SCORE Meeting -

Tuesday was a busy day capped by an appointment with three SCORE counselors. If you're unaware, SCORE is an organization of retired professionals that lend their expertise to small businesses.

I pitched my idea and got a positive response! (Score one for me!)Plus, I got some great questions to help me formulate my business plan and begin to solidify and commit to paper this project.

Big suggestion received was to look for a small, preexisting hotel or motel that may be ready for a complete re-hab and that might be actually affordable. The estimate of the project in really general terms elicited a rough estimate of $3 - 3.5 Mil to build the building and then there is the land cost.

The three counselors seemed somewhat excited - certainly positive outward responses - and encouraged me to come back and show my progress. Will do!

In this area water rights and water use is a big issue. I want to build a facility that makes the most of the water used; gray water from clothes laundering and dish washing to be used for watering the garden, and other eco-friendly tools to make the most of the least amount possible.

As these gentlemen were more involved with preparing businesses to obtain loans from the SBA rather than grants (my goal here) they had limited grant writing help - but did let me know that the Monterey Community Foundation offered a class on grant writing last September. Link to their site which, even on quick glance now looks extremely promising. Ted always contributed heavily to them - their programs have always been the best here.

Relaying the good news from the SCORE meeting at my support group brought positive responses.