Why not expand my business now?
JennBrockman
Today I’m going to share with you why I’ve not opened my storefront yet. I’ll go over the reasons why I think I should in a future post.
photo credit: geishaboy500
With the economy seemingly in a downward spiral many people are looking at moving out of offices and into their homes to work.
Not Me! I am actually thinking of taking my business in the other direction - off line into a brick and mortar location here in town after having run my business on line from home for the last four years.
There are 3 major reasons why I’m not jumping into it yet even though I’ve been researching and getting things set up for over a year now.
The first is that thanks to bad genes and a car wreck four years ago, I have some days of pretty intense pain and discomfort. This makes it hard to get up and walk, let alone run a store where I have to help customers with putting on makeup. I cannot predict what I will feel like from one day to the next which is why working from home is great. I can do what I can do at the time that I can do it!
The second reason is my younger daughter who was diagnosed with Autism and oppositional defiance disorder this year at the age of 6. I was called away to school more than once because of her behaviors and if I’m with a customer in my store that might not be good for business.
The third reason is not such a personal one. Sales have been down for me just like they have been for many other business owners this year.
At this time last year, there was no stopping me. My sales were great and I was impressed as heck with how well I’d done at the end of the year for only working it part time. I figured that I could get around the other two issues somehow, but so far, it is a very different story this year. If I move out of my home office I have rent and utilities to pay for even when I don’t make sales.
That is pretty scary to think about and even if I look at it as a write off or as a great storage solution, it comes down to being pretty expensive storage and a write off won’t pay the landlord.
So, have you as a small business owner been faced with similar dilemmas?
I would love to hear how you have weighed the need of expanding, with the convenience of working from home.
JennBrockman @ May 9, 2008
JennBrockman
Hi Jenn,
Great post. Have you determined why sales are down this year? Is it a significant decrease? Are there any steps you can take to restore sales … or do you think it’s primarily the slowing economy that is negatively impacting sales?
I agree with you that now is not the best time to increase your operating expenses. Maintaining your business in-home for now is the more pragmatic way to go. It will give you time to devise ways to boost sales. Or, think of other products/services to sell.
I hope for you much success for the future.
Judith Stephens
Hi Judith, some of it has to do with a lack of my ‘being out there’, but the overall problem is just a dip in the economy.
I’ll explain next month more on why I think expanding would actually help.
Jenn Brockman