gcextreme

To move to a larger place or not??

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This thread has gone wayyyyyyyy off-track.

 

Your lease is up.

 

Do you stay put, or get into this garage?

 

There is nothing in this decision which includes buying a new house.

 

Go ahead and negotiate a lower rent if you can and then move your stuff into this larger and more flexible space.

 

Run with it.

 

Be flamboyant in the new space, and turn it into a real attraction for those who drive by.

I remember your decals on the windows of your porch at home when you first started.

Use the building as a huge billboard and make sure everyone knows you are there.

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I got to agree with Slice here - for a couple of reasons.  As Slice mentioned, the lease is up and you have to commit to something in short order.  IMHO, buying a house should take some time and research and needs buy-in from gce & his wife.  Simply having a two car garage so let us commit to a 30 year mortgage does not cut it.

 

OTOH, you cannot ignore the sound advice given and all of the plus factors of working from home.  I suspect there are a few minus factors that have not shown up yet.

 

So, again IMHO, what y*all need are plans.  Short term and longer range.

Short range - deal with the pending lease; longer range - home ownership.

In the short run I would try for a two year lease and month to month in year three; with lower rent the first year and begin research into home ownership.  In year two kick it up a notch and plan for the home purchase when the right property comes along.  Home ownership and working from home is a big other topic and needs more time & space than I have this morning...

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Working from home cuts out alot of expenses, yes.

But also consider that working for home may be more practical when all your business is online. Having customers come to your house is another burden. Also if i want to vinyl up a customers vehicle, then now i have to have a dedicated garage/shop at my home for it, and still have customers coming to my HOME.

In the future when i own my own home and land, ideally it would be great to have a garage/shop like this on my property, still keeping home and business separate.

I want to have a local store front for people to browse some merchandise, hard to do that out of my house.

Now Skeeter says she does all her business online, thats awesome, but even tho 80-90% of my business sales comes from online currently, its not enough to do full time.

And i really don't know what to do to make the income she does online.

I have ebay and etsy, but they are so limiting and so much fees..

My own website is much more flexible. .but isn't reaching enough customers.

It's April 7th, and ive already had $437 this month go thru my site. And about $3800 this year.

At this rate, this year will be a good profitable year, if i stay at my current location with the current lease expenses.

If i get this larger place, yes i will have more expenses, but i also open the door to more sales and winter sales too.

Its a tough choice.

I have also considered closing up the store, putting all the big stuff back into storage and working with back from home until,

1. The owner renovates that shop. I can save up more money.

2. Until the wife and i find the perfect house that can accommodate my business.

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Another consideration.......

Since this is your "second job" will you have the TIME available for

the extra work you will need to generate in order to pay the higher rent?

 

Sue2

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Another consideration.......

Since this is your "second job" will you have the TIME available for

the extra work you will need to generate in order to pay the higher rent?

Sue2

This is true. .but if u go back and read where i said i eventually want to do this full time and quit my other full time job, you will understand that in order for this to happen, i have to push the limits and break the precipice eventually.

And i will never be able to do it full time in this small little shop where i am at right now.

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Update;

 

Well the wife's parents sold their parent's old house/land, so they will be giving us a down payment on a house. The wife and i still need to go in and see what we can get approved for. Then we will have to see what's out there in our price range..

 

As for the larger shop/store, i was able to work out a deal with the owner, for $500 a month, 6 month lease, while he also fixes up and improves the place. So after 6 months, depending on how much he has improved the place, or after 12 months, we will re-evaluate the monthly rent. 

 

He said the place isn't and wont do him any good sitting empty and he wants to work with me to get me in there and to get the place built to my needs.

 

So if i go with this, im in it for 6 months at least..and it may even take that long or longer to find a house. 

 

I guess my options are the following:

 

1. Renew my 1 year lease at my current shop for $350 + Utilities and if we find a house sooner, be stuck with this lease.

2. Close my shop, put 90% of my stuff back into storage, the other 10% of my stuff back into my small home office, and work out of there until we find and buy a house.

3. Take this 6 month lease on this larger shop while looking for a house and then see how it goes from there. Business could be great that I could keep the shop longer even after buying a house, specially if the house isn't adequate for my business.

 

 

I know if I work from home i won't have the overhead, but i also won't have the local exposure either. 

I like selling online, but i want to do stuff and thrive locally too. Plus doing everything from my home would mean having customers come to my home.

 

The town i am in has 1 other screen printing shop and 1 other Sign shop that just does large signs, there is no shop around town that actually does vehicles in a garage. There is also no other shop that does all the other products i do, from keychains, coffee mugs, etched glass, etc.

Also the screen printer has a 20 pc minimum and won't do anything "offensive", they are really picky on the items they do.  

And I do want to get into screen printing soon, and i will need a larger area to do that.

 

At this point, its a big risk, sink or swim. 

And i think the 6 month short term lease would be a great trial run. 

The owner is a very nice flexible guy, willing to work with me.

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Update;

 

Well the wife's parents sold their parent's old house/land, so they will be giving us a down payment on a house. The wife and i still need to go in and see what we can get approved for. Then we will have to see what's out there in our price range..

 

As for the larger shop/store, i was able to work out a deal with the owner, for $500 a month, 6 month lease, while he also fixes up and improves the place. So after 6 months, depending on how much he has improved the place, or after 12 months, we will re-evaluate the monthly rent. 

 

He said the place isn't and wont do him any good sitting empty and he wants to work with me to get me in there and to get the place built to my needs.

 

So if i go with this, im in it for 6 months at least..and it may even take that long or longer to find a house. 

 

I guess my options are the following:

 

1. Renew my 1 year lease at my current shop for $350 + Utilities and if we find a house sooner, be stuck with this lease.

2. Close my shop, put 90% of my stuff back into storage, the other 10% of my stuff back into my small home office, and work out of there until we find and buy a house.

3. Take this 6 month lease on this larger shop while looking for a house and then see how it goes from there. Business could be great that I could keep the shop longer even after buying a house, specially if the house isn't adequate for my business.

 

 

I know if I work from home i won't have the overhead, but i also won't have the local exposure either. 

I like selling online, but i want to do stuff and thrive locally too. Plus doing everything from my home would mean having customers come to my home.

 

The town i am in has 1 other screen printing shop and 1 other Sign shop that just does large signs, there is no shop around town that actually does vehicles in a garage. There is also no other shop that does all the other products i do, from keychains, coffee mugs, etched glass, etc.

Also the screen printer has a 20 pc minimum and won't do anything "offensive", they are really picky on the items they do.  

And I do want to get into screen printing soon, and i will need a larger area to do that.

 

At this point, its a big risk, sink or swim. 

And i think the 6 month short term lease would be a great trial run. 

The owner is a very nice flexible guy, willing to work with me.

I just noticed where you live. I used to live there a years ago. Not same town but a few hours away. You ever consider moving out of that town and closer to the twin cities? St. Cloud for instance. The city will be were all the wraps will be at...also competition. However, Normal metallic vehicle wraps are becoming popular. The car culture is going to be more saturated in the twin cities. Buy a house in st. cloud with a attached or detached garage hell if you buy a house on a decent amount of land build your own shop. 

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 I think the 6 month way is a good safe step that won't tie you to anything bad enough to sink you. You'll probably love the bigger shop. If you can find some place with a nice big triple garage or a separate shop to work in you can move the $500 a month over to help pay for it. Hopefully you can find something in a location that would still allow some sort of shop at the home location. 

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I had suggested earlier in the thread to ask for a reduced rental and you succeeded in obtaining that, so you're good to go.

 

No downside.

 

(for the record, I also was feeling cramped, so I just signed a new lease on a better/larger Main Street location, rental is $150 more than I was paying, but the place is high-visibility and right on the street, instead of back in the woods).

 

Here are the two different shops --  first one is the carriage house, and second one is the new storefront.

 

 

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I just noticed where you live. I used to live there a years ago. Not same town but a few hours away. You ever consider moving out of that town and closer to the twin cities? St. Cloud for instance. The city will be were all the wraps will be at...also competition. However, Normal metallic vehicle wraps are becoming popular. The car culture is going to be more saturated in the twin cities. Buy a house in st. cloud with a attached or detached garage hell if you buy a house on a decent amount of land build your own shop. 

Nope, not interested in moving to St Cloud where its getting over ran by Somalians or Minneapolis where its over ran by Liberals and LGBTs.

 

I live in the triangular area of Alexandria, Glenwood, and Sauk Center really, i can get business from all those areas, plus TONS OF SMALL Towns inbetween. From Brooten, Blegrade, Osakis, Starbuck, and the list goes on and on.

 

Im not interested in moving into a large city, where theres no where to ride my bike and no outdoor gun range to shoot my guns.

Theres a nice gun range, right outside town, and 2nd Amendment products are a big seller to them.

Plus the crime rates in those large cities are just sky-rocketing. 

So no thanks. I prefer to stay in my small towns and grow and help my local community and local economy.

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I had suggested earlier in the thread to ask for a reduced rental and you succeeded in obtaining that, so you're good to go.

 

No downside.

 

(for the record, I also was feeling cramped, so I just signed a new lease on a better/larger Main Street location, rental is $150 more than I was paying, but the place is high-visibility and right on the street, instead of back in the woods).

 

Here are the two different shops --  first one is the carriage house, and second one is the new storefront.

 

 

Nice, did the place with more visibility pay it forward ?

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Nice, did the place with more visibility pay it forward ?

 

Not sure I understand the question.

 

I have not yet moved into this new shop; I'm still in transition and working on getting it ready for operational status ----  Grand Opening is May 7th.

 

First thing I need to do is make a sign!

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