Fast Track Girl's Story Continued:
Where I am now:
Just before closing the last cart in the Spring of 2005, I aggressively searched for a hot new concept for the 2005 holiday season. Still working 80 hours a week but I was able to find time to do internet searches. And then I found it. This concept required that I purchase the entire territory that I wanted to sell in but then that metro area would be mine exclusively and the vendor would not sell that main product line to anyone else in that area. The licensing fee was $6995.00. I didn't have it and there was another party interested in my area if I didn't buy it.
My daughter's friend, Megan, stopped by the existing cart, while shoping with her mother who was visiting from out of state. She introduced her mother to my daughter and Laurin proceeded to tell Megan about our misfortune. Well, Megan had a cart next to us during the 2003 holiday season and boy was she a mess, she was making so many mistakes and we helped her, A LOT. Her mother remembered Megan telling her about that and wanted to help us. She disclosed, much to Megan's surprise, that she had recieved an inheritance from a relative who had passed away and she wanted to loan us the $6995. OMG....I didn't even know this woman but she was grateful that we helped her daughter from getting into legal trouble by informing her about sales tax laws and returns, along with some other basic bookkeeping.
We bought the license and began working on a presentation for the mall. I stomped my foot and said I don't want another cart / kiosk, I want to do a store this time. So, we built the idea of both options into our presentation. When we presented to the mall they were ecstatic about our concept and they strongly encouraged us to do a store. Okay, how much will all this cost because I still don't have much money.
All I needed was a small deposit, I think it was $2500 up front (same manager who let us pay as we went on our first cart), and then rent didn't start until we opened our doors. They would give us two months to do a build out....free of rent. But it took them a few more weeks to get contracts ready, so I had some time to get the $2500 together. Now I needed to find out how much a store designer would cost, I wasn't doing this by myself!
There was only ONE free lance designer in my entire area who was worth hiring and she was booked solid but she agreed to meet with us to just do a consult. She met us in this empty 802 sq. foot store with ugly ripped up carpet, grey paint and after seeing our concept she had a vision and got excited. She saw the finished store in her head and said she wanted to do us and would bump some other clients to free up her time. Her fee was $3500 up front and $3500 when she finished the job. We could give her $2000 for shopping (lighting, fabrics, carpet, etc) and replenish it as we went when needed. The mall manager was shocked that we were able to get her!
I committed to the designer and the mall but had no money but I had a house with a crap load of equity! The first lendor who could refinace me at the lowest interest rate and get me funded in two weeks or less had my business! I got $80K and left $70K still in my equity. The mall, nor the designer ever knew that I didn't have the money. In the meantime I bought more licenses, on a payment plan of course, for three more major cities, including Las Vegas. There's another story there I'll tell you about later...
Fast Track Girl Part 1
Fast Track Girl Part 2
Fast Track Girl Part 3
Fast Track Girl Part 4
Fast Track Girl Part 5