This was my old industrial unit, all 1500sq ft of it!
I'm occasionally asked to take on the manufacture of leather products for other businesses and it generally comes as a big surprise to the enquirer when I turn the work down. I do make a lot of leather things, but this doesn't make me a factory worker and nor do I want to be one.
Frankly, I like the challenge of new projects and I want to keep my business nice and small. Smaller is easier to manage in my opinion and there is only one of me after all!
However, keeping a business small isn't as easy as you might think. In fact it causes me all kinds of stress as, on a personal level, I find it extremely hard to convince people to go to another supplier. Having been self employed for years and years, I haven't always had the luxury of knowing where my next meal was coming from, let alone being in a position to turn work away. I'm fairly confident that most self-employed people have had a similar experience. It is hard to say no to paying work.
Okay, every now and again I let one slip through the net, but only if it is for a prestigious customer. Yes, I'm a posh customer groupie - big names in Oxford Street get me going every time. Nice red Christmas hamper straps for a famous Knightsbridge store and gorgeous natural veg tan straps for a well known maker of posh handbags... I was lost, I sold my soul to Mammon and had to do the work!
The one thing that tends to keep me on the straight and narrow is the size of my workshop. Okay, it isn't exactly tiny, but if I make anything more than a couple of hundred 'things', I simply don't have room to move. I used to look at factory units with envy, but having had one I still remember the bills - and the cost of heating. Nah, small is just great thanks very much. I've got enough room to deal with all my website orders and a bit of spare capacity to make things for the summer fairs - and that will do nicely.
Size really isn't everything. In fact the whole 'Industrial Unit' thing was a big mistake for all kinds of reasons. Not the least because people took one look at the premises and thought my business was much bigger than it really was. At the end of the day, I'm running a very small enterprise and believe my current workshop reflects that rather well. It definitely isn't easy to downsize, but I'm so glad I did!
Something very 'driven' self-employed people sometimes forget about is the reason why they are self-employed. I'm just as guilty as the next person here. I gave up well-paid regular work to be my own boss and go fishing whenever I want. Only I don't. Go fishing that is... I want to go fishing, I really want to go fishing, in fact, I'm more than a little bonkers and probably need to go fishing but the thought that I might miss an important order because I haven't answered the phone is generally enough to keep me in the workshop.
Its ridiculous really, but, like many self employed people there have been times when orders were very thin on the ground. Times when I grabbed every bit of work that was offered to me and was grateful for it.
It really isn't that bad any more; so, to an extent, I can pick and choose which jobs I want to do and which I want to pass on to some other poor soul. But I still don't seem to find time to go fishing... Like I said, madness!
