A lot has transpired since my last blog as I wanted to finish this with a successful meeting and transaction.
Having sent my Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew the call-in number and meeting ID for Zoom I thought this would be a fantastic way for us to all get to know one another having the ability to see each other while going through my list of questions.
In preparation for the meeting, I thought it would be a great idea to learn some general Russian phrases like Hello and Goodbye. Privet Привет and Do svidaniya До свидания as these have all been in our American movies so everyone was sure to know these phrases.
My Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew was surprised by this idea. It was strange when I shared this with him as he seemed not to understand what I had said at first, I really must have a horrible accent for him not to understand these two basic words. I will practice several more times before our meeting. On a secondary note, I was going to have some of the names of the fuel products that were in great demand learned in Russian also.
I decided since virgin D6 was one of the products in high demand around the world I would learn this phase. It was strange while doing my research to find the name for this product it was very difficult to come up with what appeared to be the correct translation. Not understanding much about the language I decided Google Translate could do all the work for me on this and I would be the clever one on the call.
Again calling my Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew before the conference call to discuss the virgin oil D6 I shared with him the Russian translation масло девстеницы D6. He told me that was the correct translation and that we should move forward with the call.
One last call to my Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew to review everything for our meeting. During this call he wanted me to understand that from this point on he would be referred to as the legal mandate for this purchase and all future contracts after that.
My Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew at that point immediately shared two notarized mandate agreements he had so everyone including me would understand just how important he was and know what power he carried in these transactions. Those documents were from two of the largest groups in Russia! One from Rosneft and one from Gazprom!
Amazing my Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew had these kinds of connections! I was again convinced of all the great choices I had made in life and ensured of the legitimacy of this deal! Government ties, powerful companies, and notarized letters to go with the entire process! As some say I knew I had struck gold with this connection!
In preparation for the meeting in the wee hours in the early morning of 1:00 a.m., my time I quickly spruced myself up and put on the best suit jacket I had, boxers for bottoms would be fine for the video call. The call was scheduled for 2:00 a.m. Since I was the coordinator of the call I would be on ten minutes early just in case someone were to come on early.
I had a bit of anxiety as there were going to be 15 of us on this call. I was not sure how I was going to keep all of the Vladimir Alexanders straight during this call so it would be a relief to see them on video as this would help.
We started the call with ID number 666-66-666 and with the room named Rozneft-fraudy. I am guessing Zoom corporation must not like calls in Russia to give me this odd ID number. My Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew picked that name for the meeting room for us. He was so helpful in everything getting all this ready and always answering my WhatsApp messages. I am starting to feel he may end up being a long-term friend of mine.
As the meeting starts my Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew and my Brokers Moms Sisters Cousins Niece are ahead of time by 5 minutes. This is off to a great start! I am anxious to actually see everyone once the video kicks off so I can keep everything straight and since my Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew will become one of my new best friends it will be great to know what he looks like. This is the first time on a call with my Brokers Moms Sisters Cousins Niece so we make some small talk.
As I am talking with her she does not seem to have the accent I have heard from so many Russian movies I watched as a kid but maybe she is from a different part of Russia. Soon enough I will see her and be able to see the blonde hair and blue eyes we all familiarize the Russian women to look like.
One by one I see Vladimir Alexanders popping on and hear each one with a very loud accented Hello. To my absolute surprise, each one of them is black. All from +7 495 phone numbers so I am now assuming there must be a large black population in Moscow as this is the number of my Brokers Uncles Brothers Cousins Nephew’s WhatsApp.
I was not aware of this again because all of the movies I watched growing up sure were racist because they were always the brightest white people you would see in Moscow Russia! At least I know they are all calling in from Moscow what a relief to see this or I would have been really concerned!
To open the meeting I quickly introduce myself and the giant opportunity from a Chinese buyer that said they needed me to get them 666,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 gazillion barrels of virgin oil D6. Due to all of the wonderful things with the mandate letter, the government connections, the largest oil companies, and many other things lining up I proceed to share with them my lack of experience in closing these types of large deals and I am relying on their expertise to get me through the process with their skills.
As each of them smiles on video with nodding approvals of their willingness to get me through this first transaction smoothly they start one by one sharing their positions and extensive experience in the oil and gas industry.
I can't help but to wonder again why the Russian movies played in America did such a bad job with the Russian accent!
As I proceed to tell them about the exact product I need in the Russian words they all become very quiet and listen intently. It appears to me they look a bit confused. Oh no, my horrible accent, so I quickly let them know I was speaking about virgin oil D6 and - all smile and know exactly what I am speaking about now. I must work on my accent no wonder the American movies are so far off!
This opens up much dialogue with various products they have some of the lowest prices on and the largest supply. Some I thought were no longer available or maybe they were just very hard to get like ESPO and REBCO. This was the super team they could do anything. It seemed to me every time they all got excited or started talking they spoke in a language that did not seem Russian to me. Shows how much I know about languages. Darn movies!
Wow, I can only say their experience seems to be something I could only dream of because of being a novice in the industry. Hearing about so many documents needed, agencies to work with and groups involved in the process makes me realize just how much I need each and every one of them to pull this off! I again am feeling my fortune and seeing my pot of gold.
Concluding this meeting they give me an extensive list of things I will need to sign and get notarized. They let me know these next steps are crucial and will only allow a deal to close if I follow each and every step exactly as they lay it out. It is decided that my point of contact will from this point on be my Brokers Moms Sisters Cousins Niece. She must be the one that can keep all these documents in order for us. I clearly see her on video with only her dark brown eyes showing under the hijab wrapped around her head.
I am a bit shocked by this because I thought Moscow again had very white blonde hair blue eyed women. Darn movies! She also has an interesting accent like the ones you get from those telemarketers that you hang up on when they call. Since Russia is so big and vast maybe she is from another part and moved to Moscow only recently. I cast these thoughts aside because this is the dream team and they promised this would be the deal I can retire from for the rest of my life!
To close this part of the process out the stars have lined up for me! I have a group that knows the president Vladimir Putin, works with the oil giants, has a robust team, years of skilled knowledge in the industry, all live in Moscow and so many things. Only a few times in life does our luck play out like this.
More to share in Part 3