Archive for the 'Starting A Business' Category
August 6th, 2008 by Solomon
I got a preliminary approval of all the licenses for PlayaResale yesterday, the city business license will be ready in 15 business days, but as far as they are concerned my papers are in and I am a business. Really the process didn’t take too long(a little under a month) and it was only a little bit of jumping through hoops.
The largest setback right now is that the department of urban development asked me to take down my large sign on the roof of the building in front of me. My shop is located in a warehouse space behind some other stores, it was the best large space I could find for a price that I was willing to pay. When my business partner and I were looking for places to put the store, we decided that we could deal with being off the main street if we had good signs. Unfortunately, our idea of good signs seems to coincide with the city’s idea of a public safety risk. No signs on roofs is what I was told, and for good measure the city is not permitting any signs over 90cm tall either, because that is damaging to the public image.
PlayaResale flag and sign(still unpainted)
The idea for the sign we had was a large, vertical sign saying PlayaResale with the large PlayaResale flag coming out of the top. We had the sign put up but never painted because the city was pretty specific about not actually displaying anything until we got approval. The flag worked great, you could see it from three blocks in either direction, which was perfect for attracting customers. Unfortunately this wasn’t going to fly, so we had to try something else.
So, I ordered a large tarp sign to hang in the driveway temporarily until I can get something else figured out, this should be up today. I am looking into other ways to display the flag, because it is sort of the big push on my advertising campaign, all the brochures and business cards I have been handing out, as well as the website mention that the customers should look for the big orange flag. My newest idea is to get a 6 meter piece of pole and mounted it off the ground and running up the side of the building, it won’t be as tall as the previous flag, but I think it may work. I am going to look into that today.
July 25th, 2008 by Solomon
This week I have gone to the Municipal Palace various times, each time they have told me to come back tomorrow. I don’t feel too upset with this progress because the workers at the office have now assured me that the Licencia de Uso de Suelo is going to be approved, that there is nothing missing, it is just taking more time than they anticipated. What I was told today is that the new boss has instated a new policy that she needs to read every piece of paper that comes across her desk, so it is just taking longer than it was supposed to.
When I got to the Municipal Palace this morning, the line in front of “Desarollo Urbano” was out the door, down the hall, and down the stairs, which really surprised me because I arrived really early to avoid a line. I asked somebody if this was the line for the urban development department and he assured me that it was. I hadn’t ever seen a line like this before, but I figured maybe friday was just a bad day for city hall. I was told to come back today, so I was going to follow directions, that is an important part of any “tramite” that is done here: Follow directions.
After a few minutes of staring off into space I looked more carefully at the line and realized that some faces were very familiar to me, they seemed to be the people that worked behind the counter of Desarollo Urbano. I quickly asked the man that I had asked before if he worked there, he replied that he did. I guess I really arrived too early.
The woman who normally helps me at the counter arrived shortly after and made a joke about me being there early every time, then told me that the boss who had the key was running late and we had to wait. This gave me a nice opportunity to chat with the ladies from behind the desk and ask all sorts of questions about the job and how things worked. In my time here in Playa Del Carmen I have really gotten a chance to learn about getting more flies with honey than with vinegar, a smile and a kind greeting works so much better for me than the normal curt gringo attitude that I was accustomed to back in the states.
After the Palacio I went to Lomas Mariposas to take care of some administrative tasks and was there just in time to hear the pump making funny noises. I know the sound of the pump sucking water, so I checked the cistern and it was mostly empty. I looked to see if the water was running in from the city, it was, it seems that we had just used a lot of water in the last couple of days. I have noticed a trend in Playa during July that sometimes the water runs a little slowly, sometimes not at all. It was about 11am so I figured it would be safe to leave the pump off for a while and give the cistern a chance to fill up. The cistern was back at an operational level at 5pm, so the tenants have water tonight.
I am looking for a solution to this problem, I have heard that I can drill a well and have it metered, so I don’t have to rely on city water, but I need to look into how much this costs. Note the “and have it metered” part, when Lomas Mariposas was first turned over to me the contractor had installed a well on the empty lot next door and did not have a CAPA(Water Company) meter installed on it, the city found out about the well and took exception to it, costing the developer of the building a hefty fine.
This afternoon was spent getting a load of furniture for PlayaResale, a local importer is changing his focus from furniture and he liquidated his entire inventory to us. We now have a full warehouse and I am worried about where we are going to put any new stuff that comes in, but I guess it will all work out. I have to fix the webpage so that it shows all the new stuff, but I guess that will happen next week.
We still have a few things left to do at PlayaResale but we will be open at regular hours starting Monday, July 28. I am excited and I think it will do well. My business partner and I keep coming up with new ideas for the business, something is bound to work out well.
Some friends of mine are starting a Playa Del Carmen food blog, called PlayaEats and have invited me to be a contributing writer. I think that this will be a fun project too, because it will give me the chance to try new and exciting restaurants with and excuse. I’m a journalist!
This sunday is the big bullfight at the Expo Riviera Maya 2008, I am hoping to get to go to that. Monday morning at 7:30 there is a beach cleanup at Coco Beach, I have been feeling like a little bit of volunteer work might do me good, so I am going to try to make it to that as well.
July 13th, 2008 by Solomon
So, I have been working this last week on getting the Uso de Suelo done and getting the building completely ready to open. The Licencia de Uso de Suelo is a Playa Del Carmen legend, anyone who has opened a business can tell you how difficult and time-intensive the this license is. I didn’t have that experience. I got the contract from the notary on Monday, which was the first requirement. I took this to the accountant’s office and he helped me add a business location to my company’s tax information, therefore giving me the go-ahead from Hacienda (the tax authority) to set up a business where the shop is going to be. The accountant then gave me a basic format for a letter I needed to write to the director of urban development asking for permission for the Uso de Suelo. I had already gotten a list of all the paperwork I would need to take to the city for the license.
That afternoon, I took pictures of the interior and exterior of the building, including bathroom space and all identifying features around the building. I put these pictures on in a MS-Word document and formatted them nicely and printed them out with the letter. I had to get copies of various records, previous licenses that were given to the building owner and paid tax bills, etc.
I got everything bundled up nicely in a folder and put on a collared shirt and went to the city the next morning at 9am. I was told to expect to wait in line the whole day, again I didn’t have that experience. I think I was in line for 15 minutes tops, then was called to the counter where a very pleasant woman looked through everything that I had, it seemed like she expected me to be missing some paperwork, but she was quite pleased that I turned everything in that she was asking for.
After she told me that I had everything I needed and I could come back in 8 business days to get the license, she made sure that I know about the publicity license that is required in Playa Del Carmen. She got the list of requirements for these licenses and went through them step by step with me, explaining them all in depth. She told me that it is much easier if I submit this paperwork right after I submit my Uso de Suelo paperwork, and explained how to do that without actually having the Uso de Suelo, which is the first requirement for the sign license. She sent me away to get my paperwork done and said to come back the next morning.
Valentin, proud of himself for
getting that sign to the roof
The sign tax is something that everyone pays and if they do not the city inspectors come around and put big “CLAUSARADO” stickers all over your signs, so it is pretty necessary, but I was expecting it to be a much bigger hassle than it was. We had already prepared a space to put the new signs, but hadn’t painted anything on them yet. This turned out to be a really good thing because one of the requirements for the sign license is a design plan of what the sign is going to be, how it is constructed, etc. I took pictures of the sign spaces minus any writing and then did a separate page explaining the signs.
The big sign from the street.
So, that next day I went into the urban planning department again to turn in the paperwork for my signs, while I was was there the inspectors from the city came and looked around at the shop. They talked to Valentin, the guy who has been doing most of the real work while I am running around like a crazy person, they took pictures of the place and looked at the tax-permit that I had posted on the wall, then they told Valentin to tell me that I could come get the permit next week.
When I talked to the accountant about how easy the whole process was going for me he didn’t believe me, then he suggested (jokingly?) that should do all the license work that he has to do because it never goes that well for him. I think that opening a business in July must be the key.
During all this we got our first truckload of furniture, a bed and a sofa and some plant stands, but this week while I am waiting for all the paperwork to clear I will be going around looking at other furniture and hopefully filling PlayaResale with stuff so we can open our doors for business soon.
June 29th, 2008 by Solomon
For a long time my business partner, Dave, and I have been talking about the need in Playa Del Carmen for a consignment store. So many people come and go from Playa and all there are a lot of goods passed around. I have purchased many of the items in my house from people who are leaving town and need to get rid of their stuff, so we figured it was time to capitalize on this phenomenon.
Starting a business in Playa Del Carmen takes a lot of little steps, but I think it will be worth it. The first thing we had to do was add change our incorporation papers of our corporation to include owning a store and buying and selling merchandise. This took a few days and a notary, but it got done last week.
Next, we had to rent a Bodega, I showed some pictures of it the other day, but I will take more later. Now that we have rented the bodega we have to get it ready to be a store. First of all, there is a special license in Solidaridad called “Licencia de Uso de Suelo”, which is a special land use permit that everyone has to get in order to do anything in PDC. This land use permit is kind of funny, because the owner had to get an Uso de Suelo upon termination of the building in order to rent out the property, then anyone that rents the store-spaces from her has to get a separate uso de suelo to do their own business. Uso de suelo isn’t the actual business license, it is just a step towards the business license, and every time a business opens this is required.
Before I get the Uso de Suelo, I have to get approval from Hacienda(the tax authority) to open a business. They take my paperwork and look it over to see that everything is right, then they should give me the go ahead. Since we already have a business set up, we will be adding a branch to our business. The accountant says that I can do this over the internet and that it is fairly simple.
Here comes the catch, once we add the business-branch to the tax authority, we have just 30 days to get all the licenses in order. Hacienda sends somebody out to check on the business after these 30 days, if they show up and we are not in order then we get a “Clausarado’d”. They stick a big sticker over the front gate of the business saying that we are not legal to do business.
We are in the process of getting a bunch of signs made up, but we are a little leery about actually putting them up yet, because in Playa Del Carmen, there is a sign tax, and if you put the sign up without paying the tax, you can also get the signs “Clausarado’d”. They put a big sticker over my sign, then I have to pay a fine to get it taken off. We have heard that we also have 30 days for the sign tax as well, but I am going to check on that on monday when I am downtown to see if it is true.
I was just starting to feel worried about having all this work to do and not enough time to do everything, when I got a phone call this weekend from a guy who used to work for me doing construction. I taught him everything I know about building and he is very motivated and a great problem solver. He has been back in Chiapas for the last 6 months, building a family home, but he gets back to Playa Del Carmen today and is looking for some work to keep him busy for a while. This takes a huge load off of me, because he can take care of all the building stuff that needs to be done and I can spend my time doing administrative stuff.
June 6th, 2008 by Solomon
After a lot of talking about it and thinking about it we have decided to open a new business in Playa Del Carmen. I know this is going to be a big adventure and somewhat of a challenge, but I am really looking forward to it. This is going to be an ongoing blog topic for me for a while, but for now I will talk about what we have done so far.
My partner in the business and I already have a corporation set up in Mexico, so that is a big step already taken care of. In Mexico as a foreign owned company(possibly any company has to do the same), we have to define the functions of the company upon incorporation. We think the is taken care of, we had some extra bits added to cover almost anything we could think of at the time we set everything up, but we have to meet with the notary on Monday to find out if that is done and if not we will have to add it. This shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, but we will see. We are also going to have to find out about business aliases, because we don’t want to call our new business by the name we set up originally. This should be pretty easy to fix as well. I guess in The States this process would be similar, but it seems so much more daunting here. We shall see, whatever it is it really cannot be as hard as everyone makes it seem.
We have been looking around for a spot and I think we finally found one today. It is about perfect and the price range is right. It is a little out of the way, but I think with proper marketing we will be ok. We have to get the negotiations on this all worked out, we will probably start that as soon as we get the go ahead from the notary. The idea we have requires some space and that is hard to find without paying a ridiculous price. I cannot believe what some people are asking(and getting) for their locals.
Hopefully this is home for our new business!
Next step of course was to register an internet domain for the business…very important in this day and age. It is funny, in today’s business world we choose our business name based on what we can get as a domain. Anyway, I registered a domain and the site hosting will be active in a few days, I will let everyone know the details later. I am not much of a web developer, but I guess I will get better with every attempt.
We already have some marketing ideas ready, I am sort of skeptical about mass flier distribution, but I think we are going to try it out. It really seems to work well for other businesses that have opened here in Playa. I guess there is nothing to lose by trying.
This is going to be a different work environment than I am used to, for the time I have lived in Playa Del Carmen I have always had sort of a mobile office situation, often I work at internet hotspots or at home, then the rest of my work I do at the various buildings. The big change here is that I will be tied to a fixed location, which I guess will have its perks.
