Where do you go after hearing that your idea actually has legs?  Do you jump right in?  Hitch yourself to the first person(s) that come along?  Or do you sit back and further develop the plan?

That last thought/question is where I landed.  Who is a perfect fit for this journey?  I already had my production company set up to do a bit of advertising for the post-production work I was doing for a podcast, but that didn’t mean I had the expertise and contacts to pull off something this big.  So I reached back out to Deborah Mash and said I needed her and the Circle Take Productions team on the project. One team member on board.

Looking at the General Contractor role, I could have easily brought on board a highly qualified GC I work with in Oklahoma City, Roger Jones from Roger Jones Construction.  Except that Roger isn’t licensed in Colorado and doesn’t restore homestead cabins.  Decades-old houses on a grand scale, yes, but not homestead cabins built many times with materials from the surrounding forest.  So I went to see one of my business advisers and confidant Hank Ford.  After hearing the project plan, and getting the same response I got from Deborah “You need to do this,” Hank very casually told me to call his cousin Roberto Fimbres in Pueblo, Colorado.

Turns out Roberto is a GC, owns Shelter Construction Company in Pueblo with his daughter Keely.  More importantly Roberto has a long history of restoring historic properties in Colorado and has worked in the Wet Mountain Valley.  After I phone call to introduce myself and discuss the project, we decided to meet next time I was in Colorado.  Second team member possibly on board.

Now, let’s focus on the hardest piece; funding.  I am not by nature a salesperson and its not in my personality to ask people for money.  This rather obvious omission led me to my life-long friend Johnny “JW” Williams.  JW spent 40 years in radio advertising as a sales person and strategic marketing specialist.  And most importantly he is not afraid of “the ask.”  Once again a conversation took place; then another; then another.  Its tough to say yes to a project like this when you are solidly thinking about retirement.  But in the end, JW said yes.  Team member two definitely on board.

Now back to Roberto.  JW and I scheduled a time with Roberto, polished up our presentation and headed back to the mountains.  After a nearly three hour meeting, Roberto asked if they could see the cabin we were focused on for the pilot.  So we headed out from Pueblo and then spent another two hours looking over the Wagon Wheel.  At the end of the day we had team member three on board.

And we had an ace up our sleeve back in OKC with Roger Jones.  His finish carpentry skills are out of this world.  He and his team committed to helping in any way they could.  We’ve got some ideas for finishing touches that Roger can, and will, do to really make the project a success.  Team member four on board.

While I know there are still others to add to the team, we now had a framework in place to move forward from.  And to think that only took about three months working on it part time in the evenings while not focused on my consulting company.  Next up: Finding the funds to close the budget gap.  Stay tuned.