A search on flickr for Gruene Hall today yielded 2,597 results. A Google image search returned almost 140,000. A lot of those pictures are largely the same, but photographers over the past few days have had an entirely new kind of photo opportunity at Gruene Hall – remodeling.

Before you purists gasp with shock, it’s not like they’re adding a second story and a massive wall of big screen televisions (thank you Pat & MJ for never doing that!) They are only replacing the wooden facade at the front of the building with new wood. I say “only”, but truth be told, it’s a fairly famous facade. I’ve had the pleasure of working in the Gruene historic district for seven years now and there’s rarely a moment of daylight when someone isn’t taking a picture of it. During the spring of 2009, traffic on Gruene Road came to a halt as a famous someone took a picture in front of that facade.

As I watched the workers this afternoon replacing the boards I couldn’t help but marvel at what a brilliant and potentially profitable renovation this was. The entire project, plus several more dump trucks full of money could be salvaged by cutting up the old pieces of wood into two foot sections and selling them, along with a certificate of authenticity and maybe a professional photograph taken just before the renovations started, for $78 (Gruene Hall was built in 1878). It’s not a stretch to say you could quickly make more money than Gruene Hall originally sold for back in 1975.

Pat and Mary Jane rarely miss a trick, but I thought I would ask anyway. The Gruene TX office assured me that all of the original wood from the facade was very much off-limits and was being removed to a secure location.

While Pat & Mary Jane are able to (potentially) capitalize on this because they have spent the last 35 years building something special at Gruene Hall, this kind of opportunity lays dormant in most businesses. You don’t have to own the oldest dancehall in Texas (or the Dallas Cowboys) to take advantage. The trick is to recognize it when the opportunity presents itself, or to seek it out when you are looking for a cash flow boost (which is every day that ends in a “Y” if you’re an entrepreneur).

Within the past ten days I’ve uncovered hidden income potential in one of the businesses I work with. What about you? Is there a big pile of money hiding somewhere in your business, just waiting to be found?

Gruene Hall facade renovation - February 2010