Expanding......Harder that starting up?
Discussion
Well I guess its a nice problem to have but a bit of background we had a small business (Sports car sales and parts) that we managed to make full time in April last year. Its been a busy couple of years and we've moved it out of home to a small lockup and then into a 1000SQFT unit with a 500SQFT mezzanine.
The current situation is that I am there full time, I have a couple of people I can call on if I'm busy but we are at the critical stage at the moment where we either throttle back a bit and be sensible about the amount of stock we carry and other work we take on or realise the potential of taking on some help to take the load off me which would require moving into a bigger unit, taking on business rates which we are currently exempt from, wages etc. I'm agonising if we would just be peddling even faster to stay financially in the same position. My main issue is that I'm not a throttling back type but at the same time I dont want to make a b
ks of everything we have built up over the last 5 and a half years.....
I have the option of taking a bit of additional storage space which might be a stop gap but I dont think it will solve the conundrum. The current setup ultimately gives us a good living. We have a sensible house/mortgage and no interest in moving so we dont "need" to expand but can I help myself?......Tales of Woe in the same situation much appreciated
The current situation is that I am there full time, I have a couple of people I can call on if I'm busy but we are at the critical stage at the moment where we either throttle back a bit and be sensible about the amount of stock we carry and other work we take on or realise the potential of taking on some help to take the load off me which would require moving into a bigger unit, taking on business rates which we are currently exempt from, wages etc. I'm agonising if we would just be peddling even faster to stay financially in the same position. My main issue is that I'm not a throttling back type but at the same time I dont want to make a b
ks of everything we have built up over the last 5 and a half years.....I have the option of taking a bit of additional storage space which might be a stop gap but I dont think it will solve the conundrum. The current setup ultimately gives us a good living. We have a sensible house/mortgage and no interest in moving so we dont "need" to expand but can I help myself?......Tales of Woe in the same situation much appreciated
Yes this is a key thing for me its my name above the door (the Ltd company name is my name not the web address on my profile) Ultimately there has to be an element of control freakery over it because we all know the importance of maintaining standards. Another angle is just to take on help with still slow growing expansion but enjoy the benefits of not running round like a madman?
Thanks for the above posts most informative and food for thought.
I have no grand ambitions to be honest I know thats not good entrepreneur speak but the initial aim was to just be able to work for myself and stay away from my old job. We did that and have managed to avoid the Mrs having to go back after maternity as well. Having 3 kids is not cheap so we can manage that withuot stress rather than pushing have a huge sprawling house and keeping up PCP payments on the Jags and that kind of thing.
Couple of other complicating factors - I'm just about to set up another company although I'm a director I wont be in that company day to day. I cant say much on a public forum but its related to my main business. With the best will in the world I know it will still take up some more time. Also I have some health complications that mean at some point I will have to stop working for about 6 months. At the moment we could shut up shop and just pick up where we left off but that would be very different with staff/bigger premises.
I think I might have to see the benefit more in free time and making other aspects of the job easier rather than thinking right if we take on Tony we'll make another 30k per year from him and that kind of line of thinking. I dont think it would really work like that although we could improve our throughput by me having more time to buy stock.
I've put in some enquiries about bigger premises today but the agents never seem to come back to you! We also have another slight issue in that a lot of places wont allow auto trade even though we are at the smart end.
Its really becoming a bit of a strain trying to decide what to do!
I have no grand ambitions to be honest I know thats not good entrepreneur speak but the initial aim was to just be able to work for myself and stay away from my old job. We did that and have managed to avoid the Mrs having to go back after maternity as well. Having 3 kids is not cheap so we can manage that withuot stress rather than pushing have a huge sprawling house and keeping up PCP payments on the Jags and that kind of thing.
Couple of other complicating factors - I'm just about to set up another company although I'm a director I wont be in that company day to day. I cant say much on a public forum but its related to my main business. With the best will in the world I know it will still take up some more time. Also I have some health complications that mean at some point I will have to stop working for about 6 months. At the moment we could shut up shop and just pick up where we left off but that would be very different with staff/bigger premises.
I think I might have to see the benefit more in free time and making other aspects of the job easier rather than thinking right if we take on Tony we'll make another 30k per year from him and that kind of line of thinking. I dont think it would really work like that although we could improve our throughput by me having more time to buy stock.
I've put in some enquiries about bigger premises today but the agents never seem to come back to you! We also have another slight issue in that a lot of places wont allow auto trade even though we are at the smart end.
Its really becoming a bit of a strain trying to decide what to do!
Well we have a bit of progress I'm off to view a couple of bigger units tomorrow. We actually have just under 900 sqft here when I looked at the particulars again and we are looking tomorrow at two 1500 sqft units. These will still be manageable with me on my own but at the same time they will allow us to grow into them a bit by adding mezzanine space. Did some number crunching with rates etc one unit is another £300 per month the other one is actually about what we pay now but not in as good an area.
The option of having another small unit I worked out is a bit pointless as the cost will end up the same as just moving to a bigger place. Last hurdle to overcome will be if they will accept motor trade. We have been turned down for the same estate before so we will see.
The option of having another small unit I worked out is a bit pointless as the cost will end up the same as just moving to a bigger place. Last hurdle to overcome will be if they will accept motor trade. We have been turned down for the same estate before so we will see.
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