Even Unknown Dreams Are Achievable

I have recently been asked several times how and why I decided to buy a kennel. "Was it always a dream of yours?" Is what they would ask me. Well, sometimes in life things just happen and for me this is one of those things. It is really amazing when I look back at the decisions in my life that I have made and the steps that I have taken that have led me here to what and who I am today. Even with all of it's faults, my life is truly AMAZING in every way. Sometimes all it takes are a few steps forward and poof there it is, right there in front of you and all you have to do is reach out and grab it.

I have always in my life loved animals and I have had several from various species and breeds, but I never thought that I would have a career working with animals. I always took steps towards finance and accounting which flows through every vein in my body, thanks to my dad. I had pictured myself working in an office for a major company in the accounting department. My dad would tell me time and time again... "Heather, you need to work for yourself and be your own boss. It's a much better life style for you." My dad is not referring to a financially better life style, but actually far from it. Being a small business owner is NOT a get rich quick, or even slow in a lot of cases, trick. But what it does give you is freedom from being told when and how or what you will be doing. Yes, I am tied down to my kennel but I do it because I want to and not because someone else tells me too and I am doing what I love to do in every way. I have the ability to help people and animals and that is such an amazing feeling. I can hardly call this work. I do not wake up each morning thinking; "Awww man I have to go play with the dogs again." The dogs make me smile every day with the unconditional love that they give to us humans sometimes with very little time together.

I was deployed with someone once who when you asked him "What's up?" he would say "Just chasing the dream." To all of you who are reading this who have dreams that you are chasing reach out and grab that doggone thing. Whatever that dream is ask yourself "What is the next step towards my dream?" Then go out there and take that step. Even if it a small step it is still a step and it is still moving you forward and that just happens to be the direction that you want to go in.

I made a decision one day while I was deployed in Kuwait that I was going to take my dads advice and buy a business. I remember that moment and in that moment my life changed forever and I couldn't be more happy with that decision.


Anyone looking for a small business loan please contact John Randall at Wells Fargo 317-977-1159. Thank you John for all of your help and professionalisim through out the process of obtaining our SBA loan with your financial institution and ultimately giving me my unknown dream come true.

Counter # 3

Well, I was right we did get another counter offer that we also countered. So, we are on counter # 4 now and the deadline for the seller to respond is Monday. Our broker had a very good conversation with the sellers broker and they have agreed to split the commission. Which is a good thing because there is no need to pay two broker fees for one transaction and I feel very strongly about that. So, it sounds to me like we will either get an accepted offer on Monday or a counter that we can accept. My "accepted offer by Monday" goal just might be reachable.

Heather

Counter the Counter Offer

Well, this morning we countered the counter offer that we received from the seller. So, tomorrow we can hopefully accept an offer, but my best guess is that we will be sending another counter offer. This is too much waiting for me... I HATE waiting with the passion, I always have. So, that is where we sit as far as the business goes. It is good that we are at least negotiating but sucks to wait.

Dad and I have decided that we are pretty close to idea overload and we need to purchase something so that we can get all these ideas out.

Bad News... Or Is It Good News

On Wednesday morning our broker called to tell me that someone else had put in an offer and that we better put in a good offer. So, of course I was all stressed out the whole day. I did a little more looking online to see if another kennel might be for sale. There is another one but it was a really small one and it is in central Indy with no land. So, it really does not fit what we are looking for, however, it could be a stepping stone if we hit a brick wall with every other option that we have.


I requested to see a kennel on the south side of Indy a while back and was denied due to not having enough start up cash. Well for one you can move money around the right way and not need that much to start up, but we were looking at the north side property pretty heavily so it wasn't an issue at the time. I again requested to go see the property telling our broker that we now know that I can get financing and also that we have a little more cash options via family. Our broker was having an issue with contacting the listing agent and we did not know if we could see it or not.


We were going to leave around 4 am rather than 2 am like we had been on previous trips, but with all of this new information we decided we better leave at 2 am like we normally do. We had an appointment with the SBDC at noon, so we knew that we were going to have plenty of time prior to that to, hopefully, see the other property. Our broker finally was able to contact the listing agent and get all of the information on the property as well as set up an appointment to go see the property that afternoon. Well, I had my fertility appointment at 3:45 pm and so I decided I better cancel it so we could go see this property. So, our fertility is on hold, but that is ok because JC comes home very soon and we can go together.


The appointment with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) went really well and I do plan to stay in touch and use them whenever I need to. They were very friendly and also shared the same passion for animals as I do. They also offer a very neutral answer to questions as they have no benefit to my decisions. I suspect that we will be in touch.


Then on to the next property. Dad and I actually really did like the property, however, the cash flow was not as good as the north side property. Dad and I are very good with moving numbers around so we could find a way to make it work if we needed too.


Then we met at the broker's office to get an offer together for the north side property. We offered what they were asking for the business and then we offered what we thought the land was worth.


The next morning our broker calls and says that apparently the other offer was substantially higher so we were told no. Of course it was horrible, but at the same time the south property was really nice. So, if we can finagle it to make the numbers work then it is actually a better option for us. So, dad and I had to completely rearrange our thinking and see what we could come up with. Dad came up with an option that would be very beneficial to both sides. so, now we are going to put together an offer via e-mail with our broker and hopefully have that in by tomorrow or Tuesday.


Wish us luck... AGAIN!!!!!!


Heather

The Ball is Rolling...

Trip number two to the Indy area. It was a very busy and productive day. We met with our business broker at 9:30 am for breakfast. Then from there we were off to talk to the banks. We had two banks lined up to speak with. The first bank was Wells Fargo in the downtown area. I have to say that I was very impressed with this business banker. He was very professional and seemed to be a genuinely good person. It went so well that I felt bad for going to the second appointment... and late at that. My dad informed me that we should have the second bank on the back burner just in case the first one fell through for some reason. He is right, so we did go to the second bank, which was Huntington National Bank and this was going to be our second meeting. It also went well, but it was clear that they were not going to even come close to the offer we had received earlier from Wells Fargo. It was a much shorter meeting and then we were off to see the property.


This is my dad's second time seeing this location and my first. I was very impressed with the current owners and the facility it's self. It is definitely a smaller facility with so much room to grow. It will take a bit to get to where I want to be but there is nothing but possibilities that surround this location. It is absolutely perfect and it just gets better and better the more I think about it and the farther along that we get.


We did not expect to get such a wonderful response from the first bank, but we did and so off we go on this wild ride that leads to small business ownership.