Building the Box

It looks like I may finally be able to save some money. The HVAC contractor had it priced in as part of their work to assemble my walk-in cooler unit outside the store; however, I have also arranged for my equipment vendor to put it together. The latter knows that this job will take less than two hours, most likely, and has priced it accordingly. I am very curious to see what the HVAC guys had budgeted for this task.

In a positive development, my squeaky wheel act will end up landing me a three-phase A/C condenser - at no additional cost, as best I can tell. The oversight was on the part of the HVAC guys who had been appraised from the start that I was going with three-phase service to the restaurant; they simply didn't connect the dots and line me up with the right condenser. Thankfully, they've been very accommodating in getting this changed, and it'll all work out. It just serves as yet another reminder to scrutinize everything as best you can in order to ensure that things get built according to plan.

I also received clarification on why the hood was two feet larger than we had originally planned. Apparently, in order to generate the amount of airflow that code requires, the hood had to be that size. So, somewhat happily, it was just an initial miscalculation rather than an egregious error on someone's part.

David and I did our first team interview yesterday with a driver candidate who we quickly hired. I must admit, it's nice having a right-hand man to keep the conversation going when I get stuck; he also gives me someone to constantly bounce ideas off of. The lonely process of starting a business feels decidedly less so right now.

Today I'm continuing to tie up the neverending loose ends. Most critically, I have to get a copy of the bank documents with revised appendices to Todd (landlord) so that we can finally get them signed and gain access to the entirety of my funds at long last. I've also signed up online for internet and cable television service. I'm hoping that they do not differentiate between homes and businesses, because I have heard that in some cases businesses are required to pay more - something I don't pretend to understand. Regardless, when I input my address on the website, it came up with the same offers that apply to my apartment, so I'm hopeful that this will be the case.

I have to call Verizon soon, as well, to make sure that I can get my phone package expanded to three lines plus a fax. If it's not ridiculously expensive, I'd love to have caller ID, so that I can immediately input people's phone numbers without them having to dictate it to me.

Continuing down the path of good vibes, I am thrilled to report that I am on track to have my matching funds request granted at the design review commission's next meeting on Monday afternoon, and that work will proceed immediately thereafter on the facade of my store. At long last, I will have visibility that extends beyond directly across the street. Most encouraging is the fact that I will likely receive reimbursement checks within two weeks of submitting my receipts to the Town. Given that I'm dealing with a bureaucratic entity, I had suspected it might take a matter of months for funds to be released. This certainly has a profoundly positive effect on my cash flow picture.

In the meantime, my finances were further aided by Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo. This is only an issue because I have been taking my sweet a** time liquidating my portfolio of stocks to fund the business, and was rewarded by a stock (Yahoo) that had sunk to historic lows suddenly coming close to breaking even. I immediately sold; even though I expressed some regret when the stock went a little bit higher over the next few days, when you're starting a business and have a fortunate break come your way, you don't try to squeeze every penny out of it, but rather feel very thankful and cash out before things collapse again and it's too late.

So, it's hopefully shaping up that I will be able to scrape by with enough cash to allow the business to get its feet under it over the next few months. A commitment from my grandmother (the classic angel investor) to loan me a few thousand dollars (the emphasis on loan is due to the fact that she intends to be repaid, and I intend to make good on that pledge) will definitely help, and my parents have said that if push came to shove, they'd look into seeing whether they can help at all. I never intended to be in this position, of course, but things worked out to cost more than we'd originally planned, and I've cut expenses in all the places where it made the most sense to do so. I have no qualms about going to family for those marginal funds that could very well make all the difference in helping me survive the first few months of operation - any capital you can get your hands on is key when getting a business off the ground. As it's been said a million times before: CASH IS KING.

The concrete is still (I hope) scheduled to be poured behind my store tomorrow (Thursday), in anticipation of the walk-in cooler's arrival early next week - it should be shipping today. I'll keep posting on developments as they progress.