Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
Not Fast Enough
This is where my inexperience shows. When I’m big and famous, I’ll have my best friend, Awna write a biography of my entrepreneurship trials and I’ll comment to those wanting to start their own business…”It NEVER HURTS to be 10 steps ahead of where you think you need to be.” I’ve purchased a house before, purchased a car, entered into a lease agreement, and done many other things that seem to be the closest in terms of working with a ton of papers and signatures to what I’m doing with Ekcetera, but apparently this is the point in which I don’t have enough experience to realize how much work is indeed involved in opening a store. This is NO typical mortgage, lease, or loan. I thought I’d have to jump through the typical hoops and lose my mind while doing it, but after that’s over…I’d be ready to roll. NOT TRUE.
Case 1: What happens when I do in fact have the loan papers signed, and the money in my not-yet-existing business bank account? Then, I have to be ready to spend some of it. When I first looked into the lease I’m currently sitting on for the store location, it said that I had to have the store open within 60 days before I started paying rent. I was thinking, “no problem, I’ll probably be quicker than that.” Well, I haven’t signed the lease yet, but as soon as I do, I haven’t done much beyond that. It’s time to step up and move beyond these steps. Otherwise, I’ll be lucky if I have one paint chip by day 60.
Case 2: I got a phone call today from a lady who sells flooring. I had requested some samples. She’s interested in sitting down with me and talking about what I need, etc. This took me by surprise…! I’m not ready to actually choose flooring yet? I haven’t even received my loan payout, let alone signed a lease! But, after I thought about it for a while, I decided that I better set up that appointment because if things happen like they usually do, I’ll have the other items closed and out the door in no time and I’ll be sitting on a huge hunk of concrete, some bare walls, and flooring that is backordered. (knock on wood)
Case 3: The loan underwriter would like to see proof of insurance on my business. What? Insurance? You mean I have to insure the business BEFORE it actually exists? I think there might be a misunderstanding there that this store is a NEW division for Ekcetera and nothing exists as of now. But, again, it got me thinking that if this lease-signing experience will be anything like the last, they’ll want to see proof of insurance THE DAY I sign the lease. I find it odd that you can take out insurance on something that you don’t even occupy yet, but I guess what company wouldn’t take your money if you were willing to give it to them? So, I better start shopping around and find a policy so I can be ready to present it when I sign on the dotted line. WOW
So, my list of things to keep me 10 steps ahead includes:
- Designing the store layout
- Research furniture and equipment
- Choose paint colors
- Research contractors for electricity and such
- Find an internet/phone provider
- Assign my eager husband to design furniture we will build together. (He’s a mechanical engineer so he’s itching to use his CAD software and make me some unbelievably technical diagram of the shelf I need on the wall. THAT’S WHY I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!)
I definitely have an idea of all these things in my head, but just haven’t been challanged to put them down on paper yet. So, if I can have these items completed by the time I sign off on the loan and lease, I should be on track. Crazy, huh? Let’s call this lesson 1000 because it’s significant enough to get a number and the first 999 I’ve already encountered would require lots of hard thinking in order to recall in a moment’s notice.