Well, dealing with politics in a small village and go two ways. First, you may have a hard time understanding how a single person can have so much, so-called, power over the things that be. Another way of looking at it, if you want to put it that way, is that if you get on the right side of people, you can swing and sway things to fit your needs. I don't know really if I'm calling anyone corrupt, I really don't think so, but I really don't want to give so much power or thought right now too small town mentality.
The daily routine was, she went to work, she worked at what was called B.O.C.E.S., and that was kind of a training institution for young people needing special attention. And from whatever else I heard normal people go there also to learn a trade. So she worked there during the day, I stayed back at the house trying to get the business underway and also to deal with any business coming in. It was slow, very slow. We had invested in some vinyl cutting equipment, as well as software and necessary supplies. Honestly, I have to give her credit for this one it was her idea. Not that I wasn't thinking it and not that we didn't discuss it, but it was her that put her foot forward and says hey let's do it. So we did it. Looking back I'm not sure exactly where we got the funds to do it but it did set us back about $6000 at the time. Right away I began experimenting to see what I could and could not do. The stuff was awesome! Right now that I have everything, what do we do and how do we charge? I started seeking out other professionals in the area and out of the area. It seemed that every body tried to keep their information to themselves and not share how to do things where to buy supplies and also how much to charge. One fellow came across my path, and today I have very much respect for. He had a sign shop, but it was really for highway signs and other related matter. Four years after that I felt that he was very threatened by our existence, in fact I found out that many other businesses were sharing that same belief. But nonetheless, when somebody needed quality that came to us. When somebody needed price they went elsewhere, and about eight times out of 10 they came back. It was funny! People that stormed out of our shop to the tune of wow that is so expensive I'm going to go elsewhere,, they would come back saying well you know I really wanted to let you do this! After being in business a couple years we got use to that type of behavior. It really does boil down to you get what you pay for. So anyway, with the addition of the sign cutting equipment and also a digital duplicator that we had invested in, we started getting much more business than we can handle at the house office.
One day, we met a local contractor. Not only did I letter up his work truck, he had some empty store properties in town. We ended up renting one of them. I guess money was coming in because we were able to pay the rent, but I didn't give it much thought because in the beginning when starting up a business you don't always have your head in the right place. There are many things we should have done that we didn't and many things we did do that we shouldn't have. Oh well. So here we are with this new shop, our first countered was a hollow core door on two sawhorses. I kid you not about this. It was all bare-bones. Eventually we ended up with some pretty nice office furniture, and I remember that the credit cards were starting to max out. But we did establish a following. I was a few years younger back then, more flexible and nimble, and I spent a lot of time lettering vehicles. Doing that requires a lot of bending and stretching and leaning, all that physical stuff. I had no problems. Well shortly after acquiring commercial property, she had asked me if she could quit her day job. I said sure! I didn't see any reason in the world why we couldn't start developing income from our business. As it goes, it all paid off. We both became very active in the local Chamber of Commerce, and we started doing work for the Chamber of Commerce also. Sure it was only pennies, but we were getting our foot in the door. The Chamber of Commerce had its moments also. There were a lot of long-standing business members that felt they were getting this toes stepped on. Sink or swim it goes! Once again the small town politics, jealousy, envy, I just don't like it that way! Any reason you can think of, we came across it. But when we hopped aboard, it was time for this small organization to start growing. Other people were just happy with things the way they were,,, isn't that so true that people do not like change?
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Quit that damn job!
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