This Woman's Business Start-Up Journey

Another first for me

Yesterday was a great day.  It was my first experience being an exhibitor at an event...specifically the What's Up for Kids Expo in Torrance, CA.  I was very pleased with the amount of exposure I got.  I knew going in that the crowd would be heavy on families with very young children (7 and under) and I was right.  That is alright, though, since anything that I can do to get the Huntington Learning Center name out in my area is helpful.

I was also pleased that people signed up for my raffle.  I am beginning to build my internal list.  Here's my cute little table: 

It was also nice to have some more practice explaining in the most clear, concise and appealing way what we do at Huntington.  I also did a second interview for the assistant director position while at the fair!  Interviewing and hiring employees is a unique experience.  As a small business owner, the stakes are even higher than when hiring as a manager for a larger company.  Mainly because in this instance, they will be working ONLY WITH ME in the beginning!  So they better like me and I better like them, or we'll both be miserable.  But, hiring someone has to be about more than just liking the person, so it's a fine line here.

All in all, I think the most value to yesterday's event is that it felt like a step forward, and I am in need of more steps forward. 

Nothing is easy

That was my mom talking..."nothing is ever easy".  Just about everything in life was a burden to my mother, and I believe that was because she was physically unhealthy and because she had very little joy in her life. 

What I learned from her life is that there is a direct relationship between joy and burden, and that no "burden" comes with a fixed weight.  Dropping a glass and having it shatter can be a huge burden and a near catastrophe.  Dropping a glass can also be a minor and temporary inconvenience.  The difference, of course, has nothing to do with the glass and everything to do with the glass dropper. 

I have chosen to live my life in such a way as to view broken glasses as minor and temporary inconveniences.  I have found that it is much easier to accomplish that when I have joy in my life.  Being raised primarily by a mother who had little joy, it has been a life-long journey to move away from that instinctual reaction to see things as disasters.  (Thank you, Maggie, for helping me on my journey).

I am at a frustrating stage of my business start-up now.  It has been a month since I signed the lease, and just last Thursday, my architect submitted the plans to the City of Torrance for review...a 4-6 week process.  Weeks just keep going by, and I feel no closer to opening this business than I did 2 months ago.  Glass dropped and shattered. 

Since I can't do anything to make this process move more quickly, I will focus on things that bring me joy.  Like writing in this blog and moving forward with my new blog.  My way of sweeping up the broken glass and moving on.

I recommend Google Alerts

One of my new favorite "toys" is Google Alerts.  I found out about it from my friends at The Blog Squad.  It is one of those painfully simple ideas that just makes so much sense you wonder why it took this long for it to come around.  Actually, I wouldn't be surprised to find out it's been around quite awhile...I am never on the cutting edge of technology.

Here is just how flippin' simple it is:

Create a Google Alert Enter the topic you wish to monitor. Search terms: Type: NewsBlogsWebComprehensiveVideoGroups How often: once a dayas-it-happensonce a week Your email:

So, I now have alerts set for the terms "tutoring", "Huntington Learning Center", "Torrance, CA" and "Redondo Beach, CA".  Once I become "Slightly Famous", I'll add my name.

Give it a try, and tell me what your alerts are.  I'll bet they are more interesting than mine!

New friends and mentors

I made some good progress last week working on my marketing plan.  I visited 3 local middle schools and 1 elementary school.  I also gathered information from an advertising rep for The Easy Reader. I will be doing some print advertising in that publication.

I am still working on my plan for my next blog and website.  I found a great woman through Start-Up Nation, Nikole Gipps.  We talked like old friends right from the beginning.  I think she will be the right person to help me design and set up my website on the Wordpress platform.

I am also VERY excited about a course I am taking online called Teaching Sells.  I kept coming across references to a site/blog called Copyblogger, so finally went there.  It is very well done, and I was very impressed with the bio for Brian Clark, it's founder.  Brian and another gentleman named Tony Clark (I assume they are gentlemen, although I can't speak to their character at this juncture) partnered to create the Teaching Sells program.  From what I have read and seen of them and their work so far, I am extremely impressed and on board with their philosophies, style and business model. 

I just today discovered Tony Clark's personal blog, SuccessfromtheNest.  I'll be doing some more reading there tonight.

Time flies when you're having fun

I can't believe it is 6 days since my last post.  I can definitely see why all the blogging experts recommend setting a posting schedule and sticking to it.  Plus, now too many different things have happened in the last 6 days, making for either two diferent posts, or one disjointed post.  I think I'll make it two separate posts.

One of the highlights of my week was that I printed my first checks with Quickbooks.  I know it may not sound very exciting, but it is akin to seeing your name in lights, I think.  It looks so official, so professional, and so important.

I am new to Quickbooks, but it seems to be fairly straight forward.  I had one of those big hurdles to jump just to make my first entry in it.  I worried about doing something wrong and making a big mess.  Then as I read the tutorials, I saw that it looked pretty easy to correct a mistake, but I didn't want evidence of my mistakes (my ego, you know).  Eventually, I made the first entry, and then things rolled along nicely. 

Now I just need to make sure that there is always enough money in the bank to cover these beautifully printed checks!

Keeping focus

So, I am trying to get my focus back onto marketing my business in the most tangible ways.  I have been off on a bit of a tangent with my research and studying of blogs and using them as a marketing tool.  I haven't abandoned the idea, but I realized that all my energy and time was going toward that project and that I hadn't done anything from my marketing plan in the last couple weeks. 

One of the challenges of being a new business owner is being able to differentiate what tasks will make you money.  Since I am not open yet, I am not making any money.  But, I need to be actively marketing my business so that when I do open, I will start making money immediately.  It is easy to get off track, since there is no feedback at all.  No calls, no sales.  So I have to use my imagination I guess.  I need to carry out my marketing plan and imagine how my activities will produce sales.

The fact that it is springtime helps.  I am starting to do some work in my garden.  In my garden, the seeds I plant today will produce beautiful flowers in the summer.  That I know from experience.  I'll just have to trust that the same will apply to my pre-opening marketing. 

Welcome to the Blogosphere

I continue to be impressed with The Blog Squad.  They continue to keep me in their sites (or them in my sites, I don't know which), but either way, it is effective marketing!  They do a fabulous job of leading me along their path and offering me ways to get what I want, spending a little more each time.  Again, effective marketing.  I like their approach, and I want to grow up to be just like them!

So, who is them?  "Them" is Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.  There are so many ways to find them on the Internet, it was hard to decide which link to provide here. 

I'm continuing my education about how blogs can help my business.  Not this blog...this one is my "rough draft" or training ground.  I'll let you know when I launch my next blog.

Stones in the road

So, I thought that signing my lease was a huge milestone and that everything would start rolling after that.

Wrong.

Now there is the issue of determining if the city's maximum occupancy number will be adequate to run my business and if the center has enough parking spaces per city requirements.  What I've found out is that there is not a rear exit door in the space, and adding one is not an option (the building backs up to a street I'm told.  I haven't even looked at the back of the building yet!).  So, that significantly impacts the maximum occupancy allowed.  And, the previous business in that space only required one parking space for every 300 sq. ft. but my business use they will require one space for every 200 sq. ft.  Since there is a 24 Hour Fitness in the center, I'm sure they take up a lot of the spaces in the lot...not leaving many left for the rest of the tenants.

So, here I am, trying not to feel discouraged and panicked.  This is one of those times when I am grateful I bought a franchise business and am not going it alone.  It is nice to have the franchisor to talk to and turn to for help and advice.  I sure hope this can all get worked out.  I don't even want to think about having to start all over from scratch.

First Milestone

Ink is on paper!  I signed my lease documents on Wednesday March 12.  It seemed at times that it would never happen.  Now the fun really begins.

I am working with an architect to draw up plans to submit to the city.  Another completely new experience which teaches me something every day.  I chose an architect who has worked in my city for many years and who knows the people at the city planning department by name, and they him.  My hope is that I can use "the good ole boys network" to my favor in this case.  The guy is a character...one of those people that looks like they barely have enough money to live on and probably is worth a few million dollars.  But, if he can help me navigate this part of the process quickly and easily, then I am happy to pay him his money.

NOTE:  You can now sign up to receive new blog posts via e-mail.  (Or at least you can in theory...I haven't tested it yet on my blog, but have done it on Alexis' blog and it works!)  So, please scroll down to find the option and sign yourself up!  Things should really start jumping now!

An expert is a matter of opinion

Light bulb experience for this week:  you are an expert if others "buy" that you are one.

Events leading up to this discovery:  In my readings and researching online over the last month about blogs, I came across The Blog Squad.  They seemed to be popping up quite a bit in my searches, so I investigated them a bit further.  What I liked is that they are a woman-owned business, and they are local to So. California.  Not that where they live really matters that much, but I do try to support local business, and I always try to support women's businesses. 

They are successful enough at their marketing that they "convinced" me to spend $20 to attend an audio seminar they were hosting.  I am not one to spend money to get information in this manner, so it impresses me that they were able to do it!  The expert speaker was a woman named Mari Smith who was going to be speaking about using Facebook as a business tool.

I attended about 90% of the call, then had to leave for an appointment. 

Now, I am not here to denegrade any of these women.  The information was somewhat useful.  What I am here to say is that YOU ARE AN EXPERT if you want to be, and if you can market yourself successfully.  Getting the expert knowledge is not the hard part!  Feeling like an expert and knowing how to market your expertise is much harder.  Then, being able to speak and/or write in a clear and concise manner with confidence certifies you!  Now, it helps that this particular topic is so new that there aren't as many "experts" around.  But even in fields and on topics that are much more established, the "experts" certainly don't always agree.  Even on matters of "fact".  Case in point, presidential candidates.  Or education experts. 

Experiences like this help to boost my confidence.  I believe I have what it takes to be an expert, and that will help me build a successful business.