Dial-a-saw

[Roboframer]

There are days when there is no Skype interaction at all. Yet it is just so comforting to know that if I need advice or help then there will be somebody around who may be able to help or point me in the right direction at the time of asking. Not having to wait for somebody on a Forum to answer..

But the thing about asking on a forum is that many more get to benefit from the replies and it's there to be searched for in the future. Not that I'd be much use to anyone during working hours!

I do see the benefits of all this stuff although we are doing just fine without it. I suppose that if we were just a frameshop also selling framed art, as most do, plus a few other bits, then yes, a website would be a big priority for starters and I'd just have to take a deep breath and get more computer literate and the rest may follow.

But we never evolved with any help from computers, bar email, forums etc, and that's all done from home.

Today a lady came in from Portsmouth - the limit of our radio ad to the West, she'd heard our ad, well, one of them. She was in absolute heaven - bought a shedload of printed needlepoint canvasses and skeins of wool - nothing like this where she lives, or Chichester, which is on the way. Two Cities!

So - we must be missing out not having a website, I know that - even though people would have to be searching for our products and/or services and radio advertising is intrusive - not everyone in the coverage area listens to it (I don't - radio 2 for me - no bloody adverts on that!)

Still nice to get these results though - and they happen all the time.

[Dermot]

John (Robo)

Your much more technologically astute than you give yourself credit for…

There are quite a few that would kill to replicate your business model if they could…..when it comes to day to day business you could give anyone a good run for their money…

You just need to find some way to allow yourself to have time to develop the business in a way that allows yourself and Pat to enjoy the rewards of what you do a little more….

I did a management training course back a few years ago, it has possible been one of the best business things I ever did, the guy who conduct the training had a stenographer follow our training class all 30 of the 3 hour secessions, he has just published his own book (I have not read it yet however I do know it is on or around his management training)….which might be worth a read, one of the things he kept hammering at us was there was little point in having a business if you cannot have the time to enjoy the rewards…..

His book is….. You are The Limiting Factor - Unlocking your True Business Potential he is Blaise Brosnan
http://otb.ie//index.php?page=shop.prod ... 1&Itemid=1

I hope you don’t mind me posting to you in this manner, it’s just that some of the things around time and going forward are what got me down back when I was framing before…..I have learned that with the correct help there is a way to go forward….anyway for what it’s worth I hope you can get to a place in business that you would like to be………that’s not saying you not doing well as you are….

Anyway all the best….

[Roboframer]

You've hit a couple of nerves there Dermot - but no, I don't mind at all, it's very welcome.

Thing is, this was not supposed to happen - it just evolved by demand.

Just the two of us, house paid for, Army pension fixed until age 55 (Next year I get the same amount as my rank leaving that year gets, and then it's index linked 'til I croak)

Just needed a nice 'gentlemanly' business - a living more than a profit. We had no idea we happened to live smack in the centre of an area with such demand.

What we have now is a little 'Michaels' - but with a better framing dept!

The main reasons I would want all the techie bits now, if I'm honest, is to have something better to sell, because I know we'll never expand again.

[Dermot]

John (Robo) I did not invest in the CMC to start creating “real” fancy mount/mats, truth is that I always found a manual cutter a pain to use………I hated cutting anything on a manual cutter……..I just could not master it………

In fact it was a major contributing factor to me exiting framing….

OK so when I decided to resurrect my framing business I was faced with an issue mount/mat cutting……….simple answer was to find a better way of cutting mount/mats than I had used in the past………logically for me it was a CMC….there was no great rush to technology in me buying a CMC, simply in my case it would do the job better….

Now that I have some hands on with the CMC I can see how it will help me save many hours in the business, I don’t expect to sell that many more mount/mats but I’m now am absolutely sure it will save me many hours….of what for me was soul destroying work….

One thing I do know…..in my case is the my sabbatical for framing and the management training I have done in the mean time is helping me see the “business” of framing in a clearer light…..the time I was able to take or made myself take standing back from framing is paying off for me……..that guy Blaise was able to get it across to me that there can be improved ways of doing business….now I’m not suggesting that anyone has to take the same dramatic route that I did to improve my business approach……….there are other ways….

Anyway I’m sure you will get a resolve on your situation…..it may take a bit of time and a few dead ends before you find what is right for you………perhaps a business mentor might be of some help…..some of them are very good and do the job primarily because they just love the opportunity to help and resolve business issues….it would also allow a fresh pair of eyes to have some input into your business…

[WelshFramer]

I find the CMC doesn't save much time (if any) on cutting standard window mounts but it does mean that a mount for 50 cigarette cards takes me almost the same amount of time as a simple single window. I also offer V-grooves and other embellishments knowing that they will cost me nothing. And last week a double mount with corner cut-outs that had to follow a x-stitch pattern took about 2 minutes to set up and almost no time to cut.

OK, I don't get to do fancy mounts every day but the CMC gives me the confidence of being able to offer those options in the knowledge that I can do them easily and quickly and with almost no waste.

So that takes care of one of the computers in the workshop.

Another computer sorts out the accounts, invoicing and stock control.

When it's not doing that it's playing music. Generally it's tuned to a US station that plays 50s and 60s music or a Jamaican station that plays traditional reggae. Not sure how I'd manage to do any framing without a resource like that.

Then there's the laptop with its visualisation system. I not really used that yet as I'm still setting it up with moulding and mountboard samples. But I'm thinking I might offer a framing service for customers who can't get to my workshop and a laptop will be far easier than Robo's wallpaper pasting table.

OK, so not everybody uses 3 computers to run a framing business but I'd be lost without them.