may get me in trouble, but I\u2019m gonna level with you.\u201d He had no smell of alcohol on his breath and he spoke intelligently. \u201cI lost my job, I\u2019m HIV-positive and my disability hasn\u2019t kicked in yet. This is how I support myself. I walk up to cars or pedestrians, tell them that this is a free paper about downtown and hand them one. Now, this is where I become a fraud. I tell them that this paper is published by a nonprofit organization to benefit the homeless and I ask for a donation.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed out loud. \u201cSo far, I think you\u2019re still telling the truth, about the nonprofit part. You\u2019ve probably made more money this year than I have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI distribute 50 or 60 of these a day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s great,\u201d I said. \u201cBut I\u2019d rather you pass out these other papers. Why do you always clean out my boxes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried using those other papers, but they don\u2019t move as well. People pay more for yours.\u201d
\nI laughed again. Here I\u2019ve been struggling for three years trying to sell enough advertising to pay for nearly 100,000 free papers and I hear from this one-man-research-and-development-department that I could have been charging for them all along.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan,\u201d he said. \u201cYou should hire me to distribute your papers. Why don\u2019t you give me a job?\u201d
\n\u201cI think I already have,\u201d I laughed. \u201cYou\u2019re working now. I\u2019ve got to go, but why don’t you call me tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
We shook hands in the warm Atlanta evening and wished each other luck. I never heard from him again, but I\u2019m glad I met him. Entrepreneurs get ideas from everywhere. You never know when one will make you money.<\/p>\n\n\n