Twenty Four Hours of Anxiety

The past twenty four hours have been just unbelievable. Some wires got crossed about closing (or not closing) on the first of the month, accounts were closed, had to be re-opened, roles redefined, schedules tweeked.....

I finally got the business plan emailed back to me yesterday afternoon, printed out at Kinkos and spent last night writing up the cover letter, cover page, table of contents, appendix and filing it all into a pretty little folder... the kind you might use to present an end of term paper.

This morning, on my way out the door to open the shop, I realized that the numbers for the loan and start up costs weren't plugged in correctly to the Cash Flow Chart and so I spent my morning, brow furrowed, dodging off to the computer in between lattes and breakfast paninis so that I could calculate the correct figures and plug them in to the Excel version. The next question that haunted me, an hour later and forty five minutes before I'm due at the bank, was how the hell I'm going to print this chart out before I have to leave for my appointment and hand it over to Mr. Loan Officer.

My friend Melissa, a golden halo hovering over her chic haircut and long earrings, came striding in with little Miles and suggested I email her the Excel spreadsheet and she would drive back up to her house, print it for me and bring it back. Bill, who was joining me at the bank, came over to the shop, took Ella up to a friend's house and came back to get me just as Melissa was pulling in and handing me the spreadsheet. It felt like a great relay race with a stressful paper baton being passed in the bumpy dirt parking lot out back.

Really, the whole Cash Flow Chart was null and void...for the bank's purposes anyway. I have zero working capital to put into this venture so it looks as though a home equity loan is the route we'll be taking after all. Had I known this two months ago, I probably would have just gone in and settled the deal with our very sweet mortgage banker lady and thus been able to enjoy the profits of the busiest month of the year. As it turns out, we'll close the deal in two weeks, hopefully less, and pro-rate the rent and the bills from the accounts we've already opened in my name. What mayhem.

The current owner is going to come in and work the mid-week shifts so she's not losing all her money to payroll and that will free me up to work on the unfinished kitchen space, sheet-rock the small office space and crawl under the back of this house, under the kitchen, in 90 degree weather so that I can stuff fiberglass insulation into the floor. Kinda like Tom Sawyer and white washing a fence... great fun. Who wants to come help? I'll provide the beer and protective eye glasses? Maybe even throw in a massage for good measure?