So I have opened up this little thrift store in a strip mall across the street from my true business www.aperfectshine.com. OK that was a little plug.... Anyways I own the building where I have my office...
Many years back... I was asked numerous times if we did trash outs and hauling and the like... of course whenever these questions arised my little brain started reacting like the hamster in the cage.... ok yes the wheels were turning....
So eventually I bought a pick up truck and said yes to the next person that asked that question. Over time I purchased bigger and bigger trucks to the point that when I bought my current office... little did i know I was already at maximum capacity with the big truck the little truck, the carpet cleaning vans and the maid services cars...
Next thing I know we had begun doing yard sales in front of the office on a regular basid due to all the big stuff and sometimes good stuff that we were obtaining....
So I eventually came to the realization that we should open up a thrift store across the street in the strip mall in front of us. O.K. so I negotiated a killer lease... I got all the crap out of our lot in the back of our cleaning operation and moved into the new digs across the street.
Now the people have embraced us and we are doing decent money... at least enough to break even. However the owners of the stripmall are assholes and do not want to support or embrace a new company. We have floated the idea of perhaps renting a bigger area up to 5,000 sq ft... with paying more and in addition adding in the fact that we would maintain the property.... clean, sweep, pressure wash, etc... it is funny to see how owners w money can be so ignorant! I mean this strip mall has several (A LOT) vacancies and I feel one reason is the cleanliness of the area..
I am willing to help out in that area... But eventually I keep coming back to the prospect of whether I should invest all this time and energy into "the hood"! I mean I could easily shift my whole operation into a more positive business friendly area... up north....
Yeah I would pay a little more, but maybe make more money and deal w other more simple problems as opposed to the "hood" problems...
I alays felt like I wanted to embrace the hood and thrive in the hood! I have... but now where do I go? Do I need to break out of the hood or continue to prosper and negotiate all the obstacles that are a part of the hood?
Tough questions...
