My business has changed dramatically over the course of this year. In addition to the significant increase in sales, we’ve had to transform our operation to meet demand.

In a production environment like ours, an increase in sales requires an immediate investment in supplies and equipment. Since last year, we’ve spent several thousand dollars on additional equipment and supplies. To minimize our investment, we made our purchases in cash. OUCH! Nonetheless, the increase in productivity from the new machinery has paid for itself multiple times over.

With an increase in equipment and supplies comes the need for more space. MUCH MORE SPACE. Before this year, we operated in a roughly 1,000 sq ft space. This included retail, office, and production. Toward the end of last year, we recognized the need for more space as we had to deal with orders piling up throughout our entire store. We had several boxes spread everywhere!

Since August of 2009, we hired new employees. Previously, we were employing our close friends. Unfortunately, mixing personal friendship within a professional working environment wasn’t the best idea. At times, we found it difficult to hold our friends/employees accountable. Overall, managing them was a challenge.

It’s quite amazing to see all these changes – hopefully the future brings continued growth! :)

So I started this post several months ago… and some how forgot to publish it – DOH!…

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After some serious time spent evaluating what I wanted to do in the next stage of my life, I finally decided to return to my roots; One Greek Store.

Although the lure of a secure 9 to 5 job with benefits had some appeal -especially with the swarming media about our economy-  I couldn’t resist wondering what I could do if I fully committed myself to an entrepreneurial project.

At this point in my life, I’ve had the benefit of receiving incredible training from one of the world’s leading retailers. Could I apply these new real-world skills in something else? In terms of money, I recognize that I won’t be earning as much as I did at my previous job, nor will I earn nearly as much as I could with a “normal” job. However, unlike any job I’ve held, there is no cap to my earning potential. What if I made millions???? Highly unlikely… but possible…?

There’s only one way to find out. Leap of faith #2 – here we go…