Our Journey to a Fully Executed Purchase Agreement

First came the call – the one that said we had won the right to draft a lease for the space at which we would open Jillie Willie. We jumped around the room and squealed like kids on Christmas morning. We had achieved a comprehensive fully executed purchase agreements! We had a real space in which to start our business.

We love that saying that all good things come in threes because winning the lease was just one happy thing to occur when we began to sell Jillie Willie at retail: the second good thing was a fantastic designer apron, and the third great thing was an order.

The joy in finding the right apron is not that different than the joy of having a fully executed purchase agreement in your business box. The task can be legal or retail based, but either way the end result of finding the right product and being able to use it are pretty much the same. For the legal folks, “fully executed” is a term that refers to whether a contract is accepted by all parties by way of signature. On the retail side, this is a similar concept. When an order is dropped off for a kitchen product (e.g., our aprons), the order has to be accepted. This acceptance can be verbal or in writing, but for the most part it is just the act of placing an order. For real estate decisions made between commercial parties, an executed agreement is only so if it has a signature (or two) on it.

How do you know when you have a fully executed purchase agreement? An executed purchase agreement is just a legally enforceable thing; as discussed above, it is done when there is a signature from all parties. But how do you get to that point? Well, with real estate, there are all sorts of checks and balances. First, ensure that you have executed copies of all documents exchanged between you and the other party (i.e., commercial entities involved in real estate transactions); this is known as an executed copy. If you are working with an individual, then you should be asking for a signed copy of the contract you share with them. From there, work toward getting a fully executed copy of the fully executed agreement sent to you as soon as possible.

When it comes to purchase agreements, either in a commercial or retail setting, it really is simple. Either accept the drop off or take the order; however, if you are not at your place of business, then you want to ensure it gets placed in the proper hands so that it ultimately gets fulfilled to your customer. At Jillie Willie, we do just that: when we receive pre-orders for a custom apron, they go into a specific hand. Then, once it is fulfilled, the individual who fulfilled it (usually me) sends the individual the rabidly anticipated product. This is the analogy to how an executed agreement works in real estate.

With Jillie Willie, there is nothing more satisfying than closing a deal and moving forward on fulfilling our promise to create a new kitchen product that is not only functional but that also brings joy.