Progress

I was complaining to my Mom the other day about how LONG this whole "opening a business" business is taking. But, as she reminded me, every day I'm making a little bit of progress, even if it's just a little bit.

Plus, there's so damn much to learn about this that it's probably good it's taking so long. I need time to find - and absorb - all this information. No, my friends, it's not just about putting some tea on a shelf and some cheese in a case and bringing a cigar box for cash and a key to unlock the door.

If only.

Ohhhh, if only.

But as anyone who knows me, knows, and as my Mom keeps reminding me (in addition to the above reminder): if it's not a challenge, I get bored. And when I get bored I abandon a project.

So yeah.

But the challenges here are pretty gigantic and require a certain amount of creativity, as in "just make it up as you go along" and "don't just think outside the box, forget about the damn box entirely."

Part of the challenge is money. But even if I had all the money necessary to open this business, I couldn't just unlock the door. Because the other challenge is navigating Jersey City's byzantine municipal codes and regulations and what-not.

Although I guess if I had a pile of money I could just pay a bunch of people off to let me do whatever the hell I want. After all, this is Hudson County.

Kidding! I'm kidding! I will not be entering into any bribery or other illegal acts, other than the ones I won't write about here.

One major speed bump has been regarding certifying my home kitchen for mail-order-sales use. Turns out I can't. Jersey City doesn't like people using the same kitchen to cook their own food for home use as they do to prepare foods for sale. I guess I see their reasoning, but I'm not about to install an additional kitchen in my apartment. Duh.

So I'm currently in negotiation with a cafe close to my house to use their food prep space to process my mail order tea and cheese orders. We're working out the rent and such for the amount of hours and storage space I'll need.

As soon as I get the rental figures from them, I can finalize my Cheese & Tea Subscription Programs. This is a good thing. I can start selling some cheese and tea and making some money!

I'm also working out a program with them to develop a menu of cheese plates they will sell at their cafe. I'll be like a vendor, supplying them with all the (edible) components of the cheese plates. I will do some marketing, as will they, but they will be responsible for plating and selling them.

I can't get started with any of this, though, without raising about $2,000 in addition to what I've already raised. I need to get my inventory and some food prep and shipping supplies.

If you're thinking of buying any Store Bonds, now would be a good time to do it. Just think, it'll bring you *this* much closer to getting some great cheese and tea from me.

Again, for every $9 you invest now, you get $10 in merchandise from my mail order shop and from my storefront.

Stay tuned for more news, as things seem to be rolling along.