We've decided to move our sign shop into the garage/foyer portion of our home. I wondered about privacy issues. What types of signs do you have near your residence entrance to keep clients from ringing the front bell when they can't get you at the shop entrance. What issues will I encounter that I should be prepared for?
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Don't do it!
I know a bunch of "homies" are going to jump on my case but I strongly advise you not to. I know that there are some people who operate successfully out of their homes but they are few and far between. These people have also had many, many years in educating their customers to just what their policies are. This started in times when people actually showed respect for people.
If your business is one that does not require customers to come to your place of business (mail order, internet sales, fine artist, etc.) I wouldn't have a problem with it.
However, no matter how hard you try to divide the business from home, you will find it difficult. It won't be a failure on your part but more of one of the customers.
They will not care that you have a private life. They will think nothing of interupting your kid's birthday party, swim party, family outings, etc. They will not respect your wishes and will stop by whenever it is convenient for them because you will always be there. I have seen it happen.
In the end, the choice will be yours. It is a matter of how much crap you are willing to put up with.
Just my opinion....
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
I am one of the many "homies" here, but I am not going to jump all over Bruce. He makes valid points.
I, luckily, haven't had too many problems with folks bothering me "after hours". I think that is because the vast majority of my clients are business owners who, when they leave their office don't even think about work related stuff until they arrive back the next morning.
That being said, there is a small number of "mailbox lettering" type customers who sometimes call in the evening, but they usually call beforehand to make sure I'm home. I just let the answering machine pick up the message and call them back the next day, if I'm not in the mood to talk shop.
About the only people that just "show up" after hours are people that I know and I usually don't mind yacking with them. Especially if they are bearing gifts, like beer!! Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
Penny, G'UL!! You are only about 3 hours from me!! C'mon down and see my shop live, lol. (I posted on your other "wanna see" thing)
I have been home based since I started.
Depending on the type of work you do, I think you will find that MOST of your business is conducted over the phone or the fax machine . . .there's not a lot of people coming over to "browse" and certainly not all at one time. . . there's the ability to schedule this stuff for your conveinience.
Most of the customers that come by here are picking-up or dropping-off some thing, to sign a contract, confirm art and leave a down-payment. I have a lot of "on-site" stuff that keeps me out of the shop and sometimes I arrange to meet people in town as a matter of conveinience for them and me.
Anyway, because of the limited amount of traffic you may or may not have a problem with neighbors . . . . . . .we do have zoning laws here but fortunatley my former and present shop locations fit the criteria for commercial/residential . . . although I know of many home-based business' in total residential areas where the traffic for that business is very minimal such as a surveyor, a seamstress, a (7 child limit) day-care, etc. Apparently it boils down to what your neighbors will or will not complain about or if they even bother to notice . . . still, I never let anyone rev-up a race car at 1 AM,
(I wish I could recall the name of the last coupl'a threads we had on here about this same thing . . . but it was something by Robert Thomas in Florida...look around the search for stuff by him posted in march)
Probably the worst thing you'll ever deal with is people assuming they can call or come by anytime but I have never had any real major problem with this when they get to know you. I have a little sign outside for folks that says:
RING BELL or leave a note, or call and leave a message on the machine (there's a big wrought-iron bell mounted on a bracket on the wall over a bench)
It is absolutely impossible to be here even most of the time . . . . so some customers just leave the sign or pick it up off the bench and leave a check in the "secret" spot appointed because we have already discussed via phone what to do . . . lol, sometimes I never meet a customer in person or go weeks without ever actually "seeing" a regular customer because of this arrangement.
UPS and I have the same arrangement . . .they know where to find a check if it's a COD, and where to leave the package for me.
I used to have a drop-slot for checks but it got changed in the remodeling thing so I have'nt "fixed" it back yet . . .
I wanted to work at home because of my kid and having a more flexible schedule, plus there is a lot less overhead . . . but Penny, still price your signs as if there IS overhead . .
PS: I can only assume that you have arrangements for the bigger stuff that you might not get in an average garage . . . .like semi's and etc . . . I used to have a great deal with a guy who owned an empty warehouse for example . . .
[ May 23, 2004, 03:56 PM: Message edited by: Sheila Ferrell ]
Posted by Penny Baugh (Member # 3275) on :
I do most of my sales by going out to them. I haven't been able to get a lot of walk-in traffic even though I've got a shop in the middle of town now. But, I notice that I always make plans to go out to the customer instead of asking them to come in, it's usually faster and a lot less aggravating than having them coming by, looking over my shoulder and hanging around half the day.
The truth is, I don't have any expectation of privacy, really, my husband's 20 and rides a crotch rocket so we have a lot of bike graphics to do...need I say more?
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
I've been home based my entire business life. I wouldn't have it any other way. It can work and work well if it's done right.
Our business is unusual in that we only deal with a few customers each year. The jobs we do are that large.
But I have a number of employees (currently 7) who come to work each day to work in the shop. Our current setup accomodates this well as the shop is way out back and set up for all we need there including a staff area/ office/ storage and washrooms as well as lots of parking for our business vehicles and the staff.
All the accounting is done in Janis' office which is in our house.
I LOVE being home based. The line separating our professional life from our personal one is blurry at times, although our evenings and off time is very quiet.
It is a lifestyle choice. You need to do what is right for you.
-dan
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
PS: I really and truly don't think you'll even have a problem with customers coming by "after hours or weekends" . . . . remember, they have lives and value their off times too
PS: Bruce, I had ONE cook-out/music pickin' interupted by a customer, but I just invited him to stay, play & eat . . . S'uthern hospitality . . .lol, we want as many people as possible at our gigs
[ May 24, 2004, 11:40 AM: Message edited by: Sheila Ferrell ]
Posted by Jillbeans (Member # 1912) on :
Penny... I have had a home-based shop for 19 years now. Yes, Brooce makes some valid points! But I wouldn't change a thing. I have my hours posted on the door, but I invariably get some schmuck that stops for vynull just when I am putting supper on the table. But if it wasn't for that schmuck, there would be NO supper on my table. Sometimes I have to answer the door in my PJs. But you live and learn. Caller ID and voice mail can be your 2 best friends. I choose who and what I want to deal with on my own terms, and I love not having to pay rent! Good Luck! Love...Jill
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Penny, your going to your customers is actually a good idea. Years ago I read an article about time savers and time management. One of the tips was to schedule to meet at their place instead of yours to control your time. It's a lot easier to leave someone else's office than to try to get them outta yours.
I suggest posting hours at the door designated as sign shop. Having a dry-eraser board for messages when you're out is good. As is putting "by appointment" on your sign.
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
quote:but I invariably get some schmuck that stops for vynull just when I am putting supper on the table. But if it wasn't for that schmuck, there would be NO supper on my table.
This is a great point Jill...Well done! We all need to be in touch with this reality. From time to time we forget this basic truth.
Cheers,
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
We have a separate driveway for our shop, a separate phone for the shop....that doesn't ring in the house. We keep business hours as best as we can, and most folks come here by appointment. We have no sign out on the road to attract the curious. We rarely get interrupted by customers during our home time.
Posted by Dave Draper (Member # 102) on :
We have been both home based and commercial location.
I wish I had moved the biz out of the home sooner.
The advantages of home base biz is family solidarity. Parents and kids get to see each other...a lot, and that is more important than making a buck.
As our kids got older, and retirement 15 years away, running a profitable business that is structured legal and proper so that it can be sold or handed down to the kids becomes our key issues.
There are customers at every level starting from level one (bottom of the scum pot) to level 10 ( corporate big money accounts). Choose the level you want the work to flow from and provide that market with what it consumes. Choose the business location that fits with what that client mentality expects. If that be home based, so be it.
We delt with the scum bags too long, and are working with much better clients now, and we are developing our own products. The city zoning laws will not let us run a CNC router in my garage. I need showroom space to sell the bigger and better sign work. The bigger money that flows from this sign work pays the shop expenses, and the scum bags walk out saying; "we can't afford you anymore" ...we're going over to that guy in the trailer trash park that works out of his 10 x 10 Wal-Mart utility shed.
The problem with a home base sign shop is that it quite often stunts business growth. As the sign business keeps changing, the sign shop owner has to adapt and provide what the world consumes.
Funny experience while home based:
Sunday Morning, 8:30 a.m. my wife and I go downstairs into the "sign room" and we are not dressed, she is in a skimpy nighty.
In walks a trucker needing lettering right then and now because he is leaving that afternoon for California.
The kids let this guy in and took him down to greet us.... just great! This guy got a cheap thrill out of the job as well!
oh well.... Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
While some of the folks above make valid points regarding a commercial shop in the town I disagree with some of their logic.
I hardly consider myself a low end shop... quite the opposite. And yet we function just fine as a home based business.
I think to be successful as a home based shop, location and setting are very important.
We chose our current property based on it's location. We are in the center of a small town and yet very rural at the same time. We are easy to find, being on the main drag through town. Hundreds of thousands cars drive through our town annually on their way to the lake each summer.
The size and layout of the property was a major factor in us choosing it as well as a base for our business and home. There's 265 feet of property between the house and shop.
The shop/studio was designed to specifically be a showcase for our work. While not finished yet, everything from the gate back to the shop and into the interior showcase our design and construction abilities. Everything from the roofline, to the exterior finishes, to the honking big steel doors demonstrate our abilities to turn ordinary into downright special. The fence and even the mountain I am building to hide the barn for the goats will showcase our abilities as theme designers and constructors. The electrical/utilities/train station building out by the road acts as our sign without one word of lettering - only the house number. Eventually we hope to build a wild theme house to continue the tradition.
Everybody in our town and the surrounding towns know where I live and what I do, even though we moved in less than a year ago and the place is still very much under construction. I have no need of yellow page ads.
Just because you are home based doesn't have to mean you are laid back or non-professional... in fact it can reflect quite the opposite. Your place of business should reflect the same care that your shop vehicle, business stationary, web site and all other aspects of your business recieve.
In our case, the grounds, landscaping, shop/ studio, everything about the place will eventually scream of the magic we create as a living in our shop. I can do here what I could never do in a commercial setting.
On top of all that I can enjoy it daily as well. We chose a lifestyle rather than a job.
I call it living the dream.
-dan
[ May 24, 2004, 01:20 AM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
Dan,I'm trying to find a way to get up there and see your shop and maybe a round at Giggle Ridge! Some day!
I have been "home based" and everything Bruce warned about is valid! I finally built a shop away from the house and moved my office and production to the "shop". (it is only a 14'x32' portable building, and about 100' from the house, but it is the "workspace". It sure made my wife happy to get her house back!
So I guess I'm still home-based, but not using my home for business!
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Just one additonal note to my above post...
The place we have now is the first time the business isn't actually in our house. Because the studio isn't yet quite finished my iffice still resides in what I affectionately call 'the Dungeon'.
It's great to have a little separation between the production and our living space. I look forward to relocating my studio out there too. The gorgeous views. the lighting, and most of all the SPACE will hopefully rachet up my creativity to a whole new level!
While I cringe every time I have to bring a client downstairs currently it will be a pleasure to usher them into my new place!
Everyone's business should reflect the type and style of work you do. Appear to be what you want to be. It makes it easier to sell that type of work for sure!
-dan
Posted by Jillbeans (Member # 1912) on :
Details of my home-based shop: Separate phone lines. Separate office (enclosed back porch) No customers in the house. Garage is the workshop (no clients allowed inside) Gotta get stuff ready. I am expecting to have my first full-time employee come the new year if all goes well. After being by myself forever, this will be a welcome change. Love...Jill
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