And So It Begins....

While we love talking about wine and visiting wineries, our major purpose behind this blog is to create a window into our Wine and Beer Tasting Shop, Hoppin' Grapes.  For a long time, Hoppin' Grapes (or if not this name specifically, the idea of it), remained a nebulous sort of idea that floated above our heads.  Sort of a "Wouldn't it be great if" conversation that we talked about for a few years.  Through some random life events, we have now found ourselves in the position to actually open up our shop.  At this point, we have our name, logo, some contacts in the wine industry, and personal know-how and courage (aka chutzpah).
Because we know that we need help on the business end, we went to the Small Business Administration here  in Sierra Vista, AZ.   We expected a nice discussion and some pointers on what to do and where to go.  We received so much more.  The SBA is a government organization that actually seems to work.  I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out...
We went in for our scheduled appointment.  We were a little early, because we are notoriously early.  Our SBA counselor took us early and spent almost two hours discussing our idea and the next steps that we needed to take.  He was clearly very knowledgeable about business and seemed excited about our idea.  It was such a fantastic meeting.  He was able to clarify our questions and point out items that we should have questions about (but didn't know enough to form these questions).  We were then given "homework" to do and a new meeting was scheduled.
After meeting with the SBA, we realized that our dream was actually going to come to fruition.  This is a true and wonderful adventure that we started.  We hope that you will follow us throughout the journey!