Wednesday, March 28, 2007

More real everyday

We did not sign the rental agreement Monday yet as was planned because the owner took ill Saturday. We spoke Monday morning before he went into the hospital for tests and he said his wife would let us in the space in the meantime. It was nice of him to let us have the keys before signing. Now we can get ahead on set up and decoration while we wait for the contract.

We took alot of pictures and noted all the things that need fixing before we can open to the public. The previous renter took the ceiling lights and electric sockets leaving holes in the ceiling and the walls, we need to fix that. The front door doesn't close properly. It looks like they put the door in new, a glass door with side window, but didn't attach it to the floor anywhere so the whole piece moves when you try to shut the door. There are some paint retouches where they run new wiring in the wall for the air conditioning unit. A couple broken ceiling tiles need replaing too. We'll also need to figure a way to cover 2 pairs of water pipes protruding 3ft. straight up out of the middle of the floor. The previous renter, a hairdresser, had 2 hair-washing stations set there. That's all to fix in customer-facing shop. The walls are nicely painting and peach and floors are nice. The workshop and storeroom are in good shape as is.

After confirming my purchase order by e-mail Monday, I went to the bank today and made the downpayment on the machinery. What machinery, you may ask? Multi-head embroidery machinery.

We're opening a workshop and showroom for personalized embroidered textile as well as our own line of original embroidery designs. The business is an embroidery design center, workshop, showroom and sales outlet. Is that vertical integration or what?!

I got keys to rental commercial space in town, five minutes walking from home. The machinery is on order and delivery is expected the week after Easter. I got a Business tax number and (CIF) and a registered LLC (Sociedad Limitada).

Wow! This start-up is looking more real everyday!