The Second Hand Rose Club

I decided to ask Warren to take charge of the refurb, once the plans were all approved by the Council & building owner, while I switched my focus to further building up the membership base for opening night. We were not going to be a cheap club – Member would be $2,500 pa for an individual & $10,000 for a corporate member (up to 5 individuals to get access at any one time with guests via the bar-coded access cards).

Funnily enough, this is where Lee came back into the picture. He still had many good contacts around town, & offered to help us. Over the 6 weeks of the refurb, which started in October 2011, we worked the phones & our corporate contacts very hard. It worked wonders. By opening night, we would have well over 500 members including 20-odd corporates. We were already well ahead of the Business Plan.

Lee also helped us out by assisting Ellie in placing all 20 girls in other clubs around Sydney that we knew were good employers on short-term contracts while the refurb was underway. Not one girl missed out on work, & for the girls new to the industry this would be invaluable experience.

Warren was a wonder. The refurb came in $25,000 under budget as he worked his industry contacts to the hilt – amazing for the building industry in this town! He even got some of his building trade mates to sign up as members. Just before opening night, though, I found how in some instances. He quietly pulled me aside & said that over the first few nights, some of his mates would be coming in expecting to receive some "sampler" services to give them a "feel" for what the club was about. Fair enough given the savings – I didn't quibble, nor did Ellie when I told her the news.

So it was we set Opening Night for our new private members club, The Second Hand Rose, late December 2011, just before Christmas. This is a good time as there are many corporates, top public servants, tradesmen & others on the prowl after Christmas parties.

Read about Opening Night in Chapter 2...