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A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish

When good fortune shows up, make sure you’re prepared

Last month, I began to explain how Lisa and I acquired our start up capital. We were able to save up a little money using our Plan to Be Secure (PBS) system but certainly not enough to open our business.

We felt prepared and maintained optimistic attitudes as we approached banks seeking a start up loan. But it wasn’t meant to be. We searched high and low sitting down with any bank willing to give us a chance, but our luck ran out.

It was time to try a different method of securing funds.

Lisa’s attempt to find money through her family wasn’t successful. It was up to me to try my father, again.

Last Ditch Effort

As you may recall, it was my father who introduced us to Rich Dad in the first place when he gave us the Choose to Be Rich program many years before.

Though he had no more CD’s for us to listen to, he was willing to make an introduction to someone who he felt might be able to help.

My dad made the call and a few days later we were set to meet with Arvis.

Before he hung up, however, he told me I needed to bring my business plan with me.

Business plan?

Over the remaining hours before the meeting, Lisa and I spent every moment we could searching the Internet for “how to make a business plan” and throwing together 15 different versions. We finally settled on one and went to get it printed at the local 24-hour office store to print and bind the document.

I would head over to meet Arvis with my father. Since he introduced us we figured it would keep things simpler.

Never judge a book by its cover

I was stunned when we pulled into a mobile home park. Was the answer to our capital investment really going to be found here?

Little did I know Arvis owned the entire mobile home park, in addition to several others, some shopping centers and a few storage centers in Nevada and Arizona.

Arvis answered the door wearing a baseball cap and welcomed us inside. At 80 years of age he was still sharp as a tack.

Skipping past any small talk he authoritatively asked, “So, you want money, huh?”

“Yes, sir,” I replied, watching him squint to see me better.

“How much do you want?” he asked.

I was immediately stumped. With all of our research it never occurred to us to answer this fundamental question: How much money do we need?

I had no answer, so I handed him my business plan instead.

He quickly handed it back, told me it sucked, and asked me to leave.

This is no joke.

I looked at my father who just stared back. One final look at Arvis to make sure I wasn’t misreading the situation and I got up, went outside, and stood there for the longest 20 minutes of my life.

Just then my father emerged from the trailer, barely acknowledging me, and headed directly for his car.

Our last chance attempt at securing funding was getting smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror as we left for home.

My father asked me how I thought it went.

Seriously?

I threw every excuse and justification I could think of towards Arvis. How could he not see the brilliance of our plan?

After letting me vent, my father replied, “Welcome to the real world. So now, what do you plan to do about it?”

When I arrived home and explained to Lisa what had happened, I realized Arvis was right. We weren’t prepared. The business plan did suck. We weren’t ready.

In our eagerness to get our hands on the money, we disrespected the process. We put our selfish wants ahead of the needs of due diligence.

It was a painful, but necessary lesson we had to learn.

Next month, we’ll continue the story and finally secure our funding.

If you can’t wait, and want to learn more about how we secured our financing, grab a copy of our book The Social Capitalist.