Hello again all,
This past weekend I spent some more time on this website. This is all new to me. Lots of time on Youtube trying things out. Also drafting plans for how we want to lay things out. My biggest concern is getting it to look right. I have spent the majority of my life in the engineering world. That will probably end up being obvious with the look of this site. We have considered getting a web designer to kick things off. However, one thing that is apparent is the financials of making this work are not easy.
The day I write this we have not officially published this site. I started looking at getting a Facebook page going. This is a tough one as we waffle about what we are going to do. The smart answer is to decide to go and get these things launched. That could help us start getting the word out regarding this venture. However then our fear kicks in. What if we create some news, put this out there, and then we end up not doing it? How would that be? I suppose as I write this perhaps it’s better to launch our web presence and have things fall through BEFORE signing the lease. Rather then saying nothing, going forward with opening and having zero time to create some buzz. Then pay the price by having empty seats in the opening weeks. The fear is quite real. Nothing Ventured nothing gained?
I had a goal of finishing the business plan this weekend, maybe that was too aggressive considering what work was left. There is another challenge. Trying to estimate how much time things take. This is a spot for a cliche … always takes longer than a person thinks.
I did put a bunch of work into a ‘Startup’ budget. Financially, I have us in two separate phases. The first is Startup Phase with associated budget. Then, on opening day, we will transition to operating phase. I have a different spreadsheet for that. The most difficult part is trying to forecast what Sales will be. We have spoken to people we know in the industry, however, it still is a guess. Another thing to make this decision more difficult.
The Startup phase is coming together. I used the price of buying new for the purpose of budgeting. We are hoping to go used shopping and help keep the costs down. It is better to over budget though. Items we are looking at include glassware, tables, chairs, appliances, sound equipment and POS Stations. I also include a few generic lines for smalls. Then finally a wild guess at labor. We are trying to define how much money total we would be putting into this venture. Hopefully help give us a direction.
I suppose the smart answer is don’t do it! This is nuts! Of course, how adventurous would that be? That back and forth is the hardest part. We are acting and moving like we are going to follow through, but then we wake up questioning ourselves. Asking if this is what we want to do. We have the moments where we think it’s too much and we should stop. Then the next day something happens or we hear supportive words from someone that have us keep going.
The next days I will keep on the business plan. Also, we want to try to get our ‘to do list’s together in some sort of organization. This should help us keep somewhat on task instead of bouncing around. Until next time…
J
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