Long time, no post!

Hey lovely people…it’s been a while! Remember that first post of mine, way back when, which mentioned how bad I was at keeping in touch? Yep – this is a perfect example of that!

A few things happened at the beginning of the year which, not so much stopped me from posting, but definitely distracted me enough to prevent it.

Step 1.5…

I mentioned last week that I need to come up with an ‘interim’ business option, while the coffee shop plan is still a work-in- progress.

So, I’ve been looking at options that will allow me to make an income away from the usual 9-5.

I’ve also been reading a bunch of books  & blogs on alternative income streams. Eric Michael  and Pat Flynn seem to have lots of good info on passive income.

The first stumble on the road to success

So… I may have added an extra step on my way to opening the café-bar.

While doing some more ‘market research’ (read: lunch out) in town last week, I tried out a new little café that opened at the beginning of the year.

And (*sigh*)…it was amazing 😦 It was almost exactly what I want to do – without the Cajun-Creole twist. I kinda hate them, but their hot chocolate is so awesome I think it may be true love. Which begs the question: is this town big enough for the both of us?

I was a little cheeky and got the proprietor chatting. Asked him how they got started, what their process was & how long it took. Such an interesting conversation, but it was also a shot of reality when he said it took almost exactly a year from making the decision to opening the store. Part of me had expected that, but I still didn’t want to hear it – especially from someone who’s gone through the process.

The problem I now have is I really can’t see myself staying in my current job for a year while I put this plan into action – besides the fact that I’ll never get any of the planning done with the extra evening & weekend shifts I work. So, I’m not giving up on the café – a year from now I plan to be inviting you all to the opening, or at least posting the photos of it – but I am having to come up with, lets say, step 0.5. My stepping stone to my café.

So, I think we’re now almost at the stage where I have to leave the ‘comfort’ (hah!) of a stable income and leap into the unknown, without a parachute, or net, or protective gear, or…this could go horrifically wrong couldn’t it?!

But if the choice is to remain in a job you don’t enjoy, which makes you dread waking up every morning, or to step out of your safe zone and follow your passion, then… step aside people – I’m gonna jump!

Wish me luck x

 

P.S. I will almost certainly become a regular of that little café – those guys have done what I want to do and I plan to learn (by osmosis if necessary!). Also, the hot chocolate is just that good 🙂

P.P.S. Scott Dinsmore & the Live your Legend crew have an awful lot to answer for with regards to this new-found bravery/craziness. Check out this video.

I love it when a (business) plan comes together

Has to be the original! Sorry Mr Neeson

Well, almost…

I have started writing a business plan, which, as it turns out, is quite good fun!

I’m not suggesting that it will be a good business plan – one that will have investors dropping to their knees begging to give us shedloads of cash – but it’s helping me get my ideas straight.

I’ve been wanting to open my own coffee shop/restaurant/bar for a while now, but it’s only by writing up this plan that I realised how many ideas & visions I already have for this place.

I could honestly give you a guided tour of it in my imagination – although the layout has adjusted slightly each time I see a new location come up for rent!

It’s interesting finally writing everything down in one place.

Up til now, I have just had this nice little daydream of me & my friends working (happily!) away in this lovely cosy little shop.

It started off as a coffee shop selling tonnes of different cakes (I really like baking, what can I say). Then, after I came back from the states, it turned into almost a diner with so much comfort food! Now I’m adding a bar to my little daydream, I’m not delving into what that says about my subconscious – too scary!. I’ll just reckon it’s because I want a local like the bars in NOLA, and if I have to start a business to get one, then that’s what I’ll do!

If I’m sensible (don’t joke, it sometimes happens), I’ll do this in 3 stages:

1. Small scale coffee/lunch spot, focusing on take-out & delivery
2. Upscale for more seating
3. Extend hours, get a license & start serving up hurricanes & hand-grenades (the cocktails, obviously!) to the unsuspecting locals.

Will all, or any, of this come to fruition? I really hope so.

Now all I have to do is finish a very convincing business plan & finance the whole shindig – or win the lottery, whichever comes first 😉

Wish me luck x

Lowernine.org – My second family :)

Heads up: Thursday posts will all be about my favourite city, the love of my life – location-wise anyhow.

I didn’t go to New Orleans for a holiday – I didn’t enjoy my job back then (anyone else sensing a pattern here?), so I quit & started looking for volunteer posts I could sign up for.

Well.. maybe not just ‘I quit’…

Can I tell you a secret…?

 

This may come as a shocking revelation but… I don’t enjoy my job!

Wait…let me give you a minute to get over the shock.

It’s really not a good thing to say you don’t enjoy your job when so many people are struggling to find work, but I was talking to a friend the other day and he pointed out that, in the two years he’s known me, he’s never seen me so animated or passionate about a subject as I was during that conversation.

I’ll give you three guesses what we were talking about. Uh-huh… NOLA, and my love of everything therein.

Now… it might seem a small thing: So, your not that enthusiastic about your job – who is?!

But, I don’t want to settle.

I want to love my job.

I want to be the sort of person that goes to bed on Sunday night feeling like a child on Christmas Eve because I’m that excited to go to work the next day.

I don’t want to be the person that wakes up on Sunday depressed because it’s less that 24hours until they have to go back to work.

My solution? – I want to start my own business 🙂 (don’t we all?)

I don’t just want to bring a little bit of NOLA to my own life anymore, I want to introduce everyone else to that glorious city. As much as I can talk the hind leg off a donkey about living there, I want my friends and family (and hopefully a whole lot of other people) to experience the tastes, sounds & atmosphere of the Big Easy right on their cold, damp Welsh-slate doorstep.

So…

You lucky people are going to be getting weekly updates on the progress of my little start-up. (please, don’t run away!!!)

I’ll be trying out more recipes and thinking about designing a café/bar NOLA-style. EEEK!!! So excited!!

This is great incentive for me to stop just talking about it, and actually start doing something about it!

I’ve recruited a friend to help me with the market research side of things – roughly translated as regular lunch dates to scrutinise the eateries in our area and see what the competition will be. Safe to say, there’s not much in the way of Cajun-Creole around here, so I might be onto a winner. 🙂

Wish me luck x

RIP Chivalry?

I’m afraid it looks as though the ‘chivalrous man’ is on the endangered list. There are still a few in existence, but you have to look extremely carefully.

That said, I am privileged to say that I know some of that rare species – you know, the ones who will move you to the inside of the pavement/sidewalk so you aren’t next to traffic, the ones who will give up their seat for you in a bar and, on a very good day, the few who will open a door for you.

They exist, both sides of the pond, but it does seem as though they are more common in the epitome of southern hospitality that is New Orleans than they are back here in the UK.

Today, unfortunately, was not a good day for chivalry back home. Today’s example was so extreme, I was laughing by the end of it.

Part of my (current) job is to check that everything is in place and ready for events in a school, so I popped in to the auditorium to check that the stage had been cleared only to find that someone had left a grand piano smack dab in centre stage! Rather than chase around and disturb someone else, I started moving the piano off stage (it’s on wheels – I’m good, but not that good!), aiming for the room it’s usually in. Now, picture this: me – average female office worker in less that sensible heels – struggling to move your average sized grand piano (they’re heavy) when one of our lovely male teachers wanders past. ‘Perfect’ I think, as he smiles….and keeps walking. Out of the room. Not a word!!

Over the course of the next half hour I moved tables (up stairs), chairs and dropped the theatre curtains (which weigh a tonne), and all the while male members of staff walked past, stood chatting to each other, one even decided to start a conversation with me, which was nice, although I was slightly out of breath from carrying the table that was still in my hands!!

Now, I’m not anti-feminist and these staff members could just as easily have been women. Also,  I chose to do all of this rather than calling in help, but, if you happen to see someone (male or female) struggling to move furniture, or a piano even, it doesn’t hurt to ask if they’d like some help. Who knows, they might say yes!

Here endeth today’s lesson. Sorry I’m off to make some Brigadieros, so tomorrow’s post should be a little more light-hearted & chocolately 😀 xx