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This loan isn?t for me as much as it is for the success of
my wife?s dream. Ever since I have known
my wife, she has wanted to own her own bakery. You know? a place where you walk
in and take a deep breath and instantly the smells of cakes, cookies, and brownies
take you back to your childhood. When we
married 3 years ago, I made a promise to her that we would make her dream
happen one day.Three years later, we own our own bakery and cafe. Cakes.
Cookies. Brownies. Scones. Organic Coffees. Smoothies. Sandwiches. Salads.
Soups?. We bought an existing business who wanted out of their lease, which
gave us our location. We operated that existing business as our own until we
began to make the transition into our own bakery and cafe. This transition involved
remodeling the kitchen and getting new baking equipment.We spent over $100,000 of our personal money to get the
business up and running. In October, though, we hired a contractor to come in and
remodel the space. Some drywall work, some demo work, electrical, and plumbing.
His quote was just above $10,000. We went forward. The contractor, after
receiving a total of $6,000, bailed on us. We were closed for 10 days waiting
for him to return. He never did.We ended up hiring other people to come in and redo work,
finish work, and get us back open again. The debt grew to $130,000. We were
left with very little money for advertising, employee pay, and inventory. To
save money wherever possible, our Christmas gifts to each other were movie
tickets. Without advertising, sales are slow. Without a stable employee base,
service is bad. Without inventory, the quality of our product suffers.We have a little money left to keep the dream alive, and we
are proud to say we have not had to borrow money from anyone (banks included)
to this point. We have no personal or business debt except our personal equity
in the business. We have never been late on any auto, mortgage, or credit card payment.
And I plan to keep it that way. This loan will help cushion the next few months
and allow us to address the business requirements of advertising, employees,
and inventory. |
