| The decision to convert our business from | | | | We were able to get a supply of quality |
| brick and mortar to internet basedwas a lot | | | | castings and already had the equipmentand |
| more traumatic than it should have been. | | | | skill to perform state of the art engraving, |
| | | | plating and finishing. |
| Most of my years as a businessman were spent | | | | |
| struggling as the owner/operator ofa small | | | | We had the idea to re-create our business |
| town engraving shop producing trophies, | | | | around door knockers, but how in theworld are |
| plaques and gifts. We built up aloyal | | | | going to sell enough of them to pay the bills |
| clientele but still struggled every month to | | | | in a small northern Ohiotown? There are only |
| pay the bills. | | | | so many doors in our local area and not all |
| | | | wanted orneeded a knocker, no matter how good |
| An engraving business requires a lot of very | | | | ours are. |
| expensive equipment toprovide even a basic | | | | |
| service. Equipment costs combined with the | | | | It seemed the internet was the way to go. We |
| overhead ofleasing a storefront and and | | | | had a small web site at the time. |
| maintaining the necessary inventory left | | | | |
| littlefor our efforts. | | | | It really was not very good and accomplished |
| | | | very little. If we were to make thetransition |
| Finally it occurred to us that we are not | | | | to being a totally internet company a lot of |
| young anymore and working night andday with | | | | work was needed. |
| little reward is just not to cut it. At some | | | | |
| point we wanted to retire. | | | | The transition was not neither fast or easy. |
| | | | We had to learn an entirely newmethod of |
| One day we stopped everything and took a good | | | | doing business in a new and exciting world. |
| look what was happening. | | | | Finally after nearly fiveyears of hard work, |
| | | | we closed the store for good. |
| It soon became apparent that the retail store | | | | |
| mode of business was themain cause of our | | | | We now operate the business entirely out of |
| problems. Not only was it very expensive to | | | | our home. We are no longer a localshop but |
| operate, ourmarket was limited to the local | | | | instead, a national brand shipping our |
| area which was not largely populated | | | | products every day. We no longerlease a store |
| andrequired many long hours to operate that | | | | with all it's associated expenses. Instead we |
| were not always productive. | | | | have gained theeconomy and tax advantages of |
| | | | a home based business. |
| An entirely new business model was needed. | | | | |
| | | | I admit though, it is a bit rough having to |
| Of all the things we did the one we were the | | | | walk all the way from one end of thehouse to |
| best at was preparing andengraving door | | | | the other just to get to work on these snowy |
| knockers. | | | | northern Ohio mornings,but, you know, we all |
| | | | have to put up with some hardships. |