This Week In Business: Sitting Pretty

It was an exciting week at Breaking Even Communications, mainly because I'm sitting pretty (and ergonomically correct) now. 

Three things that happened to my microbusiness this week:

I bought a chair, sort of locally. Now I often don't get jazzed about spending $150 but this week was an exception.

After searching far and wide in Downeast Maine and doing an inquiry on bothTwitter and Facebook, I realized I could not buy my new office chair locally even if I wanted to. What did come out of my asking was a few free/cheap offers (sadly, I couldn't accept a chair with no arms and had already bought one when a friend called with a great dumpster find). I also had a suggestion from an architect Twitter friend that I connect with the folks at Creative Office Pavillion.

Creative Office Pavillion is a smaller New England-based company that sells high quality furniture and employs roughly 500 people (including my friend Michelle at their Portland office).

Turns out they have a warehouse where they keep returns and other miscellaneous stock. A quick search in the warehouse database found me what appears to be a $400 brand new chair fitting my specifications (mainly adjustable, with arms, and cheaper) that they sold to me for $150.

If you're interested, they not only deal with big companies (my friend Michelle works on school and hospital contracts mostly), but they also sell to individuals. And after dealing with one of their sales people (not Michelle), I know that they can be a little flexible with their pricing and are wonderful to deal with.

Since I am going to sit in this thing 10ish hours a day, I figured investing in a quality chair would more or less pay for itself.

I wrote my first contract. What did we do before the internet?

When I finally connected with my contacts with the Big Project (that's what I'm calling it for now, since I still can't talk about it), I was asked to draw up a contract.

I did a quick search for contracts and found some great samples online that I could rework for my purposes. Actually, the sample contract helped me think of things I normally wouldn't have like spelling out, like what would happen if the Big Project people suddenly pulled out.

I also used Facebook to get advice from those who had gone before me:

My friend Bethany said, "...the stricter you are, the easier it is to interpret...less gray, means better business....put it clearly in your contract that when you receive their material in FULL, you can guarantee the results in so many hours or days depending on the project. People think if they give you most of it, then the rest will just magically appear or be able to be added fast."

My friend Cherie added, "Make it very, very, super-duper, crystal clear beyond the shadow of a doubt what you are responsible for and what they are responsible for. Timelines and deadlines are helpful if they make sense for the project. Insert the clause that if unexpected extras or changes come up, both parties must agree to the changes (and any additional fees that result) in writing. Always, always, always in writing."

Of course, there were some funny ridiculous comments too but between the sample contract and good advice, I was able to press 'send' today and feel pretty good about it.

I took a deep breath and sent it out today. Fingers crossed...

Custom envelopes are expensive.

My press release is ready to go to all area media outlets and I thought custom envelopes would be a pretty, professional way to send them.

Two different printers told me the cost was not worth it. Depending on the amount, I was looking at $.25-$0.50 an envelope. (Keep in mind I just had the press release copied 20 times for about $2.50.)  

"Invest in letterhead," one woman said. Plus the turn around time at both places was several weeks (!).

Like most things, apparently running an office has small details to take care of, like decisions about stationary. I thought because I was little, I could bypass this stuff. I guess not!

It's funny, before this, I had no idea how many small decisions went into even a very small business like mine...or more accurately how much time they would take up.

I hope to spend more time this week working on projects and not working on these small aspects of keeping things going, since I think I am way better at that!

Comments

[Craig]

I wouldn't even know where to begin with finding a contract or how to write one up. Could hire someone but obviously costs money. Internet of course is great to find templates to base off of.

[John]

These are all important steps, and I'm with Craig when it comes to the contract. A more pressing question: Will I have to have my chair challenge yours to a duel?

[jessica]

Thanks for sharing information with us..

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Jessica
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