The Next Step

It's been quite a month so far. I work in commercial property management. The downside of this line of work is that when a property gets a new owner, the new owner might just decide to get a new management team. While this fact has always slept lazily in the back of my head, it jumped into my frontal lobe and demanded all of my attention when I learned the building where I work was being put up for auction. The week before the auction was hell. My boss and coworker and I tried to convince ourselves we had no reason to worry. In spite of this, the day of the auction was more hell--whenever the timer on the auction would get below a minute, someone would submit a bid, extending the auction for four more minutes. This continued for over an hour.

Then we learned that the final bid did not meet the reserve, and we decided to breathe and pray for a little reprieve. How long before the building finally sells, we don't yet know, but thank God for a job.

At the same time that this was going on, I was forced to acknowledge that I would not be attending Lipscomb in the fall. Let's just say I fell a little short of my fundraising goal this summer. By how much is not important, but those who know, they know it was a bit of a bummer summer. (See The Dream Defined for more about this endeavor.)

So what's next?

Lipscomb agreed to defer my admission until next fall. The fundraising continues: I will start a crowdfunding campaign and spend the next year continuing to develop my plans for community business education. I removed the link for the Business Plan for America. I joined the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce--well, my company was already a member, so I get to be a member--and I am looking into joining the Urban Land Institute and the Urban League by attending their meetings this month. These groups emphasize economic development, economic empowerment, and responsible land use and real estate development. To be better prepared to analyze existing programs, I'm compiling information about people and groups doing things similar to what I want to do, such as Alison Rinner, also known as "Ms. Biz,"who teaches entrepreneurship to children in middle Tennessee, and The Skillery, a web site connecting locals through classes and workshops taught by other locals. I've even completed The Idea Frame to flesh out the weak spots in my plan.

As is oft repeated in film and motivational speeches, the only thing to do, ever, is to keep moving forward.

I even got a haircut. As Tess McGill says in Working Girl, "If you want to be taken seriously, you need serious hair." It's the evil truth.

via www.hairromance.com

(No, it wasn't this hair cut.)