Cracked Cauldron Spillings

Manager spoke to a counselor at the Women's Business Center, and instead of getting the help she wantd, was told that as a food-service
business, she would surely fail.

Those are the words a first time entrepreneur really needs to hear.

The counselor ignored all the research she's done, all the field-testing and surveys, all the financial statements from similar markets, glossing over it by telling her that numbers weren't really her "thing".

Since Manager specifically requested help in cash flow analysis and profit projections as well as to proof her business loan proposal, and thought she was being sent to a counselor who could help her with these areas, you can imagine how disappointed she was. We are really feeling the lack of access to Excell, and right now buying the program is just beyond us.

We don't need help with marketing, or location, or any of a myriad of other things.

We're to the grit now, and need help in our weakest areas - chart creations and projections, the more esoteric of the financial information.

And insurance. We haven't found a good insurance agent that does business insurance. I know they exist, after all, this isn't exactly a business wasteland.

Manager is going to ask the owner of Horn Seed who his insurance provider is. Being neighbors and all, his insurance agent will probably be familiar with the proerty she'll rent. She's asking him today.

Now that the corporation papers are done and we have a location, the only other major hurdles are the loans and start-up funds. The equipment, furnishings, hirings, and marketing will be easy in comparison, and the day-to-day operating will be delightful.

As an aside, Manager came home from the WBC last night, and decided to stop at the first place that offered liquids to get a drink. That happened to be a Taco Bueno. As she went in, she heard a lot of shouting. Apparently some man had some car troubles, and he was throwing a man-sized tantrum inside the store, yelling at employees and customers. When he started using what I call Saxon words (you know - the ones that get beeped on radio), one of the customers asked him to please consider the fact that children were present. The man went even more ballistic and verbally abusive, threatening the customers, so that customer called the police.

After he was taken away, the manager at Taco Bueno gave everyone there a coupon for a free meal, and didn't charge those who hadn't ordered yet for their orders.

While this was nice - and it certainly left a favorable impression with Manager, we discussed what could have been done better. For starters, it shouldn't have been a customer who called the police.

So Manager is considering what happened there, and what she and her employees would do in a similar situation.