Mona Visa

You know Mona Lisa...the not-so-pretty lady with a smirk on her face saying, "I know something that you don't."  I think she's been staring us in the face since we started this thing.  Keeping all the knowledge to herself, and having a hee-haw-slap-your-knee kind of time watching us, shocker after shocker.  But really, these surprises just keeping coming and it's becoming so ridiculous, it's actually hilarious. And so, here's our latest:

Mel applied for a company Visa card, for a couple of different reasons:

1. To build credit as a company 
2. We still needed money for supplies

Happily, the application was accepted and we were granted a modest credit limit; we were just waiting for it to arrive in the mail.  So, after work yesterday, Mel went home to check the mail.  I can only imagine her opening her mailbox and a bright light and angelic music protruding from it as the envelope lay there, Melinda's face in awe.  She came back to Honey D's immediately and asked if I wanted to go to Sam's Club to pick up some ingredients in order to pass inspection next week and begin the initial baking. (Yes! We're that close!) It was already 6:30pm, but we were both a little giddy about buying other things for the bakery, so I agreed to tag along.  (She would have went without me if I hadn't and I couldn't let that happen.) Mel made the quick call to activate the card and we were out the door.

We walked down aisle after aisle finding a few pretty good deals along the way.  I was impressed at how restrained we were at buying things.  There were several things we would really need in the future, but not for next week, so we didn't get them, or we almost did, but then put them back.  It probably helped that we set a limit for ourselves on the way up there that was well below the credit limit of the card.  After all, we knew there would be more things to purchase as the Opening Date approaches.  We checked out just as they were closing.  We found that it'd been so long since I've been to Sam's Club that my Sam's card didn't even work anymore.  I knew we'd have to renew it or something, so they took care of that.  No problem.  But when it came time to pay, Mel swiped the Visa card and it said: Invalid.  Ok...not to panic.  It's a new card.  Maybe since it's a substantial amount for the first purchase, we'll need to call and get the transaction approved.  But then came the shocking news.

"Oh! You're using a Visa card?" the cashier asks.
"Yeah..."
"We don't accept Visa credit cards.  We'll take debits, but not credits."

Wha?  Complete confusion!  I mean...who doesn't take Visa cards?!  SAM'S CLUB! That's who!!  That was a downer.  I personally thought Visa was the one-world-currency the Bible prophesied for the end times.  You can go to Europe and use the Visa card; it does all the currency exchange for you, but I must be wrong because if you go to Sam's Club?  No way!  Those two families must have a three-generation-old feud going on or something.  To not take Visa....there's got to be a story behind that!

Mel and I just could not wrap our minds around it.  Of course everyone we told usually shops at Sam's Club so they already knew this rule.  We went to a convenient store to pick up a couple of cokes, and the Sam's cashier came in as we were leaving.  She apparently was still feeling bad about the whole scenario.  She said they really needed to put something on the door or the cash registers or something.  I mean, how else were we supposed to know?  Sam's Club doesn't take Visa!  (I still don't get it!)

Needless to say, that was the talk of the night after that, and we had plenty of laughs on the way home.

Tiff

Full Speed Ahead!

I don’t know about Red Light, Green Light, to me it feels like trying to run up the down escalator (incidentally, I watched someone attempt to do this once, hilarious).  You’re running as fast as you can but the top is always one step away and you’re tripping and stumbling trying to stay ahead of the constant downward motion.  Tiffany told me yesterday that she just wants it to be over with.  Nice enthusiasm LOL, what she meant of course was for the construction to be complete so we can get on with the business of running a store. 

But all the recent blogs talking about and groveling for money is depressing me, let’s talk about something different.  Food!

Jimmy and I had the opportunity to go to a Food Service Trade show this last Tuesday in Hot Springs.  I’ve been to trade shows before but not for food.  Our Sysco rep suggested we go since we are totally new to the industry.  We literally got our account open the day before.  He thought we could get some great ideas for our store. 

What a blast!  They should just put a plastic bib on you at the door with your company name instead of the nametags and give you a pen with a spork on the other end.  I only got halfway through the hall and couldn’t eat any more.  He was right though, there were so many vendors there with great food and we left with bags full of brochures and our minds full of ideas.

Jimmy was laughing thinking some of these people were probably wondering why a cookie company was sampling all the cooked meats but hey, we’re making sandwiches at the store!  Besides, it was so good.  Tiffany couldn’t go and she really missed out.  What a treat!

Anyway, an update on our progress:  We will FINALLY complete construction this weekend and we have scheduled the health inspection for next week.  Our first order with Sysco will also be next week.  That means we are very close to actually baking cookies and cheesecakes, which we have almost forgotten in all this construction and paperwork.  We put a help wanted sign up at the store and an ad in the local paper for next week.  It’s feeling imminent now.  I just hope we are at the top of the escalator and there isn’t another step coming out to trip me!

M

Red Light; Green Light

Picture this:  Four children are outside in the backyard, playing a game.  Huge smiles on every face.  All but one are staggered, facing the other child, who is yelling at them.  "Green light!"  The children race as fast as they can to tag the other child first.  The child in charge waits a few seconds, watching to see who's the fastest. A sly grin stretches across the young face.  "Red light!"  In a split second, the children freeze.  One of them, having trouble balancing since they were in mid-stride, trying not to fall.

We've all played the game.  Good, fun memories even.  But this illustration is exactly how our journey has been, and at least for right now, it doesn't seem very fun.  When Mel first asked me to be her business partner, all of our ideas came together.  Obvious green light.  Running smooth, right? Sure, until we had to come up with money. Red light! 

Ok...no big deal.  We knew it would take money.  So, I take out a loan and Mel sells a couple of vehicles.  Green light!  We're able to buy several big ticket items: Down payment on Rent, Refrigerated Display Case, Tables, Chairs, Prep Tables, etc. Finally finding a steady pace.  But, after you buy all of that, were running low on money, and there is still a substantial amount of construction work to be done. Red light!  (Starting to see a pattern?)

We were running out of options, but Mel's family stepped up and steadied us with their financial help.  Green light!  The pace speeds up tremendously.  We even think that we may have an open date on the horizon.  Construction is happening; painting is being done.  We're close to the finish.  I can feel the anxiety of opening.  Then...  Red light!! 

I'll give you one guess.  Yep...money factor again.  It's driving us crazy!  We're so close, and yet so far.  Construction is coming to a close, but we now have monthly utilities and rent to pay, and we still have to buy ingredients and other supplies.  So, right now...we're just teetering...our ears open...waiting on the next Green light!

We'll keep you posted!

Tiff

Keep the cookie dream from crumbling!

Well, I just launched our project on Kickstarter tonight:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/515841504/keep-the-cookie-dream-from-crumbling?ref=email

What's Kickstarter?  I'll let Liz Chou tell you in her words on her blog Life With Cookies and Other Sweet Surprises!

"Basically, people with a cool idea or cool project, but not enough money, meet people -- local or global -- who can fund it, in small pieces, with the twist that the money they pledge will be collected from them only if the project reaches 100 percent of its funding goal."

"In essence, Kickstarter allows people with creative projects to build pages on the site to describe the work they hope to do and the costs they face, and, crucially, to offer various rewards and benefits to potential backers in exchange for pledges of support. They share samples of their previous works, describe their new projects with audio or video clips, and provide links to more robust websites related to the project at hand. The hope is that their fundraising effort will go viral, providing them with capital and their backers with some nifty goodies and a sense of a communal job well done."

I stumbled on this website by accident when I was reading an MSN article related to new business owners.  I never knew such a site existed but what a wonderful concept! Ms. Chou's project was successfully funded and she is on her way to re-launching her company The Cookie Chew.

As most of you know if you're following this blog, Tiffany and I are close to completion on the construction.  We have the funds to get the building completed, my worry now is that I won't be able to purchase the last of the items I need to get open.  They are mostly small ticket items but still essential to the success of the store.  For instance, Tiffany purchased forks, which was fine if we were only offering cheesecake or cookies but with soup on the menu we will need spoons as well, and while we're at it, bowls would be nice too.  I have a wonderful refrigerated display case and another case Tiffany's husband is making for the cookies but I haven't purchased the trays that hold the cookies yet.  I'm discovering that all these things add up to more money than I think I will have left over.  In addition, I need to purchase the initial product supplies like packaging and ingredients. 

I sure could use some breathing room here so if you think you would like to help out, check out the link.  It's set up for 30 days, if after that time we haven't raised the money, you're off the hook, and I'm not out anything either.

Either way, we will get there somehow!

M

Honey-Do List

If you've ever heard me talk about my husband (on a day he hasn't been on my bad side), then I've probably told you how talented the man really is, despite what he'll admit to.  A man that can do anything.  I'm truly amazed. Room by room, he's remodeled our house, doing everything himself with little help.  From plumbing to custom cabinets (which is what he does for a living with his dad).  Clayton can do it all!  Jimmy, Mel's husband, excels in drywall, but I've come to find he dabbles in a bit of everything too.  I can't tell you what a blessing it has been to have husbands that can do anything they put their mind to.

Our blessing is their curse.

When Mel and I said we decided to do the construction work "ourselves" to save money, what we really meant was, "Honey-do for Honey D's?"  So, Mel and I weren't the only ones that have been hit with a few Un-Expectations. (Yes!  They went into it, knowing that Jimmy may have to put up a few walls and Clayton would do the cabinets.  We aren't evil!)  But for Jimmy, what started with a few walls being put up, and a couple of walls moved turned out to be a public handicap accessible restroom: ramp included.  And for Clayton, what started with a few cabinets, turned into merchandising shelves, a display case, and menu board.   But they've had great attitudes about the whole thing.  Clayton even stained my shelves twice to make sure it was the perfect deep black that I wanted!

So, here we are throwing out a big THANK YOU to our Honeys who have worked so hard on Honey D's.

Tiff

You're kidding right?

Alright this isn't going to be a progress report but instead more of a rant I suppose. You've been warned!

Now that we are closer to opening, more paperwork has to be filled out with the state in anticipation of hiring our first employee. That meant setting up our business with the Arkansas New Hire reporting site, downloading forms like I-9 and W4 forms and printing off documents that must be displayed somewhere in the store for employees detailing their rights, the current minimum wage, and also workers compensation information.

Workers Compensation, not all businesses are required to carry this insurance. For instance, if you employ less than three workers you may be exempt. Each state may be different and you can look up the requirements for your state at this site which has general information as well as links to each state including phone numbers for the worker's compensation department in your state.

So I went to download all the required forms and documents etc. For some reason, I was under the impression that workers comp. insurance was like unemployment insurance, meaning that I believed it was a payment I made to the state monthly, quarterly, etc. based on the employee payroll. NOPE! It was insurance I had to take out from my insurance provider just like my liability insurance. Ok, no problem. Tiffany called our insurance provider and they quoted her a price and told us they needed the whole year's premium up front since we hadn't been doing business with them for at least two years! Give us $1200 please.  Uh...pardon me?

This was not the first time I'd been blindsided by unexpected expenses. It’s basically happened at every turn. For instance, when we were negotiating the lease, our new landlord asked for two months rent up front, which is not unreasonable, it simply wasn't something I thought of beforehand and included in the start up expenses. So a large chunk of startup money went to that. Then we went to get the utilities turned on. Entergy is great and I’m aware there is a deposit for utilities, but for business accounts they wanted roughly $1000! Are you kidding me?

So I shopped around for workers comp. insurance that I could pay out monthly and got a much lower quote and on a monthly payment plan. Thank you! As for the Entergy deposit, I asked nicely what my alternatives would be to the $1000 deposit. She tells me we can get a Surety bond from our bank or insurance provider in lieu of the deposit. Sounds good, what’s that? Basically, it’s a promise by the bank or insurance agency to pay the deposit amount if we fail to pay our bills etc.

We contacted the bank first. Sure they do Surety bonds, but here’s the rub, they want us to deposit the $1000 into an account that we can’t touch, and in return, they will charge us a monthly fee for the bond. REALLY?!?!  Hmm…exactly why would I do that? It would be cheaper to just pay the dang deposit right? So next, the insurance company, bingo, finally what we were looking for. A monthly bill for the bond that they take out at the same time as our liability insurance, SOLD.

I just hate not knowing these things in advance. These surprise expenses are killing me but I guess the point is; that in many cases, you can work something out if you shop around, and hopefully, if you have read this blog before starting your business, you won’t be as naïve as I was…am about the true startup costs.

M

Baby we were born to run.....

Is it a bad sign when your husband (the baker) tells you he’s thinking of running away?

Something about putting paint on the walls has all of us saying, ‘We really are gonna do this huh?’ As if the huge financial commitment we’ve already made to this endeavor meant nothing up until this point; suddenly a little honey colored paint and it’s starting to feel real. I guess it’s that we can finally visualize the actual space and us in that space doing the real work.

Jimmy is freaking out about moving from the construction industry to the food service industry. (He tells me that he has never been more scared about a new job in his whole life). Tiffany is freaking out about how much of her time will be taken up running the store after our other full time jobs and families responsibilities, and me? I’m freaking out about hiring people who I will then have to manage. Pretending like I have all the answers and know what I’m talking about when I really have no clue. Logistically, I am not sure yet how to distribute hours and job duties, how busy we are likely to be during the lunch hour, etc.

This whole process is totally new to each of us. Each and every step has been a discovery and a learning process. Most importantly we have learned that we can be flexible! With all three of us sharing ideas and encountering obstacles, we have learned to adapt our plans as we go. And sometimes, one small change creates a tidal wave of changes. Which brings me back to the paint; when that color went on the walls and the baseboard was painted black, the whole feel of the place changed. My niece came in and said it looked ‘sophisticated’. I don’t know about that but It did have a different vibe that what I initially thought. Tiffany began to think that our original logo didn’t go with the feel of the store. She asked me if I thought the logo was too ‘cartoonish’. Uh Oh!

So, yesterday she showed me a new logo she designed. I have to admit that I liked it a lot but I have always had a bear with a honey pot as my logo and all our literature, etc. had the original logo. The good news was we hadn’t ordered the sign for the store or shirts, hats, aprons yet. I told her to put it on the blog as a poll and see what others think and so far it seems obvious that the new design is the favorite.

So that same paint color has now been splashed across the blog and our store website as well, giving everything a more uniform feel. I like it, but tell us what you think by voting in the poll. Remember it’s not too late, we still haven’t ordered those shirts!

In the meantime, we will still be scared, excited, and plowing ahead!

M

Desserts spelled backwards is Stressed

So, the paint went up and we're actually seeing some progress. It's kind of freaking me out! Supposed to be having another 'labor day' weekend on the horizon very soon to paint the kitchen and bathroom. But even after that, there is so much to do, so many things to purchase, and then we still have to buy supplies, hire a couple of part-timers, cook everything, and finally open (and I'm sure I didn't cover everything). We only think our lives are hectic now. With Mel and I already working full-time jobs, doing this on the side will make our current life look like a piece of cheesecake!

When we first started this, we were losing sleep due to all of the excitement and constant ideas that would pop into our minds, only leading the path for more ideas. We couldn't shut our brains down long enough to rest. Throughout the initial stages of starting the business, I was in awe. "We're really going to do this, aren't we?" I kept asking Mel. Now, I can't sleep because I'm stressed. Frequently thinking about what all still needs to happen. After we open, I'll probably still have lack of sleep because I'm doing laundry at midnight. When else will I have time to do it?

The stress, though, actually brings me closer to my faith. Troublesome times seem to do that, you know. So, I keep telling myself that God will get us through. The Bible tells me to do all to the glory of God and that's what I'm trying to focus on. It helps calm me, and maybe I can get some sleep and dream about DESSERTS, and not about being STRESSED.

Tiff

Labor day weekend spent laboring :)

Well, FINALLY we got a chance to really get involved in the construction.  Tiffany and I spent the better part of our holiday weekend elbow deep in paint!  It really transformed the place though.  I'm getting really excited now.  Take a look:

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The Monsters Within

Definitely, the construction has been a thorn in our side!  We actually had the opportunity to let the landlord do the construction and increase our rent to pay for it, but decided against it.  We were trying to save money by doing the labor ourselves, but for a while there, we wondered if that had been the right choice.  Sure, it may have saved money, but when we didn't have any money, we were at a complete stand-still, and that became very scary.

Things seem to be picking up pretty fast though, and we're planning on painting over the Holiday weekend.  I'm getting very excited again!  And when we get excited, we go overboard!  Here's an example:

I've mentioned 'The Spreadsheet' only once, but it has played a major role in starting our company.  What started with a list of items, prices, and estimated sales grew into a monster spreadsheet.  It currently holds 16 tabs (which includes a list of investments, checklists, equipment, materials, supplies, and MORE!) and I really think we're holding back. There is so much information to track and manage, that it just seemed convenient to have in all in a centralized location, and since we didn't have an office up and running yet, it made sense to put it in a spreadsheet.  I don't think we realized how massive it'd become until it started taking about 15 seconds to attach it to an email that we were passing back and forth. Can't wait to get a computer in the office!

Tiff

The Construction Curse... Or Cursing Construction?

Tiffany getting excited about winning an eBay bid for a bunch of forks really did crack me up. I mean they’re forks! But I had a similar geek out moment when I secured a slicer for my cheesecakes. I knew you could get machines that made nice even slices for your cakes and pies, the ones that put the papers between each slice. It was one of those items that was on my wish list; not an immediate necessity but something I would dearly like to have once we were up and running and could afford one. I looked them up online and they're manufactured by a company called FoodTools. When I inquired about the price it was well out of my range, so I started looking for used ones for sale. Turns out, there happened to be a man selling one on Craigslist out in San Diego for a steal. I simply had to have it, because it was nearly 90% off list price! The gentleman who was selling was an incredibly nice guy as we tried to work out how to ship it from California to Arkansas. It ended up costing more to ship it than the machine itself cost me but it was still an incredible deal. So I am now the proud owner of a CS-1FP model Round Product Portioning machine! I’m so thrilled to own it that I actually get giggly every time I use it. The folks at FoodTools are exceptionally nice as well and helped me with parts and supplies even though I didn’t purchase the slicer from them.

The problem we had with this spending though, was that we hadn’t really sat down and put together a construction list. We had a general vague idea of what we needed to leave for construction but it turned out to be a gross underestimate. So we were spending money on equipment for the store, furnishings and such but hadn’t finished or even fully realized the expense of construction. So what we were faced with then down the line is that we were short on money and couldn’t finish construction.

Sure we had table and chairs, we had a refrigerated display case (another great buy on eBay), but we sure as heck couldn’t open since our kitchen was only half constructed! This caused some substantial delays as we scrounged to come up with construction money. My husband left the bakery idle for almost two weeks to complete a drywall job just to have more money to finish construction on the bakery. Last week it became obvious that we were still much too short on funds, and we had our first monthly lease payment due on the building. We had already spent two extra months on construction than we anticipated and so incurred two months of electric and water bills that we had to pay out of pocket. This was getting serious. It looked like we would fail before we ever opened.

It was time to lose my pride and ask for help. Up until this point, I had, for my part, funded the bakery completely, out of pocket. Now I was going to have to go, hat in hand to my family for help. I really loathe doing that. REALLY LOATHE IT, but I was in trouble and I couldn’t throw in the towel and fail before I ever even opened the doors! I just couldn’t have it. So I put out the call for help and I have to say I have the most WONDERFUL family ever! They came through for me. I am so very grateful. Thank you Dad, Janet and Pam, sincerely, thanks to you, we are back on track now and are in the final push to get open. Just a few more weeks…

M