The Monday after Thanksgiving we started training with our Quench-It employees. I have 31 in total--mostly high schoolers, and a handful of older college age students. Not everyone is in school, and in December that doesn't really matter that much, honestly.
The franchisers were here for a week to lead the training. We had three sessions each day for three days. Then we were still waiting for our business license--which didn't even come for another week. We basically "practiced" on any car who thought to come in and try us. The kids got the practice of taking "real orders" but we couldn't take payment for them without the business license. That was an expensive week=--we were paying payroll AND giving away product without anything coming in. I was very nervous that I would bankrupt us with this stupid business proposition and Genius Golfer would give up on me all together.
The kids were great! I was so excited to get to know them better and see the fun combos of friends we were putting together to work. I have always liked high school kids in general--they make me laugh and I guess I am an over-grown 15 year old myself, so I just enjoy being with them. They are energetic and enthusiastic and awkward and unuse of themselves all at the same time. This is a similar feeling I had to teaching high school, without the pressure of assignments and long hours and parent-teacher conferences.
Our GRAND OPENING had been set originally for Dec. 10th as the new store in Syracuse was going to be opening on Dec. 17th--but when we didn't get our business license from the city in time, we opted to continue our "soft opening" another week and open simultaneously with Syracuse. The franchisors came down again to help that weekend--there were special things the franchise does at a grand opening that we didn't really know much about. There was a social media scavenger hunt, for example. Our GRAND OPENING day was Saturday December 17th and we had a special all day of half price drinks. We were SO busy with people coming in to try us out. They kids got a feeling for just how busy we could be! It was energizing and terrifying at the same time.
One really fun surprise that day was that GG's step mom-Grandma Jo-sent us a balloon delivery. It was a BIG helium filled balloon and a 12 foot arched set of three pieces of multiple balloons. Never in a million years would I have thought of that! It was such a cool surprise.
It w as great day! It was along day, a tiring day, a wonderful chance to meet new neighbors and customers and to really see a big chunk of the kids in action. It was gratifying to see people coming into try us out and to be finally able to take (partial) payment for the items we were selling.
It has now been a just over a months since we started the training process. We are not as busy as I had initially hoped, but I also am delighted that we can ease into things here and get busy as the weather warms up. We have had flashes of crazy and the feeling of being swamped--and that, in segments is REALLY fun. I am looking forward to warmer weather and more customers seeing us here and stopping in to get a drink or a treat. It has been fun to get to "know" some new friends as they stop by everyday--sometimes with their dogs, sometimes on their way to work.
This is going to be a fun new chapter for me.
