On Hold For now

First, I would like to apologize for not updating our blog more frequently. Quite a bit of time has passed since my last posting. As you can tell, our Lounge Bar plan is currently on hold. Since the last posting we looked at a few properties and realized that we needed to build our resources a bit more. With a combination of the economy taking dip in the wrong direction and deciding that we are going to move from Virginia to DC, our business plan needed to take a back seat. With that said, we are definitely not calling it quits and are very excited to get started again.

For the time being, my partner Chuck and I are creating a small start up business that will help finance our bigger plan of opening a bar. Chuck, who has the creative side, has been busy composing and producing music, which is the basis for our new project. Please stay tuned and I will link this blog to our new one. Between the two projects, we will have quite a bit to talk about.

Stay Tuned

Sorry for the delay.  Busy summer.  New entry on it's way Thursday!

Back to the hunt

As stated in the previous few blogs, Charles and I have been interested in a few properties along the Atlas district on H Street. One in particular caught our attention. It was 4,000 sq. feet (double of what we originally planned for). The building was setup for a business on the first floor and an apartment upstairs, zoned Commercial 1. We realized that this presented the idea of living above our lounge, eliminating the need to pay rent somewhere else. The exterior and frame work was new, new plumbing, electrical, and new roof. That was the extent of the "finished work". It still needed Sheetrock, insulation, fixtures, etc. It was a blank canvas for us to do our work and create a place that suited our needs. Of course it seemed like the best choice and an opportunity that we could not miss.

The key to good a good business is to realize when your dream is out pacing reality. The two of us sat down and crunched the numbers. We realized that with having to leave our current apartment (fines of at least $4,000 for breaking the lease), the cost of renovations to the new place (about $13,000), putting money down or having the option of leasing to buy, and so on and so on... (taxes were over $15,000) a year. We were sad to realize that we could do it but not be comfortable and so why take the risk when we don't "need" to. We asked ourselves, "Why not stay at our current pace, finish all of our planning, saving, networking and keep an eye out for other opportunities". We agreed to stick to the original plan.

In the end, we feel pleased with our decision. This experience was a great opportunity to dive into the business real estate market and learn way more than we had expected. There are many options out there for small business owners, lots of loan plans, tax breaks, legal jargon, etc. We also learned a little about ourselves and how to effectively discuss such large decisions to reach a well thought out conclusion. We of course will continue to look and I will continue to update our progress. The past week has been a very wet week and we look forward to a sunny summer where we can continue our search, continue developing our plan, and save more money! Everyone have a nice weekend, stay tuned, there will be plenty more updates soon.

H Street followup article - and more!

We have had a busy past few days in the business world. Before getting into the exciting details, I wanted to post a link to Andrea Swalec's latest article with the local paper "The Voice of the Hill". Andrea is the reporter who wrote a great story about our business plans for H Street (a link and copy of the article is posted in a previous blog). Here's the link, please pass it on.

With help, H Street is going green

In other news, Chuck went on a commercial real estate mission this past Thursday. After making a few great contacts within the very helpful H street community he has come across a few buildings and lots for sale. Chuck has met with the owners and over the weekend we made followup calls. One of the properties has great potential, and if the details can be hashed out, we will definitely be taking it quite seriously. The entire building has been renovated; new plumbing, new electrical and studs. The first floor is an open space with concrete floors, ideal for a lounge, while the upstairs is designed for an apartment. Our intent would be to move into the upstairs, after renovating, and making it livable, build our finances, and then create the lounge downstairs.

The progress is quite exciting and I will be sure to update as we find out more. Anyone know any investors??? Click here for our e-mail

Hope everyone is having a great extended weekend.

Back to work

We are now moved into our new home and ready to get rolling on the business development. The break in blog updating has been the result of packing, moving, unpacking, organizing, getting situated, but now we are back in the swing of things. This week we are registering our LLC. We are still trying to think of a name for the LLC, separate from that of the lounge name. The lounge name is also in the process of being trademarked. Also, during these two processes we are developing our financial plan. Hopefully the first two will be done and submitted by the weekend while of course the financial plan will take some time.

Moving to our new location, we are looking forward to getting part time jobs with the bar/restaurant businesses surrounding our home to gain some necessary experience on how things are done. Everything of course looks great on paper but having the actual experience is a must. During the next two years while developing our plan and gaining financial support, we will continue to add to our hands on experiences. We are hoping to not only work with fellow business owners but also shadow the managers to learn helpful hints and tips. Our home is within a block of at least 10 bars/restaurants (very convenient).

As the week progresses I will update as to what our LLC name is and how the process is going for us...as well as describe the difference resources we have come across.

Meeting with Susan - Business Advisor

Courtesy of Otello's website: www.otellodc.com
1329 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

Tonight we met with our business advisor, Susan Campbell, over a tasty dinner at Otello's in Dupont. Dinner was great and conversation was even better. As I have said many times in the past, Susan has been an amazing resource, helping us bring our dream of opening a lounge bar into reality. Tonight's focus was catching up and figuring out how to materialize our financial plan. As a quick summary, we basically need to create a list of everything we can think of that will cost us money from silverware to lighting. From this list we will then create an outline and then the ultimate plan. This step is obviously exciting since it will lead us to understanding how much money we will initially need as well as how much money it will take us to operate. As we come across resources that we find in accomplishing this task the blog will be updated to reflect our progress. Stay tuned, we are full speed ahead.