Love love love

Love me some goats! Quick crazy update. Went to visit the not quite 2 month old goats at New Moon Farm this weekend and really could have spent all day hanging with them. So ridiculously CUTE! And soft! And impish! Really - it makes me shudder with the cute overload. Tonight Tammy's bit with Nightline aired and watching her publicity gets me all excited to be doing this. She makes it look easy. Meanwhile I am here fussing about which damn laptop to get and moving rapidly from grazing spots to "lease-to-own" to outright buying a dang place. I cannot imagine getting my goats and having to travel to see them etc. Especially during this coming winter with so much going on - work, setting up the biz, managing the goats themselves, and of course the weather. My to-do list is ridiculous and I am still up at nearly 1 am writing here instead of getting the sleep I need. I might need a damn valium at this rate I am so wound up. Oh - and I am goat-sitting again in Dec. so I better have my damn computer so I can get some shit done while I am there. Oh yeah, and I have my social work licensing exam in 5 days. Ask me how much studying I have done...very little. I did tonight and of course validate that I can get a passing score based on 40 some questions. There are 170 on the test. I think this is a test of patience. I think I will go buy my Muckboots after my test to reward myself. Maybe look at some property as well. Look at a truck? We'll see.

Great big decisions

I am struggling a bit I must admit. I have slacked on looking at the property in Everett where I might be able to get free grazing rights in return for managing the blackberries on the acerage. I can't imagine having to haul up 30 min to feed and socialize with the goats in the crappy weather that is supposed to come this winter and then return home 30 min away again. Part of the point of all this is really to BE WITH the goats. And I am feeling like I really want to be with them more than not as I am new to all of this. I want to make sure I am checking on them frequently and know when something might be going wrong sooner rather than later. So it looks like I may have to making a move out of the city. I have been resisting this but I really think it needs to be done. I found a listing north of Seattle which might work - but it's only an online view. The lovely Juliet has given me her real estate agents info and I have emailed him. Gotta get going on this. I need to get my laptop, my truck etc. as well before the end of the year. Working 5 days a week is really hindering this process. Although the hit to my bank account will be noticeable when I reduce my hours. Managing all the details seems a bit much but I know when I get a couple of the big things done I will feel better. The logo is being worked on, I have someone to help with the website and hosting etc. If I did move north, there are definitely people I can count on up there. I want to have an official "launching" party as well. I think that would be super fun. I keep thinking of marketing gimmicks like magnets, pens etc. The whole idea of getting my own place scares me a bit - a lot of change all at once. I guess it may just be the time to dive right in to everything! Ok. Gotta get the laptop this weekend. Get one thing done. Anything. Visit some goats. Buy my Muckboots. Maybe a pocketknife as well. Yeah...that's the ticket!

Catching Up

I hate coming up with titles...it's like coming up with the subject for an email...don't like it. Here's the haps: can't remember where I left off so I may repeat myself. About 2 weeks ago I went and helped Tammy set up fencing for a job in east bumfuck. Yes- I swear. Actually, it only took about 10 or so min to get to the strip malls so perhaps not all that far out. I like being able to do the hands on stuff when she is actually doing it for a job rather than having to "role play" this stuff. Definitely a benefit of being an early adopter - she doesn't have the training planned so I just help her do stuff and get to learn along the way. Like today I went back and was helping her with de-worming. A messy job but I always love my time with the goats.

Last weekend I went out Friday night and stayed onsite until Sunday evening while Tammy was out of town. A big thing for me was that she actually called less often than when I was only "sitting" for 6 hours. I called when I had questions but overall it seems like she was able to trust me enough to really get away and that is way cool. It was amazing how time flew by even without a computer to entertain me - hell, even my phone was out of juice for a bit. Hanging out in the country playing fetch with Pearl the Wonderdog and chillin' with da goatys was pretty much what I did. I did try reading up for my SW license exam but that kept making me snooze. Sleeping in the back on my hatchback VW was a trip. The 2nd night was much better. I am grateful for being close by enough that I can avail myself of these opportunities to do trial runs. I get to feeling more confident and Tammy gets the help she needs. Despite not being home all weekend, I didn't feel stressed or emotionally wasted. I was super sleepy - but getting used to sleeping in the car is like that. It looks like I'll have another opportunity here in December as well. Might be a little chillier but it will be closer to home as well. FUN!!!

Got the EIN #, the actual business license in the mail and the bank account with the check card with the business name on it!! I was so excited about that yesterday I was calling all kinds of people. I feel like a guber but I have to giggle a bit when I think about me being a business owner and having GOATS fer crying out loud! teehee! Had some great conversation with the other Adriene today. We are feeding off of each other with this livestock business stuff. She is looking at something way more complex with horses in Western MA but we are on similar trajectories and it makes it that much more fun for both of us. As soon as I had posted my pictures from the weekend on my Facebook page, my cousin in CA was commenting on the pics and it seems like she (and her hubby) will be coming out as soon as I get some of my own goats. Have I mentioned that I LOVE the fact that my family is so excited about all this?!?! I called my dad and got my brother as well when I was sitting in a field of goats last weekend. They had me on speakerphone and it was really awesome to be talking to both of them from "goat central" and the energy from them and between them was great.

I sometimes feel like I don't know anything and that this is going to be really hard and I get frustrated with not moving as quickly as I would like on some things. A wave of being overwhelmed passes over me. But pass it does. And when I get a nose at my butt, or a nibble on my jacket and I see those sweet rectangular pupils looking at me....well I just get all mushy. I counted out 15 goats when I was with the big herd last weekend and it really didn't seem like all that much. A big benefit of watching Tammy's herd is that mine will seem so freakin' manageable!

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.