OOR SOCCER ARENA
from its locally-owned businesses. The
community, which Gabe describes as
"laid-back," seems to prefer mom-andpop shops to national franchises. Partly
because of this and partly because of
his thinking as a twenty-something with
minimal business experience, Gabe had
not challenged himself to take his business
to the highest possible level. As the
business grew, however, Gabe began to
take it more seriously and wanted to offer
his customers a better quality product.
In 2008,
Kickers
it to a new
the facility began a Lil'
program, which brought
financial level. The program
FALL201
3
was successful
from the get-go,
not only because
representatives
from Lil' Kickers
sent marketing
material to
potential
customers, but
because Gabe
had coached the
child of a writer
who featured
the facility's Lil' Kickers program in the
local newspaper. When International
Indoor hosted an open house to introduce
Lil' Kickers to the community, it was
well-attended because it had been wellpublicized. Many families registered their
children for the new program. Soon the
facility was busy during the day as well as
in the evenings.
It was around this time that new
landlords bought the property.
Somehow, they
never received a
copy of Gabe's
lease, and they
wanted to
renegotiate it.
"They wanted an exorbitant amount in
rent," says Gabe. Gabe wanted to extend
his lease for five years. The result was
an ugly lawsuit. Even if Gabe won the
lawsuit, the best he could have done
was stay in the building–which was now
owned by people who clearly did not have
his best interest at heart–for five more
years. After that, the terms of the lease
could change dramatically. He began to
look for a better building in a better part
of town.
This was difficult, as all the buildings that
were big enough to accommodate indoor
soccer had columns; none of them had a
wide, open space.
"We found one building
that was
in a part of town that was
a little
bit better than where we were. My
business mentor, whose daughter I have
coached, said it would be okay if we opened
there, but it wasn't going
to be great. Then, a
realty buddy of mine
who was also a
customer–we had
played soccer with and
against each other for
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