The day before I was going to sit down with my team to deliver them “my plan,” I wrote it all out in my prayer journal. Today, I’m a little embarrassed to share this because nothing in the plan actually came to fruition. I also told my team the plan was “pretty solid.” Here is my prayer journal entry from three years ago…
[Added notes and elaboration are italicized…]
Thursday, February 18th, 2021 1:26p NS4L Office
My LORD Jesus,
I’ve realized that we are trying to keep a sinking ship afloat. We are plugging holes but new ones are revealing themselves. Without that PPP money we would have been closed by now, so thank you for that blessing. I know I could scramble, hustle, and work my tail off to save this business, but I feel it is time to let it go. [Taking on more debt to get the necessary cash flow necessary to sustain the business is what I was thinking would be necessary.] I’m at peace with letting it go. I assume that you are bringing me to that peace, but of course I trust you will put me back in my place and make your will known if you have other plans. :) I will obey. [He did have other plans and I did obey.] I’m meeting with the team tomorrow morning and this is what I plan to tell them…
Why we are here
A few months ago, I hired a broker to help me sell New Scooters 4 Less. We set a deadline for April 1st, 2021 to get the business sold. So far, that has not happened and there have been no solid leads.
Why do I want to sell?
The brutal truth is that you guys are being paid to be here and I’m currently paying to be here. I’ve also found new passions that I want to pursue. I’ve always told myself that if I wasn’t passionate about it anymore, I would stop. Always do what you love. [Nope. Wrong. Do what God calls you to do even when it is hard sometimes and even when you don’t want to. Have faith that His plan is better than your own. In doing so, know that when you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)] Never have any regrets. I thought I might be able to start something new, have a business that someone else would run, but ultimately it wasn’t in the plan. We can blame COVID, we could blame a lot of circumstances, but the truth is, this past year has only opened my eyes more to what I want to be working on and pursuing.
[Do you by chance feel how I felt? It’s easy to let emotion in the moment influence our decisions. When I look back now, my regret would have been letting go of this business because of the “burn out” and the circumstances. Luckily, the Lord walked me through His plan and through that my passion for New Scooters 4 Less was reignited. Because of COVID, I would end up seeing the business through a completely new lens, God’s lens. New processes were born that allowed me to focus on sales, marketing, and my team (the things that I love in the business) and because the team was smaller, I wasn’t absorbed with the parts of business I didn’t love (HR, drama and headaches that comes with a larger team, etc.). And YES, I do have passion for other things like the podcast for example, but as I have been praying lately, the Lord has made me realize that even though there were plenty of times we talked about faith in episodes of the show, I wasn’t ALL IN on doing this for Him. Sure, I was doing it for the community, in support of local businesses, etc. but ultimately I loved the way it made ME feel instead of focusing on bringing God glory. This is something I am working on in hopes to bring the podcast back in a fresh and new way that truly puts God first.]
Could we pull through this?
I think so, but I question, “why?” This business has had a great run and has accomplished some great things, but given the circumstances, making peace with the unknown, understanding UF’s “5 Year Plan” (now 7 probably due to COVID) is to reduce scooter traffic and make UF a more walkable campus, and ultimately owning that my heart is not in it anymore, I know it is time to let it go (at least in the capacity it is now).
[UF had put out a 5 year plan to make the campus more walkable. Though there have been changes, UF still has a parking and transportation problem and New Scooters 4 Less is still a place to go to for a solution. Because “my heart wasn’t in it anymore,” my willingness to adapt to the changes in 2021 was zero. Over the last couple years, however, with my new fire for the business, we have adapted and continue to find the best ways to help students get to campus on their time.]
So why April 1st, 2021?
Honestly, when I signed the agreement with the business broker, I was praying we could stay open that long. We’ve only been able to because of the PPP. In my mind, April 1st is the date we have some serious decisions would have to be made. If the business wasn’t sold by then, I’d need to reset, re-evaluate, and determine whether we want to undergo the process of promoting summer storage. If we did, that would tie us in until at least September and if we are in through September, we might as well order fresh inventory for August, hire temporary help, and all. After studying cash flow, this would be extremely difficult.
[The spring semester would be wrapping up at the end of April. We run a “scooter hotel” during the summer that is another source of revenue for the business. It was important to make a decision at the beginning of April so we could either liquidate what was left and prepare to close or hurry to get storage revenue and start ordering scooters for fall. (If we were storing customer’s scooters until they returned after summer, then we would have to be open that long.)]
Where do we stand now?
The business broker still has a month (through April 1st) to sell the business. I’m still hopeful, but I’m not sure it is likely. If the business sells, there will be a transition. I’d teach the new owner some things and then move on. I’d expect that all team members would keep their jobs. Again, I do think this scenario is unlikely given the short timeline and no current movement. During this final month (month of March), I’m going to simultaneously do a “call for offers” on the property. So, by the 1st of April, the business is either sold OR I have an offer on the property and I can decide which way to go. If the business sells that’s likely the direction I would go but it could depend on if the offer on the property is significant enough.
If the business doesn’t sell and I get an offer on the property that I want to accept, my new goal will be to make sure that we get to the closing date of the deal. We will begin executing to sell as much of our assets as possible during the month of April. I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure I can pay the mortgage payment on the property until I can get to closing. The last paid day for team members would be April 30th. We have enough PPP to get to this date. I know this may be worrisome and you will all need to look for other jobs, I’ll do what I can to help, but any team member that stays and works through April 30th will get a small bonus once I’ve closed on the property. (This could be a while as sometimes commercial property takes a while to close, due diligence, etc.) There will be a lot of logistics to work on together to take care of our customers and make sure they have a place to go. If the business doesn’t sell and the property doesn’t sell, I’m going to work hard to lease out the property. We would still liquidate everything (or start the process of) and we would use April to tie up lose ends, communicate effectively to customers, and prepare to close. I’ve given you as much as I can at this time. Some things could adjust slightly so flexibility is appreciated, but his plan is pretty solid. I’m so grateful for each and every one of you. This is not easy. 17 years of my life have been invested in this company and I know a lot of you have years invested too. They are all memories I cherish forever. I love you guys.
Jesus - bless this plan. Take this and deliver more “WHOA” then we could have expected. Thank you for this journey. I hope I’m making you proud. I love you.
Collin
Today’s final thoughts
Proverbs 16:2-3 NIV
2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them,
but motives are weighed by the Lord.3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.
Enough said :)
May God bless you this week. Let’s pour into someone else this week. Let’s lift and encourage someone and remind someone that God loves them.
Blessings,
Collin
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