3 months later...

It has been just over three months since we officially closed our doors. My dad has found a job, the bank took possession of the office equipment we couldn't sell, and we still have about 12 boxes of paper. There's a lot more going on but do you really want to see all my laundry.

Anyway, I am still looking for a job. It has been very difficult to find a new job too. There were a couple of times I thought I nailed the job interview. And I probably did, however, there had to be somebody who did it better.

It is getting frustrating, I know I will find something I just hope it will be soon. I did get talk to one of my credit cards. I told them I need help because I am unemployed. They lowered my APR, not going to solve my problem but it will save me about $75 for the next 6 months.

Anyway, back to work... er, something like that.

Ambassador for a day

Okay, so maybe it is more like being a personal driver. Anyway, I had the opportunity to take a group of businessmen and women from Austria around town. Our original plan was to take them to the capitol for a tour but we found out that they did that yesterday. So what do you do... go to the mall instead. Yup, that's right we went to an all American mall.

There are some advantages to not working at the time. And it was a great experience to talk with them about their country and be able to find out and answer questions about my country. All in all not a bad day. And there is even a chance if I go to Austria any time soon I could have a place to stay.

Bitter-Sweet

After two years, we are forced to close our doors, strip down the sign and move everything out of the office space and into storage and do what we can to liquidate whats left.

There is not one single thing, problem, or person that caused this to venture to fail. However, I do know there were several things that didn't help. No need to go into details or put blame on one or several things.

The only thing to do now is learn for our mistakes, never forget what we have accomplished and move on to the next adventure.

A Long Sabbatical

I suppose you can say I am on a Blogging Sabbatical. With a new business and no time to post, plus since I have recently gotten engaged I have to plan a wedding now too. So you will not see much of me.

Hopfully I will be get back to this blog and refresh the original idea of looking for ideas and sharing a little creativity, all while driving perfectionists nuts with my lousy spelling.

What a mess

Looks like there are a few cobwebs and dust bunnies taking up residence here. I am just dropping in. There is a lot going on but not a lot of time.

I'll see what I can do to clean things up around here.

NOW OPEN!!!

After countless days of, trials, triumphs, a little frustration and a lot of thanksgiving, we are ready to open our doors. If you live in Elk Grove, CA or just happen to be in the area and you are in need of business cards, NCR forms, or rubber stamps, please stop by (or anything theng else you need printed). If you are just surfing web, the check us out at elkgrove.minutemanpress.com

It is hard to believe that we have been working on opening for the past year, plus a couple of months. Not to mention, when everything appeared to be falling apart, a few days later whatever it was worked itself out. Now we can hit the ground running.

Pushing the Envelope

Maybe not pushing the envelope literally, it's more like we are trying to push door hangers, flyers, work orders, business cards, invoices, or even mugs. Yup, we are not offically open, yet we have already been called for each of these items.

The challenging part is trying to figure out how we can do these things since we do not have a press operator (btw, we are going to make an offer to a person we interveiwed friday). Somethings are easy and can be printed digitally or do not need a press operator. The porblem is learning the pricing system plus the learning the ins and outs of our various central facilities. Right now, we don't have contact information for the the facility that does mugs in our area. The home office hasn't gotten us that information yet.

To be cliche, some people might say we have hit the ground running. I would say it is more like we are trying to run but we haven't hit the ground yet.

I do know this, once we start, I will have plenty of design topics to talk about.

Last Minute Details

sign
Originally uploaded by krumbecker.

Supposedly, there are 3 days left until we open, but we are not quite ready. At least, we are getting down to the final details. Today, the front sign was finally installed. We also interviewed for press operators today.

We will make a decision on who we want to hire and some last minute training on marketing. Plus, do a little promotional work and other in house stuff.

I will definately pass on when we are officially open.

The Home Stretch

The press has been installed, the phones are working, even the paper cutter is sharp and ready. Everything is starting to fall into place and we are coming closer to opening. There are a few still loose ends to be finished a few last minute things like the front sign to be installed.

The count down is still ticking. No offical day just yet, but nothing has delayed the dountdown either (you know if this was lost and we were in the hatch, you would be just as anxious as I am).

T minus 13 days

Unoffical Countdown

We do not have a definate date for when we will actually open the doors to the public. However, We are going to do everything we can to open by April 17th, now that we have the keys

T minus 22 days and counting

The Countdown (sort of)

Believe it or not, but we actually have a tenetive date of when the building will actually be done. The contractor told us yesterday that the building will be done in four weeks. I wish it was in writting so we could hold him to it. Right now, weather is a small factor, because the mud for the walls is not drying quickly from the cold weather and rain we have been experiencing.

If everything gets done without any problems we will be open in April. I just wish we didn't have so many problems in the past, It would be easier to believe myself.

One More Step

I finally have some good news. Yesterday, we met with the city and they investigated the use of the building and our business. The city finally issued the permits that we need to finally move forward.

Now the contractor can finish the his job. Then we can start moving in and finally open.

Business as Usual

Yup. You guessed it nothing new as usual. We haven't gotten the work permit for the office space yet. I don't know what the contractor is doing. I could have swore that he could get it the permit very quickly.

Anyway, I ma working on getting a sign to be put up on the front of the building. Hopefully we will be ably to use an illuminated sign. It just depends on what the city allows. Oh boy, more opportunity to work with the city. I can't wait.

Back in Sunny California

Okay, So I have been back in California for over a week now. But I still don't have anything new to report, except that they did not kick me out of training.

I have been really hoping to see an open date of Feb. 15th. But if the last year is any idea of what else we have to go through. I am afraid to say that Feb is probably not going to happen.

An interesting note concerning February is it was last February that we offically decided to join the Minuteman Press Franchise. And looking back on the whole thing. I am glad we did choose Minuteman Press. I do wish that our choice Elk Grove would have been a little easier to find a location and actually open our doors for business.

There must be a reason for the delay. I really don't know or understand why. And it has been once we work one thing out another one falls through the cracks and we end up running through hoops just to take one small step. I only hope that things turn around quickly and I can actually do something.

As always, when I hear something I will be sure to pass it on.

New York Minute

I thought a New York Minute was just an expression or at best a song. The past two and a half weeks have definately proved that there is some truth to the phrase. Almost everything you could possible want to know about the way to do business was shoveled into my head. I am not sure how much fell out in the process. And I am far from ready to actually open Monday morning. However, learning works much better for me on the job, so I am sure I will do just fine.

Tomorrow I will be heading home and Thursday I will probably sleep the rest of the day. I will check back in when I have recovered. I will also be sure to let everyone know when we open.

Live From New York

First thing first, It is freezing here!!! I am a california boy all the way to my bones and this cold is way too cold for me.

Anyway, Training is going fast and there is too much information to remember. However, this is worth every minute of it. We have had training on how to operate press (thankfully we are not actually going to run the press ourselves) Then there is pricing, safety, management software, how to hire employees and how to understand paper standards.

Needless to say, training is going well. I am gald that training is including everything and we are not just thrown to the fire. I just wish it was not this cold and training was held in Florida or something.

Until next time, (probably when I get home) I hope everyone out there is staying warm.

[Break Transcript]

Saturday late night I will be flying back to New York for the training I already mentioned. I realize, I barely post more than once in two weeks, but I am trying to post a little more often, now that I should have more to write about. Anyway, my point is that I will be back in two and a half weeks. I can pick up one where I left off then.

See you at the end of the month.

Going to New York!

It is offical. January 8th, my dad and I are headed to New York for the owners training. We bought our tickets today. Tomorrow we will sign the franchise papers. (I thought this was taken care of before, but I guess there are more papers to sign)

We haven't gotten offical word about the city permits and the exact cost, yet. However, the unoffical news is the cost will be under the amount we are willing to pay. At least, this is encouraging.

Reflections

2005 is coming to a close very quickly and looking back on my own adventures as well as the rest of the worlds, it is safe to say 2005 was no picnic. For me, 2005 would be best discribed as an over the top extreme roller coaster. There were plenty of low points and times I wanted off, but there were other times when I was on the top of the world.

The high for me is bitter sweet, and has dominated most of the year is the business venture with my family. I don't think anyone would have believed it would take 6 months full of drama fit for a soap opera to find an office space and get it leased (even now it is not over yet). However, I do not regret leaving my previous job at the end of May, either. The stress and complete burnout I was in, it was best for me to leave. I honestly hope they are doing well, and I am extremely greatful for the opportunity they provided.

Looking forward to 2006, I am hoping it will be an amazing year. I will start off the year with the owners training for the business. I am looking forward to working again. And I am very excited about the opportunity to finally move to my own apartment. And I can think of several other things too that should make 2006 a year to remember. But if I were to tell you everything now then there would be no reason for you to come back and keep reading. Besides, I have been known to be wrong so I don't want to jinx myself.

I am also aware of several challenges. One example is, having over 6 months off from work. I have managed to become lazy, especially, as a designer. Since I have not been working I have not done a lot of creative projects. You could say that I have let my creativity fall behind. And starting a business where I will depend on my creativity even more than before, I am a little nervious. I know it will not be impossible just a little harder than usual. At least there is a good side to this, I have had a chance to recover from my burnout.

In any event, Here is to a fond farewell to 2005 and an eager hello to 2006. Happy New Year.

Yup, Still Here

It seems like it has been a long while since I last posted. And there really not much to talk about, either. We did find out Friday that the blueprints for the floor plan should be finished on Monday. And then, it will be submitted to the city, after we approve them, for the building permits. The contractor thinks he can get the permits back very quickly.

In any event, it is still a waiting game here. And things are getting boring to say the least. It is amazing when you begin to think about, but everything we do for fun usually includes money. Unfortunately, being out of work for 6 months really drains the savings. The good news this is only temporary.