It is said that nature abhors a vacuum. If so, nature must have been extremely annoyed with me these past few years and recently sent me an avalanche as a retort!
It all happened so fast: Miss M and I decide to open a pole dance studio, we form our business, we take a class at SBDC, we look at properties, we're discouraged by said properties in relation to the asking prices, brokers don't return calls or are plain rude, and then, boom, we found it--a great spot with a rent that could not possibly be beat. We are thrilled, we are nervous, we are giddy, we are apprehensive. Every emotion on the chart ran through us in the course of a week. And then we got down to business.
Four revisions of the Letter of Intent later, our Commercial Real Agent (CRA, for short) sent us a lease. Miss M and I were flabbergasted. It was a simple document of nine pages but we poked it gingerly, as if it were a bomb ready to detonate at any minute. Perhaps this was the influence of SBDC Lawyer. She scared the bejeezus out of us and rammed a fear of the IRS and the Bar Association down our trembling throats. Surely we were not capable of signing a lease until a legal professional picked it over with a fine-tooth comb! So we sent it off to a legal service and crossed our fingers that whomever it was assigned wore a skirt longer than Ally McBeal. In the meantime Landlord was literally drumming his fingers on the table. There was nothing to do but wait to hear back from the legal people. We thought we'd be productive and go get our business license from the City of Boulder and also see what we'd need to do in terms of permitting and zoning. Oy, what a headache.
We learned from the Permitting office that we'd need to do X, Y, Z and that we'd need a licensed Contractor or a registered Architect to stamp the work. It was a harsh hour of building codes and mechanical codes, and occupancy loads. In all actuality, the information was harsh, but the permitting guys were a blast. They got a particular kick out of picturing men pole dancing. I'm not sure what they were seeing, but they both turned three shades of red each. Miss M and I left there with our heads spinning but with a fairly clear idea of how to proceed. It was going to be a ton of paperwork, dotting i's and crossing t's, as well as a bigger build-out than we had anticipated.
Yesterday was when the avalanche really starting gaining momentum. We unexpectedly got an appointment with SBDC Lawyer (it was offered for free for anyone who took the class) and while I'm pretty illiterate in legalese, I think she indicated that we were definitely on the right track with the work we've already done and she seemed pleased with the questions we were asking. She generously gave us two hours pro bono and we couldn't have been more grateful to her. Then the legal people called and said that we were in good shape with the lease. Then CRA called to ask whether we were ready to sign (not too subtle there, CRA). Then we contacted Landlord to make an appointment with him for tomorrow to sign the lease and exchange the deposit check for keys. Then we ran to the bank to establish our brand new business account.
Last night I was numb. For three hours after Son went to bed, my mind was buzzing but in a really nebulous way. I couldn't focus on anything but I couldn't quite relax either. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant.
If avalanches are the result of pursing your dream, I'm happy to be buried temporarily.
We're signing the lease today at 1:00pm!
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