Lessons learned so far

That perfect space I wanted fell through. The landlord came to an agreement with the investor, at least on price. They are now going for financing and my agent feels it will fall through given they are looking for somewhere around 1M. It will take a while for them to give up on financing. My agent is going to call in a couple weeks to see what's up.

So, I'm looking yet again. It is incredibly difficult to keep doing this and if I didn't really feel a kitchen would be successful here in Sacramento I would give up. I know it will work and everyone keeps saying the right place will come up (grrr.. why can't I have it now?).

I thought it would be good to do a lessons learned up to this point. The very first one is that this takes a lot longer than expected. Lots longer. I had expected to open mid-November and then it moved to early April and it still isn't done. If I were doing this all over again I'd put together my business plan and start looking for a place before I did anything else. Logos, web sites, contracts and equipment purchase can be done while looking for a place to lease. Secondly, never under estimate the importance of friend,s and friends with friends. What has given me the most courage to see this through has been the contacts who tell me how excited they are that I'm doing this. The third thing is to find a real estate agent rather than just calling when you see a place for lease. My agent has been not only my support system but my advisor when it comes to what can and can't be done. The fourth thing is to get a building you can work with. At some point the two of you will be living in each other's pocket and you need to be comfortable with that. Lastly, realize a venture like this is not going to make you rich. I will need 18-6 hour bookings to cover my expected rent. That is a lot when you consider the down months.

So, the quest goes on. I'll keep posting - hang in there with me.