posted on March 18, 2004 03:01:42 PM new
Signed the lease today for my new office. Reception area, two private offices, workroom in back and (most necessary of all necessaries) a private bathroom with hot water. Convenient to home. A dozen eateries in a three block radius.
I can get a decently-fast DSL connection there. Previous tenants had Covad.
Most important: Rent is about 1/3 of what I was paying in 2001. Yes, the market here has changed that much. I sure hope I run into my old landlord. I'm dying to thumb my nose at him. He'd still have me as a tenant if he hadn't tried to cheat me at every turn.
I will miss the conveniences of home, like doing laundry and listing at the same time. But home isn't that far away.
I like being at home and I would not have made this move at all except that the numbers (and my health) showed that revenues have levelled out. Simply put, I need more people doing the mindless parts, freeing me up for marketing, business development, and listing, which I love doing. Fortunately, temp agencies seem to have a never-ending supply of warm bodies.
Before deciding to move out of the house, I ran the numbers. I did a survey of local fulfillment companies, including a couple of places that hire mentally-ill or disabled people. It would cost me about twice as much per mailing piece to use them as it would to set up my own facility and bring in temps. It's a little disappointing that the fulfillment folks weren't willing to be more competitive, but then none of them had had experience with eBay sales. I think this will change. I think there's a business opportunity there for an entrepreneur who can sell his mailing services to eBay sellers who have business interruptions (vacations, illnesses, elder care, etc.). Maybe that entrepreneur should be me.
I've got a whole new to-do list, but I'll gladly do it: call PG&E, call TPC, call Covad, find a liability insurer, find an alarm company... Gotta run.
--
"Clearly, people want things that make their lives the way they wish they were." --John Peterman, `Peterman Rides Again'
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Mar 18, 2004 03:03 PM ]
posted on March 18, 2004 04:14:56 PM new
Check for any small business incentives in your area, or even a business incubator. Class credit at local schools for student work. Sub-let one office, maybe. etc. good luck.
posted on March 18, 2004 05:54:29 PM new
Hey, parklane, I never would have thought of that. Thanks.
There are skylights dotted throughout the place, and one of the two offices gets natural light. I thought I might set part of that up as a mini photo studio.
I'll tell ya what I learned from my first office:
1) Never hire friends
2) Your broker is NOT your friend and he's NOT working for you
3) If you have a reserved parking space, every ahole in the universe will want to park there
4) Never sign a "triple net" lease
5) Never send work papers offsite no matter how cheap the home worker is...you'll never see them again
6) Never hire friends
7) Keep your dumpster locked unless you like having people drop old computer monitors in it
8) Make sure nothing of any value is visible to anyone peering in the windows
9) Never hire friends
10) Having your own office means that YOU have to deal with the recently-deceased rat in the parking lot
11) That skittering noise you hear on the roof from time to time? See #10.
12) When your landlord comes by and wants to know how your business is doing, it's not because he likes you
13) Never hire friends
14) You can't keep the homeless and construction workers from having an extended lunch break right up against your front door
15) Your neighbors can be your allies or your worst enemies. Choose wisely
16) Never hire friends
--
"Clearly, people want things that make their lives the way they wish they were." --John Peterman, `Peterman Rides Again'
posted on March 18, 2004 08:39:15 PM new
Fluffy, you may want to contact some of the local colleges and ask if they have a student work-study program. I've had my own office/business for about 3 years now and have had very good luck with students. They are eager to learn new tasks and quite often, they will continue to work (at least part time) for you once they graduate while they are looking for a full time position.
I agree with you...NEVER, NEVER, NEVER - may I repeat...NEVER hire friends. Or at least people you think will be a good partner and share expenses with you. I have a good heart and I trust people and I allowed someone to come in and share my office with me with a promise to pay 1/2 the expenses. Well, needless to say, I threw her out and changed the locks after she owed me over $7000 in past bills - every month she promised to pay of course. Never again!
But I think having your own office is a good move. I originally was a Xerox Agent/Owner, decided to scale down to simply selling office supplies (and wanted to get away from working for Xerox) and had this huge office with lots of extra space - with floor to ceiling windows. Hey, I thought to myself...why not make the front of the office an antique shop and run the supply business in the back. It's the perfect combination for me. And having to get out of bed in the morning and heading to the office motivates me a little more than trying to work out of the house. If I were at home all day, I'd tend to watch too much TV, eat and play with the dog.
Sorry to be long winded, but I'm just excited for you. Good luck to you Fluffy and we all wish you the best of luck!
The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously. Hubert Humphrey
[ edited by cta on Mar 18, 2004 08:39 PM ]
posted on March 18, 2004 09:18:34 PM new
Right, never hire friends OR family.
I've had a residential team cleaning service for about 20 years now. At one time I hired my cousin to run the office. When she quit after an argument we didn't speak for almost a year.
We were very close & I missed her very much, thank heavens all is well now.
posted on March 18, 2004 09:44:15 PM newRight, never hire friends OR family.
Too true. I am chastened to say that I once considered setting up a fulfillment in my home town (cheap rent, cheap labor) and putting a relative in charge. Even wrote it into my business plan.
Sure recipe for disaster, even for relatives who like each other. And we don't.
--
"Clearly, people want things that make their lives the way they wish they were." --John Peterman, `Peterman Rides Again'
posted on March 18, 2004 09:50:23 PM new
Congrats Fluff!!
You are right about fulfillment companies, they can be a real pain. On top of that, you have to baby sit them. Ours "lost" 10,000 units of inventory once. We are not talking about small items here either, I'm talking 20 10 x 14 x 30 boxes and I was one one that found the discrepency. It took three months to get them to reimburse us that they signed as recieving from our manufacturer and never added to our inventory and never found.
I would probably never use another one again, I would go your route. With your quantities, I don't doubt for a minute that you will find that your office overhhead ends up being less than their monthly fees would be.
Be careful with temps. My experience with them was nothing but negative. I had no question the people who were sent to us were in the temp market - nobody in their right mind would hire them full time. In addition to students, you might want to try womens centers. they generally have placement specialists trying to help place women getting back on their feet.
I envy you the next few months. There is nothing more fun than building something new. Have a blast and I wish you nothing but great success.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on March 19, 2004 02:23:57 AM new
Congratulations fluffy! There is an old saying about "may the yada yada yada and the wolf stray far from your door" but I can't remember anything but the last part! Anyway it means "may the force be with you".
posted on March 19, 2004 05:38:47 AM new
Fluffy - The beauty of having a student come on board through a work-study program is - you don't have to pay them a cent. At least that is the way it works through several colleges in my area. They are working for nothing as part of their learning experience. They are gaining new job skills by being on the job with you and it's part of their college grade. It may only last a couple of months per student, but you may meet some really nice kids who are there to get some good hands-on business experience. You may not have this type of program offered in your area, but it's worth looking into...especially if it doesn't cost anything.
The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously. Hubert Humphrey
posted on March 19, 2004 06:21:18 AM new
I think I told the story before about how I wanted a temp agency to send me only women workers and how they got huffy about how that was discriminatory and they couldn't do that and so on.
So I said, "OK, you can send me a guy as long as he's gay."
You could hear the sputtering all the way to San Francisco.
Your idea, Fenix, would be a neat end-run.
I've got nothing against men -- I think every woman should own a few -- but they are usually not up to speed on matters pertaining to jewelry.
--
"I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewelry." -- Rita Rudner
posted on March 19, 2004 09:32:50 AM new
Good luck, Fluffy.
I smiled when I read your list. I can identify with most of it except I never hired friends and have never seen a rat.... just other numerous furry and feathered friends and one time a bat.
