December 3, 2006.
....it was the Worst of Times.
Another view of the 'factory' that was Jamie's Painting & Design in the garage....Having to increase your work load to 3x the normal capacity (in one week) is a hard thing for any company to do. Let alone we were one with 4 college students, 3 Stay at Home Mom's,4 family friends and a stressed out partridge in a pear tree.
I still can not believe we stayed in the garage for over three years, doubling year after year our sales and what we pushed out the door (and oh how we pushed...).
As far as learning from last year a couple things do come to mind:
First of all, we did what had to do to get things done. And I do mean 'we', everyone pitched in, everyone worked extra, everyone helped out to do what had to be done. We had zero mistakes, we had zero breakage, and we had VERY happy customers and channels. We stayed the path...we stayed in the garage, though crowed and painful...and I am officially breaking cardinal rule number one that is posted on the wall....as I was saying it was Bootstrapping 101. To be successful in business you have to persevere, you have to charge ahead and you have to scrape by to make ends meet.
Second, as I stated many, many times I spent some of that RUSH time in tears. I was not the nicest, nor patient person last Christmas (Clara, I owe you a drink....). In fact when I was working 12 to 14 hours in my office scrambling to get work finished my husband posted a sign on the door, "DON'T INTERRUPT THE OVER-WORKED, OVER-STRESSED MICRO-MANAGER'S OFFICE". Ya, need I say more? I am doing everything in my power to NOT be that person this year. I am checking it once and checking it twice, working weekends, making calls, bringing food and drinks to all...
I keep saying I won't repeat history,and I need to learn from mistakes. My good cyber-friend's blog (http://mylittledish.blogspot.com/) had this quote last week that resonated with me (as it did her), "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome!"
I am posting this over the door to my office and anywhere else that I might need a gentle reminder (or kick in the face) before good ol' hubby posts a different sign for me.
Too funny! I'm glad you liked my new mantra. You remind me that I need to take pictures more often of my not so organized mess. So that when I am no longer "Insane", I can look back and celebrate that I have actually learned from my bouts of insanity! Your posts make me feel so normal with my totally chaotic business, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: LondonE | December 03, 2006 at 09:00 PM