Small Business Startup

Back in December, my mother and I decided to try to open our own business. She's worked in retail for several years and I've been teaching for almost ten. What did we really want to do? Very simply, work with dogs. We both have a passion for the little beasts! My home alone holds four and Mom's two. We have never let our homes go without a companion. So, it only made sense to become groomers and boarders. Our journey began.

And a journey it has been! We found a company to help with the business plan. We knew without this, we wouldn't be taken seriously. For several months, we worked back and forth with various people at the company. This process alone was very stressful. They would ask questions that we just had no idea what the answer should be. They made us think of things that we just hadn't thought about. By the time the plan was finished, we were exhausted. My head still spins from the work that went into it.

One mistake we've made is finding a place we wanted to buy before we had the money in hand. We were so excited and niave when we first started talking about opening our business, we ran out and found this really great place. It used to be a daycare, is located in an excellent spot and offers a lot of potential. The realtor that showed it to us was very pushy. Telling us that we could write up a contract that allowed us time to finish our business plan and find a loan. We thought it would be okay to do this. Now we've had this building under contract since December and we've extended it several times, but we still have no loan. We are on our final deadline of April 15th. Never in a million years did we expect for it to drag out this long.

We still want to have confidence that the company we hired will find us a loan. Whether it's an angel investor, hard money loan or a small business loan through the SBA, we really don't care. We just want the loan so the sale can be finalized on the building and we can start ordering supplies. Both of us are working on getting our grooming license. But our excitement is fading as time drags on. We are very nervous our dream of being small business owners will go down the drain. A lot of time, effort and money has already been put into this project. Now the only hold up we have is getting the loan we need to get started.

My mom is still working in retail for now and I'll be finishing this year of teaching. The waiting is terrible. For now, I guess it's the price we pay for wanting our own business. We learn as we go. ( Anyone with a lot of money to loan, please contact me! This is your chance to make interest off of us.)