Recently I had the opportunity to bid on a big project – 3000 – 4000 pieces, which is really really big for me!  My response was ‘Wow!  Great!  This is going to be fun!”

Then I heard the kicker; we needed to turn this entire project, from proposal to shipment in 5 days.  OK.  I can do that.   (Not sure how I can do that, but that has never stopped me before, and I always get the job done).

I went into full court press on this one.  I talked to the client about my concept.  I called my vendors to check on immediate availability of product and supplies.  I talked to UPS about special pickups at a different location.  I found an immediately available location to rent for a week.  I estimated very carefully how long it would take an untrained person to put a package together to my standards, and therefore how long the project would take to complete and how many labor hours I would need in 3 days.  My spreadsheet was a thing of beauty.

Of course, I didn’t get the job.  I was very disappointed, because I was quite psyched for the challenge of it all.   But after a pause I decided I was o.k. with not getting the job. The client seemed very impressed with my ability to create a viable proposal in just a few hours and was happy with what I presented.   I hold onto the hope that there may be a future opportunity from that same client.  Even more important, I had a terribly good time in figuring all this out. It was like buying a lottery ticket – while I was planning and dreaming  I was really enjoying myself, even if there was no payout at the end.

And that is definitely worth the time invested.

Smiles all!

Lise

After picture – see below for before!

So, last April, it became painfully obvious that our 400 square foot work space was no longer going to cut it.   I had 3 to 4 people working in here at once, and while we were all quite chummy, there are limits to what can reasonably be accomplished when space is that tight.  Add to that the chaotic condition of the garage and you have a recipe for disaster.   So I undertook to expand my space.

We considered digging out additional basement – not only was this cost prohibitive, there were definite structural issues for our 60+ year old hose there.  We looked into renting space, but if I wanted to stay within half an hour of home, I was looking at annual rents of over $25k a year – plus utilities and build outs.  So the most reasonable option was to refinish the garage.

We started by renting a moving pod and emptying out the garage.  First time in 16+ years that it had been completely empty.  Found things that I had forgotten about, found things from the previous owners that i never knew were in there.   (I did however finish my oldest son’s baby book – BEFORE his 18th birthday.  I count that as a win!)    In any event,  that process has been a large impetus for our clearance sales….

We had the garage rewired, brought out phone and internet, new lights.  Insulated the entire thing and HVAC.  I painted it all a bright white.  Laid a new attic floor as well as a new concrete floor.  Moved shelving around, bought some new shelving.  Sandi built a handy-dandy box holder on wheels for me.  Rigged up a pulley system to store our packing peanuts above the garage door, and while we were at it, we insulated the garage door.    Of course, the garage door opener went kaput during all this, so we installed a new one.

Then came the hard part. Moving everything back in.  I was bound and determined to make decisions about what was coming in – sorting through every box, selling, tossing or giving away things that were no longer needed.  (A work still in progress….).  The result?  Our new space has a work desk for shipping baskets – building too if need be.  The attic is full of silk flowers, carefully labelled so we can find what we want.  We added a computer desk so that we can create shipping labels on the spot.  Because we are climate controlled, we are able to store foodstuffs without a problem.

The difference is amazing.  While I still spend the majority of my time in the basement, my guys are able to work upstairs and not crash into each other.  We actually have a space for staging packages waiting to ship out.  All lovely and beautiful.  If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and see it!.

I know that in the newsletter I promised more pictures here, but that just didn’t work, so I have created a full album on our Facebook page – check them out!  (This link will take you to the first picture….)

In any event, it has been quite the journey and I am glad we finally made it!

Smiles all!

Lise

Before