A Week's Worth of Pre-Business

And then she never blogged again. For like four days. Sorry about that -- sometimes so much is happening that you don't have time to record it. For example, here's this week in the life of a prospective bookseller.

Monday:
Talked by phone to JC, my contact at a local bank. He was a guest speaker at a business class I took through the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation and emphasized the importance of building a relationship with a bank -- so when I was ready to put my grant money in a business account and start researching loans, I got in touch with him. He helped me open a money market account and has offered both enthusiasm and good advice as I'm working on the financial part of starting a bookstore (which is kind of the ONLY part I'm working on these days.)

I had taken home a small business loan application, intending to fill it in and turn it over to the bank along with my business plan, and I'd been pestering JC with questions via email for a week or so. He asked me to call him so he could share some of what he learned in asking questions of the bank's underwriters, so I did. And he shared the following rather discouraging items:

1) The bank won't want to give me a small business loan until I have a space secured. They'll want to know the specifics of rent, utilities, square footage, etc., rather than my estimates for the neighborhood and what I'm looking for.

2) The bank will want me to have twice what I'm asking for as a loan on hand in equity. (That means, if I'm asking for $100,000, I should have $200,000 in personal or investor equity.)

With $25,000 in the bank and no current prospects on a space, that means it's back to the drawing board. I spent a day and a half feeling weepy about this, but really it's a good thing to know how to prioritize. I need to focus on finding investors and finding a space -- the loan may be the last piece of the financial puzzle.

Later on Monday:
Emailed with Len and Sarah at the ABA about becoming a Prospective Bookseller Member of the American Booksellers Association. I've been using my boss's ABA username to access the resources on BookWeb, but I feel like it's time to get my own membership. I need to start asking questions of fellow booksellers in the forums, etc., and it's a little silly to keep having to explain that I'm not actually Sarah and I'm not actually asking on behalf of McNally Robinson.


Wednesday:
Had coffee with a friend in the publishing industry who had expressed interest in hearing about the progress of the store. Turns out she had something to share of her own: a nest egg, and a tentative proposal for working together. She's someone I like and respect a great deal, and I'm cautiously intrigued by the idea.

I've tried out and rejected the idea of a partnership several times, for reasons of personality conflict or idea conflict or mismatching expectations, and I'm not totally sure that I (as the bossy eldest child in my family, and as someone who's been processing this idea for years) am even capable of sharing this project with someone else. But another part of me thinks I might be foolish to continually insist that I have to do this on my own and in my own way, when if I can't come up with some capital I won't be doing it at all. Any investor is going to want some form of equity in the business -- I can't expect that someone will just hand me money and say "have fun" -- and it might be better to work with someone I know shares my values and my knowledge of the book industry, and who has a reasonable understanding of how we might split responsibilities, than with someone who just has money. And if this could work, it would certainly mean things could get going sooner rather than later.

For now, we agreed to "date" as potential partners, leaving all options open, and parted ways with a hug, both feeling a little giddy. An interesting morning, to be sure.


Thursday:
Had a breakfast meeting with another woman I'd love to work with, if the world was easier: this time a local resident who wants to support independent business in her neighborhood. We had talked some time ago about her proposal: that she might buy a building in the neighborhood to house the bookstore, with some kind of equity arrangement as the landlord, and charge below-market rent. In a city like New York where rising rent is the usual reason stores go out of business, this could be a major lifesaver for the bookstore! The problem, of course, is time as well as money: it takes a lot longer to buy a property than to sign a lease, and the idealistic local resident (shall we call her the ILR?) is an extremely busy person without a lot of time to run around looking at buildings. We also agreed to keep our options open: I'll look for great rental spaces and forward her any information on appropriate properties for sale. And we'll think about revisiting this idea in a few years, once the store has gotten started and I may be looking to move to a better space or settle in more firmly. In the meantime, she also gave me lots of good advice and encouragement -- it's good to have another supporter.


Friday (today):
I have a 3:00 conference call and a 7:30 dinner scheduled with my strongest local supporters: the Retail Committee of the Fort Greene Association. Around the time I was winning that business plan award, the FGA was conducting a survey of the residents of its neighborhood to find out what kinds of retail they wanted to bring to their neighborhood. The neighborhood is becoming more affluent, and the FGA wants to be proactive about bringing in the kinds of services residents really need, rather than watching as chain stores and nail salons take over all the retail properties.

Turns out that bookstore was the number one desired store, across all categories of income, race, gender, etc. The FGA had contacted some other local booksellers to see who might want to come to the neighborhood, but everyone had their hands full with their own stores and projects. Then they heard about my win in the Daily News and contacted me, and it was like love at first sight. Fort Greene was one of three neighborhoods I proposed in my plan as the most in need of AND the most able to support a bookstore, and really my favorite of them all. I'll probably write lots more about the neighborhood; I live just on the other side of Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope, but I'm becoming more and more enamored of Fort Greene as a place to set up shop.

(This is the risk of posting this publicly: please, if you're thinking of opening a bookstore yourself, don't steal this joy and head straight for Fort Greene. But I figure I've talked to enough people about this in person that the word is already out there, and I can't keep being vague about the community I'm working with. I'll just cross my fingers and trust in everyone's good faith -- or that no one else is crazy enough to want to do this.)

Anyway, the FGA is planning a sort of "coming out" party for me, to publicize the impending bookstore and, more importantly, to pitch the idea to some potential investors. The phone call and the meeting are about that. I'm still hoping to get advice from a small business lawyer on what investment terms should look like, and there are lots of details to plan. But these guys are great, and I'm grateful for their support and for their welcome into their community.


Okay, that's the week, give or take a few dozen details. I'm going to try to post more frequently and less at length, as time and developments allow. But you're mostly caught up now. Would love to hear your thoughts or comments. Have a good weekend!