And yet I'm still in Onterrible....

I have a woman, with children, in my life now. Really put a change to the plans I'd had for so long. To move to Newfoundland and open a hostel. It is always a possibility in the future, just not in the near future.

So what's to happen with the Rock Hostel then?

Good question. Anyone want a solid business plan?

A great deal of research and time went into the plan. I can almost guarantee success. I won't but I could almost. What my intention is, really, is to find someone to move out there and start it with my distant consultation. So if anyone wants to move to Newfoundland let me know. I can get you started into a business with growth potential. If not, then I'll do it when the time is right.

I'm still around

The hostel is still on my mind. Still running ideas through my head. Circumstances have changed though. Now it'll be a a matter of working out the current living arrangement. If I can find the right person to help bring the idea to fruition, then I might not have to be there and still get it up and running. Anyone interested, fifty-fifty?

The last visit to the Rock.

I say 'last visit' because I don't plan on visiting anymore. Next time I'm back will permanently.

I left late last Friday for a 22-hour stopover in Montreal. I had contacted some friends there before hand, to visit. Living in Banff all those years introduced me to people from all over Canada. My friend Karine, although away the previous week, let me crash at her place. I have to say seeing her when she got back on Saturday was so nice. I've known Karine for about seven years now. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet up with another friend, Annie, but there is always the future.

My life is very blessed with great people. I have a hard time saying that I have friends. I always say that I only count two people as friends. People I trust. People that would do anything for me as I would do for them. But in that I am wrong. I really do have many, many friends. All across Canada. To be able to go anywhere in this country and know that I would be welcomed into someones home, that I would have someone to visit for coffee. I was really proud to know that while visiting Montreal. And the shitty thing is that if and when my friends come to visit me at The Rock Hostel that I will have to charge them because I will be trying to run a business. I hate that thought. I'll work something out.

So after the unforgettable day with Karine and Guillame, they took me to Trudeau to get the flight to Deer Lake. Sunday was spent walking around the prospective town, checking out real estate, looking for various service providers; insurance, banking, etc. I didn't feel very productive though. I was becoming afraid that I had makde a mistake in coming. Monday faired a bit better but I still hadn't had the chance to see anyone or look inside properties. On the up side I did set a lot of appointments for the next day or two.

Tuesday morning was the meeting with the accountant, followed by the credit union manager, then the insurance broker, then the real estate. 4 o'clock I was taken by the agent to the bus depot and treated to lunch. Then the bus at 5:15 to the city. There I had to print off the business plan, purchase writing supplies. All told it took 3 hours to get that all sorted out. I made my way to a B&B so that in the morning I could meet with the Provincial Building Standards guy. In my venture around town I happened by the BDC so I went in to meet someone whom I'd only met through email. This was to be my first business plan presentation. I think it went well. I felt good about how everything had gone so far. I even managed to make my 2:00pm meeting. I was back in town so I could deliver my plan to the accountant, meet with the general contractor and do one more walk through the one building that needs the most work. A determination needs to be made on what building to buy based on what is the better deal. And where to get the money.

My last three days were spent in Grand Falls-Windsor visiting family. After ten days there, my fourth time in a four year period, I really felt comfortable there. The mainland held nothing for me in my heart. No attachment. If fact, I didn't want to have to leave and I want to go back now. I may. This is the decision that I need to make. Why not load up my van with all my stuff and drive off? There are jobs there. I could start my business. My heart will tell me, when the time comes. In the mean time I must continue to work everything out. Develop the business plan to reflect my new idea, my new timeline and implementation plan.

Wow, it's been a while.

Anyone still reading along here must be asking "How's his hostel coming along?" People seem to think that I'm all talk and no action. Ya, maybe for the most part I am. I am full of good intentions but this is one that I'm going to follow through on.

Lately I've been working on the financial part of the plan. That is a process. I've been using the Interactive Business Planner through www.cbsc.org. For the financial statement you just type in your numbers and it does the calculations for you, putting the numbers in the right spot. I was advised by a friend to download my business plan from the net, giving me more freedom to format and adjust to my needs as the IBP was limiting. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did. The trade off has been that the ability to perform calculations has been lost. I've had to copy the .doc info onto a spread sheet and figure out all the formulas so that the numbers come out the way they are supposed to. Not terribly difficult but definitely time consuming.

I've also been attending two general interest courses at night school. Starting and Managing Your Own Business and Bookkeeping for Small Business. Oh and to help my spreadsheet progress, I'm taking a spreadsheet course. It's a self taught one.

There has been a great deal of research to do as well. A kind of learning curve thing. Ask one question, the answer poses 5 more. I keep trying to write down places to phone and email and the questions I need to be asking. Sometimes I get them written, sometimes I don't. There are just so many questions. I contacted a hostel affiliation in regards to becoming an affiliate. The price is right to go through with it however I must thoroughly weigh the advantages over the disadvantages. That's one of the next steps. I've also been mulling over putting an offer in on the building that I am interested in. I was about to go through with it when the real estate agent told me that the sale terms are "as is". She wasn't clear on what that meant, thinking that if I make the offer and it's accepted then I it's mine. But I want to have it inspected first, a condition of offer so that I know the building is structurally sound. I've seen it and it definitely needs a great deal of work. I'll have to gut the building to make it suit the needs of The Rock Hostel. Great floor layout. Anyways, so there is all that to deal with.

In the mean time, I've also applied for a job in Steadybrook outside of Cornerbrook as a shuttle bus driver. I believe it is to pick-up and drop-off guests of the Humber Valley resort to and from the airport. It requires some sight-seeing guide experience, people skills, etc. Stuff I've done with Discover Banff Tours. We'll see how that turns out. I hope to hear back from them soon.

There's lots more to write about but instead of wasting time typing away at this I'd rather keep plugging away at my business plan. Until later I guess.....

Here are those older images of the cabin I promised

Do you remember that cabin I went to visit, that had burnt down in '04. This is it. Very rustic but very cozy. It had a feeling of absolute comfort. Like snow on a hot spring day, GONE!