Full Version: Our new home!
From: Becky (KIAIJANE) [#5]
16 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#4] 17 Mar 2007
Congrats to you and Janna on your BEAUTIFUL new shop. I cannot believe how fast it seems to have gone together.
And how blessed you are to have such a lovely young lady helping you!!
How wonderful to have everyone involved. That is such a blessing.
You almost make me wish I had a retail shop!! ;-)
Congratulations!!
Becky
From: Doc (GREAT_ATLANTIC) [#6]
17 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 17 Mar 2007
From: Tony (ANTE) [#7]
17 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 17 Mar 2007
Cody,
All the best to you and Janna in your new shop. It looks very spacious and well organized. Kitchen is fantastic but you did't show us dining
room.
Tony
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From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#8]
17 Mar 2007
To: Doc (GREAT_ATLANTIC) [#6] 17 Mar 2007
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#9]
17 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 17 Mar 2007
Congratulations Cody and Janna. It's amazing how you can tranform four blank walls into such an appealing shop. It really turned out nice.
I enjoyed the visual journey via your photographs. Thanks for sharing.
From: Ruben (QUIEROLEARN) [#10]
17 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#8] 17 Mar 2007
Cody,
it was nice meeting you in Vegas!
Felicidades y buena suerte!! in your new shop it looks Great!
Ruben
From: John (ICTJOHN) [#11]
17 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 17 Mar 2007
Cody,
Well, we have seen Janna & Kalan working & cleaning............... but I don't recall seeing you anywhere near a hammer, drill or saw. ;-)
The whole project is great! I can't wait to hear how your "Open House" goes. People will be pleasantly surprised.
~
From: JHayes55 [#12]
18 Mar 2007
To: John (ICTJOHN) [#11] 18 Mar 2007
Very nice Cody & Janna - Toni and I wish you all the very best in your adventure. We can appreciate the experience your going through. Love the photos please keep it up.
On the suggestion of you using piped music from you and David - think that one over for a few years - at least until you have a very strong established customer base. 8-O
We need to make a plan for a road trip down to see you.
From: LaZerDude (C_BURKE) [#13]
18 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#8] 18 Mar 2007
I disagree. I'm sorry I didn't have a tape recorder.....I'd be talking to EMI right now....then you'd have to pay me 20%........ and I could retire. B-)
From: LaZerDude (C_BURKE) [#14]
18 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#8] 18 Mar 2007
Cody,
Did you buy the space? or are you renting it?
We are negotiating for a new space and you have inspired me.......thanks
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#15]
18 Mar 2007
To: LaZerDude (C_BURKE) [#14] 18 Mar 2007
We're renting.
The owner offered to sell me the spot for $250,000 (for about 1,500 SF). I don't know if he was joking or not....he didn't smile.
This has been a big learning experience for us. Here are some quick notes:
1) When creating the budget for your remodel or move, double the amount that you think it will cost. Then double it again.
2) You can never have enough storage space. We took about 100 SF away from our showroom to give us more shelving in our stockroom. That was one of the best moves.
From: Doc (GREAT_ATLANTIC) [#16]
18 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#15] 18 Mar 2007
A local diner (about 3200 sq.f. on 1/2 acre) up the street from us just sold to a bank as a teardown for a new branch.
$3.6 million :'-(
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#17]
18 Mar 2007
To: Doc (GREAT_ATLANTIC) [#16] 19 Mar 2007
From: Tom (TJGEENEN) [#18]
19 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#17] 19 Mar 2007
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#19]
19 Mar 2007
To: Tom (TJGEENEN) [#18] 19 Mar 2007
Thanks for the kind words, Tom.
We got started in October of 2003, working mainly from home. We had ZERO money, and ZERO equipment (doesn't take up much space!!) .... only the idea that we wanted to start a family business.
A close family friend was in the process of buying a laser engraver from Brewer Sales, and we thought we'd like to get on board with him. We fell in love with the technology, and it didn't take long to see the potential.
My parents have been in the floral business for about 30 years, and they have a couple of stores (one here in Sulphur Springs, the other about 20 miles away). They generously offered to let us have a room in their local shop to display some of our stuff.
Meanwhile, as we took orders (mainly from friends), we had our friend engrave the items for us - for a fee, of course.
It didn't take long to realize that we would NEVER make money this way. We also had some disagreements on what "quality" meant. So, in February of 2004, we took the plunge - bought a 35W Epilog from Brewer Sales (now Engraving Concepts). My parents continued to let us use that room in their shop. That kept our overhead to nearly $0 (talk about a blessing!!).
The great thing about that arrangement was that someone was always working in the shop. That allowed me to work another full-time job from home (I could leave home at any time to meet someone at the shop, whenever necessary).
Well, things rocked right along until this past summer, when my former employer restructured....eliminating all satellite offices. :'-(
After much prayer on the issue, we decided to make a go of our business on a full-time basis. I spent MANY late nights crunching numbers to see just what it was actually going to take to run this thing right (and not into the ground).
We knew that we would never reach our full potential at the florist - simply too little room. So in January of this year, we started looking for another building....and the rest is history!
I know that our situation is very unique, particularly the early stages.
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#20]
19 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#19] 19 Mar 2007
Cody,
That statement shouldn't have brought a knowing smile to my face, but I've just recently had a couple of situations with people (separate companies) I use for laser engraving and silkscreen services.
We seem to have a different opinion of what paying attention to detail and expedient service means.
The first company (after missing 3 projected finish dates) silkscreened the wrong 3-color logo to 50 badge blanks and the second company didn't begin my job until I walked through the door, after I specifically explained that I needed to do a "Pony Express" stop and be on my way immediately.
It wasn't necessary for me to have "the talk" with the screener. On his own volition, he's going to the ends of the earth to make sure my do-or-die deadline is met, including driving half way around SoCal to make it happen.
The laser engraver won't be so contrite. I'm not sure if I'll even have the talk with him. Fortunately, I have a handful of other laser engravers at my service.
Note: This incident was out of character for the silkscreener. The laser engraver has been showing an unbreakable pattern of missing deadlines, which (to his surprise) has taken a toll on his overall business.
I don't have a zero-tolerance policy. "It" occasionally hits the fan for all of us. It's the measures we take to rectify an error that set us apart in business.
EDITED: 19 Mar 2007 by DGL
From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#21]
19 Mar 2007
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#20] 19 Mar 2007
A whole forum full! ;^)
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#22]
19 Mar 2007
To: Carl (CSEWELL) [#21] 19 Mar 2007
I meant locally, but you're exactly right! :-)
From: gt350ed [#23]
19 Mar 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 19 Mar 2007
Your store looks as though it is going to be first class. Great job!
Our tenures in this business are about the same. We opened our retail store doors in August of 2003 after evolving into it from home for a couple of years prior.
We too have recently expanded, although we did not have the luxury of starting with an empty set of rooms. Our store is one of four tenant spaces on the ground floor of a two-story building. Recently, we were able to rent one of the other spaces on the ground floor. Although it is not contiguous, it is accessed via a common no-public hallway. It serves as our new "backroom" for inventory storage and assembly. When we look at our stock on shelves similar to your storage, we cannot believe that most of it was once in our store behind a wall.
Over the next couple of months, we will once again be doing a mini-remodel of our store in order to take advantage of the newly gained showroom space that was once storage area. Whoppee!
Be sure to post more pictures as you get fully stocked. What you have so far looks really, really good. You should all be proud.
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#24]
19 Mar 2007
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#20] 19 Mar 2007
Amen.
We occasionally make mistakes on our items, and it's downright embarrassing to me. Fortunately, my customers don't get to see my mistakes. When they do, I am extremely humble....and make sure I do everything possible to make it right.
I appreciate it when my customers give me that second chance to fix an error.
That being said, we have never missed a deadline (knock on simulated-wood-paper-veneer). Some of my suppliers have cut me VERY close, but never over the line.
We had "the talk" with our engraver in the beginning, hoping to avoid those issues. He's a fantastic guy, and he'd give you the shirt off his back if it would help you.....but he just didn't have the "eye" for quality that we needed.
I'm certainly not opposed to giving someone a second chance (or third). God has been exceeding patient with me, so who am I to demand perfection from other people (I guess I still expect it)?
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