Forum Moderators: buckworks
I had expected maybe one guy with a drawer of chips. Actually they had about 6 mostly-parttime employees and three or four machines. Maybe three phones.
They didn't have much inventory but it was cleverly kept in locked cages for burglary protection. They used custom written order entry software that sure looked better than our method.
The place was on the ground floor of a slightly seedy
2-story structure. A beauty shop was next door. As I walked in, one employee was returning with several pizzas for the crew's lunch.
----
I've been selling on the web for years (I'll tell you about our own operation later) but that was the only time I've ever visited the "corporate hub" of a purely ecommerce business.
Was fun to see how others do things. One thing is certain: most of us will never post photos of our offices on our sites.
If a customer insists on a collection I meet them in a local hotel lobby, that way I can them coffee and chat a while.
My boyfriend's boss had a funny story about when he started his business. They have a beautiful office now, all kinds of glass walls and nice plants and Ikea desks and rainbow-ordered iMacs and the like. But at that point he had a computer and was renting a room from another company, I think maybe even a storage closet.
One of his early clients expressed interest in visiting him. The boss couldn't say no, now could he? So, frantically, he rented another several rooms, scrounged and found some more computers (scrap, mostly) and got them all set up and nice-looking, as if he had a real business with several employees. (I think the plan was for him to convince a couple of friends to sit at the computers and look busy if the need arose.)
In the end, the client never did visit. But it did convince him to start hiring a few employees once he could afford them, and delegate some of the work. There are only ten of them but they do well-- very well indeed.
Clients still don't often visit, though.
One end of a desk in the bedroom. The other end is usually occupied by yesterdays socks
I have been in several (all now failed) offices that were palaces located down in the Water Gardens right next to Warner Brothers that had cool glass walls, multi-media displays, and a sea of $700 ergo chairs.
In the end most of those places had their lease as their biggest liability.
The successful ones I have been in are a collection of generic cubes, stuff stacked all over the place, and are nothing to behold. A couple of them are subletting off of someone elses lease at a fraction of the original price.
My home business sits in a plastic stacking folder box next to the desk which unfortunately is in the same room as the TV.
What, the whole end of the room? Those are some big socks.
Hey, cutting costs where you can is a pretty good business model. What do you care if your chair's $700 or if you perch on the end of your bed, as long as you're comfortable?
I've just rearranged my room so my desk is in a more comfortable place. We'll see if that inspires me to be more professional...
No, even my feet ( which I keep putting in my mouth ) arent that big. I said one end of the desk holds yesterdays socks :)
Seriously though. I have a desk in the spare bedroom with shelves full of relevant books over it. Suits me fine. ( and the socks were only a one off :) )
We do have a store in a spare bedroom of my Pa's flat several kilometres away. Our main problem is that with up to 3 part-time employees in at any one time, there is now a serious lack of space.
Where do you put your employees? Surely not in the one bedroom flat?!?!?!?
This brings up a good issue.
It seems that there is a big concern with web site security, and transferring credit card and customer data using a secure method.
Please make sure you have the physical documentation secure! Operating in an apartment always leaves the possibility that a common theif will walk away with a box full of credit card numbers.
I am not cutting on home based businesses (I am one). You just gotta think security off the net too.
Take care,
Please make sure you have the physical documentation secure!
Can't agree more. A few years ago I ran my whole business out of a spare room in my house, which at the time was both convenient and cost effective. A major fire in the vacant piece of land next door spread and destroyed the "office". Thank goodness for a host that backed everything up otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here now. Even so it probably took 18 months to get back to where things were.
The business has grown since then and attracted some large clients, more in the progamming part than websites. They tend to be impressed by fancy offices and things that, to me, don't matter but hell they are paying. Now I rent an office in a fancy office block. Part of the rent includes a receptionist, photocopier, cable connection and most of all free coffee. If I need a conference room or any other facilities for example teleconferencing equipment etc, they are normally available at an hour's notice.
At the end of the day I think I would rather be able to work from home (I got here nearly 14 hours ago) but customers are king and you have to do what they want.
I prefer working on the back porch in swim trunks. California weather is king.
We had an office for a couple of years, but mainly just went over there to meet clients, and store stuff. One day a medical billing company offered to pay us a chunk of money to split and take it over, so we didn't hesitate.
We pretty much work from home anyhow, so I didn't go hunting down another office yet. Honestly there are a lot of logistic things I like about an outside office, but working all the time is convenient to do from home.
Take care,
We've just moved in to new premises [autospares-directory.com], should be nice when finished :)
Karl :)
How did you get that shot of my living room?
Back OT, our office has grown over the last 2 years. We started in a basement that looked much like the image Karl posted. Now we are in a 3-section office with over 20 employees. Dress is business casual, and the professional feel of the office seems to be helping productivity. I have however set a goal to go back to working from home in a couple years.
Will
Sounds like my kind of place :)
I'm hopeful we will get there soon :)
Karl
