Sandra and I got engaged this weekend! I honestly could not conjure a more perfect life partner. No one has considered me, loved me as deeply or helped propel me more in life than Sandra Calm. I would never have become the person I am today without her, and I am so thankful for that.
Considering we’ve created a business together already, I figure there isn’t a whole that can make us stumble at this point. Well at least that’s what I thought until we started talking wedding plans... Iyeee! (Just kidding, baaaby!)
While Sandra and I are busy creating our dream wedding this week, I thought it would fun to post a few entries from my journal that cover the days of planning our business while I was still at my old job to just a little after our grand opening. I hope you enjoy!
People Mentioned That Require Explanation:
Shoshana Leibner - Too many titles to list, but an epic float guru
Doug - Previous owner of our Floatarium tank in GA and great guy
Stewart (Stu) - My big brother
Jesse - Sandra's big brother
April 10, 2011
About to go to my first day back at work after a week long vacation. I can't say I feel great about it or terrible, it's more like I've forgotten what its like and need to experience it again to find out what I'll think.
Putting finishing touches on the business plan for the Float Shoppe. This is huge. It means access to funding and to locations. This is the big one to get our biz moving.
April 25, 2011
Put in my 2 weeks notice at Fiserv on Wed April 20th! This means my last day will be May 4th. it's crazy, but it hasn't hit me yet. This is my last full week of work before moving on to Float Shoppe full time. So excited to get those gears turning full time!
May 1, 2011
Sandra and I visited Float On last night for their Grand Re-opening. It was cool, and I was filled with a tension the whole time. this will be our competition.
May 11, 2011
Wow. Big things coming up. This Friday to see if the building can handle tanks...
August 1, 2011
First day of our lease on 1515 NW 23rd! We have our Floataway tank in our location. We bought an open tank from Shoshana today and we buy Doug’s tomorrow!!! Just had paddling practice. Chun made us work our asses off! Time to figure out where we're putting our tanks!!!....
August 23, 2011
Construction. Plumbing. Stew and sandra's help. Good day of work
September 14, 2011
I was in a car accident last Thursday. I was rear ended. I am doing well, but by neck down through my ass is really killing me. Work at the float shoppe has slowed to a crawl, but Sandra and Stu have been helping out. I think this will be a great wake up call that I need to call upon my friends for assistance.
November 1, 2011
Construction has taken a lot longer than expected. Had my first day off in a while yesterday. Awesome. Very refreshed today. All 3 fans are in ... And working! My dad is making such a big difference. Gotta finish tile and get these walls ready!!!
November 13, 2011
Got the giant ass floatarium upstairs!!! Thank you Stewart, thank you Jesse, Sandra I love you.
November 27, 2011
I don't know how many days we have been trying to complete this project, but we are getting very close. Room #1 is set up and just needs the electrical finished. Room 2's pump is now broken and needs to be replaced. I can see that we are almost there, but the fear of not having enough money in our first few months is becoming overwhelming. I am very scared, but I've been scared this whole time. And that's probably a healthy thing...
I'm sure that we can do it. Combined with Sandra's amazing drive, we've got this. We have to.
December 3, 2011
Both tanks filter pumps are working.
December 5, 2011
Hot water turned on tomorrow. Filling at least one tank! Wow.
December 6, 2011
Tranquility in place. removed old water, added new, cleaned it. added probably about 2/3 of the salt needed. EXCITING. Tired.
December 14, 2011
Opening day! This place looks amazing :)
December 19, 2011
Biggest sales day yet. $351 dolla! We could survive as a business like this!
December 30, 2011
I think we are just we are just a little over two weeks into being open. Wow! What an incredible win! We are actually floating people! They are having a great time I here! I can't wait to see what this place becomes. But first we have to deal with Groupon. Hopefully this means we are able to take money that we get from Groupon and invest it back into the Shoppe. We need things like window insulation, runners down the stairs, sound absorption downstairs and up. Just so that we don't have to tiptoe around our own building! We are worried we are going to be bum rushed by Grouponers and want to make sure that we are able to keep up a good image and customer experience no matter how busy we are. Ha! How busy we are! We have 2 tanks in this place and 4 other rooms that we will be expanding to! My god this is a hilarious beginning. I guess well see what happens. It’s gonna be great :D