(A/K/A The Joys Of Owning A Small Business!)
Ahh, the joys of owning a small business! From television and public perception you know what they are: 1. You are instantly rich when you start a business; 2. You have staff waiting on you hand and foot, 3. You take half days off anytime you want to do so; 3. There is an infinite money pot created by the massive profits your business generates so business costs don’t matter; 4. The government loves you and your business and does anything it can to make your life easier.
The reality is: 1. You have gambled your life savings in the hope (and belief) you can make a go of it on your own; 2. If you have staff, they are so busy working on their assigned tasks they don’t have time to be your waiter or waitress; 3. Margins are thin and you just hope you can make payroll and the rent some months; 4. Government bureaucrats, most of whom have never worked in a private business much less run one, are more than happy to tell you how to run things and run your costs up with no corresponding increase in revenue to compensate.
So, did you ever try to take a vacation while working for yourself? There are no paid vacations for the self-employed. Clearing the calendar, making sure things can keep functioning while you are away, working long hours to get things done so deadlines don’t lapse while you are away, making sure payroll is covered, etc. etc. But this is supposed to be an aviation-related blog, you declare, so why all the whining?
Well, dear reader, you needed a bit of background to set the stage. I am an attorney in solo practice. It is a paralegal, a receptionist, and me. It is a lean operation and each cog in the wheel is important.
I enjoy going to EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconin (#OSH21) whenever I can. After no event last year, and a demanding year at work, I was looking forward to meeting up with the Cherokees To Oshkosh gang at Central Wisconsin Airport near Mosinee and Wausau, Wisconsin. After getting a refresher on formation flying, the gang was scheduled to fly in on the Saturday before #OSH21 opened. I was a bit delayed in committing this year because of a family situation and work. In March, the “go” decision was made and the plans were made.
I managed to get a rental car in OSH itself. (Don’t ask me how much it cost per day!), my wife found a wonderful Bed and Breakfast in nearby Green Lake, tickets to the event bought and paid for on-line, and, believe it or not, EAA was kind enough to grant me a media pass. As time marched toward our planned departure date, RizAir1 was checked and rechecked, instrument flight rule currency and proficiency was focused upon, interviews for the blog were arranged, etc. etc. Everything is a go!
Two weeks before our departure date (the Tuesday the week before I was to head toward #OSH21 and the CTO mini-clinic), my long-time paralegal returned from her vacation and told me that evening that she was accepting another job in a nearby city. KA-BLEW-EE! All vacation plans up in smoke! The long-planned vacation is off! Rental cars cancelled, CTO was notified I would not make for the formation fly-in, and the scheduled interviews were notified that I would not be coming after all.
I would be spending my planned vacation time reviewing resumes and interviewing prospects for replacement. Finding good, experienced paralegals is hard; especially, in small towns. The relationships between attorneys and paralegals is similar to that of doctors and nurses who assist them. You learn how you each like to do things and can anticipate the next move. Chemistry is very important.
Out go the “help wanted” advertisements on Indeed and other services. In come pouring the applications. More than 45 resumes were received in less than 48 hours. Want to know how many meet the very minimum of qualifications? 3 to 4. Not looking too good.
Well, the Lord looks out for fools and idiots, and I qualify on both counts. A day or so later, a resume came in that looked good, very good. The employment assessments came back with excellent scores. “I have to get this woman in here before she escapes somewhere else,” I thought.
The interview went well. On the evening of the Tuesday I was supposed to have left for Oshkosh, I made an offer of employment and it was accepted. Hallelujah! At least I would not be trying to run a law practice without a legal assistant for a month or more. She could not start until the Thursday after my other paralegal left, but that was a minor matter compared to having no one, or having to hire a person with lesser skills, so things were looking good.
At almost midnight on Tuesday night, I broached the subject about heading out to #OSH21 on Saturday to my wife. She had been deeply disappointed about the cancellation as well. She said, “Well, I am glad I didn’t cancel our B&B reservations.” Good news, at least we had a place to stay! BUT, how to get to the B&B and back and forth each day to the airshow?
I began looking for rental cars. The closest place was Stevens Point, Wisconsin. I have been to Stevens Point a few times before, and it is a great airport with excellent fuel prices, but it is an hour and a half to two hours from Green Lake. Bummer! But beggars can’t be choosers, so we reserved the rental car and made arrangements for the keys and paperwork to be left with the FBO at the airport. (Again, don’t ask the cost!) RizAir1 would not be landing at OSH this year but would get us into the neighborhood.
My departing paralegal was excellent at holding the office together while I was out of the office, and even though it was her last week of work for me, she coordinated with me on plans for the week I would be gone, and on organizing files for the transition to the new person.
Now, trying to get things done in two nights after work when you had planned to spend most of a weekend doing so became a bit of a problem, but, somehow, we managed to get things organized. The plane was fueled and pre-flighted the night before our departure and our luggage was packed. Looking for a pre-dawn departure to beat the afternoon heat and clouds was a goal. The alarm was set for 4:30 a.m. and I went to bed by 9 p.m. on Friday night.
Up early on Saturday morning. Weather briefed and IFR flight plan filed to Kit Carson Airport in Colorado for the first fuel stop. We would, as is often the case, be popping in and out of clouds as we got near Alamosa and crossed La Veta Pass. (See The IFR Rating as the “Keys To The Kingdom” https://rizair.blog/2020/07/28/getting-the-keys-to-the-kingdom-the-ifr-rating-for-private-pilot-aviators/)
The plane was loaded, the fuel was strained, and last-minute bathroom runs done. Pre-flight selfie – done. Passenger and crew on board, engine start, ATIS received, IFR clearance obtained, taxi to runway 7, and airborne at 6:21 MDT. After our fuel stop at Kit Carson, we hopped over to Storm Lake, Iowa to top off again. (We could have made it with one fuel stop if we wanted to stretch things and our bladders. A one-stop plan would leave an hour’s reserve at Stevens Point on a VFR direct plan, but would not have been adequate in the event instrument conditions existed. Therefore, the more conservative flight plan.)
I enjoy landing at smaller airports in the Midwest. A great many of them are the home of crop-dusters, and there was activity at both airports. Crop-dusters are usually flying low and slow, and often don’t use radios coming into their home field, so eyes are open and very active scanning takes place.
Once we were past La Veta pass, it was a beautiful VFR day. The airports in central Wisconsin had been marginal VFR to IFR that morning, but things had cleared out by the time we were wheels on at 4:30 CDT (3:30 MDT) in Stevens Point. Nine hours from wheels up in KFMN to touchdown in KSTE, which included a sack lunch meal break at one of our fuel stops. Not bad for a trip that takes about 30 hours to drive.
We were two things on arrival at KSTE: hungry and thirsty! After getting RizAir1 securely tied down, and loading the rental car, we hit up Google to find us someplace, anyplace, to eat. After a good meal and drinking a gallon of iced tea, we hit the road to Green Lake.The pleasant drive brought us to a beautiful old mansion that has been converted into a B&B. The accommodations at the Greenway House were great, the staff wonderful, and we were all set to begin our highly anticipated time at EAA AirVenture (#OSH21).
(https://greenwayhousebandb.com/)
I hope you will join us as I relate the stories of the wonderful organizations I was introduced to and the people I met at AirVenture. I will be posting through the coming year stories of perseverance and determination, of human interest and service to the less fortunate, of youth and their dreams, seniors who lived the history we all know, and an organization or two involved with aviation of which you may have never heard. It will be fun, and I will try to make it interesting, so come along for the trip!
Until then:
Clear Skies and Tailwinds
Gary Risley
© RizAir Blog 19, August 15, 2021
#OSH21 #flywithaopa #pilots #Oshkosh #EAA #generalaviation
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