Discussion Big change for me coming this year!

[reQ]

While i had my tiny 5 day holiday during New Year, i was looking at my accounting & numbers in general. Since i am 1 man show, i always try to find ways to make more / cut down expenses. After 2 days, i figured that i will be making a big change for me:

1) Buying bigger house with a shop
2) Closing down storefront in June & taking 1 month off for holiday + setting up home shop.
3) Moving business to be home based
4) No more walki-ins, i will be visiting my customers myself on their schedule, when they need something done & take orders. Which is WAY more convenient to them ( so far all of my regulars loved the idea that i will go see them & they don't have to find time to go see me @ the shop)

Most people will say that you gotta have a storefront/commercial location, & I will agree, but i simply don't want to hire people anymore + be tied up to a commercial building where i am in, which is way to big for 1 man operation. Yes, i will lose quit a bit on walk-ins maybe, but my regular customers will keep me busy anyways & they are not going anywhere, they will still do business with me. It will be more than enough to keep me busy + i will keep much more money in my pocket also.

Overall, i think i will be more happy going this way... or not, only time will tell

 

[signcrafters london]

Good luck. Hope it works out for you.

 

[Gino]

Congratulations on your decision.


We all make decisions on a daily basis which can make or break a business or a well oiled machine.

Did you consider how you would see all these people on their time for convenience sake, how it will affect your production line, being a 1 man show ??
Have you figured out how you will be more effective cost-wise while running and delivering things all over the place ??
Do you intend to increase your home hours of operation to make up for the hours spent on the road ??
How will anyone become a customer, if you don't have a place for them to wander into ??
Is your wife gonna help out with part of the business ??
It's tough to be in a business meeting and taking phone calls at the same time. That is rude, so you might miss quite a few dial ups.


My building will be my retirement plan in my future.

 

[Brandon708]

Congratulations on your decision.


We all make decisions on a daily basis which can make or break a business or a well oiled machine.

Did you consider how you would see all these people on their time for convenience sake, how it will affect your production line, being a 1 man show ??
Have you figured out how you will be more effective cost-wise while running and delivering things all over the place ??
Do you intend to increase your home hours of operation to make up for the hours spent on the road ??
How will anyone become a customer, if you don't have a place for them to wander into ??
Is your wife gonna help out with part of the business ??
It's tough to be in a business meeting and taking phone calls at the same time. That is rude, so you might miss quite a few dial ups.


My building will be my retirement plan in my future.

Gino that is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[blufftonsignguy]

I am a home/shop company and pretty much a one man show. I have been kicking the idea around for a couple of years now about getting out of the house and into a commercial front. I have been asking myself the exact opposite questions.

Congratulations on your decision.


We all make decisions on a daily basis which can make or break a business or a well oiled machine.

Did you consider how you would see all these people on their time for convenience sake, how it will affect your production line, being a 1 man show ??
Have you figured out how you will be more effective cost-wise while running and delivering things all over the place ??
Do you intend to increase your home hours of operation to make up for the hours spent on the road ??
How will anyone become a customer, if you don't have a place for them to wander into ??
Is your wife gonna help out with part of the business ??
It's tough to be in a business meeting and taking phone calls at the same time. That is rude, so you might miss quite a few dial ups.


My building will be my retirement plan in my future.

 

[rossmosh]

If you're a one man show, working out of your home makes a lot of sense when looking at the numbers. I have no idea what your monthly nut is, but my guess is it's around $4k ($48k a year). If you move to your home, it probably drops to $500($6000/yr). Assuming a 3x markup, you could lose ~$63k in business and still make the same money as you are now.

 

[reQ]

If you're a one man show, working out of your home makes a lot of sense when looking at the numbers. I have no idea what your monthly nut is, but my guess is it's around $4k ($48k a year). If you move to your home, it probably drops to $500($6000/yr). Assuming a 3x markup, you could lose ~$63k in business and still make the same money as you are now.

You are pretty close with numbers yup.

 

[visual800]

everything will even out. Go back home and you cut out the time wasting bs customers that wanna discuss a cartag. You cut way down on expenses, no more employees, less headaches. You will make less but cant put a price on peice of mind. The one top thing is freedom and flexibility.

Ive been home based for a long time, Im able to make my own hours, Im very good at seperating work and home. Im able to write off percentages of utilities and sq ftage used for work. I wouldnt have it any other way. If I need help I call up another signguy and pay him for a days work and they do the same with me.

Its a simple life, its not stressful.

 

[legacyborn]

During our second year my wife lost her job and I closed up the shop and moved into my garage. I am a one man show but make a good living (for me) I never got a lot of walk in traffic where I was, but I did get some. Most of my clients come from word of mouth. After moving home I found a lot of benefits including tax breaks, lower overhead (but I didn't lower my prices, don't want to be "that guy") but in turn I drove a lot more and spent a lot more in gas and maintenance and time. It's a trade off, since then I've taken home a little more money and been able to catch up but I also never stop working. It's much harder to disconnect and rarely, but annoyingly, some clients show up at my house randomly.

Personally I can't wait to get back into a shop, I love building something and making it great. This years goal is to do just that.

 

[printhog]

i did just what you are considering years back. in 2001 i pulled out of commercial space and took my $450,000 annual business into the garage and back room of my house. It was sweet, i kept my main clients and rode out the post 9/11 economic mess making more per year in my pocket than ever. I trimmed out the time wasting clients (the shoppers), and kept the majors. I had time to relax. Yes sales dropped by 50% but that was an effect of the economy not my location - my friends with shops experienced the same drop.

My clients were welcome to stop by, they all knew i was going in home - and at least once a week we had one or two over for dinners, bbqs, or cocktails. Establishing both loyalty and relationship. At first i was embarrassed that I had to dump the big shop, but after a few bbq's the success of that model was apparent. People do business with people they like.

You can work when you want. You call on new clients as you see needs and opportunities. There really isnt a hard press on sales efficiency. Its not a big nut to crack. And its sure a lot easier to run your shop not feeding a greedy landlord. Just dont drop your prices because your home based... despite temptation. Put the extra savings into your pocket.

And you're getting away from the one negative we all hate - the retail customer that says they can get it elsewhere for less.. good riddance to them. home based is more fun.

 

[reQ]

Piece of mind if a big thing for me, yes. Like i mentioned before, after i did the math, worst case scenario is:

1) I can afford to lose 60% of current sales & still get same dollar after expenses etc
2) If that is the case - i have MUCH more free time that can be directed to something else if needs to
3) Do no have to deal with tire kickers (as was mentioned before)

But it might backfire on me & business will go broke, anything can happen. Good thing is, i have a 30% stake in a construction company here that i can dedicate my time to if my sign business will go bad, so i would not have to fry hamburgers in mcdonalds

 

[Gino]

Piece of mind if a big thing for me, yes. Like i mentioned before, after i did the math, worst case scenario is:

1) I can afford to lose 60% of current sales & still get same dollar after expenses etc
2) If that is the case - i have MUCH more free time that can be directed to something else if needs to
3) Do no have to deal with tire kickers (as was mentioned before)

But it might backfire on me & business will go broke, anything can happen. Good thing is, i have a 30% stake in a construction company here that i can dedicate my time to if my sign business will go bad, so i would not have to fry hamburgers in mcdonalds

Best of luck to ya.

I guess what some people think of and others don't is how their present game plan is set up. When I think of down-sizing or in the beginning for me, before I had any employees, I always was thinking about doing many jobs at any given time. My day usually started with cutting or prepping jobs and when that dust settled, painting out a dozen or so boards and then laying out the boards painted yesterday, then onto lettering some boards and a truck. The only signs I delivered were the ones I was installing. Otherwise, people came and picked up their own signs and then paid the balance before leaving, unless they had some prior terms set up, which was rare in those days. My first shop was about 850 sf and I outgrew that within my first year. I also had about 6 people working in there with me when I finally realized I needed more space. Got a 4,000 sf shop and outgrew that in a few years. Then onto a 14,000 sf shop, but we became so dependent on computers and later printers, we didn't need quite that much room or personnel. Bought our own building in 2001 with 10,000 sf and now, only a few of us left and we can keep up with just about any order and we generally have 9 or 10 jobs going at once with usually 2 big ones going almost all the time. We can also, fit 5 vans in the truck bay at once, if need be. Right now, we have a tri-axle and a van being lettered.... with 3 more trucks coming in this week, 1,800 store menu inserts, 30 some window displays, a store face-lift almost finished, CNC sign, some banner ups, a directional sign for two separate buildings and another business door and directory system to instal, not to mention a complete refurbish of two pylon signs, re-wire them to LEDs and all new faces. Next week looks just as promising and so do the weeks afterwards.... with the pylon signs running about 6 weeks.

So, when I think of a shop, I think of doing multiple jobs at once. Therefore, you can keep up a $8,000 to $15.000 a week and not need to worry too far out. Once we get a short backlog, we start shaking the bushes and build up our back end, again.

So, in your new shop, can/will you do several jobs at once with printing, laminating and still have room for a truck or van and still get deliveries inside without a problem ??

 

[reQ]

Best of luck to ya.

I guess what some people think of and others don't is how their present game plan is set up. When I think of down-sizing or in the beginning for me, before I had any employees, I always was thinking about doing many jobs at any given time. My day usually started with cutting or prepping jobs and when that dust settled, painting out a dozen or so boards and then laying out the boards painted yesterday, then onto lettering some boards and a truck. The only signs I delivered were the ones I was installing. Otherwise, people came and picked up their own signs and then paid the balance before leaving, unless they had some prior terms set up, which was rare in those days. My first shop was about 850 sf and I outgrew that within my first year. I also had about 6 people working in there with me when I finally realized I needed more space. Got a 4,000 sf shop and outgrew that in a few years. Then onto a 14,000 sf shop, but we became so dependent on computers and later printers, we didn't need quite that much room or personnel. Bought our own building in 2001 with 10,000 sf and now, only a few of us left and we can keep up with just about any order and we generally have 9 or 10 jobs going at once with usually 2 big ones going almost all the time. We can also, fit 5 vans in the truck bay at once, if need be. Right now, we have a tri-axle and a van being lettered.... with 3 more trucks coming in this week, 1,800 store menu inserts, 30 some window displays, a store face-lift almost finished, CNC sign, some banner ups, a directional sign for two separate buildings and another business door and directory system to instal, not to mention a complete refurbish of two pylon signs, re-wire them to LEDs and all new faces. Next week looks just as promising and so do the weeks afterwards.... with the pylon signs running about 6 weeks.

So, when I think of a shop, I think of doing multiple jobs at once. Therefore, you can keep up a $8,000 to $15.000 a week and not need to worry too far out. Once we get a short backlog, we start shaking the bushes and build up our back end, again.

So, in your new shop, can/will you do several jobs at once with printing, laminating and still have room for a truck or van and still get deliveries inside without a problem ??

I am getting house with full size basement that will have my dedicated printing/cutting/laminating room + work tables. Garage will be for my screen printing equipment + 1 bay to fit a vehicle in to do decals/wrap if need to.

 

[TheSnowman]

I'm glad I came across this. I'm dealing with walk-ins non-stop lately and they all are just wasting my time. I would say that 75%+ of my work comes in the form of reoccurring customers monthly that just send me an email, there's no questions asked, I send them a proof, it's approved and we go to production. I've had realtors, race car guys, you name it, walk in the door, and they all just want tiny little jobs, and when I mention that I have a $35 minimum, they all freak out like I'm ridiculous to ask that much for a minimum.

I'm just done with it. If it's not a tire kicker, it's some organization or advertising person that stops in and wastes my time wanting me to spend my money with them. You came to MY SHOP, you can BUY, but DO NOT ask me for money.

Just at the end of my rope with these people for some reason. Totally planning on moving out of a retail storefront by the end of the year. You get a little that comes with the storefront, and it gives you validity, but I've been here 11 years now after being home based before that, and so far, as long as you've got the clients that are relational and are going to stick with you in the transition so you can take better care of them, doing it in a shop at home is my vote.

 

[boxerbay]

be sure your local zoning allows you to run a commercial business from your home.

 

[Bradley Signs]

My wife and I work from home. Wouldn't have it any other way. I still find time to keep the place up. I schedule it in like it was a paying job.
99.9% of everything is done by email, including applying for sign permits. Very rare for some one to come and pick something up. We charge a trip charge for everything, and our service proves that this works very well for us.
Customers are all word of mouth, and a new customer pays up front, then if all goes well, we go from there.

Working out of a basement? Never! You have to carry things in and out, and anything bigger than a laundry basket is too big, unless you have a nice ground level entrance to it! I grew up learning the sign trade in many a basement back in the day, and it was now fun carrying 4 or 5 sheets of 3/4" plywood in and out... and now at 59, no thanks. Time catches up with you quicker than you think. If you have an accident, such as a broken leg, will you be able to get down to your shop to work? I'll pass.

We give a price, and that is that. We don't worry about replies, because if they respond, they are usually interested. When and if they do reply, we take it from there.

Sounds like a good plan, just be sure you think way outside of the box, so you don't miss too many things... Money is good, but there is way more to consider than that.

Ciao!

 

[equippaint]

You can always get another store front if you needed to. If you're a 1 man show with existing clients I see no reason to keep a retail spot. You could use half the rent money that you save and put it towards targeted marketing to get customers that you want (or think you want) rather than dealing with walk in riff raff. Im a bit envious honestly. My business needs a lot of space and employees and not a week goes by that I don't think about hanging it up and just doing signs and decals from my house. The constant stress and long hours gets old real quick.
My father ran a successful sign business back in the day out of an industrial office warehouse complex so I'm not convinced you even need any frontage as long as you have the room at home and are disciplined enough to work. Good luck to you, it sounds like it will be a good move!

 

[DJr]

While i had my tiny 5 day holiday during New Year, i was looking at my accounting & numbers in general. Since i am 1 man show, i always try to find ways to make more / cut down expenses. After 2 days, i figured that i will be making a big change for me:

1) Buying bigger house with a shop
2) Closing down storefront in June & taking 1 month off for holiday + setting up home shop.
3) Moving business to be home based
4) No more walki-ins, i will be visiting my customers myself on their schedule, when they need something done & take orders. Which is WAY more convenient to them ( so far all of my regulars loved the idea that i will go see them & they don't have to find time to go see me @ the shop)

Most people will say that you gotta have a storefront/commercial location, & I will agree, but i simply don't want to hire people anymore + be tied up to a commercial building where i am in, which is way to big for 1 man operation. Yes, i will lose quit a bit on walk-ins maybe, but my regular customers will keep me busy anyways & they are not going anywhere, they will still do business with me. It will be more than enough to keep me busy + i will keep much more money in my pocket also.

Overall, i think i will be more happy going this way... or not, only time will tell

 

[DJr]

I was in the same exact situation. 1 man show too much shop rent for over 10 years. We moved back into the garage thinking it would be a good idea. The following reasons are why it only lasted a year:
1) Some customers you just don't want at your home.
2) Way more wasted time seeing people and dropping jobs to customers. You can make up lost $$$ but hard to make up time.
3) Found myself working after hours printing etc...in order to make up for the time lost running around.
4) Always something chore staring you in the face at home making it easy to get side tracked. I love my family but they too can be a distraction if home during working hours.
5) Motivation psychologically speaking for me is higher being at a work place away from home.

After one year of the shop in the garage I moved back out. I did however scale the shop back in size and location and brought my rent from $1800 a month before the garage to $500 per month after the garage. It's a store front but not on the main road as before (which made it cheaper). We have been there for a year now and I like the change. Best part is we close at 5 now allowing for no pick ups after hours at home or some asking if you can work on a file after hours since you are home with nothing better to do. Good luck I hope this helps some!

 

[Bly]

One thing about having a shop is the great feeling you get walking out after a rough day and locking all that behind you and going home.