Construction is the most challenging thing that I’m dealing with right now.  I got a few proposals, and they are high.   I’ve spent the last week or two trying to bring the price down.  Changing the ceiling design and whatever else I think might help, and still work for yoga-urt.

At the end of the day, it’s just going to cost me more than I planned or would like.  I have to suck it up and do it.  It’s a lot of money but there is no stopping  now.  I just have to have faith that it will all work out at the end.  Easier said than done.

I was hoping that construction would start next week, but it seems that we are probably a week out.  Hopefully, it won’t be more than that as I want to open in early June.  

I can already tell that the construction phase will be a roller coaster ride!

This weekend, I went to several stores looking at materials for the counter and front kitchen area.  It was so exciting to see the options and start really picturing what Yoga-urt will look like.  There are still a lot of decisions to be made, but it’s coming together.

Let’s hope that by the end of the week, I have the city and health approvals, the GC on board, and we are starting the demo!!!

We had another tasting this week and it was very successful, approving 3 Flavors.  They were really good. I’m not a big tart fan, but I think we got it. 

Once my Flavors are approved, the labels have to be submitted to the CDFA for approval before we use them in our shop.  I spent this past week going back and forth with Jim, the food scientist I am working with, to get the labels right….hopefully. We’ll find out soon. Anyways, today, I sent 4 flavors out for approval which made me happy. I want to check this off the list.

Some other exciting news this week is that I signed my SBA loan documents. I worked so hard for this day and it finally came.   Hard to believe!!!

So much more going on but that’s all for now.  More updates soon. 

The Coming Soon signs went up this weekend.  It was so cool to see them up.  Definitely makes it more real.  Yoga-urt is now out there for all to see.

My big goal for this week is to get all of my construction estimates and pick a contractor.  The first proposal was way over my budget so I’m hoping that the other 3 proposals are closer.  I’ll need to get creative and might not be able to make all of the updates I want.  Still sorting it out.

Ideally, construction starts in 1-2 weeks.  We should hear back from the city this week and the health department sent us a few notes last week.  

Still lots to do this week, but moving construction and design forward are the main goals. 

#yogaurt #nourishyourself #kennethvillage #comingsoon

This week, I plan on announcing Yoga-urt publicly through Facebook and Coming Soon signs outside of the shop.  It is very exciting but also makes me feel very vulnerable.  

Yoga-urt is my baby, my passion, and it is exposes me in a way that I’m not used to.  It’s very scary, but I’m at a point in my life where I don’t run from my fears, I face them head on.  This is the work I’ve been doing, part of my spiritual journey, and it’s what got me this far. 

I think about Brene Brown’s book, Daring Greatly, and I know that this is the path I need to take.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, Brene says that vulnerability brings uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.  She also says that if we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.

So vulnerability here I come!

I hope that Yoga-urt is received well, and so far, most everyone I’ve shared it with is enthusiastically excited for me and the potential of this business. Regardless of the response, I know that this is something that I have to do.  It is my calling.  

Whatever happens, I hope I can continue to be vulnerable and open as this new phase of the journey begins because I truly believe that this is where the magic happens.

So, I take a deep breath, and look forward to this next phase.  Namaste! 

Today was smoothie tasting day.  Meredith came up with 4 different types for us to try – strawberry/banana, tropical green, berry, and chocolate/banana/peanut butter. It was really hard work 🙂 but we tasted smoothie after smoothie to make sure that they were all good. I brought along the lovely Kassandra to get her feedback too.  She is a girl that I have been mentoring for the last year.

It is so cool that I’m going to have my own smoothies.  I love smoothies.  I love these smoothies.  We have 2 more to go but we are in good shape.  I still need to get them priced out to make sure that they are affordable, but it seems likely.

It’s very exciting!!!

It’s been quite a week.  I’m not sure where to begin.  I’ve been going non-stop, just trying to stay on top of everything.

Today, was pretty cool though as I got to go to a tasting at Art of Tea. We may serve their product and it was great to learn about them.  I also have to make a decision about coffee, but I think I have 2 good choices for that.  

It’s so horrible having to taste premium coffee, tea, and frozen yogurt 🙂 Tomorrow, I’m actually going to taste some potential smoothies for the shop.  Yummy!!!

Other things I’ve been working on all week include finalizing the splash page & the postcards, getting construction bids, going over a marketing plan, talking to a health insurance broker, sharing some yogurt with friends and family (they loved it), looking for wholesale pricing, going over the interior design, and lots of other little details.  It’s exhausting.

I have to go to New Jersey for work this Sun-Mon.  It’s a quick trip, but I’m actually looking forward to some quiet time on the plane. I need it!

It’s very exciting!!  We had another tasting today and approved the peanut butter flavor (Meredith nailed it the first time) and the salted caramel.  So cool!  They are tasty and I can’t wait for everyone to try them.

I now have nutritional info for both our vanilla and our chocolate.  It’s so cool to see.  

Now that we have 4 Flavors approved, I have to start getting them licensed to serve at my shop. We’ll work on that next week.

In other news, the R&D on the smoothies is starting today.  This should go a lot faster and we don’t need to go anywhere to taste them which is nice since we are all so busy.

As for the probiotics, our first two tests didn’t work out for various reasons, so we need to try again.  Not fun and not cheap but we have no other choice.  It will be worth it if it works this time.

So much more to do but it was a good week.

If someone would’ve told me that one day I would be creating my own brand, I would’ve told them that they were crazy…and what am I doing now?  That’s right. I’m creating my own brand and about to share it with the world.  That’s how crazy life is!

This week, I met with someone who knows that my business is moving forward and she had mistakenly assumed that it was a franchise.  I explained to her that this is my own business, not a franchise, and I’m starting from scratch.

She kind of gasped and looked at me like, whoa, good luck.  I could tell that she was a little worried for me.  It was really interesting to see her reaction.

It’s true that I’m choosing a difficult path because if I did a franchise, everything would’ve been given to me – marketing, product, equipment, design, etc.  

However, I never had any interest in doing a franchise.  I knew from the beginning that a franchise wouldn’t work with my concept.  I am creating everything from scratch and it is scary, and challenging, and stressful at times, but it’s also the most creative I’ve ever felt.  I’m putting together a great team to help me and I’m tackling everything one step at a time. I’m making mistakes, but I’m also learning from them. 

My hope is that my brand makes people feel good.  That has been the goal from the beginning.  That is what drives me and what will continue to drive me as things get crazy in the months to come.