This weekend, on my daily pilgrimmage for bread and milk I walked by
the shop that I was interested in. And there were people in there! Not shocking in and of itself, obviously, but it's been boarded up forever and I didn't actually think anyone would want it but me. 'Aha!', I thought, 'the universe is sending me a sign!'. I didn't have an appointment scheduled to see it but I figured as the agent isn't local and he was physically there and so was I, I'd loiter around until the other viewer left and then introduce myself. Which I did. 'I'm sorry,' he said, 'I just shook on it with the other viewer.' And do you know what? I was relieved.
Here's my very technical drawing of the space. It's a corner unit with a chunk out of one corner for the main door, full height windows to two sides, and a internal door to a tiny bathroom on the back wall. The total dimensions are roughly the same as my current space but the available wall space is a whole lot smaller. To store my fabric in its current shelving would take up most of the wall space, which would leave me to work in one of the windows like a very boring parody of Amsterdam's red light district.
And here's my current working space. One door, one half-height window (so I can work in front of it), a whole lotta wall and work space. Looking at it like that, it would have been
madness to cut into my profit margin by £400/m. But it was something I was seriously considering doing for two reasons:
- The sewing room is the land of misfit furniture
- I have trouble staying 'on task' in my house
The first point is sounds simple enough. Throughout
Operation: Save Our Collective Lives I've replaced furniture that doesn't work with our lives and house with furniture that does. The misfit furniture then moves to the garage or, if it is a semi-fit for what I need, into the sewing room. But it's not the furniture that I need for the sewing room to work: my sewing table is too small for more than one machine at a time, there's an erstwhile two seater sofa that's being used as a surface to stack stuff on, and I'm using a old TV unit for pattern storage. Consequently the room gets messy quickly, I'm frustrated with swapping machines constantly, and I don't feel happy and productive when I'm in there. But guess what?
None of the misfit furniture would have gone to the shop. Ergo, if I was willing to spend money to kit out the shop so it's the best use of space, I should be willing to spend money to improve my current space. In fact, I should be willing to spend
more money as it saves me the shop expenses in the long run.
Which moves me onto point two, which is harder to overcome.
When I am very busy, I work at my best. But by 'busy' I mean I have orders to fulfil, when there are already expectations on me by customers. What I struggle with is creating
more business, be that through promoting, marketing, working on new patterns or designs, actively seeking opportunities, etc. Truth be told, it's the fear of putting myself out there. I've been talking with a good friend a lot recently about holding myself and my business back through fear of failure and how this is actually a self-fulfilling prophecy. Getting a physical shop would force me to work really, really hard to cover its expenses but more than that, I'd be telling myself that it's okay to take this seriously as a business. To do many businessy things because I absolutely had to and
should do as a legitimate business. The number of people who've asked, 'What are you going to do now that your kids are both at school?' with the undertone of you should go back to proper work definitely sows seeds of doubt in what you're doing. And that doubt is multiplied if
you are the one holding yourself back.
Long story short, the shop was not to be but it made me analyse where I'm at.
- There are definitely less expensive ways to feel legitimate
- If I was willing to invest in the shop, it's okay to invest in things that are not the shop
- I need to structure my time better
Thoughts or advice?
