I am worried.  Yes, worried about what the heck we are going to do in order to open successfully in less 3 weeks.  In short order, the list of things we have to do is huge, and we all have anxiety about the things we have to do, and not letting anything drop through the cracks.  The next week is especially huge as we have lots of major decisions that have to be made.  More about that later.  But the biggest thing is to not let anything major fall through the cracks.  Kind of like packing for a vacation:  Don’t forget the passports, camera, money, prescriptions and plane tickets …. the rest is kind of unimportant or can be bought.  We are the same, but a different set of things to not forget.

The biggest things I have anxiety has changed throughout the process.  At the start it was the big stuff:  Finding a warehouse, budgeting enough money, finding good construction crews, and making good choices on capital equipment purchases.  Now, about a month from opening, the list has changed to the details that make up some of the big decisions.  For instance, I have anxiety about actually opening on December 5th.  That is a big thing to push towards, but it is the multitude of items that make up this.  Like passing all the inspections, producing beer that is going to meet our standards and expectations, finishing the construction, etc.  There are a bunch of little things, many of which we have little to no control over, that are proving slow to overcome.

One of the other challenges is that you think you get past a hurdle, but somehow you get caught up when you thought you were free and clear.  Take our exterior sign for instance.  We thought it was going to be installed this past week, but the sign company dropped the sign and it broke in 2 pieces.  As such, they had to re-order and it will possibly be another week or 2 before it is ready.  Now that is cutting it close.  There is all sorts of stuff like this that can slow you down.

We really feel like we are at a point where we are right there.  We can see the opening day coming quickly, but while we are so close, it does feel so far away.  Off the top of my mind, here are some of the big and small things we don’t yet have complete:

• tap handles
• 750ml bottle design
• painting of interior walls in packaging area
• a pass of all the inspections
• painting
• finishing of the tasting  room
• exterior work on the new entrance and canopy
• securing of a loan for additional cash into business
• AV in tasting room
• art gallery submission process
• the fellowship
• website
• t-shirts, hats and other merchandise
• overhead doors in warehouse
• exterior sign
• hiring staff for tasting room
• hiring staff for production
• tent and associated equipment for tastings
• PR kits for various groups

As you can see, there is a lot to think about and keep a person up at night.  Without a doubt, there is so much to be done, that we are looking to just make decisions on things and pass the buck to someone else.  On that note, time to get cracking as I think the best way to deal with stress is to tackle the things that are giving you stress.