Visualizing

Last week, I met with a girl who wants to open her own bar (I work as a business planning consultant in addition to planning my own). She had experience, the concept and plenty of ambition but hadn't really thought through the details of what she really wanted in her business. It got me thinking about visualizing and how important it is to "think from the end."

When you figure out what you want it makes it so much easier to come up with everything from equipment lists to payroll. It also ensures that in the end you get exactly what you want.

I really enjoy drawing and it helps to figure out where things would fit in our business. I have been drawing our dream floor plan for over a year now and for the most part it has remained unchanged. Amazingly, one of the businesses we came close to buying fit the floor plan like a glove, only in reverse. That was another reason why it was so hard to walk away from it.

But anyways, I thought I'd share our vision for the store. It doesn't show the bathrooms or kitchen and isn't necessarily a work of art, but it will give you a pretty good idea of what we're creating.