I know there's always a discussion on Storefront or Homebased. I'm just curious of how many in each category? Which are you? And have you ever been the other.
Posted by Guy H. J. Hilliard (Member # 2529) on :
Homebased (Basement) but I still need to make my first sale before I'll call it a business!
Posted by Lotti Prokott (Member # 2684) on :
Hey Guy, that will be no problem once you put up that cool sign you're working at. I wouldn't be able to get much business being out on the farm, but I found a cheap building with highway location. Visibility helps a lot,saves me so much in advertising that it is sure worth the extra drive to town.
Posted by Judy Pate (Member # 237) on :
Homebased since 1980. Never had a storefront. Judy
[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: Judy Pate ]
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Home-based stay-at-home mom with 2 1/2 year old daughter. Broke! Need exposure or someone with better marketing skills than I have!
Posted by Rob Larkham (Member # 2105) on :
HB
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
Traveling Man
Posted by AlanD (Member # 1461) on :
Home based for 2 years now after working in a franchise shop. Able to do much higher quality work that I'm more satisfied with and am learning to make it more profitable as long as I remember sell quality, creativity and effective design; As opposed to competing with the quick shops based on price/speed only.
Actually, the regular accounts that pay most of our bills are of the more simple 1-color decal production type job. But, we're able to mix in more creative jobs for new business,etc.
If you have kid's and can get the balance right, it's worth the extra effort to be able to see them grow up.
[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: AlanD ]
Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
Started out Homebased 1976 Storefront 1978 Back to Homebased in 1984 Warehouse in 1992 Storefront 1995 Back to Homebased and loving every minute! Posted by Mike Clayton Graphics (Member # 723) on :
Mostly onsite/their location.
"Your place or mine - after 9"
MC
Posted by Marty Happy (Member # 302) on :
Always homebased and I don't think I would ever want the hassles and responsibilities of a commercial location. I can focus on quality work without distractions in a public arena. And the bonus is that parenting, work and play intermingle according to priority at any given time.
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
Home based
Posted by Tasmus (Member # 445) on :
I am a storefront with about 2600 sq feet and loving it!! I have been at this location for 6 of the 8 years I have been in business and it has been a great benefit! I hardly ever have to advertise or cold call....it all just walks in the front door!!
Barry
Posted by J & N Signs (Member # 901) on :
HB BACK YARD SHOP
[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: J & N Signs ]
Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :
Kinda home based,kinda storefront I think the people that attended the Duck Soup Splatter Jam could best discribe it.
P.S. where were you?
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
modern day "snapper"......got a step van with generator, cutter, computer, paint cans and paint kit.....i do it all at clients place or for big stuff i do it at the house......and iam really happy with the "not being tied to a building"....
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Started homebased.
Went storefront.
Homebased again.
I love my new location, but miss my employee.
Posted by John Martin Robson (Member # 1686) on :
I started off storefront, then I went Home based, then an off-storefront garage and now I’m Home based again.
I just started running the business out of the basement last October. We’re renovating the house this spring and building a workshop/garage in the back………..really looking forward to it all.
Home based has always been my ambition. It’s working very well for me. There are many great advantages to working out of the home; some I especially like:
1. Get to be home with baby 2. Greater flexibility with time schedules 3. low over head 4. good taxation relieves 5. I’m the boss…… or at least I think I am.
Life, work, family, leisure etc are all one………..and that’s how I want to live my life.
Posted by Troy Haas (Member # 472) on :
Was home based, then Fire Dept., now home based once again. I miss my old fire dept. but I like being home based a little more and I am sure when I finally get a garage, I won't miss it at all,well, maybe a little Posted by LEE ATTEWELL (Member # 2407) on :
Home based, nearly had a store with a partner...Yuk! back at home, I quite often take out my laptop and plotter and work on site. This way I have much more time with my four year old boy. My lovely wife fills me up with tea when she's not working.
Posted by Bill Dirkes (Member # 1000) on :
Home based, just finishing up a 1250 sq ft shop attached to the house. Office, puter,plotter, weed table,etc, in converted 15x15 family room. Garage/shop for paint, production & vehicle work, with a 14' overhead door. Built the house in 85, did all but excating, concrete, & carpet with thw help of friends. Stated the shop 2 years ago, almost done, need to finish the electric, outside trim/ gutters. whew, I'm tired! Lovin every minute
Posted by Steve Barba (Member # 431) on :
HB for over 10 years, but my goal has always been to get a "real" shop. That goal was just accoplished last Wednesday, so I'm lovin it.
Ask me agin in a year.
Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :
Home Based for design station & printing. 2000 sq ft commercial bay for fabrication.
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Homebased and I love it.. I dont have to be anywhere at a certain time and I dont have to hang around if I dont feel like doing any work.
All my sales come off the internet, 100%.. so I'm not even tied to a local market.
This gives me alot of freedom to hang out at the beach during the day and work whenever I feel like it.
Posted by RonniesTintSigns (Member # 1669) on :
Tamus, I'm with you, I just go to the shop & the work walks in the door. I didn't know what a cold call was until I started visiting this BB. With tax checks in the mail I have been very, extremely busy just this Friday & Saturday alone I had over 100 phone calls each day & over 50 walk-ins each day. It's makes you want to scream at times & if you've seen my picture I've already pulled my hair out But GOD I love it & more than the money I love being busy, I'm at my best with everything wide open & running 100 mph plus. When I went into business for myself having my life easier & being able to have free time when I wanted it was not even in my thoughts. I wanted more business than I could handle, not enough time in a day to do it all & the tension of trying to keep it all together. I get excited talking about it, the hustle & bustle is what makes it all worth while for me & knowing I created it from thought to imputing my ideas into reality with no ones help, my baby. I earned it with sweat & laboring & with a few whacks from an OLFA knife my blood !
[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: RonniesTintSigns ]
Posted by Dave Draper (Member # 102) on :
Hi Heads,
I didn't read the above post yet, so here is my thoughts, and how it worked for me.
I was home based for 21 years. I recently moved to a new shop in a commercial business park, and its not really a store front as I do not sell pre-made signs over the counter. I don't have a cash register, in other words.
When I was home based, I didn't have the expenses and didn't try to hard to sell signs either. I let the "cow come to me to be milked." I was running the business more like a hobby.
Now, I got big bills to pay, and I go to the cow to get the milk. I joined business networking groups, the Chamber of Commerce, and doing trade shows. I have drive by traffic now, and the contractors in the other parts of the commercial building complex are letting me do their sign work and networking me to thier clients and customers.
I think it is really working BETTER than home based. I can LEAVE work and the customer can't find me so easy on the weekend or evenings.
If you are just getting started in business, have a wife and kids, working at home is a blessing because you can see your family most anytime of the day. My family of 5 kids are mostly grown, so it is much different now for me and being gone is not so much as a problem.
Posted by Jim Mulligan (Member # 1956) on :
Store front. Never home based. Our shop is 5000 square feet. Not much walk-in traffic because of name. cardinal Manufacturing. Nothing about signs. I have a home office and work on design, pricing at home. In every day from 8:00-6:00. I would never consider a home based shop.
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
We own our own building.
Have a great one!
Posted by Santo (Member # 411) on :
Homebased. Backyard, back of the truck operation. I'd like to move it to a suitable location, just ain't found the place or the money!
Posted by Jim & Chris hetzler (Member # 1709) on :
Homebased since '76
Hetz
[ February 11, 2002: Message edited by: Jim & Chris hetzler ]
Posted by Chris Lovelady (Member # 2540) on :
home based.
i have struggled with this issue over and over again. In my opinon being home based, store front, or industrial park, does not determine the quality of your work or if you are professional or not, or determine the client that you choose to work for, or if you can seperate buiness from personal. the choice of where you work and the client or customers that you find or find you, is i think, determined by a post i posted a couple of days back conserning advertisement in yellowpage adds.
quote:we have to identify what kind of client that we are wanting. do we want to spend all that time weeding out the tire kickers, and shoppers("i can get that down the street cheeper...").time on the phone does not pay the bills, doing bids that never pan out...we have determined that the kind of clients that we want to attract is Business to Business relationships(plumber, contractors,electrictions, realestate, artitects that sells signs in there drawings...ect).
we have taken that money, time and used it in being involved in the local building Associations, Chamber of Commerce,ect.... there are so many ways to network in these inviroments and in the procces are given list of participateing members that are sent flyers and mailings, cold calls...ect.the local building associations dues are $400 a yr. and that fee has been payed for over and over..and the customers have been repeat..everyone!
the key i've dicovered is realationships!...if you build strong relationship will these kind of business owners they share you with there other buinesses...and they tell 2 freinds ect...ect...In my opion it has been because of the relationships that we have began to build in these communities of business owners.also i have found that other industries face the same struggles that we sign companys face and haved recieved alot of good advice in the mean time.
identify the kind of work that provides the best profit and fills your need for fulfilment in design and production!
in in my opinion it doesn't matter were your "based" but how you do business..so again im home based and window shop the store front shops but still see the large overhead (shoped rental space) and overpriced yellow page adds and am glad to be were i am at.
chris
[ February 11, 2002: Message edited by: Chris Lovelady ]
Posted by Robert Thomas (Member # 1356) on :
It seems one location was left out of the running, a warehouse location. That is where most of the shops are located in this area. A few are storefronts, mainly the franchise shops. The problem with a homebased operation here is the zoning laws don't allow a sign shop out of your home, you can only have a home office. I've had a warehouse location for 6-7 years. If I had a storefront I'd have to be there from 8-5 or whatever. And a lot of pestering walk-in traffic looking for calvin stickers.
Posted by Dana Bowers (Member # 780) on :
When I had my shop, I had both. I had my computer, plotter, weeding table, etc at home.
For painting, sawing, fabrication, etc, I had rented the back of a friend's building. Heat & electric included in the rent, which was offset for several months by doing all his signwork!
No phone or sign at my shop. I had voice mail on my home phone for that. Word of mouth in a little town (440 people)... everyone pretty much knew where I was. Otherwise, I gave people directions and had my car sitting out front of my door with my logo on it.
Never did any advertising either... kept busy enough purely through word of mouth and my lil dinosaur-guy stuck in the corners of all my cool signs I did!
Sure do miss it.
Bruce and Tracy have a REALLY awesome shop. They both GO HOME after work, which is nice...
... except now that Bruce has his sign programs on his computer here at home... between those, the BB and working 7-5 every weekday...
... Bruce? Bruce who???
Posted by Bill Preston (Member # 1314) on :
Home based since the beginning in 62. Sign work was for so many years a sideline that it wasn't economically the way to go to have a storefront.
In more recent years, the tax breaks for home based have been liberalized some, with less arguing on the part of the IRS. Used to be that a home based biz was an automatic red flag, practically guaranteeing an IRS audit.
If there is such a thing as full-time semi-retirement, I guess that is what I am doing. The point being that at home one can get deductions for part of the utilities one would be using anyway.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Store front for the past two years with a 280sqft showroom and 280 sqft vinyl/paint room on a busy highway smack dab between two small towns. Now have a 1500sqft woodworking shop out back. It's better for me now cuz, even though a lot of folks would come to my house, I live in the boonies(coyotes, deer, wild turkeys, foxes,....Bigfoot.....) . I like it much better now cuz I can go home and leave the shop........most of it. Oh yea, we don't advertise either; except for our on premise signs.
Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :
10 years ago I was working out of the garage at home, but after about 6 months knew it was too small.
I am not storefront either, I have quite a large industrial unit on a business park, and have work and more than I ´can cope with all the time. I never cold call, never take up any of this marketing stuff that folks try to sell all the time, via phone or thru junk mail.
All work works in thru the door, from recomendation which is great. I work my arse of mon to friday, and always close earlier on a friday. Then try and disconnect from this with Åsa and our 3 kids. I couldn't mix it all up at home. I live 5 mins from the shop, and that's perfect....
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Except for the times we worked onsite for various projects we have always been home based.
Some of our homes were in the commercial area of town with our house over top of the business.
Our dream shop which is coming soon will fall into this category. Our little theme park will have a mountain in the middle. Hidden in the 'mountain' will be our 2000 sq. ft shop. Over this will be our house and studio. After all the years of making do I will finally have the shop I need.!!
-dan
Posted by Steve Nuttle (Member # 2645) on :
Last but not least in this thread the "newbie" shares. I work in a shop. Not a large shop only about 2000 sq.ft. I agree with so much of what has already been said. I think there are advantages to both but I can't imagine houseing all the toys we have in my basement or garage. Here's a few pic.
This is the front of the shop and display area. Many walk ins and a nice place to visit with customers.
This is our "design area" Also behind me taking the pic is our vinyl table and plotter.
This is the main part of the shop which has our cnc and all our pwer tools and work benches. We also have another back room for painting large panels and big projects. It also houses our future sandblast room. Hope you enjoyed the "nickel" tour.
Posted by shon lenzo (Member # 1364) on :
Steve- Your shop is great!!
I am home based, building a shop on my land off HWY 53 near the Northern Oregon coast.
Cheryl.... was one of those shops of yours in Seattle on University Way, near the University? I think I remember a signs by Cheryl sign a long time ago.... -Shon
Posted by Jeffrey Vrstal (Member # 2271) on :
Store front. We purchased an old building in the downtown area. Good access in and out. Could have had some higher doors for semis but those I can do on location. The front of the building is showroom/customer entrance/design and plotter area. The back is for making signs, dust, noise, and messes. (knocked a can of spray paint off the workbench a couple weeks ago... landed on the nozzle and blew up) We have about 2700 sq. ft. I like the idea that I can leave my work here and that they can bring work to me.
Posted by Ron Carper (Member # 999) on :
Been home based for 17 of the last 21 years. Great when kids growing up, nice now, no commute, low overhead. Shop is in basement (3200 sq.ft. + truck bay attached to rear) House part is upstairs (4,000 sq.ft.) Because we are residential zoned, I cannot grow by hiring employees which I have no desire to do anyhow. Hardly ever get bothered in the evening, but it works out real good if I have to work late or someone needs an evening appointment.
Posted by Linda Silver Eagle (Member # 274) on :
Well, I've been biting my lip ever since this post showed up. Joey voted in as a travellin man and I thought about it. I was workin outta the trunk of my car for most of my journey. I worked at home when it was possible and did invest in a storefront for a very short period of time. I realized with me out in the field all the time, I was givin away money with the store front, and wasting a lot of time in between.
Now, I'm thinking of packing up my van, topping off my fluids and pullin a "Cisco!" ---minus the south of the border stuff...hehehe!
Who knows what I'll be able to call myself when this year is over? The anticipation is breathtaking!
Wheeeeeeee...ahem...homebased.
Posted by Jason Davie (Member # 2172) on :
Home Based, Have Small Shop set up in the back of the house with its own door and phone number..Building a large garage /shop this spring (I Can't Wait!!!) Posted by RonniesTintSigns (Member # 1669) on :
HEY someone want to count & list all these categories & give us a tally ? Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
My Shop is within the distance of my two Ears! No matter the Room size or Commercial space that I am in.
Every project that sent my way I will tackle. Under my own Roof or to SUB out of House...(HomeBase)
Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
Home-based, workshop/design studio in backyard, 100ft. commute from home! Only thing I would change is get a bigger building!
I prefer having my established clients and word-of-mouth business to provide me more than enough work. Don't have the patience to deal with "walk-in" customers anymore!
Whoever wrote:"the customer is always right" obviously never met some of my customers!
Posted by Ralph Lyon (Member # 2351) on :
Home Based until last year... Moved into an awsome 2500 sq ft warehouse/office space with pull through install bay. We are back home again. and loving it. I hope my hair grows back soon... No ads, No signs. Very busy. Quality and service pays off...every time! Posted by Rob Clark (Member # 787) on :
Home based, but I'm a "front yarder" not a "backyarder"
Had shopfronts, been there done that, got the ulcer to prove it.
RobC
Posted by AdrienneMorgan (Member # 1046) on :
Homebased...back bedroom is my computer, design and cutting room, 75% of the garage is shop space, i.e. weeding, taping, painting, spraying, etc.
Prefer homebased, set my own hours, work when the creative mood hits me, very little overhead: mo money in my pocket!
A:)
Posted by John Thompson (Member # 2750) on :
I work out of my 1996 mobile home (Almost paid for) that I didn't want to rent out after I built my house a few years ago. After being in the Resteraunt business and dealing with all of those crazy shopping center developers, I would never rent a building unless forced to. I am on a busy highway that runs between two towns and I plan on putting my trailer right on the highway soon and getting a 2 car enclosed metal building(big enough for pretty good sized trucks) built right next to it. After checking in to it, I will still be way cheaper than if renting uptown in a suitable building. If I were in either of the towns, I would hardly ever get business from the other. Right now, I get business from 3 decent sized towns just because of location. Plus, I will have it all paid for in a few years. I always say, keeping a low overhead will ensure yourself a long lasting business.
