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Dear Mr. Gates:
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Date: Wed, 18 February 2009 11:40 WesternIndonesiaTime Subject: Legend Of Bill War Buff
As mentioned in my previous letter, the draft for this 'Legend Of Bill War Buff' had been in my mind for several days, yet I still postpone writing it. Partly because I needed to write some other letters, and mostly because I was worry that my writing it would only caused me to get ridiculed by some people, as if I only try to take advantage by connecting those seemingly merely coincidental matters. This letter is based on my experience in 1989 when working at the American Express, whereas the American boss was Mr. Bill Mould, while the supervisor was Mr. Wardy Bafagih. In Indonesian, the syllable "Baf" in the last name Bafagih is read like in the word "Buffalo". Then a few years later, you Mr. Bill Gates began to take the first place of the world richest persons, with Mr. Warren Buffett at the second place, and it unprecedently remained for more than ten years. It becomes like a "Legend of Bill War Buff". The legend becomes stronger because at that moment another Bill successfully became president, Bill Clinton, with two terms of office, from 1992 to 1996 and from 1996 to 2000. After the plane crash of flight 3407 in suburban Buffalo on Thursday February 12, 2009, that happened at the time the draft of this letter had been clear in my mind, I no longer think to have the worry of getting ridiculed because of writing this. Because there could be something important behind this. I think the message from this accident is that there is something serious behind the "Legend of Bill War Buff" matter that needs follow up, or my existence in this world will keep in the tendency of triggering disasters.
Date: Wed, 18 February 2009 11:58 WesternIndonesiaTime Subject: Ray Kroc Started Mac Donald At 52 Years Old
Along with the above letter of "Legend Of Bill War Buff", I also planned to write about Ray Kroc with his famous success story in developing Mac Donald. Like you can see in my homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/amfir_mmix/others_fot/macdonald_ray_kroc, the photos and articles about Ray Kroc had been in my homepage since 11 February 2009 Jakarta time, or in Yahoo server it was recorded as 10 February 2009 U.S. time. The reason for writing about Ray Kroc is because I had heard before the story that Ray Kroc began the Mac Donald when he was not too young anymore. I read his story around 2005, when one day I visited a bank to ask for information about getting credits for painting exhibition. Because the customer service officers were still busy serving others, I waited in the guest room, and there happened to be a bank's booklet about business and success stories. Among the stories was about Ray Kroc, who began the Mac Donald when he was 47 years old. Now this is the interesting thing. At that moment, I was also around 47 years old, so I thought I was not too old to start a business, because even Ray Kroc started at 47 years old. And now I am 50 years old, and when I read the stories of Ray Kroc on the internet, I found that he began Mac Donald at 52 years old. I could have read it wrongly when in the bank’s waiting room. But the important thing is, besides my 50 years old age is not too old to start a business since even Ray Kroc started Mac Donald when he was 52, another similar thing is abut his experience. Before starting Mac Donald, he was a salesman, just like me who also served as a salesman for several companies among which at American Express. Also, Ray Kroc mortgaged his home and invested his entire life savings to become the exclusive distributor of a five-spindled milk shake maker called the Multimixer. Now this is the point, my offering you the 15 paintings is similar to Ray Kroc’s mortgaged his home and invested his entire life savings. But because I have no house of my own, so I can only sell my paintings.
Hearing about the McDonald's hamburger stand in California running eight Multimixers at a time, Ray Kroc packed up his car and headed West. It was 1954. He was 52 years old. Ray Kroc had never seen so many people served so quickly when he pulled up to take a look. Seizing the day, he pitched the idea of opening up several restaurants to the brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, convinced that he could sell eight of his Multimixers to each and every one. "Who could we get to open them for us?" Dick McDonald said. "Well," Kroc answered, "what about me?" Then, Ray Kroc opened the Des Plaines restaurant, his first Mac Donald outlet, in 1955. First day's revenues-$366.12! As he noted later, "I was 52 years old. I had diabetes and incipient arthritis. I had lost my gall bladder and most of my thyroid gland in earlier campaigns, but I was convinced that the best was ahead of me." He was even more convinced than the McDonalds and eventually cajoled them into selling out the business to him in 1961 for a paltry $2.7 million. Eight years later in 1963, more than 1 billion hamburgers had been sold, a statistic that was displayed on a neon sign in front of each restaurant. That same year, the 500th McDonald's restaurant opened and the famous clown, Ronald McDonald, made his debut.
Then again, I was in doubt about writing this, in worry that you will think my writing all these letters is only to push you to buy my paintings. Yet this morning I browsed the Internet and found the news from Reuters, Tuesday February 17, 2009, that "……Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation increased its stake in McDonald's Corp. to 6.4 million shares as of December 31 from 4.9 million shares as of September 30……" I think the message from all this is that if you happened to agree to purchase my 15 paintings, then besides for the ‘test’ with the cash from you through those paintings purchase, I should also use it to start business so it would be useful to help several persons who in need of getting jobs. Especially in recent world economic crisis where many people lost their jobs
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Thank's, A.M. Firmansyah Tel. +62812 183 1538
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