Steps.

Yesterday, Carolyn and I met with a small business consultant at SCORE, part of the Small Business Association. This sweet old man, who apparently used to run Macy's or something, gave us a ton of advice as well as an actual TON of paperwork. Very exciting and helpful. He really helped us to focus and stop freaking out so much.

Here's what we learned:
1. Starting your own business may be harder than actually doing the work of the business once it's started.
2. We won't be successful just because we're pretty and do theater. (Ugh. Really?)
3. We will be successful because we're passionate about this business.
4. We need to have a narrow focus - rather than thinking on terms of all the things we need to do to get off the ground. One thing at a time, people.
5. Not everyone in the world thinks we're funny.
6. Men will always stare at your boobs, even if they're 112.
7. We can do this.

We've finished the Association of Bridal Consultants Professional Certification course, and we are both working on our final exams and our 3 final projects. Those are pretty cool - we can pick from a list of several options including design a bouquet for a specific bride/wedding, create a budget or an ad campaign for your business, work up a timeline for a complicated wedding or a menu for an ethnic wedding, etc. So finishing all of that and becoming certified is Step 1.
Step 2 is a preliminary meeting with the bank on Saturday, to talk to them about what we need to do to secure a small business loan or a line of credit. We want to talk to them about getting the loan before we actually go and Talk about Getting a Loan.
Step 3 is to chat with my mom about our Business Plan, cause...there's like, numbers and stuff.

Once we have money, we can register our business name, become licensed, meet with a lawyer and an insurance agent, do market research, attend some conferences through the ABC, set up a booth at a bridal show or two, and start marketing our services.

We're very excited!

P.S. here's my mom: