Though I have had no formal training in entrepreneurship, there was one thing I knew heading into the SpringBoard course. It was that romanticizing the idea of building a climbing gym, and the actual logistics of seeing it become a reality were two totally separate things. Thinking about the amount of necessary information I did not know had been the most intimidating aspect about pursuing my idea in the first place. Week two was definitely a tipping point as to whether or not I was actually going to take my idea of the gym seriously.
Prior to the start of SpringBoard, I literally had no idea what was required to start a business. Sure, I had taken a few courses in college and could loosely define basic concepts, but a nominal understanding was all that I had. Over the course of the second SpringBoard class, we covered both start-up and overhead costs, discussed the importance of personal credit, and spent a significant amount of time with a lawyer, covering everything from operating agreements to business structure. Quantifying the amount of information I needed to familiarize myself with and creating a list of preliminary tasks was hugely encouraging.
One of the first two things I did the following week was to examine my personal finances and review my credit report. I’m almost positive that I could come up with 100 loathsome activities that are still more enjoyable than those. As a post-grad with student loans, working at a coffee shop, I can tell you the results were not pretty. It seems ironically unfair that since I began working at the coffee shop, my palette has developed an unaffordable taste for food and drink. As painful as it was, it was definitely a reality check as to what I needed to do to make myself more financially attractive to potential investors.
The image of the climbing gym I dream of starting and what it’s going to take to get there is in some way similar to my experience with climbing itself. I didn’t just end up on a rock face, tied to a rope 85 feet off the ground, overlooking a beautiful range of mountains by chance. It took luck, finding friends and a sport that brought me passion. It took educating myself about climbing techniques, gear and safety precautions. And it took a few big falls to alleviate my fears.
While I am nowhere near close to knowing everything necessary to running a business, or having the money to pay for it, SpringBoard classes have given me both a beginning knowledge and confidence to continue pursuing the climbing gym.
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