I've been doing a lot of interviews. Most of the questions I'm asked, although very good ones, have been pretty much the same. But this week during a Q & A with a blogger, I was asked something that no one had ever asked about before: "What was the best business decision you've made so far since starting your designer kids' clothes business, LikeWear?" My answer was spontaneous as we were on the phone and I was not prepped ahead of time with what I would be asked. Without so much as a split second thought, my response was: "keeping my business run from my house."
When my husband Ken reads this answer he will certainly be shocked as I'm constantly complaining about how each day LikeWear seems to take over another square foot of our living space. Not to mention the concerns I have over our lack of privacy with the parcel of employees we have in and out of our front door each day. And then there's the havoc caused to my type A psyche with all the clutter, noise and general disarray as a natural result of so many functional functions operating out of my home sweet home.
But, the idea of moving the business out of our house into its own home, just does not sit well with me right now. We've been able to stay very lean and cost conscious because we do not have additional overhead, maintenance and extra staffing to worry about, which an outside office would demand. And yes, our in-house warehousing space is limited but it's forced us to maintain modest inventory levels so we do not end up with overruns and large quantities of unused merchandise at the end of each season. And certainly, we have lots of people in and out of our house on a regular basis, but that has required us to only hire people we really trust and can rely on. And last but certainly not least, as a mother, having my business run from my house has meant being able to physically be around for my kids. LikeWear's birth originated from my small time hobby and rather quickly became a part-time job which then blossomed into a full-time job and which has now evolved into what often feels like an all-the-time job. But, I'm at home while I'm doing it. Working "all the time" outside of the house is not something I'm mentally prepared to do at this stage of my life.
So for now as I grumble about the chaos, clutter and claustrophobic working conditions, I'll continue to remind myself that when it comes to running our designer kids' clothes business – at least for now – there's no place like home.