Who knows? Time goes by so quickly.
After awhile, I decided to stop blogging about it. No reason for me to keep telling you, "This is going to happen" only to find out 2 months later that it wasn't.
The key is to go with the flow. When things are tough, it falls on YOU to do whatever it takes to get through it. That means you could be working more hours than you ever knew existed in one week. When things are good, you must enjoy those times because you don't know how long it will last.
After doing this for 10 years, I've gotten very good at having things roll right off my back. We've been through lawsuits (someone using our trademarked name intentionally). We've been through employee issues. We've been through financial struggles. We've been through the ringer with attempting to buy another company. We dealt with location issues. We've had to end long standing relationships. We've started new ones. We've dealt with tremendous growth. We've learned how to get through a recession. And these are just a quick few that popped into my head.
All this in just the past 2 years, while having two sons, being the happiest couple around, taking care of family issues.....and having a triathlete in the family.
As I write this, I can see the biggest changes that we made are starting to pay off. We have the best team on staff that we've ever had. In the last 2 weeks, I've only had to go to the warehouse to help pack, twice. One of those times, after I arrived, they didn't even need me......during our busiest time of year.
One of our struggles has been our location. It's way too small. We're packed in like sardines. It's hard to find things in the warehouse because some stuff is still in boxes.
Finding space in Denver has been very tough, and the emotional roller coaster of attempting to buy another company (which has a great location).....it held us back from really looking around. When we finally decided to get a new space, the rents were atrocious and the terms ridiculous. Denver has the highest rents in the US (homes and office).
So. We waited, getting frustrated. We decided that once we got through the holiday season, we'd start actively looking.
Our warehouse is part of a cluster of warehouses. They are all small businesses. You get to know people.
As luck would have it and as Mr. Tea was strolling into work one day, one of our neighbors came out to talk about the trash service (because that's the glamourous life of a small business owner). We found out that one of the businesses (not far from us--a few places down from us) is moving to a larger facility. We couldn't even believe it. Their warehouse is double the size of our current location. They put all the nicest furniture, offices, equipment....did I mention it's double the size of our current location? Did I mention the windows? Our warehouse is this dive little unit with no windows except at the front. This new unit is the entire end and corner units. That means everyone would get a window.
As soon as we heard, we negotiated a deal to take the entire place with all the furniture, all equipment.
You read that right.
WE'RE MOVING.
The exact date is not set yet. It was supposed to be February, but the other company is having a location built.....of course, there are always delays with new construction. Right now, it's looking like we'll be moving in March.
You can cut the excitement with a knife at our current place. Everyone wants to go on a field trip, stake out their own places, get the best window seats.
I can't even begin to tell you how exciting this is.
Right now, I'm just going to enjoy this time because it's one of the good ones.