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Liesl Dexheimer
01-02-2010, 7:41 PM
I recently read an ARA article discussing the percent of new storefront businesses & home based businesses...

Just out of curiosity, how many of you are running a home based business or storefront business? If you are running a storefront business, are you in a major city or town?

Randy Walker
01-02-2010, 11:39 PM
Liesl
I am running out of my home. That may change in the future, but for now my laser is just a great toy.

Randy Walker

Roy Nicholson
01-03-2010, 3:20 AM
I'd have to pick up a lot of business before I could consider moving away from home. I'm trying to pick up work from an internet presence.


Regards


Roy N.

Scott Shepherd
01-03-2010, 9:01 AM
My belief is that it depends on your market. If you are doing craft shows and making things to take to them, then you don't need to have a location outside of your home. In my opinion, it all changes when you deal with different types of customers. Some markets don't mind it. Some markets do mind it and you won't see a penny from them. You just have to know your market and customers and know what you need.

I can speak from our own experience, in that we subleased space for 2 years. No name on the door, no real way to have anyone find us. Now we have our own location and it almost immediately opened up opportunities for us. Now we have a location, we don't have to tell people "Just ignore the sign on the door that says "XYZ Blah Blah Blah" and walk on through that. It was a very unprofessional feel to the customer. Now, it's completely different. It's our opinion that not having a proper location was actually hurting us, as is evidenced in the almost immediate change in our business.

But that's just our business and our market. I know quite a few people that work from home and do just fine. But their market is very different than ours.

I don't think there is one answer that works for everyone by any means.

Mike Null
01-03-2010, 9:06 AM
Liesl

Welcome to Sawmill Creek. i suggest doing a search for threads on this topic as it has come up in the past though perhaps not exactly in the context you have posed.

In my view I think it depends on the market you want to target. A store front is certainly desirable if you want to sell gifts and personalized items to the general public.

If your goal is to target the commercial-institutional market then a store front may not be necessary.

Some of our members are quite successful at taking their show on the road to sporting events, craft shows etc.

I feel strongly that a web presence is critical regardless of your location. It is the yellow pages of today.


Occasionally I meet resistance from a customer who doesn't want to do business with a home based operation.

Liesl Dexheimer
01-03-2010, 10:32 AM
Interesting points that everyone has made. I definitely agree about web presence. That's how most people have found out about us, as we don't have a storefront. The yellow pages are just about non-existent now-a-days (though we still have a very basic listing).

David Fairfield
01-03-2010, 11:10 AM
Either way has its advantages. I do both but just prefer to do business offline, its friendlier more enjoyable, more rewarding to get feedback and see the customer's reaction.

Personalized engraving really benefits from face to face interaction with customers, and putting your products in a place where they will be seen by people who otherwise would not go looking. A storefront might pay for itself, or at least some type of public non-digital display. There are alternatives to owning a shop. Trade shows are great, indoor arcades, flea markets, a display at a local business etc.

Purpose oriented engraving, for items that aren't likely to be bought on impulse, or too generic to require much interaction with customers, probably won't benefit as much from a storefront. Go internet and save the rent.

I've been thinking that the internet has become so saturated that the storefront will start taking on a sort of nostalgic charm. How far into the virtual world are people willing to retreat until they've just had enough of interfacing via a digital screen. Its unnatural. For many things, there is simply no subsitute for a face to face, hands on, cash and carry transaction. Like, try buying shoes over the internet...! :rolleyes:

Dave

Liesl Dexheimer
01-03-2010, 12:02 PM
I couldn't agree with you more on face-to-face business. For some customers (especially larger corporate clients), we never do see them because we mail the products out to them. However, when we get those special requests from customers, it means soooo much to see their face when the product is complete & they are picking it up in our shop. That is the greatest reward to this type of business, seeing a happy customer leave with a smile on their face!

Joe Hayes
01-03-2010, 2:07 PM
10 years as a storefront in a town of approx 14,000 population.
We have a website but I can also tell you that locally the yellow pages still drive a lot of business to our door. If I ask a new customer where or how they found us the two most common answers are customer referral or yellow pages.

Garrick David
01-03-2010, 4:18 PM
I think the way to grow is through a sales force. Sometimes that is a dedicated in-house sales team, but in my case will consist of a salesperson and a network of related sales people referring business.

There are different kinds of locations....retail, office, industrial.

Darryl Jacobs
01-03-2010, 5:10 PM
Home based.

I have run a fronted business and I personally enjoy the homebased environment more. I guess it depends on what you do and what you like.

The Home based world gives me a lot of flexibility in my time (I get the hours of 2:00AM to 4:00AM to myself:D!!!). I find I put more time in at home, but it is much more relaxing somehow. I think I reach a wider audience as well because eventhough work right now is mostly word of mouth and keeping me busy, my web presence once established will help even more.

Stephen Beckham
01-03-2010, 8:45 PM
I morph'd from a home base to a bus-based to a store-front over a two year period. My situation was unique in as I started the business while still on active duty military - so it was real business to revenue department, but a hobby to the commander.... :D

About six months into it, I went mobile in a converted bus (it's still for sale :eek:) so that I could get some exposure. Now I'm in a store right outside the back gate of post.

I think Dave mentioned it earlier - it depends on the market - since mine is right out the back gate of a military installation, it would not work out of the home for me. Others have made it work within the home being close to military and taking lots of GOV contracts... Research, research, research... Good luck and welcome to the creek!

David Takes
01-03-2010, 8:49 PM
I started my business from scratch out of a storefront nine years ago and wouldn't change a thing. I'm currently in my third location and hope to some day grow out of it. :)

I believe a home-based business can work, but only to a certain level. It's my opinion that a comprehensive customer service plan cannot be executed from home. The customer has to make sacrifices along the way to do business with a home-based business. Some customers even think it is a little creepy going into a person's home to conduct business, so they simply don't.

Tim Bateson
01-03-2010, 9:25 PM
I wouldn't dream of a store-front. It would be business suicide. Running a part-time business/hobby out of my house is perfect. No rent, no over-head, no bills. I owe nobody. :cool:
Until I have diversified in my business skills well beyond just laser products, I have no business wasting my time pretending to make a full-time living. I have a better chance of making millions in the NFL than I do making a full-time living lasering & I'm not the athletic type.
Someday I'd like to add CNC, Sublimation, and a couple other skills to my business. At that point I will have a better than average chance at a full-time living. However a store-front business is still unlikely. At that point I plan to be business to business with minimum one-offs. No need nor no desire for walk-ins or to be a trophy shop.
If a store-front works for you then go for it. For me it's not in my business plan.

David Takes
01-03-2010, 9:49 PM
Tim,

You bring up an excellent point about diversification. I would never even consider going into business as a laser-only entity, be it a storefront or at home. Being diversified is mandatory to have any chance of earning a living wage. You can't be a one-trick pony in this industry.

Bill Cunningham
01-05-2010, 10:38 PM
I have a combination.. When it came time for more room, I did not want to rent for years, then when I left i didn't even own the door knob so I built a 2 story 1200 sq foot shop next to my house. I have a 12 x 25' customer area a the front, my print and laser shop behind the first wall, and my wood shop upstairs. Cost me about $30k to build (did most of the work myself) and it added about 80k minimum to the value of my property. Customers just walk in the front door to the showroom area.