- Original Poster
- #1
Well what a roller coaster of a few months ive had. Thought id share my story.
Not sure if you can all remember but i set up an embroidery business supplying workwear and uniforms about 4 months ago. And what a period it has been and im proud to say im still here!
So we started off with the idea of having a small shop next to the office and production selling printed hoodies etc, this idea was terrible as i couldnt see the point of marketting it to do small runs of 1's and 2's. Shame though as i had built most of the shop before i realised what a terrible idea it was!
So i went back to the drawing board,employed a machinist,
employed a a guy for telesales and hammered the phones myself. We did great for september and october and practically broke even. But it soon became apparent that my machinist could cope with workloads, then the embroidery machine blew up and the real problems began. I have an 8 head machine which after the fault became a 3 head, so when youre selling in multiples of 15 it was a pain in the backside.
Shortly after the girlfriend gave birth to our first child, but suffered some minor problems and was rushed in for a c-section, which meant she was very weak for a week or so. Luckily around that time i had an engineer in fixing the machine, which was great, but it was clear my machinist had to be laid off.
I came back to a stack of orders and continued to work through it, at one point i was doing 30hr stretches every other day. After i had managed to work throught the back orders the sales had started to dry up, by this point it was mid november, my sales guy had problems at home with his wife being ill. So because i couldnt find anybody to replace him i thought the easier option would be to get somebody in on part time admin, do some part time sales, run the machines and keep looking for a new sales guy.
We'd been supplying builders and construction workers etc and for me it was a lesson learnt, those that wernt prepared to pay on card prior to delivery where the ones that where never going to pay. Ive had a local guy try and do a flick on me for nearly £1500, another guy for £380 and another for £290.
Needless to say its been a learning curve, the guy with the £1500 payed on 3 postdated cheques, the first one cleared and the other 2 bounced this morning. Which is a shame, because we made an agreement, which makes me sick as im known for being good for my word. He wont be havin a great xmas that for sure. The £380 guy has had a phone call from my friend who sorted the £1500 guy out, he's on route to pay me tomorrow and the £290 guy will be sorted in January.
When i was employed i didnt really see the hassle as i wasnt really involved in that side of the business, but my god theres some damn right free loading people out there! Unlucky for them i have my means and i will not be writing 1 bad debt off.
So back to my story, this month was tough, but i decided early on we would use this month to generate appointments to go out and see people in the new year, which has worked great. So luckily its given me the oppurtunity to evaluate where i need to be with the business in the new year.
Ive now got my original sales guy back, so im using him for the appointments, which is what he does best to be fair and the new guy for booking appointments. Ive got a good reliable friend starting on the machines in the new year and im going back on the phones.
Its been tough, but im delighted that ive made the mistakes where i did and its reminded me the quick sale isn't always the best sale! To be fair ive not mentioned all the other probems ive had, like the my computer system failing and loosing everything id done for the last few years or the other few people that where a struggle to get money out of, or my faulty heat press that was bought from some horrible people in birmingham.
But i'd just like to say a big thanks, merry xmas and a happy new year to all those past and present that helped me get to this point.
To be fair there are some idiots on here, but also some very helpful people.
So thanks!
Not sure if you can all remember but i set up an embroidery business supplying workwear and uniforms about 4 months ago. And what a period it has been and im proud to say im still here!
So we started off with the idea of having a small shop next to the office and production selling printed hoodies etc, this idea was terrible as i couldnt see the point of marketting it to do small runs of 1's and 2's. Shame though as i had built most of the shop before i realised what a terrible idea it was!
So i went back to the drawing board,employed a machinist,
employed a a guy for telesales and hammered the phones myself. We did great for september and october and practically broke even. But it soon became apparent that my machinist could cope with workloads, then the embroidery machine blew up and the real problems began. I have an 8 head machine which after the fault became a 3 head, so when youre selling in multiples of 15 it was a pain in the backside.
Shortly after the girlfriend gave birth to our first child, but suffered some minor problems and was rushed in for a c-section, which meant she was very weak for a week or so. Luckily around that time i had an engineer in fixing the machine, which was great, but it was clear my machinist had to be laid off.
I came back to a stack of orders and continued to work through it, at one point i was doing 30hr stretches every other day. After i had managed to work throught the back orders the sales had started to dry up, by this point it was mid november, my sales guy had problems at home with his wife being ill. So because i couldnt find anybody to replace him i thought the easier option would be to get somebody in on part time admin, do some part time sales, run the machines and keep looking for a new sales guy.
We'd been supplying builders and construction workers etc and for me it was a lesson learnt, those that wernt prepared to pay on card prior to delivery where the ones that where never going to pay. Ive had a local guy try and do a flick on me for nearly £1500, another guy for £380 and another for £290.
Needless to say its been a learning curve, the guy with the £1500 payed on 3 postdated cheques, the first one cleared and the other 2 bounced this morning. Which is a shame, because we made an agreement, which makes me sick as im known for being good for my word. He wont be havin a great xmas that for sure. The £380 guy has had a phone call from my friend who sorted the £1500 guy out, he's on route to pay me tomorrow and the £290 guy will be sorted in January.
When i was employed i didnt really see the hassle as i wasnt really involved in that side of the business, but my god theres some damn right free loading people out there! Unlucky for them i have my means and i will not be writing 1 bad debt off.
So back to my story, this month was tough, but i decided early on we would use this month to generate appointments to go out and see people in the new year, which has worked great. So luckily its given me the oppurtunity to evaluate where i need to be with the business in the new year.
Ive now got my original sales guy back, so im using him for the appointments, which is what he does best to be fair and the new guy for booking appointments. Ive got a good reliable friend starting on the machines in the new year and im going back on the phones.
Its been tough, but im delighted that ive made the mistakes where i did and its reminded me the quick sale isn't always the best sale! To be fair ive not mentioned all the other probems ive had, like the my computer system failing and loosing everything id done for the last few years or the other few people that where a struggle to get money out of, or my faulty heat press that was bought from some horrible people in birmingham.
But i'd just like to say a big thanks, merry xmas and a happy new year to all those past and present that helped me get to this point.
To be fair there are some idiots on here, but also some very helpful people.
So thanks!
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