Small business Journey!! A Gelato shop

WOW! Why am I doing this!! Is this real? so much to do, so little time. Where do I start? Well, from the beginning.

Is December 2019, almost two years after the idea of opening our own small business became a reality. I am a full time Special Education teacher for a local high school, my husband is a free lance insurance consultant and we have 2 children, a daughter in college and a son, a high school freshman.

We have been married for 25 years, we have lived in different places across Mexico and San Diego. We love San Diego, we think is a beautiful city and the people and places are just amazing. We always wanted to have a small business, but we love to travel around the world taking advantage of my long hard earned teacher vacations, so why did we end up with a brick and mortar Gelato shop? Follow us on our 5 year plan so we can grow together, get advice from you and hopefully celebrate our success. I know this will not be easy, but our heart is here!!

Today I will talk about the idea, the process and everything in between.

I will try to write chronologically so you can understand the good, the bad and the ugly that we encountered along the way. Follow along...

It all started summer 2017, we had some savings sitting in a bank account, so we always thought that if we put the money to work maybe we will be better off come retirement time. But how much is little, almost nothing and some money? We probably fall into little money, this means that if we were going to invest our little money, we will be back to square one, meaning no savings and a scarce emergency fund. With our income from our jobs wee are able to pay our personal bills, therefore we will have the opportunity to start a business without needing to take money out for ourselves at the beginning, so that seems ok... for now. But that means working for free... Is it for free? and for how long?

We started by enrolling at the local community college for a semester long small business class. This was a great class because it is actually targeted to people who want to open a new business, is not just some random general education class. People enrolled in this particular class are working on a real business plan and we get all the expertise from teachers and mentors.

For me, the challenge began, I had to work full time in the morning and 3-4 nights a week to work on the assignments, research , etc. This was not as challenging as I though since as a teacher I have to take college courses at least every other year, for credentialing and professional growth, therefore this part was fun. I learned a lot in the process and at the same time got us thinking about all the different business start-ups. We learned the difference between corporations, sole proprietorship, having a partner , or not, and why you need to create a brand and buildup on your brand. etc.

Because this was going to be a team effort (my husband Ed and I)he was going to write the business plan. So he enrolled in an additional business growth class that gave him additional information and knowledge. and so our journey begins......

We love Gelato, we love our customers, we love what we do... follow us along this journey.

Next blog I will talk about the business plan, SBA (small business administration) and why Gelato? Stay tuned......