Being Pulled In Different Directions

It seems that one of the biggest challenges in our adult lives is often the need to manage multiple tasks, often at the same time. You hear a lot about work-life balance, achieving a good one, following dreams, nurturing family, relationships, and friendships, and so on. It can be difficult to find solid footing in the sea of to-do lists we find ourselves surrounded with.

Things are no different over here. I often feel like we're not making a lot of progress on the bar because there's so much to do. Even though I put some work into it every day, sometimes hours of work (depending on my current family and life commitments), it still feels like we're going nowhere.

Logically, I know we are. I've got a really good rough-draft business plan... but it's VERY rough. More like a skeleton with a little bit of meat. Still lots of questions to be answered on there.

We have quite a few boxes packed for moving, and quite a few things put aside to sell.

I have some (hopefully strong) ideas for fundraising, and almost have the main platform we are going to try to use for it ready to launch.

I've been working on spreading the news about our business venture throughout the horror community as well as to all our family, friends, and acquaintances. Since our budget is so limited, a lot of our publicity at first will come through word of mouth... and we need all the help we can get there.

I've been doing all that stuff as well as taking care of my house, my family, our finances, our pets, our general life crap, our activities, our friendships, our grocery shopping, and anything else life feels fit to throw our way.

It's a lot of work. It's not easy work, but it's not hard work either. It just... is. Most of it I actually enjoy, which is funny to me. Granted, I'm not getting paid for any of the work yet, but I'm working on all of these things in the hope that we will have our own money-making business in the near future, so I consider it my job. I've never really had a JOB that I enjoyed before. I like the feeling.

Mostly, I get frustrated because parts of the process take so long. I'm impatient by nature and I want everything to just HAPPEN. Life doesn't work that way. And there is definitely value in the process. Working on the business plan, for instance, has really been helping us solidify our ideas and paint a solid picture of what we want and what will WORK. Packing things up now and sorting out things we don't need will both help us raise money AND make the actual moving process much easier. There is value in taking the time to do things right.

At the same time, the frustrated Veruca inside me is stamping her foot and screaming "But I want to be at the bar NOOOWWWWW!".

So many tasks to complete. They really are coming along, even if it doesn't always LOOK like it from the outside.

We will likely be back in Mount Carroll in two weeks. Who knows what will come of that visit, eh? We have some ideas and some hopes... but we'll see.

Writing An Effective Business Plan

It probably comes as no surprise, given my propensity for blogging, that writing comes very naturally to me. It is also likely that it is no surprise that IDEAS come naturally to me. I am constantly generating ideas for projects in many different spheres. Indeed, I have often wished that it was possible to find someone to pay me just to give them brilliant money making ideas... because I have some really great ones, but folks? I'm often lousy on the follow-through.

It seems to me that the reason I am often lousy on the follow-through is because the idea I have generated isn't the right fit for me. It's a good idea and I'm excited about it... but I am not the person meant to follow that path. Sometimes I try, and inevitably I fizzle out.


This idea, my Spookytown idea, is one that I've had for years... I keep coming back to it... but I've been lousy on the follow-through because, quite frankly, it seemed like a pipe dream. It is such a huge vision that it was nearly impossible for me to break it down into steps or even know what direction to turn in order to get it started.

Finding a location we love, and the idea of opening the bar, was one of those moments of serendipity where everything just gelled together in my mind, and it all seems to FIT.

We've done all the work we can up to having a completed business plan at this point, I believe. The business plan is the next logical step. We've been working on it (indeed, I have 16 pages of it rough-drafted), but it's a much bigger task than I expected it to be. It seems, from my research, that there is no one set business plan. Most of them have elements of similarity, but depending on your purpose and your business, each one is very unique. It's POSSIBLE to have a small, two or three page business plan, but for what we want to do, that doesn't feel right. The two primary purposes of our business plan are 1) to help us secure funding and 2) to make sure the vision we have in our heads is REALLY a good, worthwhile investment (inasmuch as research can support, anyway). That means lots of market research and financial documents.

I am certainly capable and confident about all of those things, but they are taking longer than I expected. Since I am an idea generator, naturally I keep generating more and more ideas for this project... and it is somewhat frustrating to have to write them down on a list and keep focusing on the business plan until it's complete. I'm not used to focusing on just one thing. It's a bit of a challenge for me.

For instance, the other day I generated what I believe is a great idea to raise funds for the project (actually I have generated TWO great funding ideas in the last week, heh), and I'm eager to get started, BUT the main one will take a lot of time and focus. So if I start working on it, the business plan will fall by the wayside, and suddenly we might find ourselves with a decent amount of funding but only a half-completed plan. That doesn't make logical sense.

So I have to reign in my impulses and complete the task at hand. It's a challenge for me, but that's OK. It's good to push ourselves out of our comfort zones once in a while. I'm just so excited about all of this that I want to tackle everything at ONCE! ... And there's not enough time or resources going around to manage it all effectively. So, one thing at a time.

In terms of writing the business plan, the two resources I have utilized most have been:

A) the free website Bplans.com, which has a TON of useful advice, sample outlines, and a large variety of free sample business plans.

B) The book The Complete Idiot's Guide To Business Plans PLUS, which has been chock full of information as well AND has a CD with a ton of information on it. I took it out from my local library for free, but I am thinking it will be well worth the purchase price and am considering buying it for our own personal reference as well.



When the business plan is complete, I'll be looking for a few sharp eyes to look it over. I'll need folks that are willing to proofread AND ask difficult questions. I'd like to make sure we didn't leave any holes and that the plan is as complete as possible before we use it to try and secure funding. If you are interested in being one of those people, please let me know.

Additionally, if any of you have any advice or resources regarding business plans that you'd like to share with us, please feel free! We appreciate all the help we can get.

Looking At Properties, Part Six

The sixth property was the last property we looked at with a realtor that day (we did go back to 'our' bar and look at it again, and YES I will share pictures of that in my next post!), and BOY was it a doozy. It was BY FAR the largest place we saw, and yet I didn't take nearly as many pictures of it as I did of other places because it was, quite honestly, completely overwhelming. We could easily have spent half a day looking at JUST this property. I'm going to switch things up a bit with this post and give you the property details at the end of the post, and am just going to do my best to lay out this property much as I experienced it.

This one was also in Savanna, close to the last two we looked at, and it was listed at around $180,000 (I BELIEVE; the price on the listing has changed considerably now (MUCH lower), but that is where it was when we looked at it). We almost didn't put it on our list because it didn't really fit what we were looking for... the property listing said something about four storefronts downstairs with apartments upstairs. I lobbied to put it on our viewing list though because it sounded interesting... it spanned several addresses, which meant it was several building together, and two of the storefronts were empty; the listing said something about knocking out a wall and making them into a restaurant so I thought 'eh, what the hell, let's check it out'. Boy oh boy. I'm still not sure how I feel about that decision! People say "it never hurts to look", but let me tell you my brain aches every time I think about this place, lol.

So we met the current owner of the building, who pulled out a GIANT keyring and proceeded to take us on a tour of the place. We started in one of the empty storefronts; it had previously been a restaurant. We spent a decent amount of time looking at it, not realizing how very MUCH we still had to look at. 

This and the next few pictures are the first storefront we saw.

I took quite a few pictures in here.

I had no idea my camera was going to be basically useless here, lol.

This was some outbuilding that housed a boiler or something they no longer use. She suggested it could be storage or could be removed to make more parking or something.

We're looking around and the lady is telling us about the previous owner and the other storefronts and we come to realize that there are actually SIX storefronts, not four... this building spans an entire city block. Wow. FOUR of the six are rented. Two of them are rented to restaurants, the other two are a cute thrift store and an antiques shop. We went into all the storefronts and were a tad overwhelmed already, but mostly I was seeing dollar signs... except for the fact that it wouldn't make sense to open a restaurant in our building that already houses two restaurants. Hmmm. But the possibilities...

The next few pictures were of one of the restaurants in the place.

Then we went upstairs. It was pretty dingy and dirty, but people were living there. It was pretty busy, actually. We saw several people coming in and out and I started thinking "exactly how many apartments are up here, anyway??" The lady is knocking on doors and asking people if we can see their ROOMS. The first few we looked at were just that, ROOMS. One or two small rooms together, with a bathroom. She's telling us about how she gives each of her tenants a mini fridge and microwave and I'm thinking "what the hell IS this place, like a boarding house? People LIVE like this? WHAT?" I was utterly confused. She also showed us an actual apartment. And THEN she took us UPSTAIRS.

LOTS of creeeeepy hallways.

Plastic over the fire escape. Apparently this is OK with the fire dept. As long as people can tear through it, you can cover that shit up. Whatever.

Yeah, there was a third floor to this madness. More of the same; mostly rooms with one or two apartments. Dingy and run down. The section we saw covered probably the space above, oh, two of the storefronts below.

And THEN, she took us through ANOTHER door into the section of the building that needs so much repair she simply shut it down and just flat out doesn't USE IT. Those two floors covered the top of the other four storefronts. Second and third stories of room after room after room after room. Most of them filled with junk, with falling ceilings and dirty dingy rugs. The layout reminded me of a closed-down version of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining... she just kept opening doors and sometimes there would be a room, sometimes an apartment, sometimes a giant closet, sometimes... a whole other hallway. It went on and on and ON. It went back way further than I thought too; this place was just HUGE.

Blogger decided not to let me organize my pictures very well in this post. The layout is a MESS. Much like this property!

At some point she mentioned that it had been a hotel and suddenly the rented 'rooms' made total sense to me. The listing said something about the place having hotel STATUS but by the time we looked at it I had forgotten that, so I was utterly confused for a while.

Words and pictures cannot really give you the magnitude of this place. It was... quite frankly, it was amazing. A very special place for a very special buyer. It needs a TON of work, but the work could be done in sections too; fix up one building's worth and rent them out while you work on the next section. There is so much raw potential in this place it just boggles my mind. Part of me is totally in love with it. Who doesn't want to buy a giant creepy old partially abandoned hotel and live the crazy life in it?? OK, maybe most people don't, but *I* do! This place could be Raven's Grin 2, it's that crazy. Or if I was ready to open my haunted bed and breakfast, this place would be PERFECT.

Unfortunately, it doesn't fit our current goal at all. As I mentioned, it doesn't really make sense to open a restaurant in a building that already has two restaurants as tenants. And we're nowhere near ready to aim for the haunted B&B. And we couldn't open a restaurant and run it AND try to renovate and run this place without major headaches. I like a good project, but this is a PROJECT. 

Still, I think the reason that it hurts my head every time I think about it is because it captured part of my heart and I wish SO MUCH that we had more money and could buy both this place AND the other bar and run both at the same time. We would need enough money to afford us the luxury of time and lots of staff though, because this place needs SO MUCH work. It's just... it was truly amazing. Opportunity galore. It's just not the right time for us to tackle something like this and it KILLS ME.

After we left, OJ said something about the pool. "WHAT pool?!" I exclaimed. 

"She said there was a pool! In the basement!" 

"SHUT UP. You're totally lying."

"No way! I swear she said there's a pool in there somewhere! They don't use it because they had problems with pipes freezing, but I swear to god there's a pool somewhere in that building."

The place was so huge we MISSED the POOL.

So. I noticed when I pulled up the listing for this place to drop the description into this post that the price for the place has dropped by about a hundred grand. It's now listed at $84,999. THAT KILLS ME EVEN MORE. It says it has 14,420 square feet but I'm pretty sure that's a lie. I think it's way bigger than that, heh.

The listing reads: "LOCATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA, MISSISSIPPI RIVER, STATE PARK & BIKE PATH, HOTEL STATUS, 2 APARTMENTS--22 ROOMS SECOND & THIRD FLOORS ALL VACANT NEEDING MAJOR REPAIRS. 4 STORE FRONTS-3 WITH TERRAZZO FLOORS CURRENTLY RENTED-2 RESTAURANTS, ENDLESS POSSIBLITIES FOR THIS PROPERTY WITH PARTIAL VIEW OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER ON NORTH END OF 2ND & 3RD FLOORS-CO OP ARTISTS, BIRD WATCHERS, BOAT/CANOE ENTHUSIASTS, BICYCLISTS (GREAT RIVER BIKE PATH) & SO ON."

Anyone want to buy this place AND the other bar for us? We need a patient mega-investor! I can do great things with these places, I assure you. I just need enough money to get the properties and to have a little TIME to put some TLC into them. But I have such great plans...

(Yeah. I don't think we're getting this one. But good god do I want it. But if I could only pick ONE, it would be the bar.)

Looking At Properties, Part Five

Mississippi River views from the back of the building.

By the fifth property (also in Savanna), we were all starting to get a little tired. The kids had been very good but were starting to get bored with looking at buildings at this point, and our brains were full of information. But we had two more lined up and we figured we could just look quick and then move on with our business. (Boy were we utterly unprepared for the sixth property!!) 

Property five, just down the street from the previous property, was also a former restaurant with two three-bedroom apartments upstairs. The problem with this one, as we soon discovered, is that it has been empty for a long time. At least two years, according to the men in the hardware store across the street. And it's being sold in "as is" condition. Listed at $115,000 and boasting 5400 square feet, it's a little smaller than we wanted but still a decent size overall. "Business And Living Space. The 2700 Sq.ft. Restaurant area, with seating for around 50, needs some TLC and could be ready for business. Upstairs you'll find two 3 bedroom apartments, with views of the Mississippi River from the rear porch. There is also a 2 car attached garage. All that is necessary to move in and start your business. Property is being sold "AS IS". "

We really liked the layout of the bar / restaurant. The front had nice tall window facing the street, with seating on either side. The bar itself was in the middle of the restaurant, and there were tables and booths on either side. I loved the tall wooden booths and the big upright piano in the back. At first I thought the kitchen was a little small because it seemed like there was just a kitchen 'cubby' at the back of the restaurant, but then we went through a door and found a giant commercial kitchen. Not a lot of equipment but MORE than enough space.

left front window

right front window

bathroom

LOVE those tall wooden booths. LOVE THEM!

center bar

screen hanging over the bar. perfect for movie nights!

the bar

first tiny kitchen space

first tiny kitchen space

first tiny kitchen space

the much larger commercial kitchen

I love an old upright piano

the much larger commercial kitchen

The stairs at the back that led up to the apartments were a little concerning. They were in a sort of enclosed porch area; there was an obvious roof leak (I guess that's ONE benefit of looking at properties in the rain!) and some broken windows. You went up the (somewhat rickety) enclosed stairs only to go back outside briefly and then in another door that lead to the apartment hallway.

leaky, leaky

leaks and broken glass

  

hallway outside the apartments

Both three-bedroom apartments had the same layout. Neither of them were in great shape. The first one had a lovely big porch off the back, overlooking the Mississippi River (great for views from the apartment; bad for flooding concerns for the restaurant!). There was a good amount of disrepair throughout and some clear water damage, especially on the woodwork. The first apartment had the most moisture damage; at first I thought there was a strange, textured veneer on all the wood, only to realize it was entirely covered with weird hardened water-beading. It's a real shame because the woodwork must have been lovely at one time; lots of neat molding, beautiful built-ins, gorgeous windows. With some TLC this entire place could be beautiful.

beautiful, badly water-damaged woodwork

gorgeous glass

weird double-skylight in the kitchen

bedroom

... does this mean no one has lived here since the '80's??

OJ found the picture and glasses in a closet

The second apartment had some water damage but not as much, but otherwise was pretty much in an equal state of disrepair. It was semi-painted throughout, as if someone had WANTED to take care of it and then said 'ah, fuck it' and left. 

stairs to the front of the building

more beautiful woodwork

nice paint job

love the built-ins

Overall, this was a really neat building. I liked it a lot. It wasn't as big as the bar we originally fell in love with but it had the same overall ambiance to it and would provide adequate space if we went with it. I even liked some of the decor better than the original bar (the tall wooden booths, the piano, the woodwork in the apartments, the porch overlooking the river). 

Concerns: flooding from the Mississippi is a big concern. Being right on the river is neat, as long as the river is behaving itself. The amount of work this place would require to be in working condition is also a bit of a concern. It's NOT move-in ready; we would definitely need a good amount of capital above and beyond the purchase price before we could move in and run the place. Finally, it is in Savanna, where there is more competition in terms of restaurants / bars AND is ten minutes away from Raven's Grin. 

Looking At Properties, Part Four

After the three properties in Mount Carroll, we drove over to Savanna IL, one of the neighboring towns. Savanna is about twice the population of Mount Carroll (when you're talking the low thousands, that's not hard to do, heh). They're right on the Mississippi River, and it sounds like they get a decent amount of tourism throughout the year, so we thought we'd check it out. We had three properties in Savanna lined up as well. The first one we saw has been a family-owned Italian restaurant for 25 years. The family is aging and has recently closed down the restaurant; they are selling all of the equipment along with the building. There are two apartments above the restaurant, one 2-bedroom and one 3-bedroom. The asking price is $325,000 and it is listed as having 6,496 square feet. "25 year established family business is what this piece of property held, 2 upstairs living spaces for tenant occupency or owners use for much convenience, newer windows for efficiency and updated kitchen and baths as well. Restaurant sits SMACK DAB in the middle of Downtown Savanna. And held a many busy week end nights with Chicagoland Tourists and Local business as well. Dont miss this opportunity to pick up where this family business left off."

The restaurant had a nice long bar and two good-sized rooms with tables. The decor was a bit dark and outdated for my tastes but with some sprucing up it could be made to work for us.The kitchen was very large and had definitely seen a lot of use in its day. LOTS of equipment included, but I have no idea what sort of shape it's all in. Not much of it seemed new; it's likely that most of it has been there for much of the 25 years the restaurant has been running. The realtor told us the restaurant was very popular with the locals; everyone loved the food and they were always busy. So, possible double-edged sword there: people might come to check out the new place and love us, or they might boycott us for changing the old stuff they loved. (We have the same potential problem for the location we love, although they don't seem as if they were nearly as popular as this place, darn it!)

The building itself is on a main street in Savanna and is right across from the Mississippi River, so potential traffic and views are great. I didn't think too much about parking so I don't know the situation there; the temperature had dropped quite a bit and it was sleeting at us, so I wasn't exactly thinking about the outside all that much!

The apartments upstairs were mostly in good condition. They have been remodeling the two bedroom and most of it is VERY nice. They haven't gotten to the bedrooms yet but the rest of it is clean, bright, new, and nice. Just a little more work and it would make a great rental space. It even had its own laundry units.

There is a shared space between the two apartments that they were working on, so it needed to be finished up. It had a washer and dryer and could either remain shared or could be used solely by the larger apartment. There was also a door going out to a small rooftop patio, where they had a tiny rooftop garden.

The three bedroom apartment was VERY large, and in nice condition, but the decor was definitely outdated. Fluffy rugs and wood paneling, oh my. The size was great and it WOULD be possible to move in and live there, but it definitely needs some updating. 

Overall: Savanna is a little bigger and busier than Mount Carroll, but there are also more restaurants and thus more competition in the town. We would also be ten minutes away from Raven's Grin, and if we're hoping to start a complementary business we don't know that that makes a lot of sense. Finally, in regards to THIS specific property, the asking price is considerably higher than any other place we looked at. Yes it's practically move-in ready and you get ALL the trappings of a longtime restaurant, but it just seems too steep for the area. And there would be absolutely NO room for any renovations, even cosmetic ones. So while we got some ideas from looking at this place, the high price pretty much makes it a no-go for us.