Bittersweet

I got the check from my father today. It's an exciting day, I have never seen a check for this much money before and I am so very grateful for it. The check is from an account that my parents shared and because checks are so rarely used anymore, this one still have my mom's name on it as well. It is both eerie and appropriate. The note my father enclosed invokes my mother as well and I become teary reading it. As much as my parents, and now my father, have annoyed me over the years, I have no doubt of their love for me and their desire for me to do well and be happy. This goatventure that I am on with the help of my family and friends feels strangely rooted in my childhood. The most rural time in New Hampshire. When we first got a goat ourselves. My mother made clothes for me. We had a big vegetable garden and she made pickles, granola, yogurt, and jam. We made tortillas together as a family and the filling always takes me back. We picked blackberries and in the spring we tapped the maple trees and my father made maple syrup over a wood-burning stove in front of the barn/garage. Our cat had kittens in a dresser drawer and the old lady down the road a field that had hay bales in it every year. My brother and the neighbor kids (there were a few) adventured into woods following stone walls made in seemingly ancient times. We tasted clover and rubbed buttercups on ourselves for the heck of it. Looking back it was such an innocent and simple time for me as a kid and I think there is a part of me that is seeking that simplicity again in this venture. And in some ways a connection back to a time when I unabashedly loved my parents and needed their protection and security. When I felt safe and secure. It's so strange what all a simple check in the mail can bring up.

Proof in the Pudding!

This is it people! The actual document! Funny how filling out the Master Business License os so much more challenging than this one was. DO I or don't I want Worker's Compensation? How do I fill that out? What category does using goats for brush management fall under? Soil remediation? Land clearing? Oy! Crazy stuff! Even the SCORE consultant has to research it. Funny too how the other day I was talking to to one of the owners of the cupcake shop I go to and he was asking me if I knew about the SBA office down the street. Of course I do! And wholeheartedly referred him there. They have been open almost 1 1/2 years and he wants someone to look over the financials and make sure they are reasonable etc. They are hoping to be making a profit by May 2011 - 2 years. Although the profit didn't look very big for this business the first year - it was definitely there. whew!
Then last night I was talking to my friend in FL and she just had her 1st meeting with her SCORE consultants about her horse boarding/ activity center and she was stoked about it! She has a class on Equine Business Management next quarter and she will have the jump on it. Plus she is going to forward anything useful in terms of spreadsheets etc. to me as well. And I put her in touch with my cousin who is practically running a boarding stable in Western PA by herself - so there is lots of mutual support happening across the states.
The other really funny thing is that now that people I know are hearing all about my business, they are hearing about goats all over the place. A colleague this morning just told me about how she was talking with either a neighbor or a friend about how they were going to get this other outfit to come out with goats and she suggested waiting for me! Hahahaha! This other outfit is the one that denied leaving behind a goat from a job last month in a neighborhood near me. I will be the better "goat lady."
I also went a couple feed stores the other day and can't wait to go back with the money to actually buy the stuff! I tried on a pair of Muck Boots and they are more comfy than my Doc Martens. wheee! I really can't wait to get these few things done this month so that I can start focusing on the truck and the land for the goats. Not that I'm not doing some of that now, but I really want this other stuff done before so that I can focus better. Too many things competing for my attention at the same time. And I got the manual from Tammy as well - yay! Some things still missing but hopefully together we can make it even more kick-ass.

Got it!

Today I got the email saying that Amazin' Grazers is now registered as an LLC with the State of WA and I have a UBI number! My official certificate should be coming next week. I had to call my dad I was so excited! I am going to be overusing exclamation marks throughout this post - be warned...I really am this excited! Dad is super excited too and he and his wife watched the Colbert Report where Tammy and Rent-A-Ruminant were featured and said it was "side-splitting." I watched it last night with a couple of friends after work and we laughed our assess off as well. My brother got to posting it before me and that was cool. Next is the Nightline piece, less hilarious but more informative I'm sure.
My next step is the business license and I got the manual from Tammy today in the mail! Gonna get in my jammies with some hot tea and work the computer. Tomorrow I will be off to check out farm stores with my buddy Juliet and maybe look at a pasture site and some trucks as well. GOt the word out for folks to send me logo ideas and then business cards and the website in Nov. I've got a couple of friends that I am going to do "trial runs" with when I get the goats so that I get some practice setting up and loading/unloading the goats so that I don't look like a complete idiot with my first paying customer. Also to get a real sense of how long it takes the goats I get to clear an area of brush, everything is so theoretical right now and I learn best by actually doing it. Like in Social Work we did practicums so we did the work while under specific supervision to learn by actually doing. Medical folks have residencies etc. as well. So one of these friends I had dinner with tonight and she suggested having a sign like landscapers or roofers or painters do to put on a front lawn so that passers-by can see who is doing the work. I can see it now - "Amazin' Grazers - Goats At Work". Especially in places where the goats may not be that visible from the street, it would be a great way to advertise and that's another benefit to doing the trial runs. Get people talking and seeing what's afoot! Word-of mouth is great advertisement. Friends are already hitting me up for rates etc. on Facebook so I'll definitely need something up and running with some info on it by the end of November.

I am actually having a good time doing all of this start up work so far. Getting the LLC information today is so cool because it is tangible evidence that this is happening, fer real. And I really like tangible. I can't wait to get my hands on some goats and start bonding with them! Oh the cuteness!

Take off!

I could just pee I am so excited! I just filed the "paperwork" to incorporate as an LLC under the name Amazin' Grazers. I should have the official paperwork in about a week. From there I get my business license for the State of WA and my Federal Tax ID number....holy crap it's happening! Six months ago I had no idea what the hell I was going to do with my life and couldn't think of anything I wanted to do as a business and here I am! I am feeling adrenaline or something. I haven't been excited about much of anything in so long I think I forgot what it felt like.

My cousin called me today as well. She is the one in PA who essentially runs a horse farm/ boarding facility and she called out of the blue to offer her knowledge to me! Yay! I love my family! I can't even eat I am so excited (now THAT's rare!). As soon as I posted on Facebook that I had submitted the paperwork, a friend posted that she knew someone who wants the rates! This really could be something! My friend Juliet mentioned as I was leaving her house the other day that she loves farm stores and I so need to go check some out. Outing! She sent me links as I was driving home.

If I wasn't so excited I might feel overwhelmed. I know that's it's work but it is starting to feel like it's just flowing now.

Excited!

I am getting all excited again! This week has been super stressful at my day job but some cool things are happening. I met with the SCORE guy on Thursday morning and he said I am doing really well. Funny how I get more praise from a guy I have met 3 times than from the boss I have had for 7 years....that day was particularly horrible on the job - and nothing to do with the homeless, drug addicted, mentally ill clients I see. Friday I talked to Tammy and although we aren't going to meet until next week, I am all excited after talking to her. Apparently she is getting calls for small jobs and she is telling them to call back next year! I am (in reference only) mentioned in the coverage she got in the Vashon paper. We also talked about me getting some hands on experience with innoculations and hoof-trimming and me helping her set up a job as well as actually caretaking for her so she can get a couple days off while on that job. I could pee myself I am so excited! 3 days overnight with a bunch of goats? Seriously? Who knew this was my idea of heaven?!
I was at a party the other night and was talking to someone i hadn't had contact with in quite a while and talking to her and her husband about the goat idea got them excited and me all wound up again. And I was talking to my dad today and he seems almost as excited as I am -and he's the one with the dough! 6 months ago I had no idea what I was going to do to get any kind of relief from my job, now I am planning on 15 goats and my own business. My heart is just overflowing with gratitude for my circumstances.
Tomorrow I head up to Arlington with my cousin to help out at New Moon Goat Rescue & Sanctuary. Gotta get my goat fix.

Practical vs Creative

So today I today I have been searching banks. I need one to have my business account at, one that might be able to do small business loans if I need in the future but hopefully not a huge conglomerate. All this research! With a full-time stressful job and a life and...and....and....ah the glory of small business start-up. Gotta get out and research trucks, places to keep the goats, a vet, a laptop, broadband service, banks, yowza! I feel like I am chanting like the little engine that could on this and I know that I am not even putting in the level of effort I need to yet. This is all the practical stuff. I still need need a name for the biz.

So I post possible names in a note on Facebook and send out an email to many people to do rankings and then I shall choose. And then there's the logo, the website woohoo! Thank goodness I know creative people who can help with all this. I am thinking I need to start advertising in Dec which is only 2 months away!! This is the fun part, the part that gets me all jazzed. This and hanging with the goats of course.

Now off to do some household maintenance so that I can focus on this other stuff!