Growth is good.
"Be not simply good, be good for something." Henry David Thoreau
We were absolutely thrilled at the results of our purchase. Well, pretty much so. It did, of course, result in a huge number of fourteen hour days. And sleepless nights. As we neared the Christmas season, which is historically our busiest time, we began to realize that we were poorly equipped to handle this growth with the administrative staff that we had. A search began.
And failed. Miserably. Apparently there are not a lot of people who feel that me being in charge is a good thing. We had one short-term employee who came in after seven whole days and gave her resignation. No advice, just a resignation. We seem to have overwhelmed her.
Adjustments were eventually made. We sent our wonderful shop manager, Linda, to the new shop and she did a fabulous job. We did manage to hire a new employee, Marty, who is the local shop manager. Marty is also my brother. We actually get along, even though I sign his paychecks.
Of course, this didn't stop us from moving ahead. Growth, even at the present fast level did not preclude the need for advertising. And quality control. And re-pricing. But those are other stories. It also created whole complete new issues that we are still trying to solve.
Take this, for instance. Our rent was increased. Dramatically. In the second, newly purchased shop. It was an unexpected series of events that brought the whole thing about, but suffice to say that we were forced to look for new accomodations for what is fast becoming our primary production shop, mainly due to the hard work that Linda has put it.
Fortunately, one of the warehouses in the Eagan building where we have our main offices happened to be vacant. As of June 7, 2006, we now have eight thousand lovely square (mostly) feet of prime office and warehouse all neatly located in the same general vicinity. The two shops are even within walking distance, at least in the summer. Winter might be a different story. But we are actually able to increase production even more.
Apart from that, just because this has become so darned personal, my twin sons graduated college this year. One's going to work for Chrysler as an engineer. The other one commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force and heads off to Shaw AFB. He got married two weeks after graduation to a very lovely lady and until they are shipped off to Shaw, they have rented an apartment within a block of our shop. Maybe they'll bring us dinner on occasion.
And I reserve the right to continue to add to this little saga.