billrobertstudios
True Grumbler
Hey all:
So now I will be asking lots of questions. I have watched and learned quite a bit here in the past and shared some.
After retiring from the Navy over a year ago, An and I adopted 2 boys from Ukraine and I have not worked since. We eventually want to open a shop and have a good start on lots of equipment, just not the funds to get going. We had been pondering starting up from home.
A friend knew I framed and spoke with an aquaintance who recently expanded his unfinished furniture (and framing) business by buying out 2 other shops in the area. He was advertising for help and I didn't even know it.
So, after a couple of weeks, I got around to calling. He knew my name from out mutual friend and we made an appointment for 1/2 hour later. He hired me on the spot and I started work immediately. Later that night he gave me an application to fill out!
The framer that came with the "bought out" business only did glass, matting, fitting, etc. I guess the previous owner had done the chopping and joining. So they were having production problems. The new owner's original location did pretty low volume framing and they were now trying to keep up with 2 shop's worth of frames.
So the framer that came with the "bought-out" business was frustrated and quit. Well, with a week's notice... that is my training time.
I've framed some before on my own, but never in a retail location.
The place was in shambles! The new owner moved to a new location about a month ago (he's had it 2)! It is not really set up to well yet. No good design table and the "ready-mades" and pre-framed prints and such are on cast away shelving from a "angel trinket" store.
Yesterday I learnd a bit about the POS they use... Lifesaver. I was able to ask more questions than could be answered or explained, so last night after I left at 7:30, I came home and downloaded the trial version and "studied" the manual. Now I already know more about it than anyone in the store. The owner today had me entering orders for him.
Since the POS was not used very effectively, the current frame orders are a mixture of print-outs from the POS, print-outs from the old owner's system (not pos but printed forms of some sort), hand-written orders on forms and various other orders backs of envelopes and scraps of paper! Uggg!
These "orders" were on clip boards scattered all over the place, some over a month old...
Today I had to help move furniture to the third new store, so I showed up at 8 a.m. to do that. At around 1:30 I was back in my assigned store to learn more about framing!
I got some good pointers and showed the "old" framer (the one quitting) how to use the POS. I completed several jobs that had been started and stared some that were not.
There is no joiner in the shop. However the owner was going to move the Cassese from his original business to this store. Was supposed to happen today. I'll make sure it happens tomorrow.
The "old" framer left at around 3. I was on my own in the shop, confident I could take on anything! The owner showed up at around 3:30 and "supervised" me, so to speak. Then he got a call at around 4:30 from someone reminding him he had to be in court at 5!
So out the door he went, telling me to lock up. I asked him if I should go at any particular time or keep working if there was stuff to do. He said to stay. Soon after he left, he phoned and told me he had promised someone he would stay until 5:30 (I think they close at 5, but I'm not sure as there are no hours on the door and no one has told me the hours yet!) so a customer could pick up some chops.
I kept working on some orders and the young man shows up at about 6:15... my first real customer I had to deal with face-to-face. He saunters across the room, holding up one of those staplers like you use to put garage sale posters up on telephone poles and says, "Do you think I can put these together with this?"
"Nope," I immediatley replied, thinking, "OH MY GOODNESS!" But I said, "Not with that." We had a discussion about how frames are professionally assembled and he then promply paid for the chops and left saying how he would take them to work and use the "big stapler" there to do it... I tried to tell him!
I suggested that if it didn't work for one of the frames to bring the other 2 back and we could do it for him. I had no idea what cost to suggest, though, so I didn't.
After he left, I stayed and worked until almost 10 p.m. organizing and straightening the shop. I needed to make room for the joiner that is supposed to be set up tomorrow.... and now, one can acutally get to the toilet in the bathroom without tripping over frames stacked in there!
I placed all the open orders I could find on one of the work tables after cleaning all the junk off it.
We'll see if a better system evolves from this.
So, I will ask some specific questions... in other posts!
Hope you enjoy my saga!
Warmest regards,
Bill
So now I will be asking lots of questions. I have watched and learned quite a bit here in the past and shared some.
After retiring from the Navy over a year ago, An and I adopted 2 boys from Ukraine and I have not worked since. We eventually want to open a shop and have a good start on lots of equipment, just not the funds to get going. We had been pondering starting up from home.
A friend knew I framed and spoke with an aquaintance who recently expanded his unfinished furniture (and framing) business by buying out 2 other shops in the area. He was advertising for help and I didn't even know it.
So, after a couple of weeks, I got around to calling. He knew my name from out mutual friend and we made an appointment for 1/2 hour later. He hired me on the spot and I started work immediately. Later that night he gave me an application to fill out!
The framer that came with the "bought out" business only did glass, matting, fitting, etc. I guess the previous owner had done the chopping and joining. So they were having production problems. The new owner's original location did pretty low volume framing and they were now trying to keep up with 2 shop's worth of frames.
So the framer that came with the "bought-out" business was frustrated and quit. Well, with a week's notice... that is my training time.
I've framed some before on my own, but never in a retail location.
The place was in shambles! The new owner moved to a new location about a month ago (he's had it 2)! It is not really set up to well yet. No good design table and the "ready-mades" and pre-framed prints and such are on cast away shelving from a "angel trinket" store.
Yesterday I learnd a bit about the POS they use... Lifesaver. I was able to ask more questions than could be answered or explained, so last night after I left at 7:30, I came home and downloaded the trial version and "studied" the manual. Now I already know more about it than anyone in the store. The owner today had me entering orders for him.
Since the POS was not used very effectively, the current frame orders are a mixture of print-outs from the POS, print-outs from the old owner's system (not pos but printed forms of some sort), hand-written orders on forms and various other orders backs of envelopes and scraps of paper! Uggg!
These "orders" were on clip boards scattered all over the place, some over a month old...
Today I had to help move furniture to the third new store, so I showed up at 8 a.m. to do that. At around 1:30 I was back in my assigned store to learn more about framing!
I got some good pointers and showed the "old" framer (the one quitting) how to use the POS. I completed several jobs that had been started and stared some that were not.
There is no joiner in the shop. However the owner was going to move the Cassese from his original business to this store. Was supposed to happen today. I'll make sure it happens tomorrow.
The "old" framer left at around 3. I was on my own in the shop, confident I could take on anything! The owner showed up at around 3:30 and "supervised" me, so to speak. Then he got a call at around 4:30 from someone reminding him he had to be in court at 5!
So out the door he went, telling me to lock up. I asked him if I should go at any particular time or keep working if there was stuff to do. He said to stay. Soon after he left, he phoned and told me he had promised someone he would stay until 5:30 (I think they close at 5, but I'm not sure as there are no hours on the door and no one has told me the hours yet!) so a customer could pick up some chops.
I kept working on some orders and the young man shows up at about 6:15... my first real customer I had to deal with face-to-face. He saunters across the room, holding up one of those staplers like you use to put garage sale posters up on telephone poles and says, "Do you think I can put these together with this?"
"Nope," I immediatley replied, thinking, "OH MY GOODNESS!" But I said, "Not with that." We had a discussion about how frames are professionally assembled and he then promply paid for the chops and left saying how he would take them to work and use the "big stapler" there to do it... I tried to tell him!
I suggested that if it didn't work for one of the frames to bring the other 2 back and we could do it for him. I had no idea what cost to suggest, though, so I didn't.
After he left, I stayed and worked until almost 10 p.m. organizing and straightening the shop. I needed to make room for the joiner that is supposed to be set up tomorrow.... and now, one can acutally get to the toilet in the bathroom without tripping over frames stacked in there!
I placed all the open orders I could find on one of the work tables after cleaning all the junk off it.
We'll see if a better system evolves from this.
So, I will ask some specific questions... in other posts!
Hope you enjoy my saga!
Warmest regards,
Bill
