NewRoc Now

I am very happy about the Shoprite in New Ro.  Great fish, great prices, have everything, FAR better service than Super Stop and Shop. SSS charges crazy prices and are moving as fast as they can to the terrible self-checkout while Shoprite has great prices, great selection and GREAT service. Good riddance to Super Stop and Shop.

Check out this new blog about divorce, Divorce Consultants.

Annoyingly snowy in New Ro today.  Happy New Year.

Check out the new what’s cooking with Will’s amazing new oven at Gnarly Vine.  Possibly the best food in downtown in New Ro in a very unlikely place.  He can do wonders with a small space.

I am really enjoying <a href=”http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/news_article.html?id=2294″>Barbara Davis’s book</a> about New Rochelle, NY.  Many of us recent residents have no idea about the rich civil war and pre WWII history of New Rochelle.  It was an amazing place and Barbara brings it to life from her experience at the New Rochelle Public Library.

Thanks Barbara.

I love Westchester Yoga which moved from Pehlam to Center and Main St in New Rochelle.  Great people. This is the only yoga studio in downtown New Rochelle and it is a great space with great teachers.   I am no expert but this is certainly a welcoming and friendly place that will give you a tremendous workout.

I want to relay my experience with Ratafia and Company in the hope of saving another small business from the headaches that they put me through.  Anyone that runs a small business knows that whenever you switch accountants or bookkeepers the first thing you hear is how wrong everything you have done in the past is.  Without fail every accountant and bookkeeper has the same complaint and spends hours redoing things until they are comfortable.   This is fine and part of the game, however, Ratafia did this with such bitterness, rudeness and downright mean spirit that I highly advise anyone who is considering them to avoid.  There are tons of accountants to choose from, avoid Ratafia.

Here is what they did to me:

1) Took our Quickbooks file for over 2 months to ‘fix’.  While they had this we could not enter bookkeeping information and we fell behind in q1.

2) Missed all filing deadlines and filed for extensions - never had an accountant do that in 7 years in business.  Yes, I am not the most organized person in the world, but all others have been able to deal with it.

3) Spitefuly quit on April 14th, one day before personal filings are due, leaving me to fend for myself while absconding all of my personal papers and putting us behind by months.  They did this out of retaliation after I told a partner that they would need to file a personal extension because my accountant could not get the return done in time, despite my urging them to do so.

4) ‘Fixed’ my bookkeeping errors in a way that showed a paper profit of over 100,000 for a business that had minute cash resources.  When I questioned the work I was answered meanly, abrupbtly and insults.

5) Instructed me that I had a $16,000 personal tax liability that was ‘unavoidable’.  A new accountant looked over the finding and quickly noticed a mistake that could be fixed with an amended return and the $16,000 liability was reduced to about $2,000.   Pure stupidity for an accountant and they sure were mean in the process telling me how stupid I was for not properly withholding while the true error was a simple filing mistake.

Their side of the story is that I am difficult, hard to work with, my accountants were pea brains, my bookkeeper is a novice and inexperienced, I am disorganized, I am this, I am that, I am everything bad.   My counter point is that they were doing bookkeeping consulting for us for months prior and had already met us, knew what they were up against and accepted the work.

I feel that what they did is unprofessional - missing all filing deadlines, creating a tax burden of over $30,000 for me, insulting everyone that ever worked on my books and finally quitting the day before tax day. I hope that if you are considering Ratafia and Company as accountants or Margo Ratafia as a Quickbooks trainer that you look for other sources.

I am delighted to submit this post written by Plaxico Burress especially for the 5 or 7 readers of New Roc Now.  Plax is a little scared of blogging software so he asked me to post this up in the hope that Santonio Holmes is one of the 5 or 7 daily readers of our blog.  I have a certificate of authenticity if anyone cares to see it…..

Yo Santonio, wazzup!??  It’s me, your homeboy, Plax.  I saw your catch last night and I can’t help but reminisce about my good fortunes in last years superbowl.  My catch, which was better than yours, propelled us to victory as well.  Life never seemed as sweet.   Everyone loved me, money was pouring in, I did interview after interview, I was on every media outlet you could imagine and women were throwing themselves at me.   I was the darling of New York City and honestly, I felt like I was floating half the time, it was that surreal.

I am pretty sure that you will find this to be an equally as exciting and interesting time as well.  You will be the king of Pittsburgh, you will be on cereal boxes, highlight reels forever and the moola will be flowin!   In the rush of it all I sincerely hope that you will find solace in my advice, given to you as a brother-in-arms, one who has walked this path.

Enough preample, here are my top suggestions.

1) Get serious about a press agent.   Choose the media outlets that suit your business goals.  Don’t sacrifice your desire for constant exposure for media outlets that will make you look cheap and desperate.

2)  Practice your interview responses!  You can easily anticipate the questions from these nimrod reporters.  I used to jot  down questions along with canned answers on 3 x 5 index cards (4 x 6 can be too big for a suit pocket so be careful!) that I would practice all the time.   Avoid ‘you knows’ and ‘ums’ and other distracting pauses.  This is your audition for the next level.  You can’t play football forever but if you can articulate your thoughts with precision and enthusiasm a lucrative career in broadcasting could await.

3) CLOTHES, CLOTHES, CLOTHES! I can’t say enough about this one.  Every step is  stage for you now.  Dress respectfully and toned down.  Even though you make more money than all the meathead fans in the entire stadium combined, don’t remind them of it.  There will be a time to wear $20,000 suits and $5,000 shoes again, but for now, keep it clean and subdued.  Believe me, this will help you a great deal with future endorsement deals.

4) Odor is your enemy.  Smell nice all the time, avoid coffee and keep mouthwash nearby. Chew gum frequently but never in front of cameras.   The last thing you want to do is scare off a reporter with dragon breath.

5) Trust your inner-circle.  You know who your friends have been, you know your supporters, you know who shares your common goals and you know who has your back. Don’t forget these people, don’t back stab them - stay connected as the storm will die down and you don’t want to be alone.

6) HAVE FUN!!  Enjoy the ride baby, it is amazing.

7) Don’t shoot yourself in the leg and end your career.

That’s it for now, bro.  I love ya and I sincerely hope that we can spend some quiet time together before my sentencing.

Peace and Love,

Plax

No More Home Depot Expo.  Maybe there will be some good specials.