What a crazy week!

Last week Sandy came for a visit.. Sandy was the hurricane that hit the north east.  My place of business did not suffer any damage unless you want to count no one shopping lol.  I offered up my store for anyone that wanted to get out of their houses, watch tv, sit in warmth or surf the net.  Only one person came over and that was a friend of mine. We had both lost power at our homes, she lost it longer then we did.  We ended up spending most of the day in our store because it was just too cold to go home.  Personally we had 3 days without power, its not that bad considering tons of people are still without power over a week later!  Its tough to feel helpless when you cant cook or warm your family. We really had no where to go since we have no family in the area and only one of my husbands friends offered up his place for a shower.  We did take him up on his offer and went over twice. I cant tell you how much we spent on eating out!   We are a family of 5 and when the power goes out we cant cook, we have an electric stove, in fact everything in our house is electric. We cant do anything without power, no heat, no water, no cooking, nothing.  One of our neighbors house also caught fire and we thought that would delay us getting power back. Those poor people, cant say we really knew them, but their house is uninhabitable.

This week I also heard from a friend I had not heard from in a long time.  Looks like we will be starting over again. Im excited about it as I hope it turns out well.  Im also afraid of messing up other friendships that I have nurtured during her absence.  Im unsure how to proceed at this point. So I figured Id handle it as the days go by.

My husband has also been talking about bringing my business back home.  While we dont have the space in my living room/office right now we have an area in our house that we never use. We call it a Florida room, some people call it an enclosed porch, or a three season room.  In the past few weeks he has been cleaning up the room and 'preping' it for me.  Ive been depressed over it. I have to be honest - the foot traffic at this location is horrible and I have barley been making rent.  If it wasn't for my online business I would be drowning but I really shouldn't take from there to stay here.  His plan is for me to be able to move in before as soon as possible. I really don't want to go back home but what other choice to I have? Its been a year and thinks still look dismal. Should I try to wait it out another year? Can I break my lease? Will things improve?  Will I survive?  Maybe I need a new product?   Another things I will have to handle as the days go by.

So frustrated

Having a store front is crazy expensive - no one tells you about these things you just find out for yourself.

There isnt just rent or lease payments - there is electric, gas, telephone & internet. Sometimes you have get those bundle packages. We were able to get telephone, internet and television for a lower price because we got all three. The electric/gas company is insane!  They want deposits before they hook you up and after a year they ask for more based on your usage.  Imagine my surprise when the electric bill increased our deposit by $65 it may not sound like a lot but it is.  Their reasoning is that they require double your average monthly bill. Our deposit has increased to well over $200 now.  Why do they ask for it? Because business owners are more risky they residential customers.  How crazy is that?

In order to wave the increase they want EFT which I refuse to do, a surety bond from my insurance company or a Revocable letter of credit from my bank. Seriously?  WTF?

Having a store means many people coming thru your door. Not shoppers but sales people and everyone asking for you to donate something to this fundraiser or tricky tray. You name it!  Every week some magazine, newspaper, website representative comes here telling me why I should advertise with them. Dont forget sales people wanting you to purchase their products, and the phone calls to buy my product! Argh! Its so frustrating, I wish we had that many people coming in to shop!

Im starting to think this town was not the best town to try and start a store front. It amazes me how all 8 hair salons within the two traffic lights stay open.

Talk about frustrating.