My Hole in the Wall.

So I ran my business out of my house for years until it consumed my living room/office space. At the time I was also selling for someone else, so my days were filled with driving back and forth from my home to theirs to retrieve items for mailing. It was a big pain in the tush. Eventually they starting dropping things off, That was done when it worked out for them which drove me crazy. So I suggested getting office space to share were everything was done in one central location no dropping off of picking up as everything will be in one location.

This was a great idea while it lasted. All my inventory was out of my house, I got a business phone number, and a business address. It felt more official for me. The first space we got was a small office on the second floor of the building. Heat and Electric were included. There was a window which was great. The lighting was OK, kinda dark. The room had two closets which was nice for storage. I picked up some displays from a store that was closing in the next town over. It was a nice start. I enjoyed getting my mail, going to 'work' at my office, doing my job and finally feeling like I had a real job.

When I broke ties with the person I was selling for I now had a decision to make, do I stay or do I go? I was not making a whole ton of money as my inventory was limited. Honestly I was selling their products more then I was selling my own. Well it was $150 a month plus I had to pay for my own internet and phone which was $60. Could I afford it? Well I made sure I could. This also meant I had to get a computer since we were using theirs. More money out of my pocket. Well I dunno how I did it but I leased one, actually two - a desktop and laptop. It was great, everything was falling into place. My sales were finally heading up!

I had sales people calling me! I was buying new products, listing new products. Everything was runny smoothly. I started to get to large for the small office I had. I was on the hunt again for new space. I found an ad in the paper for a 1000 square foot space, it seemed like a bit much but I called anyway. The person on the other end tells me everything is included and its $13 a square foot. I almost died at the moment. I did math quickly in my head. $13,000 a month? What the heck? This guy was nuts. I said ok thanks and hung up. Who in the world would pay that amount of money!?

So I went back to my hole in the wall.

Well I found out the small store front in the building I was in was available. So I scoped it out and it had about 100 square feet as store front and the rest was storage. It was going to cost me $250 a month, $100 more. So I did it, I moved into the little store front. Its taken me months to get it the way I like it to look but honestly I hate it. There is no direct heat source, no baseboard or radiators. Let just say I was freezing my butt off in the winter.

The heat was turned off by end of March but it was still freezing temperatures in the April so I had to buy a heater! My toes would get so cold I couldnt feel them. Its horrible. Ive only been here 7 months. Ive been frozen because of no heat, people cant find me cause its the 'basement', the bathrooms are right above my space so Ive been leaked on and I hear rushing water all day! Ive caught 4 mice and lost some inventory because of water damage. Now the weather is warming it, its humid as hell in there. My boxes are becoming flimsy and I cant stand the smell. I should have stayed in the first office.

I found an ad for storefront space down the road. She showed it to me, I was in love! It was just over 700 square feet, next to an Italian restaurant and there was parking, at an intersection, Im sure everyone can find me. I was elated. Then she tells me its $15 a square foot. I was shocked again! Do the math $15 x 700 thats 10,500 a month!? NO she tells me... thats the annual rate! Im like WHAT!?! its $15x700/12 months. Oh boy was I wrong lol.. I could have kicked myself, so it would be $875 monthly. Oh nice, not bad Im thinking. Then she mentions I have to pay my own electric, my own heat and there are common charges. Confused yet? A store front with common charges? Are you kidding me? OK so before Id pay electric and heat, Id have to pay about $1100 a month! Oh boy. I had to cry and turn it away. Sad day for me.

Back to my hole in the wall.

I live in a small town and well I may be able to find something in the next town over I really want to stay in MY town. There are a few other places open for rent so I checked them out. All about 900 square feet and they all want $1000 a month. So Im not ready to pay that kinda money. All of a sudden one of the buildings that was renting for $1000 a month for 1500 square feet put up a sign that they were willing to divide the space. I had to check it out. The smaller side was 600 square feet and $600 a month! My kinda budget even with paying electric and heat, there was no common charges! Id have more space, in a nice location and a HUGE window! I was looking at $900 a month, I could swing it.

Its been over a week and I have not heard from the guy, apparently there were people that were looking at it that wanted to open another restaurant in that location. Argh! Im sure he would give it to them before me as I just wanted half the building.

Back to my hole in the wall.