Asa Jay's weblog

More accurately, I visited the Spokane Chamber of Commerce BIZStreet & PTAC office at 801 W. Riverside Ave. Suite 240 in Spokane WA, 509-459-4120 (www.bizstreetspokane.com). This was my first visit to the office. I really didn’t know what to expect; I was on a mission to mostly find out what the office could provide.

In addition to counselors, the office contains a small business oriented library where customers may check out up to three books for seven days. I spent part of the afternoon browsing books and doing a little reading. I had come to the conclusion that I need to focus more of my efforts on market research, so I tried to choose titles that would help in this regard.

Here are some of the notes I took:

www.circlelending.com. I found a pamphlet printed out from Circle Lending that talked about financing small businesses. After reading through it I came to a better understanding of where I should go for money resources first, family. I’d never thought about asking friends or family for small loans to start a business; however, from this pamphlet it would appear some very successful businesses got their start that way including Wal-Mart and Subway. So this has given me a new perspective on where I might look for some money. This pamphlet was so helpful, I downloaded it and printed it for myself once I got home. In addition, the web site also has other resources I’ll probably get back to at some point.

If approaching a bank, think like a bank. Keep these things in mind which they will look for or ask about:

• Management Expertise and Experience.
• Detailed Business Plan.
• Cash Injection, i.e. how much will I finance myself.
• Collateral, what will I hawk to back up the loan.
• Personal Character, I should think about references.
• Credit History, so far so good.
• Personal Financial Statement.
• Consider different loan types:

• Amortized
• Startup/Graduated
• Interest Only
• Seasonal

I certainly need to do more research and reading on this subject.

After some time reviewing financing ideas, I turned my attention to marketing. I found a loose-leaf book about starting a computer learning center. This was an idea very close to what I was thinking, so I began to page through it. I found some highlights and questions I need to ask myself regarding who I want to sell to, or rather, who I am targeting:

• Middle to upper class?
• Dual income families?
• Single Parent families?
• Parent(s) with a child under 6?
• Adults seeking training or retraining?
• Teachers looking for alternate learning centers for students after school?

From here, I now need to figure out a way to survey the market and see if there is a need or a desire for my Internet cafe’.

I made an appointment for next week, 9 August at 1pm with John Coleman, who is one of the councilors. I’m not sure what we’ll talk about but I’ll get a set of questions together. Lastly, I checked out some books before leaving, some of which I took the above notes from:

• Small Business Owners Manual, by Entrepreneur Magazine, ISBN: 1-891984-00-4
• Financing the small business, by Robert Sisson, ISBN: 1-58062-681-5
• Computer Learning Center, Entrepreneur Magazine Group Business Start-up Guide (No ISBN)

I spent just over two hours browsing books and taking notes on these key ideas.

Things I learned:

• Think more than banks for financing: family, friends, etc.
• Prepare properly and thoroughly before approaching a bank.
• There are some great on-line resources for information about starting a small business, including forms as well as advice.
• I need to map my target audience, much like any other presentation, I need to know who I wish to serve.
• I really need to do a market survey to know if my target audience is interested.

Tasks to add:

• Prepare a market survey questionnaire.
• When I finally know my financial requirement to start up, break it down into smaller chunks and make a list for alternate financial approaches. (Make a list of people I might ask to borrow money from)
• Read more from the books, and make it to my appointment next week.

Asa Jay

I got a call back from Stephanie McCathren of McCathren Management.  The property they represent is the old Premier Video store on Hwy 2 in Airway Heights, located at . 12924 Hwy 2.  Her number is 232-5160 x106.  I was on the phone about 10 minutes asking questions, here are my notes:

• How much space?

• 3700 sq. ft.

• $13.50 triple net (common area maintenance).
• This works out to $49,950 per year.

• Five year lease at $4,162.50 per month.

• Heating and A/C
• Water and Sewer (restrooms are available)

• Phones
• Electric

I had to ask what triple net was, and I don’t know that I got a real good answer.  I believe it referred to the portion of common area maintenance that is charged, which Stephanie told me was about $2.50 of the $13.50 per square foot.  I was then told there was another party interested in the space, which began to sound like a typical used car sales tactic.  Since I’m in no hurry while doing investigations, I told her what I was up to and that I would get back to her if I was interested in the space.

I felt nearly $5,000 per month was a lot to rent space (Holy Cow!).  On a five year lease I would be out $250,000.  At that price I figure I could just about build my own space.  My wife mentioned how she had expected the space to be about that much since she used to work as an office manager in Spokane, so she’s more familiar with lease prices.  I’ll  have to see what the other spaces are going for.

What I learned:

• There’s a thing called Triple Net that may or may not be worked into the price and which I will have to be conscious of as I talk with other realtors.
• Leasing is spendy and they want a long lease term.

What I have to do:

• I need to get this information into a spreadsheet for comparisons.

That’s all for Today,
Asa Jay

Today I spent just a little time trying to contact Realtors who are listed against certain properties in the Airway Heights area.  I was not able to directly contact any of these but I did leave voice messages.  Hopefully they will call me back.

The properties I’m looking at are:

• Next to Dominos Pizza, 12622 W. Hwy 2, Space C & D

• Listed by Tomlinson Black Commercial, 623-1000, Earle Engle 622-3550 or Randy Jassman 622-3562

• Advantages:

• Newer construction
• Right next door to food

• Hardly any parking out front (two handicap spaces right in front taking up almost the entire storefront)

• Old Premier Video spot, W. 12924 Hwy 2

• Listed by Kevin McCathren 232-5160, www.mccathrenmanagement.com
• Advantages:

• Established space
• More parking (but still not a lot)

• Right across from the supermarket

• Older Space

• New construction at Hayford, housing Starbucks and Quiznos Subs

• Listec by Vandervelt 467-6654
• Advantages:

• Growing location
• Popular venues already established
• Plenty of parking (huge lot)
• 24 hour Taco Bell (works nice if I open my business as a 24/7)

• Will probably be expensive because it’s in new development

Here is a list of items I feel I need to talk about, hopefully I’ll think of more as I really talk to people and I’ll also ask if there is more I need to know.

• How much space?
• How much per square foot or basically the space in general?
• What are the lease terms?
• What Utilities are included?

• Phone?
• Electric?
• Water?
• Sewer or Septic?
• Are there restrooms already installed?

Since all I did was leave messages, I only spent about 15 minutes on this task so far.  I’ll make entries as I hear back from them.
Asa Jay

Today I spent some time talking with people from two different places. The first was LLIX, an Internet supplier in Liberty Lake. The other was the Spokane Economic Development Council. The initial goal for today was to get information about network infrastructure needed in my business idea. That conversation then led me into a visit with the EDC. All this was done during a day when I stopped to visit several employers in order to continue my work search.

My first stop for internship purposes was with LLIX in Liberty Lake:

23403 E Mission Ave
Liberty Lake, WA 99019
www.llix.net
I’ve had my personal Internet services with LLIX through Aimcomm for many years now and they have provided a very good personal level of service. For my business idea, I would need good Internet access in order to provide service for several customers at one time. After arriving, I was put in touch with Chris Walter (688-2583) who manages Commercial Accounts.

After a quick tour of the facility, the server rooms, etc., we sat in their employee lounge and talked about my idea of an internet cafe’ and more. Based on what I wanted to do, Chris helped me get an idea of different service levels and the costs associated with them.

The needs I expressed to Chris were:

• Approximately 10 computers on-line and accessing the Internet at any one time
• Mostly download use, i.e. research.
• Probably some game use.
• One server perhaps acting as a mirror for specific data used locally (again mostly using download and not serving upload beyond the business)
• Some upload capacity for website updates, on-line ordering, gaming, etc.

After we talked over my needs, we figured download was much more important and could reasonably be served using DSL technologies readily available in the Airway Heights area. A T1 line would not give me that much more bandwidth but would cost a whole lot more and be expensive to install practically. Cable is not currently available and the service might not be as good. Based on this, Chris suggested I use Qwest Premium DSL. Speeds would be about 5Mbps download and 896Kpbs upload. Overall charges between Qwest and LLIX would be ~ $80 per month. There would also be a DSL Modem needed for ~ $80 in a one-time purchase. In Contrast, Fiber (for T1) ~ $1800 month (too spendy, probably way more than I need)

Next we talked about security in the following areas:

• Firewall to protect incoming and outgoing traffic.
• Protecting computers internally from each other.
• Protecting wireless connections.
• Web site filtering (porn filters, etc.)

Chris pointed me to Fortinet Wifi (www.fortinet.com) which is an all-in-one firewall with wifi-security and more. I’ll have to do more investigation into that later. I did ask if LLIX could supply contracted or outsourced labor to assist me in setting up and configuring certain resources on business start up. I was told they could contract IT resources between $75 and $150 per hour depending on complexity. This would be good as I don’t initially see the need for a full-time person to manage the network.

We moved on to talk about how I might be able to offer limited ISP services to local individuals and businesses in my area, as part of my business model. Chris told me LLIX has packages available to resell dial-up accounts and other services that I could take advantage of. I would need to talk with Craig Brandvold for more information, but didn’t have enough time today to talk with him.

At some point in our conversation, Chris suggested I talk with Gary Mallon at the Spokane EDC, as there may be money available to help build businesses in Airway Heights, my target location. Chirs knows Gary from other activities and he know there is money available as Airway Heights grows. I took notes and decided I would stop at the EDC on my way back home and see if Gary was around and could talk with me.

I then spent a little time talking with one of their technicians, John Taylor, about server packages, reseller accounts and the technical aspects of moving from one type of service to another as part of the business.

Time Spent on site with LLIX was approximately one hour.

After stopping to talk with more potential employers and to fill out my job search log for the State of Washington, I made my way downtown in Spokane to the EDC.

Spokane Area Economic Development Council
801 W. Riverside, Suite 302
Spokane, WA 99201-0908
509-742-9355
www.spokaneedc.org
I was looking for Gary Mallon, and as luck would have it he was in and had time available to talk with me. I introduced myself and how I came to contact him. Gary had me come into his office and we talked. Gary’s phone is 624-3759 and email gmallon@spokaneedc.org

We started by having me explain to Gary what my idea was. In response, he asked a series of questions that helped him understand how the EDC might be able to help. What I found out was that the EDC has funding available for certain kinds of businesses in a production, manufacturing or development field. If a company is going to produce a product, they can probably get some funding. However, a service oriented industry such as what I’m looking to open, does not qualify for any funding. Well darnit anyway.

Now, just because the EDC did not have any funding, didn’t mean Gary didn’t have other ideas for me. He pointed me to the following additional resources:

• Northwest Business Association in the Hutton Building
• Small Business Administration
• Small Business Development Center
• STC, behind Jensen Byrd
• Connect Northwest – Dennis Lytle (sp)

Gary also gave me the name of Tom Lein (Lien?) who used to be on the Airway Heights economic development council. I need to stop in to AH and see what they have going for an EDC there.

Before I left, Gary gave me several copies of publications to puruse:

• 2006 Market Fact Book from Journal of Business
• The Spokane Region – At a Glance
• Spokane Surging Forward, by Washington CEO Regional Report
• Welcome to the Spokane Region, containing demographic informaiton
• Spokane, Washington: A True Digital Community, January, 2006, by the Spokane Area EDC

On a side note, Gary also told me I should look into a company called NexIT, who does military and government stuff, for possible employment. He also asked for a copy of my resume.

Time spent on site with Gary was about 30 minutes.

Things I learned:

• The EDC has contacts and funding sources available for specific kinds of businesses.
• Many of the small towns around Spokane have their own EDCs.
• The EDCs can be a good source for demographic data.

Further research and tasks necessary:

• Contact economic development councils in Airway Heights, possibly Medical.
• Visit the Small Business Administration when I have more time.
• Research the Fortinet Wifi that Chris told me about.
• Start a spreadsheet of costs.
• Learn more about demographics and how to focus a market survey.

That’s all for today.
Asa Jay

Today I took a new path with my career and education as I signed an internship contract with Whitworth College. This is kind of like a directed self-study where I will be doing all the work on my own, under the guidance of a Whitworth instructor. My study focus is on what I need to learn and know in order to open my own business. To accomplish this I had to come up with several goals for the study and they had to be approved by my Faculty Advisor. In addition, I have to complete at least 40 hours of work, study and reporting in order to gain one credit. I elected to sign up for three credits, which means I will have to put in 120 hours of work, basically three regular work weeks.

Here is a summary of my goals:

– How to measure the validity of a business idea: Marketplace Survey

– Investigating Business Expenses, material & Human Resources

– Break even Analysis

– Risk Assessment

– Financial Planning; loans, capital, etc.

The Work Site Goals are a listing of things we believe I need to do in order to accomplish the above goals, and they are:

– Research the market for fine-tuning the business idea and check for validity.

– Research brick & mortar space for operations: cost, terms, availability of necessary utilities, etc.

– Research cost of equipment: initial acquisitions, maintenance contracts, etc.

– Research cost of Human Resources: types of jobs necessary to run the business, necessary skills needed, costs associated with those jobs.

– Research ways to finance startup operations: bank loans, etc.

– Complete reports on paper, financial and otherwise, to determine go-no-go decision on business validity, and for use as presentation material for loan applications.

– Learn break-even analysis and estimate break-even volume.

So there it is, I just need to get rolling on it.  Since I’m currently unemployed I should have plenty of time to do things.  Let’s see how it goes.

Asa Jay