This blog was going to be titled: "And Now, The Rest of the Story;" but I think that guy on the radio has the phrase trademarked - if he doesn't, then he should!
But I think I'll continue on with my "Dream" theme; it's working well for me. If you didn't know, I borrowed these titles from Nora Roberts. She wrote a trilogy in 1996-1997 about three women in California who started their own business together. I put my titles in a different order than she did though; it makes more sense to me to "Hold The Dream" after you go through all the trouble of "Daring To Dream" and then "Finding The Dream." On the right is the link to these books on Amazon.com. Go ahead and click on them... but make sure you come back!
OK, back to me... ;)
So, I started writing my business plan on May 1, 2009. It was such a long process!! I spent months on my first draft. Months!! Even though I had my college business plan to look at! Remember in my first post when I told you that "college taught me nothing." Well, there ya go! I only used about half of my college business plan. And the half that I used wasn't even the most important half! Everyone in business knows that the financials are the most important part of any business plan. The banks want to know "how and when are they going to get their money back?" It's a darn good thing I married that accountant; he came in quite handy - let me tell you!! And before you get all snippy and tell me that I should have paid more attention to the other half of that class (the math half), let me tell you, that the math that was covered in class dealt with mark-up percentages. (At least what I remember of the math part.) So Ha!! See: "college taught me nothing!"
Well now, after the months that I spent writing my business plan, I spent weeks revising that plan. Weeks!! Finally, it was deemed "good enough" on September 28, 2009. That's when I took my plan to the UPS store to get it bound. How do I remember all these dates? I keep my receipts. Everyone in business knows that you keep every single receipt - no matter what you bought or what you paid for it! I had also scheduled the first of 4 meeting with bank lending officers for that day at 1:30pm. (Checked my calendar!)
So, I met with the Bank of Bolivar on September 28th; Commerce Bank at 11am on September 29th; Region's Bank at 9:30am on September 30th and Bank of America on Thursday, October 1st. I presented my plan, asked my questions and answered theirs. And then the waiting game began.
Slowly, offers began to trickle in about two weeks later: Bank of America was willing to up my credit card limit to cover my requested loan amount - but the interest rate would sky rocket! "Noo thank you," I told them. Regions Bank never got back to me - screw them! Commerce bank wanted us to put more of our own money into the business than we were willing - so that was a no-go. And I was still waiting to hear back from the Bank Of Bolivar. Several emails back and forth to the lending officer I had spoken with sounded promising though...
Finally!! My loan was approved on Tuesday, November 3rd!! The Bank of Bolivar came through for me!! It was definitely fate! I had just walked out of a final interview with a company in downtown Springfield, MO when my phone rang. During the month of waiting, I had been keeping my ear to the ground for back-up plans in case my dream was crushed. This particular company wanted me to run the Springfield location of their clothing company while they oversaw their Kansas City, MO locations. Sounds good, right? I just wasn't excited about it; I didn't want to enter into another demanding retail career - unless it was my demands being demanded of me. And surprisingly, Aaron felt the same way - we had discussed my going back to school to teach if this business didn't pan out.
But, the backup plans weren't necessary after all! Someone besides family (and they're required!) believed me!!
Now for the scary part: Holding onto The Dream - for dear life!
Showing posts with label starting a business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label starting a business. Show all posts
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Finding the Dream
Now that we know all about how this crazy idea originated, let's explore the events starting from May 1st, 2009:
May 1st, 2009: The day before I turned 25. It was such a somber day. I was getting ready to turn a quarter of a century old! I started to reflect on my life: What had I accomplished? Well, let's see; I graduated High School, put myself through College, married the most amazing man EVER - sorry ladies, you've been looking for him but I've already got him! In fact I've had him since I was 17 - Ha!! OK, back to my story...
Mr. Amazing and I had just purchased our first home (after diligently saving for three years - seriously, I was on a $75/month shopping budget - so hard to do when you have a College Degree in Fashion!), we both had great jobs and were beginning to tip toe around the idea of starting our perfect family of 2.5 children: one boy, who looks just like his father except has my father's hair line; one girl who has my blond hair and blue eyes - ah, who am I kidding, she'd probably have her father's black hair and green eyes - but she'd still be gorgeous; and one ridiculously cute half-chow-half-something red pound mutt named Sierra (she thinks she's a person, so she counts as that other .5). What was missing?!
So, there I was, sitting on my living room floor frustrated with myself for being so frustrated with myself!! Life was great!! We were moving in the exact direction that we wanted be going!! Finally, I realized what was wrong. I wasn't going after my dream!! The thing that I spent 4 years (one half class actually) and $40,000.00 pursuing! OK, I had a cause for my restlessness - now for a way to solve it. I turned to my husband who was watching baseball, or some other boring "man show" and said, something along the lines of, "Babe, I think I'm going to quit my job and open my store." Anybody want to guess what his reply was? "Shut up, no your not." Yep, that was it - then he resumed his "man show." While he was absorbed with the Kansas City Royals I went into the attic, pulled out my college business plan and started thinking.
I knew I wanted to have my business close to my house. I was currently driving 45min to work - not 45min stuck in traffic; 45min of lonely highway through the hilly, curvy but beautiful Ozark Mountains. I was tired of the drive and of being gone for a total of 12 hours a day due to work (10hr work days plus 45min commutes each way doesn't leave you with a lot of "home time"). So, what type of retail business did Ozark, MO need? Did I mention that we had just purchased our first home? Okay, good - it's an important aspect of this story. My dream had always been to own a clothing boutique; but that's the only retail environment I really knew, well, besides Walmart. We had just begun to buy furniture and accessories to decorate our house but were having trouble finding what we really liked - Southwest Missouri is kinda limited in the contemporary furnishings department. We were having so much fun buying for our new home, but were having to travel to larger cities to accomplish this. During this experience I learned that I enjoyed home decor more than I did clothes, but I had never really had the chance to explore this passion - previously I had lived in my parent's home, a dorm room and a tiny apartment. A whole new world had been opened to me!! Well, I'm not one to stand around when I see something that I want. That train of thought led to my brainstorm...
Ozark, MO caters to those looking for antiques - there wasn't any place for people with my taste to shop. Well, I was determined to give them one!
May 1st, 2009: The day before I turned 25. It was such a somber day. I was getting ready to turn a quarter of a century old! I started to reflect on my life: What had I accomplished? Well, let's see; I graduated High School, put myself through College, married the most amazing man EVER - sorry ladies, you've been looking for him but I've already got him! In fact I've had him since I was 17 - Ha!! OK, back to my story...
Mr. Amazing and I had just purchased our first home (after diligently saving for three years - seriously, I was on a $75/month shopping budget - so hard to do when you have a College Degree in Fashion!), we both had great jobs and were beginning to tip toe around the idea of starting our perfect family of 2.5 children: one boy, who looks just like his father except has my father's hair line; one girl who has my blond hair and blue eyes - ah, who am I kidding, she'd probably have her father's black hair and green eyes - but she'd still be gorgeous; and one ridiculously cute half-chow-half-something red pound mutt named Sierra (she thinks she's a person, so she counts as that other .5). What was missing?!
So, there I was, sitting on my living room floor frustrated with myself for being so frustrated with myself!! Life was great!! We were moving in the exact direction that we wanted be going!! Finally, I realized what was wrong. I wasn't going after my dream!! The thing that I spent 4 years (one half class actually) and $40,000.00 pursuing! OK, I had a cause for my restlessness - now for a way to solve it. I turned to my husband who was watching baseball, or some other boring "man show" and said, something along the lines of, "Babe, I think I'm going to quit my job and open my store." Anybody want to guess what his reply was? "Shut up, no your not." Yep, that was it - then he resumed his "man show." While he was absorbed with the Kansas City Royals I went into the attic, pulled out my college business plan and started thinking.
I knew I wanted to have my business close to my house. I was currently driving 45min to work - not 45min stuck in traffic; 45min of lonely highway through the hilly, curvy but beautiful Ozark Mountains. I was tired of the drive and of being gone for a total of 12 hours a day due to work (10hr work days plus 45min commutes each way doesn't leave you with a lot of "home time"). So, what type of retail business did Ozark, MO need? Did I mention that we had just purchased our first home? Okay, good - it's an important aspect of this story. My dream had always been to own a clothing boutique; but that's the only retail environment I really knew, well, besides Walmart. We had just begun to buy furniture and accessories to decorate our house but were having trouble finding what we really liked - Southwest Missouri is kinda limited in the contemporary furnishings department. We were having so much fun buying for our new home, but were having to travel to larger cities to accomplish this. During this experience I learned that I enjoyed home decor more than I did clothes, but I had never really had the chance to explore this passion - previously I had lived in my parent's home, a dorm room and a tiny apartment. A whole new world had been opened to me!! Well, I'm not one to stand around when I see something that I want. That train of thought led to my brainstorm...
Ozark, MO caters to those looking for antiques - there wasn't any place for people with my taste to shop. Well, I was determined to give them one!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Daring To Dream
I entered college in 2002 with one goal in mind: I wanted to learn everything I needed to know in order to open my own business. Pretty simple right? Wrong!! College taught me nothing!!! I have a Bachelors of Science in Fashion Merchandising and 2 Minors: Marketing and International Business Management. Why, you ask, did I earn a degree in Fashion if I wanted to own a business? Well, let me tell you. After searching the class catalogs I discovered that the Fashion Merchandising department at Missouri State had a program of classes designed specifically to teach you what you needed to know in order to own your own business - specifically a retail business. "Perfect!" I thought! My dream was to own my own high-end clothing boutique. So, I declared my major and signed up for my classes.
When it was all said and done I graduated with 153 credit hours (appriox 25 more than necessary) and a bill for approximately $40,000.00, give or take a few dollars. Of those approximate 50 classes I sat through, I only needed one (actually about half of that one class); CMT 585: Establishing a Fashion Business. What makes this class so lucky that I feel it was the only class needed? We wrote a business plan. That's it! We spent three months writing a document that was worth 100 points. At the end of the semester we were told to make an appointment with a lending officer to have them review our plans. If they told us, "yes, we would most likely give you a loan" - then you passed. If you were told "no," well, then, I'm sure you can guess the outcome. Well, I passed and momentum was given to my dream.
What was the other half of that class that I deemed unnecessary? Well, we did some math stuff... and had some practice job interviews with the career department at the University. But I didn't need to master the art of job interviews - I was going to be the one doing the interviews if I owned my own business, right? And I was pretty certain that I was going to marry my boyfriend - who was an Accounting major, so I didn't need to pay too much attention to that math stuff, right?
Right! Well, to at least to one of those!! I did marry the accounting major and he has been the most incredible husband in letting me take this risk. He would much rather I have a nice, steady, secure job which includes great health benefits and a stable 401k (which I had!); but he agreed - reluctantly - to let me pursue my dream. Don't get me wrong - I took all his wants into account as well. I found an amazing job with Abercrombie & Fitch right after graduation that was right up my alley, it was so much fun and I was great at it! (Thank God I paid some attention to the practice interviews!) But I just wasn't satisfied - it wasn't mine!! So after three years with a company that I was quickly moving up in - I left. I left a great career to follow my life long dream at the age of 25. I left a great, stable & secure job in the middle of a global economic melt down!
Yikes!!
When it was all said and done I graduated with 153 credit hours (appriox 25 more than necessary) and a bill for approximately $40,000.00, give or take a few dollars. Of those approximate 50 classes I sat through, I only needed one (actually about half of that one class); CMT 585: Establishing a Fashion Business. What makes this class so lucky that I feel it was the only class needed? We wrote a business plan. That's it! We spent three months writing a document that was worth 100 points. At the end of the semester we were told to make an appointment with a lending officer to have them review our plans. If they told us, "yes, we would most likely give you a loan" - then you passed. If you were told "no," well, then, I'm sure you can guess the outcome. Well, I passed and momentum was given to my dream.
What was the other half of that class that I deemed unnecessary? Well, we did some math stuff... and had some practice job interviews with the career department at the University. But I didn't need to master the art of job interviews - I was going to be the one doing the interviews if I owned my own business, right? And I was pretty certain that I was going to marry my boyfriend - who was an Accounting major, so I didn't need to pay too much attention to that math stuff, right?
Right! Well, to at least to one of those!! I did marry the accounting major and he has been the most incredible husband in letting me take this risk. He would much rather I have a nice, steady, secure job which includes great health benefits and a stable 401k (which I had!); but he agreed - reluctantly - to let me pursue my dream. Don't get me wrong - I took all his wants into account as well. I found an amazing job with Abercrombie & Fitch right after graduation that was right up my alley, it was so much fun and I was great at it! (Thank God I paid some attention to the practice interviews!) But I just wasn't satisfied - it wasn't mine!! So after three years with a company that I was quickly moving up in - I left. I left a great career to follow my life long dream at the age of 25. I left a great, stable & secure job in the middle of a global economic melt down!
Yikes!!
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