Monday, February 17, 2014

Many, many....many pieces

Well, I've been sitting for hours trying to clean up some work on our business plan.  Then, 5 seconds too late, I remember the #1 rule of the modern age..."Save early, save often!"  It is a battle cry at my house.  But alas, we don't always live by our own motto, and I now find myself sullen and counting the many little tiles on the floor of my favorite coffee shop.  I could get back to work, but I feel the need to wallow in my own despair before I put my big girl pants on and get back to work.  So I sit in my chair and contemplate the content of a new blog.

My Brain on business plan writing :p
Things I'm currently working on:  Kickstarter for an initial $500 to pay for incidentals (business cards, IP lawyer, bookkeeping program, TShirts and incidentals); Getting a bank account set up inrw and online; writing a business plan; marketing around the central Texas area; creating and distributing a survey for area educators; and keeping utd on the social media sites we have now.  Clearly, my brain is scrambled most of the time.

So, I have used SurveyMonkey to put together a survey to send out to educators and locals about what they would like to see in a makerspace.  I want to attach this to a kickstarter, so there is an action in place if they would like to help.  But kickstarter needs some type of A/V attached to it to be successful and a business account attached to it.  Amazon is tied in, as that works with Kickstarter.  But Amazon needs a bank account to pay into.  I can't stand Big Banks, so I'm trying to find a local to farm that out, but one that is also online.  In the mean time, I've spent $50 on a local advert at a school to sponsor a team, but had to use a personal check.  My mind is racing with business questions and I'm quite sure the IRS is going to nail me in the future, regardless of how I spent my $50, where the money came from, and they really won't care if my account was properly  approved by Amazon or not.   UGH!!!!

But, I'm greatly excited and energized by our latest community meeting.  We met with a bunch of engineer students at Baylor.  They remind me of why we are doing all of this.  There was excitement, joy and creativity in their minds as they helped us brainstorm some practicals.  I keep quoting Field of Dreams to myself and march towards just building it.  But as any teacher or parent would hammer (rightly) into my mind, laying the groundwork is fundamental to success.  

So it all comes back around to the many tiles on the floor.  At first, I noticed all of the many, little pieces that seem near-impossible to lay in place.  But now I see the fun little patterns as I tilt my head this way and that.  I may be laying little pieces of a grand plan, but I'm striving for the day when the pattern of our hope takes over what we see with our eyes.