We closed our retail store.
We didn't go "out of business", actually for the most part buisness is pretty good. The problem is we are paying SERIOUS amount of overhead for our retail location and it is KILLING us. Financially that is. Add a full-time employees salary to man the shop on top of that... and it's frightening. We have been getting very little walk-in retail traffic and our normal "busy" time for DISH Network sign-ups did not happen this year. It's been declining little by little but now the economy finally caught up with us. After much discussion and prayer over the last year - we finally decided it was a good time to follow through with our "going mobile" plan. Most of DeRell's work is done either "remotely" (he can log into a customers computer and fix the problem without them having to have the customer bring it to our store or having to go to their home) or he has many Business (network) customers that he services in person. 90% - 95% of our current business falls into those 2 categories. Thus, having a retail space is only serving as a financial drain to us that we can no longer afford. So now he will do everything on-site or from our home.
Long story short, we have to be out of our space by (Tuesday) August 31st per our agreement with the landlord we made back in July. All the prior equipment now gets moved to our home. We built a Theater "Demo Room" just like you would see at a large Electronics store in that Retail location. All that now will go into our personal Theater Room. His techncial area now will have a new home in our remodeled/enclosed Patio area (which initially we thought we would use for a Hot Tub room).
**Remember this? Construction last fall on the Breezeway/Patio Area - all that area will now be his tech area**
**Now it looks like THIS - same view looking East**
**New Office/Tech Area looking West from the Breezeway**
His new area is attached to our breezeway - which is super convenient actually for him. He can unload items right from his van through the garage/breezeway and right into this new tech area. Problem is the concrete was chipped/un-level and there was no flooring. We were initially thinking some VCT (commercial tiles) but i iamgine it will be super cold in there this winter even with the heaters we installed out there. We had a guy come out and hand trowel out some stuff to make it more level and even out the humps and stuff. We went with indoor/outdoor carpet (NOT green astro-turf). If snow/dirt/mud is tracked in it has easy clean up, it covers alot of the unlevel area, and it is warmer than tile. It's actually quite a big area that we didn't really have a use for. But the Lord did =)
So we had to 1.) pick out and purchase that carpet as well as theater carpet, 2.)pack, 3.)load and unload trailer loads of equipment, and 4.) work on the demolition/renovations at our retail/office location. (We have to return the space to it's former icky layout) So walls have been knocked down, doors removed, texturing started, etc. Not to mention trying to pack and move while still doing business. The weekend was the best time to get the bulk of it done. Unfortunately it rained on/off all weekend. We accomplished alot any way. 60% is packed. Our friend Jim started the drywall, texture etc. We had the carpet installed on Saturday - which wasn't finished until Sunday. Monday (today) the other area will be carpeted. He will bring in and build the desk area tonite as well as finish the packing and moving of all the bookcases, racks, fridge, desks and oodles of boxes of STUFF all on Monday. Then the final painting, repairs and cleaning will all need to be done Tuesday. Whew! Life is never boring.
**Picking out Carpet**
**The finished carpet in Theater room (chairs set there for cleaning-we still have to place them properly)**
**Tearing down the Theater Room at the office**
The best part is ALL of my home is nearly complete on the inside (Upstairs and Downstairs) thanks to all these changes. The cause and affect is awesome. I am sure trim and a few things will still take forever to be finished - but the big stuff will be done. Yippee!!!
The blessings in all of this are astounding. Financially we will get ahead instead of not even breaking even. (We've been surviving on very little or using credit cards to keep afloat) Our Home Theater Room, which we didn't expect to be able to complete for a year or more, is nearly done. DeRell will be home more --even if he is working downstairs..he's still HERE. In addition to saving money by Homeschooling this year, the family time will be exponentially more. The life of frequently feeling like a single parent while my honey is busy "at the office" or everywhere but here will be exponentially less. Not to metion the GAS ( = less $$ too) we will save not having to drive all the way into town every day. He will still travel as much as before for his on-site stuff, but now both of us will work from home. Exciting.
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