Closing the door on another chapter

Yesterday we achieved another milestone in the sale of our business. On Friday, we finally reassigned the lease for the showroom office space we’ve been renting in the building next door to our apartment. We’ve been advertising the space since April without any luck. We still have two years left on our lease and were on the hook for almost $75,000 in contracted costs if we couldn’t find a new tenant.

On Monday, our fortunes changed. The real estate agent managing the property contacted me to ask if he could bring a prospective tenant in for an inspection. They inspected the office on Tuesday and immediately made an offer to take over the lease. On Friday, they signed the paperwork and paid a deposit. Even better, they’ve agreed to take all our office furniture and fittings for a nominal price. As a result, we don’t have to remove these items and try to sell or dump them. It’s a wonderfully quick and clean transaction.

For the last three days. Garry and I have been furiously removing everything from the office, sorting through the residual assets and giving the place a final deep clean. After a day on our feet, we finally closed the door on a clean, empty office shortly after 5:00pm. Tomorrow we hand over the keys, and the new tenant takes over the lease. It’s almost six years - to the day - since we moved into this space. Another milestone achieved.

We also received the second of three payments from Artiwood’s new owner last Monday. This leaves one final payment to come in 30 days. We now have one more task to complete before we can finally close off this chapter in our lives. We still have two enclosed pallet boxes filled with toy samples to dispose of. These were used for trade shows in Sydney. I think I’ve found a charity in Melbourne that’s willing to take them.

As I look towards the future, I’ve started thinking about what comes next. One mantra keeps rising to the surface. Looking back on the last 20 years, chronologised diligently by this blog, I am certain of one thing. I want the next 20 years to be filled with as much adventure, discovery and exciting tales as the last 20 were. What that ultimately looks like, I have no idea. Then again, as 2005 began, I had no idea I’d be asked to relocate to Europe, rise to the top of a global company and eventually own my own business for more than a decade.