I have no fingernails left. And I'm on an anxiety diet. It's lovely.

Where were we? We had an extension until Friday and the Landlord had a meeting with his lawyer on Thursday so that's plenty of time for them to send us a lease to sign right? Except they both went M.I.A after their Thursday a.m. meeting. Our lawyer left messages for them all day Thursday and Friday while Davina and I sent texts to each other reading 'Anything?!'  'Anything!?'  'Anything!!!??'.  Bad for the blood pressure. Anyway, our realtor finally reached theirs mid afternoon and put him on the case and after another couple of grueling hours a shiny new lease arrived in my In Box. We pretty much got what we wanted, although we are personally liable for the rent for 2 years (as opposed to it being just the corporation) which terrifies us only a little bit. We also realized that we needed yet another extension to the offer because as much as Davina and I are on opposite sides of the country right now, and could get the signing done in about half an hour (ah computers, we love you), there's no way the landlord would sign the lease before 5:00 which was the deadline.

I was sitting in front of the computer all day staring at my In Box waiting, while nothing whatsoever happened. Of course, the lease arrived about 20 minutes before I was supposed to go pick up Kai and head to the drop-in centre's Christmas party so I flew into overdrive. My printer is out of ink (of course it is) so I literally ran to an internet cafe, printed out the lease and the extension, scanned them and e-mailed them to myself and ran to get Kai and then ran to the centre. As I was leaving the internet cafe our realtor called and said not to bother with the extension because the other side was doing up a fresh one and had just e-mailed it to me and could I please hurry up and sign it and scan it and send it back. I didn't have time to go back so I actually had to do it after the party, sleepy Kai in tow. But it's done. And I also managed to turn my phone off for the party and just pay attention to my child. If you know me, you know that's a big deal.

So this is where we are: I have signed the lease and scanned it to Davina who will sign it and scan it back to our lawyer today. We have an extension on the purchase of the cafe until Tuesday which is conditional on the lease being signed. So we just need to make sure the landlord signs the thing on Monday. Then the cafe is ours - that's when we get really busy.

Also, when the time for opening comes, I'm going to be asking everyone who is reading this, all 2 or 3 of you to please help tell EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER MET about the existence of Playful Grounds! Help us make the best place for parents ever!

Oh man this process is grueling! We are still working on the same location from the last post. We have gotten farther with this place than the first two meaning we have a signed conditional deal. There are also more parties involved in this transaction than there normally would be. Normally when you buy an existing business you assume their lease. In the case of this place, their lease was coming to an end anyway so we are negotiating a new lease with the landlord. So here are all the players: Davina and me, our realtor, our lawyer, the business seller, his realtor, the landlord, his leasing agent and his lawyer. Say that 10 times fast.

So the purchase (of the business) is conditional on us signing a lease with the landlord. The conditional period ends today so this post was supposed to be the one telling the world we got the space. However, the landlord is out of town or sick or at a movie or something and isn't available until tomorrow, so our lawyer wants our realtor to get the seller's realtor to agree to extend the conditional date until Friday. Meanwhile, Davina and I will both have to sign something to that effect which requires printing, signing, scanning and e-mailing since she's in Vancouver at the moment (3 hours behind us). Clear as mud?

Assuming (fingers crossed) this all goes through on Friday then our closing date is December 20 for the purchase of the business. Hopefully we'll get a short period free of rent to fix the place up, clean, paint, create a play area, all that good stuff and then we open!

Who wants to come to a painting party?

Okay, about the perfect place. Turns out it wasn't so perfect after all. In fact, it turns out that there's a lot more to a perfect place then we thought. So, on to potential location #3!

This place is only 2 blocks away from the last place so the location is still really great. And, knock on wood, we are finding this vender and realtor much easier to deal with, meaning that they don't give us the feeling that they are trying to pull a fast one or hide really big issues with the business which would come back to bite us down the road.

So this is where we are. Our realtor, (and by the way if anyone needs a really amazing realtor for either commercial or residential this is the guy) is putting together an offer which we are going to sign and send over tonight. Once the offer is accepted by the other side we will be further ahead then we were with the last place so here's hoping!

If all goes well we are still hoping for an opening sometime in January. Wow, I can't wait to get business cards printed with an address on them!

Will update as soon as I know something more. You all enjoying this roller coaster? I know I am. Where's the wine......

Okay, here we go! We have our eye on a new place. It's sparkly, central and well, pretty perfect! And it's not an empty space that needs renovating. We're trying to buy a business. This place is so fantastic that we don't need to do much more than hang our sign and open. It has all of the things that are important to us; Bathrooms on the main floor, lots of room for strollers both inside and out (we'll have free locks for people to use), plenty of storage space and room to host workshops for moms and kids, and um, a license for, um, well, imbibing.    :-)

We are in stage one right now which is that we actually signed an offer! Our realtor came over last night and explained the language in the offer line by line while our kids destroyed my living room and generally had a good time with my in-laws. As I understand it, the offer will go to the other party and if they sign the offer, we are officially in a lease negotiation. That would mean that they couldn't entertain any other offers until our time period expires, which is the end of November. After both parties have signed the offer it goes to both our lawyers and they proceed to make everything run smoothly and fill our lives with rose petals and puppies, 'cause, you know, that's their job.

If all goes according to plan, we could be in possession on or before December 15th! New Year opening baby!

Send us good vibes everybody - this feels like our place!

You know what happens when you wait for definitive news before updating a blog? You never end up updating the blog. Sorry about that. I hereby resolve to update this blog at least once a week regardless of what is in the works or on hold. There, I put it out there - in bold even.

So, money first. We've got lots of it! Of 5 loans, we have 2 in the bank, and the paperwork in process on 2 more. The last one is a few weeks away and we have no reason to believe that there will be any problems with it. It's kinda scary owing all this money, but hey, that's the game, right?

Childcare next. Mine is in daycare and Davina's plan for hers will start up the day we take possession of a space. Which means that she is continuing trying to work around the kids and I am loosing my mind trying to work with not that much to do. I know I should go to a movie or something, but I just haven't been able to rid myself of the guilt of actually having 'Me Time'. Such is the plight of a Jewish mother.

Location next. We've suffered a bit of a setback in that department. The space we were negotiating for isn't going to happen. So we are now chomping at the bit to find a location. We are prepared to buy a turn-key business and convert it or a retail space that we have to renovate. Either way is good, we just want to get going already. We spend a lot of time worrying if a place we check out is too far east by a block, or west by a block. I think we just need to realize that When We Open They Will Come. Please tell me that's true.

We've also recently discovered Meet-Up groups. Particularly Mamas and Papas of Trinity Bellwoods Park, who seem to meet ALL THE TIME in coffee shops in the area. We were absolutely made for them - but we're not open yet. I keep getting e-mails about theirmeet-ups and it's killing me, just killing me slowly I say.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. As usual, any feedback/suggestions/acknowledgements that there's people out there reading this are very good for my self esteem.

Okay, as promised here are the details of the meeting last night with the Jewish Free Loan people. First of all I had to get 3 guarantors who were all willing to be responsible for the money, which was no easy feat. This loan would require monthly payments starting immediately, but at zero interest.So my appointment was for 7:30 last night. I arrived at 7:25. As I stepped into the doorway of the office I was met with a man behind a desk and 4 old white men in chairs, all staring at me. "Tera?" the man behind the desk said, "I just called you to see where you were". "Are you all waiting for me" I asked? Yup. This room full of people were all waiting for me. Gulp.

2 of the men and myself went into  a small office and they told me that they would be asking me a bunch of questions and then after I leave they would meet with a committee and make a recommendation.

They asked and I answered questions about the business model, location, competition, menu, price point, and all of the finances.

I had cotton mouth the whole time.

They complimented the business plan several times and even went so far as to say that it was one of the best they've seen.  Then they thanked me and told me I could call the next day after 11:00 am to find out if we got the money or not.

So I called like the manic person I am from 11 on until I finally got through.

WE GOT THE LOAN!!!

We're on the way!!

Wow, it's shaping up to be a pretty busy week. Here's what's happening/happened so far. I'll just put this in point form since it's hard for me to keep all of it straight!

1. Cassa booked our appointment for last night! That's the Jewish Free Loan. They are an organization who's mandate is to offer help to Jewish entrepreneurs (that's me!) with no interest on the loans. It's considered to be the highest form of charity, to help others help themselves. We had to provide the business plan, the application, three guarantor forms and a promissory note from those guarantors. I had to go alone since I'm the client - no Davina. Totally scary. More on that meeting in the next post.

2. CYBF meeting booked for Friday morning. We will have to present our business plan and basically defend our idea to two volunteers with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. They will then give us feedback and we will have to make a bunch of changes in time for them to present it to the board on September 26th at which time we will find out if our business plan is really what the CYBF is looking for. So we really need to wow them.

3. The Daycare Subsidy people, who said I had virtually no chance whatsoever of getting a subsidy for September and only a miniscule chance NEXT September, called! They have a subsidy for me! Since both Duff and I need to be employed full time to be eligible for the subsidy, we have to go to a meeting also on September 26th to prove that I am a business owner. Basically I have to show them every piece of paper I've ever touched that's connected with Playful Grounds so that they don't think I'm trying to scam them. It's a really long list of stuff I have to provide.

4. One of the daycares that I'm on a waiting list for called and they have a spot for Kai! Now what are the odds of that? The call came not 24 hours after the subsidy call. Kai could be in daycare as early as October 1st. Down Guilt, down. There's a good little Guilt. Okay I'm fine. Just between being a woman, a mother and Jewish, I'm pretty much destined to be overwhelmed with guilt for my whole life.

5. Davina wrote her Food Handling Certificate Exam yesterday. She feels pretty good about it. Hopefully neither of us will poison anybody.

So it's one of those weeks of mad juggling of children between husbands, drop-in centre, and friend's places while coordinating transportation time, running from one meeting to another and just squeaking by. So basically, just another week in the life of a couple of moms trying to open a cafe.

Okay, it would seem that everyone in the financial world was on holiday for most of the summer, but they're back and things are starting to happen.

Loan number 1: There will be a meeting on September 26 during which a couple of people will present our case to a Board of Directors. Which means that we need to meet with those people between now and then to answer questions and essentially defend the Business Plan.

Loan number 2: The rep is back from holiday and is reading the business plan now, so hopefully we will get feedback within a few days.

Loan number 3: We have a meeting next Tuesday to defend business plan and generally be interrogated by loan number 3 people.

One version of the BP is at the print shop so we actually have something pretty in a non digital format.

Here we go!

Okay, so we've suffered a few setbacks as of late, but don't worry Playful Grounds will still be a reality!

As I mentioned in previous posts, we have been in a lease negotiation for a great space. Well, that is basically going on hold, if not being kibosh-ed all together. The problem, as always, is our financing. The landlord is unwilling to enter into a lease with us while our financing is still pending. So, when we actually get the dollars in our hot little hands, we can re-approach the landlord and if the space is still available, we can begin negotiations again.

The funding is on hold, basically, because everyone is on vacation. Our business plan and application was supposed to be submitted at the end of August - read now - but isn't going to be submitted until the end of September (see above about vacations), so we won't see a dime until at least  the end of October.

So, our current plan of action is to try to get the loan from the Canadian Small Business Financing Program now. Originally we were going to wait until we had the other loan first because the CSBFP wants to see a 3 month operating budget plus 25% of overall start-up costs before they will even look at us. We were going to use the first loan money to cement the CSBFP money. So now we're going to redo the business plan financials (AGAIN) and put every penny we can into a single bank account and try to get the loan without the other money. Follow? Clear as mud? Ya, to me too.

Wish us luck!

I know it's been forever since I've posted, but frankly, there just hasn't been too much to report. Tales of excel spreadsheets, lease negotiations and jumping through hoops to borrow huge quantities of money just don't make for very good tweets, nevermind blog entries. But here is our status right now.

Business Plan: Done. Just doing the waiting game now for funding.

Location: Have a great location all ready. Just in the throws of negotiating the lease. Believe, once it's ours, I'll be advertising everything about it like crazy!

Date to open? Well, if all goes well we are looking at a November opening. It's funny 'cause business people say "November? You're crazy! That's a terrible time of year to open a cafe!".  Mom's say "November! Awesome! That's just when we're looking for different things to do 'cause it's getting cold"

As always, opinions, suggestions and general comments are welcome and, well, hoped for!