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Post by jflatto on Aug 8, 2023 15:11:06 GMT -5
But on the funny side, I actually did laugh at the closing line on the email signature. "My voicemail is broken and the best way to reach me is email." Wow, I wish I'd thought of that back when I was in HR!! I guess better than "My voicemail is broken and the best way to reach me is phone." I hope everything got found for you and makes it. It literally took about two months for a Bat Mitzvah invitation to make it from Boston to Indianapolis. My nephew called us asking if we had gotten the invitation since we never responded. Said that we have never gotten it. A week after that, it finally arrived. My Uindy email signature has been the same for many years: "No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a large number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced..." |
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Post by Adelard of Bath on Aug 8, 2023 18:54:19 GMT -5
Oh, remind me to tell you the story of the USPS and the MIA certified mail with that paperwork & payment. A number of years ago I ran a hobby-that-turned-part-time-business whereupon I created product and shipped product. Product was in a box a little bigger than a bread box. First product, I looked at my options for shipping: FedEx, UPS, USPS. UPS was almost hilariously inconvenient; FedEx was the most convenient to me so I went with them. Easy setup on web page and good tracking and product was delivered on time in a good fashion. Second box I mailed, I said to myself, "USPS: fairly convenient; prices on par with FedEx; it's the United States Postal Service; I worked for them at one time." They lost my package for two weeks. This was the last time I used USPS in a professional capacity. Now I can watch tracking on any number of packages I order and when they use USPS I just laugh. Most hilarious is the time I ordered something and they used something called "SurePost" or some damn thing, basically fedex or ups does most of the work and then they hand it over to USPS for the last part, since they are coming to your house every day, it does make sense. Well, the tracking says that my package went from the bottom corner of California to Minnesota in about three days, then it sat in some warehouse in St Paul for about 1.5 weeks before they decided to throw it on a truck making the 90-minute drive to our town...which I know damn well they make that drive EVERY SINGLE DAY |
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Post by MinnieMom on Aug 11, 2023 8:37:01 GMT -5
That's just crazy. I mean, I've tried telling myself I've used USPS for almost 50 years. Most of the time, things get where they are supposed to go with no issue. But wow is it frustrating to have an important package still holding in some kind of "looping behavior" and not delivered.
I'm going to Columbia on Monday. I'll redo the whole package and hand deliver it. Then a corollary of Murphy's Law will kick in and the original will also get delivered.
Please keep fingers crossed for us over the next 2 days. This afternoon, we meet with a financial advisor who could be absolutely instrumental in helping us raise the additional funds we need. Tomorrow is a discussion with an attorney who specializes in creating these investment instruments. While it is odd to me that an attorney was willing to talk on a Saturday, his passion is helping entrepreneurs. While I feel a certain level of comfort in that he is a friend of a friend recommendation, I also did a basic google search. All his bona fides check out.
Oh, I don't know if I mentioned one of the suggestions from the financial advisor. He asked me if we had considered being or becoming an autism friendly park. Evidently that is a growing segment of the market. I had not considered it. So I did some basic research and had a conversation with one of the national certification organizations last week. As it happens, because we designed the park for large sites and have enough land to designate some quiet spaces as well as some sensory rich spaces, our design is very conducive to needs for sensory sensitive families. Obtaining the certification would be a matter of training, some policy adjustments and going through the process, which involves a couple levels of review, a site visit and payment to the certifying organization. I don't see a downside to doing this. It will cost time & money, but if it helps us create an experience to open camping to families with different needs that seems well worth it to me.
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Post by jflatto on Aug 11, 2023 8:46:01 GMT -5
Good luck and best wishes. I hope everything works out with the lawyer and the post office. Interesting thought on the autism friendly areas. That might be a nice differentiator.
Fingers crossed.
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Post by MinnieMom on Aug 21, 2023 11:02:36 GMT -5
Good Monday Morning! I redid the package and drove it to Columbia last Monday. Today, after a side trip to NC, the original package is back in the Hartsville post office. Weird, really weird. Ah well. I'm meeting with a local artist this afternoon. She may wind up doing the final art for the storybook and the huge social media wall on the welcome center. Fingers crossed! If anyone would like to be a beta reader for the illustrated storybook, it's ready. The art is not the final art; it is a draft. This is intended for pre-readers and early readers who like to read storybooks with adults. Feedback welcome! Just message me if you'd like to participate. As a thank you for this group, here's a sneak peek at some of the draft art.   The general contractor got the bid numbers to the bank last week. I'm working with the high priced NY attorney on the convertible notes (don't call them bonds, says the attorney). Those could be ready as early as next week, most likely another couple of weeks to complete them. Then we sell them. Fingers crossed. An annoying issue with DOT permit for the main driveway is almost resolved with a big of good news this morning. If that solves the problem as well as I think it will, we should have that permit by the end of this week. The geotech borings have been scheduled. That will happen after trees are cleared. Tree clearing company is on standby, waiting for bank to close the loan. Ditto the pool builders and several other component projects. The local advisory board is well underway. I've got the roles & responsibilities, talked to each of the candidates and have scheduled the first meeting for September 1. That is going to be helpful. The local support continues to grow. I'm doing a lot of cross promotion on Facebook for other small local businesses. It is a double win for Standing Pines. It is a very positive way to get more active followers for our page, incidentally also getting the word out about Standing Pines in a way to continues to build local support. It is also creating a library of things to do, places to eat, etc for future guests when they start exploring the Facebook page. Win! The reservations implementation process is well underway. I'll be able to soft open reservations to the handful of future guests who have asked for this next month. I'll ask for their feedback and give them some special considerations for their help fine tuning the system and being our first guests! On a related topic, SC Homeschool group approved the Entrepreneurship class for Samantha as a high school credit. She's an 8th grader technically, but English, Algebra 1 and Entrepreneurship all count as CP high school credit for her. We are still working through the requirements/expectations for those to be honors classes. The counselor who has to approve these classes is excited about the Entrepreneurship class. Here's the overview, just in case it might be of interest or useful for anyone. |
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Post by helenabear on Aug 21, 2023 21:57:56 GMT -5
I am admittedly mentally tired and will read through the course soon. But that artwork is simply adorable!
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Post by dlwdwdvc on Aug 21, 2023 23:17:41 GMT -5
I love the artwork too !
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Post by MinnieMom on Aug 24, 2023 10:09:37 GMT -5
helenabear - Thanks! The artist did a fantastic job on the artwork. It is consistent with a distinct look. I just posted the homeschool stuff to be helpful - no worries at all! I
dlwdwdvc - Yes! Thanks! The artist gave me the character files as transparent overlays, so I used that with screen shots of the different concept art pieces to do the draft art for the illustrated storybook. It will not be the final art, but it should be very helpful to the storybook artist. It gives the look and let me give clear direction for the scene on each page.
Seriously, I love how the draft art is coming together. Ya'll message me so I can share the whole draft illustrated storybook file with you! It's a quick 5 minute read. I love how this first story has come together.
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Post by MinnieMom on Aug 24, 2023 11:15:24 GMT -5
It's been a busy couple of weeks, so probably time for a new update. (1) Construction - we are on hold, pending funding. Also pending final permits and the redone blueprint for the smaller, simpler clubhouse (Welcome Center). That also has the pool permit application on hold, as the bathhouse in the clubhouse supports the pool. I had to stop working with the architect. She is great, but we cannot afford the custom building she created for us. Instead, after verifying architect was okay with me using parts of the floorplan we created together, I did a new design and asked our GC to run that past his engineer. It reduced the cost dramatically. GC is out on vacation this week, so I should get that final blueprint for the new building next week. That will be helpful in getting this one funding/construction/permit knot undone and moving again. (2) Funding. The SC attorney took too long to respond. I went with a friend of a friend of a friend who is a nationally recognized expert in this field. It was way more expensive (ouch!) but I should have a draft set of documents to review tomorrow. We could have the investment packages ready to go next week. That would be amazing. (3) Marketing/Art/IP. I think we are done with concept art for now. There is a good catalog to work with. Also, I met with a local artist for a couple of hours earlier this week. I think she can take over the art now. It may change the look subtly, but it is similar enough that I doubt many casual guests will even notice. We had a great brainstorming session. One idea I particularly like is for the social media mural wall. I tried to capture it in an image, but it doesn't come across that well because I am no artist. Essentially, the 40 ft by 10 ft wall will be basic watercolor with colors suggesting sky, trees, meadows, pond and sand. On this basic background will go three sets of book pages. These will be on removable canvasses (likely OSB at 4x8 each) that can be changed as we do new storybooks or other updates.  The map has been an extremely useful tool. It is still the best single piece we have to convey the idea and intent of Standing Pines. The other art is supportive, which works well. (4) Reservation system. I'm working with the vendor to get the reservation system ready to open next month. This will open to the handful of future guests who have asked for early bookings first, then more generally to the public after that initial 3-4 week roll out to the small group. Plus, I learned yesterday that the local power plan has scheduled their next annual outage for November 2024. Savvy contractors often start booking places a year ahead of those outages. It would be very helpful to get us on that list before the end of this year. (5) Local advisory group. We have 6 local members now and the first meeting is scheduled for September 1. Some great ideas have come from the initial 1:1 discussions. This group may well be extremely helpful over time. High hopes, anyway! (6) Ugh. Budget. While we have done a decent job staying on budget for personal expenses over the past 18 months, we are going to cut back again for the last few months of this year. I had hoped to do a couple more benchmarking trips and stays in different campgrounds. I don't think that is realistic at this point. Ah well. There are many great campgrounds in a fairly easy distance for day trips, so that is likely the approach now. I still hope for one more trip to Orlando this fall for our anniversary, but that's 50/50 at this point. In short, lots of moving pieces but each delay keeps pushing out the target opening date for Standing Pines. I've moved the target from February 2024 to April 2024. But I'm not completely comfortable we will be ready by April, so when I open the reservation system in a few weeks it will likely be for reservations starting Jun 2024. That gives a cushion while still letting us start to get a feel for likely occupancy. Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for following along as we keep chugging along on this journey. |
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Post by tomandrobin on Aug 24, 2023 12:33:28 GMT -5
Sending you some Pixie Dust! Looks like you could use a little dash here and there.
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Post by annamaria on Aug 24, 2023 15:30:48 GMT -5
Good luck and yes, Pixie Dust to you!!
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Post by disney54us on Aug 24, 2023 15:54:48 GMT -5
You are moving along, with delays and all. You will get there.
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Post by helenabear on Aug 25, 2023 12:36:55 GMT -5
Good luck getting through the delays!
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Post by MinnieMom on Aug 26, 2023 10:25:31 GMT -5
tomandrobin, disney54us & helenabear - - thank you! The pixie dust is both needed and appreciated!
As a side spin off, I've got the outline of a book on our family's experiences building Standing Pines. DH keeps suggesting that I will get bored with the campground once we open and have it running smoothly. He thinks the great joy for me is in the development. One of my BFFs agrees and has encouraged me to think about building a consulting business on the side once we get our park open & optimized. They both know me very well. They could be right. I'm less certain, mostly because of relative lack of industry experience compared to the others already in the campground consulting space. I could however see carving out a role mentoring others considering this kind of a path. Either way, writing is cathartic for me. Direct publishing with Amazon has some costs, but nothing really prohibitive. There have been some issues with publisher of my Disney books since the pandemic, resulting in an increased interest in publishing my own work. Certainly I intend to direct publish the Forest Friends. Hum, maybe I do a small publishing house under the business just to have that as another side potential gig. Maybe. Worth thinking about anyway.
So the first draft of the legal documents for the convertible notes came in last night. I'm taking this weekend to review. My initial thought is this package will come together in final form next week. That's great, as I see raising funds through investors as the way through the cost conundrum. I keep toying with including some of the work from the Forest Friends in the investment package. It's different and might be the hook for investors who can buy into the dream. On the other hand, it could easily be negatively seen as silly. Obviously a couple of the professionals helping with this will weigh in, but ultimately my decision. I tend to lean towards including it, but not yet fully decided.
Ah well. Back to work. Then again, is it really work if it is something I am enjoying so much I am essentially doing this for free?
Happy Saturday everyone!
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Post by MinnieMom on Aug 29, 2023 12:00:54 GMT -5
Happy Tuesday! Our GC is back in town; I had a brainstorm on how to get the illustrations for the storybook done quickly; the legal review is going well and (cross fingers) we may have full package ready to start pitching to investors by the end of this week. I found a way to get the bond we needed for the DOT permit, so that's on the move again. In other words, forward momentum but still not clearing land yet.
I have two other things to share. Both are a bit on the selfish side, with unlovely shades of gloating and/or "I told you so." However, here goes.
(1) A part of the decision to move ahead with campground at age 48 instead of age 55 was a miserable last boss. Good person, horrible manager. I did my best to help him in spite of himself. I learned recently he didn't last 4 months after I left. Yep. Told 'em so (raised concerns professionally up the ladder, got shot down hard) when I decided to go. Lesson worth taking to heart: when team gives news I don't want to hear, listen harder. It takes courage to be the bearer of bad news. I'll never get the feedback I really need if I shut people down.
(2) There is another new campground going in about 2.5 hours from us. It is a bit smaller at ~80 planned spots, less land so less room to expand, etc. They are about 6-8 months ahead of us on construction. It is really cool to watch the heavy equipment clear and level land at that location! This other park owner is smart. We belong to some of the same groups and he clearly knows what he is doing on the design and build side. He's working the social media / marketing side, with consistent and interesting posts on FB and youTube since early this year. So I was amazed to note the difference in our follower count (650+) versus his (152). While it is encouraging as a data point, it also ups the bar. I want to add a minimum of 100 new followers on FB every month. I have the start of a plan on how to do that, with a target of 1,500 followers by target open in April 2024. So the take away here is that perhaps the time delays have given us a bit of a leg up on other important operational aspects of the business. Here's hoping!!
Okay, gotta run to go teach DD Entreprenuership class. Fun stuff!!
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