Page 41 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

20 6 SECRETS TO STARTUP SUCCESS

We’re taking a break from another tough meeting about The Ivey’s
dire financial situation. Lynn, two key investors, her attorney, her ac-
countant, and I have worked through the morning, playing out various
revenue and expense scenarios. Although the fire has not left Lynn’s
eyes, it’s been a morning of grimaces and long faces. With virtually
no sales after nine months of marketing to prospective members, she
is in danger of running out of money within six months. Her expense
base is weighty, due to the high-end nature of the facility, her pas-
sionate attention to every detail, and the fact that she must keep a
minimum professional staff on board to meet regulatory requirements.

We talk about what has been learned over the past year. Lynn had
projected a sold-out center at this point in time and had invested sig-
nificant resources into promoting the facility—direct and indirect
marketing campaigns, including reaching out to referral sources like
geriatricians, in-home care services, assisted-living facilities, and the
like. While the pipeline of interested prospects has buzzed with ac-
tivity, the number of families scheduling tours has amounted to a
trickle.

“Oh my god. I almost forgot,” she says with a self-deprecating
laugh. “You won’t believe what I did this weekend. My nurse, Betsy,
rented my favorite movie of all time, Field of Dreams, and I must have
watched it three or four times. I had forgotten some of the scenes, and
I couldn’t believe how perfect it is for what I’m doing here.” I ask her
what scenes were most on target.

“Remember James Earl Jones at the edge of the baseball field, his
speech to Ray when the bank’s about to foreclose on his house? It’s
perfect.” She peels back a few pages on a worn white legal pad and
begins to read aloud from James Earl Jones’s famous speech, only this
time he’s talking about The Ivey. He’s describing how customers will
come for reasons they can’t understand; how they will drive from miles
around and knock on the front door; how they will hand over their
money, innocent as children, in search of peace and comfort, and hun-
gry for the past.

As I listen, I feel a gut-wrenching mix of admiration for Lynn’s
resilient faith and deep concern for the facts on the ground. I’m

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