I've been poor too many years to shoot higher than a 2009 Prius in my head when I think of a luxurious expense. It sounds downright snazzy, even. Bills paid. Car under your posterior that has low gas mileage, less than 40K on the odometer and isn't to come crashing down from underneath you. Maybe a home that you don't have to pay rent to live in. A garden maybe?
This is the dreams of a woman who has lived the life of a wife to a PHD student in a complicated science. You exist waiting for the education to be over and then when he gets out, you wonder what is next. There are choices but all of them involve dedicating long hours and rearranging the family because once again he will be the bottom of the totem pole. We probably wouldn't seem him as much and have to move to an unknown place. It is the end of the education, the beginning of possibilities with precarious stipulations. I just couldn't picture us in the scenarios that kept popping up for some reason. Academia. Consulting. Anything with a briefcase and an office schedule or a corporate boss in a lab seemed out of place.
Then this idea came along. And it made so much more sense. The two of the boys are like a combo Scientist Martha Stewart meets booze. They were already in a constant state of what combination of organic things can they put together with what process to make something that they really loved. It was so right that one of the professors actually said, "Why don't you two just forget about academia and make this for a living?" about three months into their covert process of doing just that. I breathed such a stream of relief when this brilliant idea shone into our lives. It was that "But of course. This is what was missing" moment. He never was supposed to be a scientist. He just needed to know the science. He is a Moonshiner. A fancy legal Moonshiner.
It started with such a bang. The first large chunk of money investors came to them almost immediately. The Two Doctors had a reputation amongst their peers for their passion and knowledge in the hootch making area. The trend in the liquor business was really hot for artisan spirits, especially whiskey. The more they began putting together the business plan and listing the details to initiate and pull a profit in a relatively short time, the more word got around that there was this original thing brewing in the works. From the outside, it almost looked a little too easy at first. Now the money coming in is slowing down a little bit. They still need more. They are becoming more cautious with whom they tell. The realization that their business plan really is good enough to copy during this renaissance of artisan spirits is dawning on them.
They want to attach a non-disclosure agreement with the business plan. I argued with My Doc that it would limit the ability to pass a very attractive proposal to invest around at will. Then again, one lady stated that she was interested in starting her own distillery. This could make life a lot less complicated for her if she was serious and had a bad sense of ethics. Or maybe if she wasn't clear on what needed to be done, she could use it as a road map. They could be creating their own competition.
Can you ask a person that you are asking to give you money as an
investment for the favor of signing and returning a contract before they
even look at what's in it for them? Will it deter the potential investor from even getting far enough to read the damned thing? And will it stop non-investors who know a friend who would be perfect to invest from reading it themselves so that they are informed enough to, in turn, ask the potential investor to do the same if they have that extra homework to do?
I say screw it. Go for it. Get it out. Let potential
investors know they exist as fast as possible because they will come when
they see the potential. Don't complicate it. The process of starting a distillery has a lot to do with licensing and meeting regulations. A whole lot of hurry up and waiting insinuated by various levels of government agencies. Fortunately, much of that homework is already in place and they have a lawyer who is knowledgeable in small businesses, even the booze ones. The faster people know, the faster they invest and those last funds needed to begin operations will be in hand.
But then again, look which practical mind is talking. I dream of owning a used car that isn't going to fall apart some day. Imagine my shock when I get a new one. I know I will. The business plan is that good. The market is wide open for the products these guys are dreaming up and they are unique enough versions to stand out. I will be comfortable someday. I own a copy of the business plan. Maybe I will just buy two used cars....
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