Monday, May 10  

Making do

Hello. Our offices are about a minute from my home. We're above a Pizza place. And a cafe and a bakery. The Post Office (that we use 2 times a day) is 30 metres away. We're about 7 minutes from the airport. And 2 minutes from getting on the freeway.

Our offices are very functional. We have:

Reception
Jo and Mel's office (they share)
My office
Boardroom
Packing room (we run a couple of pretty busy Internet shops)
Tea Room

It's very much a working office. Nothing too fancy, but it is perfect for us.

Don't spend up big

I tell you that because I answer a lot of emails from people just starting out in business. Because people are just starting out they feel a need to buy the best of everything. I can see the psychology.

If your business has the nice office and the great furnishings, then it will be perceived as successful. Mmmmm, maybe.

But when you are just starting out it is tough, damn tough.

You need to be efficient with every single dollar you have. And buying the latest and greatest of everything isn't going to help.

Every single bit of furniture in our office is second hand. All purchased at bargain basement prices.

A rubbish bin is a rubbish bin is a rubbish bin. A desk is a desk is a desk.

Jeff Bezos from Amazon.com

I've been reading a book about the rise of the business Amazon.com and it's founder Jeff Bezos.

In the early stages this guy made his own desk from an unused door. Probably not because he could afford a desk, but because he wanted to show his employees that they need to be incredibly efficient with the resources they had. Not burn through money just for the fun of it.

And that's probably one of the reasons why Amazon.com is still going strong and didn't drop from the sky like so many other Internet start ups.

If it's good enough for Jeff, it's good enough for us.

And Jeff Bezos ain't that smart!

One of the Amazon.com employees tells the story of packing books on the floor in the early days (they could afford packing tables). Hundreds of books all over the floor.

Whilst he and Jeff were on their knees hour after hour, their knees would, understandably, start to ache.

He said to Jeff, "We've really got to do something about this."

"Yes," said Jeff. "We should buy some knee pads."

The employee looked at him and said, "No Jeff. Let's buy a packing table and stand at that to pack!"

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I loved that story. Jeff Bezos has built a huge ground-breaking business. But can still miss the simple stuff just like me.

(I reckon Jack would get in and show those Amazon.com people how to really organise themselves).

Regards

Brendon