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Jas0n United States. Jul 23 2012 23:04. Posts 1866 | | |
Business is good. Been meaning to make this post for a while now but haven't had the time. Ever since I got to the suburbs edzwoo and I have been working like mad. Putting in a good 40-50 hours each week and going in on Sundays. Warehouse is amazing but as always I think we underestimated the amount of space we need. It's a 6000 square ft warehouse and we filled up 2/3 of it in a month. Right now it's just me and edzwoo in the office and two of our high school friends in the warehouse doing the manual labor. They'll be heading back to grad school in late August though so we're in the process of hiring some full time employees very soon. Our first position is for a warehouse supervisor, which pays ~37k a year on average in our area. Have three interviews set up for the end of this week with a possible fourth. It will probably be kind of weird for them to come in and see that the guys doing the interviewing are 23 years old. I'm a little concerned about being take seriously as someone's superior at work because of my age but I guess we'll see what happens.
Setting everything up took a lot longer than expected. At one point we were showing up at 10 in the morning and leaving at 10 at night. My goal was to use our capital as quickly as possible so the warehouse space doesn't go to waste. Spent 50k in two days, 100k in a week. Not going to lie, it was a little overwhelming using up so much money in such a short period of time. Talked to a business lawyer about some legal issues recently as well just to tie up loose ends. I knew there would be a lot of little details that had to be taken care of when you move a business but there was a lot more than I expected. Things like servicing fire extinguishers, buying workman's compensation, figuring out what kind of shelves to use, and etc take up an enormous amount of time and before you know it the day is over and there's still a million things I have left to do.
One of the random problems we encountered was that our loading dock is declined. This means that when the semi trucks pull in, their trailers are at a downward angle. We had no idea this would be a problem for us until we realized that a pallet jack with a pallet holding 2000 lbs of merchandise can gain a crapload of momentum as it moves off the truck and into the dock. This wouldn't happen if the dock was leveled, but because its declined by the time it hits the ground the pallet is moving at 10-15 miles an hour. It's definitely not easy stopping that much weight when it's moving that quickly. Normally this wouldn't be a problem because warehouses have forklifts that will drive the pallet off the truck. For us, we bring everything in by hand with a pallet jack. Went ahead and bought a pallet jack with brakes the next day.
Sales are really good. We've been operational for a month and sales have already increased by 30%-40%. We're hitting all time record highs for non-holiday weeks. Once the holiday comes around we'll be getting five figure sales everyday. We've gotten big enough to the point that the local post office can't handle the amount of volume we're doing. I'm currently going back and forth with USPS's district sales manager to try and come up with a solution. They might just put us on a freight route and have a semi come by everyday to pick up our outgoing packages.
In 2011 we did just over a million in sales. This year we are already at 910k and on track for 2-2.5 mil. Fingers crossed.
tl;dr business is good
my office
edzwoo hard at work
new laser printer, label printer and server
first shipment - ~12,000 lbs
my buddy Alex giving us a hand
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| | Last edit: 24/07/2012 12:32 |
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| Tian xia tai ping, Paradise on earth as in heaven | |
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PuertoRican United States. Jul 23 2012 23:17. Posts 13141 | | |
Sick job, congrats on the success.
Maybe upgrade to a more comfortable office table at the end of the year. |
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Arirang Canada. Jul 23 2012 23:20. Posts 1673 | | |
I'm so poverty and y'all so ballin'. I'm your age. Please adopt me. I'm kind of good at DotA and used to hang with kids from UIUC in battle.net. O_Q |
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Jas0n United States. Jul 23 2012 23:29. Posts 1866 | | | |
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RaiNKhAN  United States. Jul 23 2012 23:31. Posts 4080 | | |
so in 2011 with $1million in sales what was the net gain for you/edzwoo? |
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| The biggest Rockets, Sixers, and Grizzlies fan you will ever meet! | |
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waga United Kingdom. Jul 23 2012 23:48. Posts 2375 | | |
holy shit 23 years old ...
balla |
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2c0ntent Egypt. Jul 24 2012 00:08. Posts 1387 | | | |
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Syntax United States. Jul 24 2012 00:50. Posts 4415 | | |
wow sick! sorry if this has already been said but what do you guys sell/ship out?? |
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Spicy United States. Jul 24 2012 01:36. Posts 1027 | | |
So when's your IPO  |
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Mariuslol Norway. Jul 24 2012 02:19. Posts 4742 | | |
It's really fun that you both as mates are doing this together, both putting it the time, both working toward common goals (businiss wise).
Hope things keep going well, and cool that you're sharing your story here, with pictures n shit =]
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egood United States. Jul 24 2012 02:21. Posts 1883 | | |
What do you sell? Link to website? |
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| | Last edit: 24/07/2012 02:22 |
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whamm! Albania. Jul 24 2012 02:31. Posts 11625 | | |
really inspiring. thats why you try at business at a very early age. you can fail and just go at it again no problem. kudos to you guys for binking it the first time, that is so very rare. |
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| | Last edit: 24/07/2012 02:32 |
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| | On July 23 2012 22:31 RaiNKhAN wrote:
so in 2011 with $1million in sales what was the net gain for you/edzwoo? |
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Syllogism New Zealand. Jul 24 2012 03:42. Posts 214 | | |
nice! congrats!
So you guys sell, sporting goods on ebay?
Also if yo have a website, do you mind linking it?
thx |
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Funktion Australia. Jul 24 2012 04:08. Posts 1638 | | |
You could get yourself some good dexion and a small reach truck (much more manoeuvrable than a fork lift in confined spaces) to unload trucks quickly and eliminate the concern for the grading. It would give you the ability to pallet excess material and store it overhead, increasing your storage capacity.
It might seem like a bit much now but if the initial setup allows for growth it will save a shit load of time later as well as money. Same thing goes for shelf labelling systems and inventory tracking which can all be a massive pain in the ass if you have to revise a system later on. Anything to avoid employees stealing shit is also a good thing (with your friends now it's not an issue but it will be once you start hiring). |
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Funktion Australia. Jul 24 2012 04:09. Posts 1638 | | |
And does Alex have skeleton gloves on because he watches Barry on Storage Wars? |
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Twisted Netherlands. Jul 24 2012 07:23. Posts 10422 | | |
This is a cool blog. Awesome job guys. |
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bigredhoss Cook Islands. Jul 24 2012 09:35. Posts 8649 | | |
| | On July 23 2012 22:20 Arirang wrote:
I'm so poverty and y'all so ballin'. I'm your age. Please adopt me. |
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Bigbobm United States. Jul 24 2012 09:56. Posts 5511 | | |
| | On July 24 2012 06:23 Twisted wrote:
This is a cool blog. Awesome job guys. |
Agree. Fun read. Keep the updates coming |
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| Its time to stop thinking like a bitch and think smart like a poker player - ket | |
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