A Store to Call God's Own
A lot has happened in our lives the past few weeks. My inattentiveness to this blog is the by-product of a very hurried and harried life and it looks like it won’t change for a while.
As you may have read back a ways, I was struggling to make ends meet with just the income from my own sewing machine repair shop in our basement. This was due in a large part to the large fee I had to pay to my former employer for them allowing people to drop-off and pick up machines in their store. Just before I took my son to Thailand for his eye surgery, I had started a part time job with another sewing store in town. When I returned from the three weeks, my new boss told me that she was selling the store. She also stated that the new owner did not want to handle the Janome Sewing Machines and was going to have just a fabric and patterns, quilt store. Did I want to buy the dealership with all stock?
This was a huge question for me. I had wanted to do something like this in the future say, three or four years, but is now the time? We explored several options which included me just managing the line for someone else, and the possibility of opening a store in Bemidji.
What has happened in the last two weeks is something I never want to forget. After much talk with my father, and hearing his caution over this opportune time to allow pride to rear it’s ugly head in a fresh way, he encouraged me to slowly pursue this opportunity. The big difference with this was that the owner was willing to do contract for deed, and was not making me make a lump sum payment. That Saturday, Aimee and I went into town to look at properties and found one that would work however the rent was right at the MAX of what we could afford. We felt led to pray about it and take the weekend to think about it. That afternoon, as we were sitting in the living room, I was ticking off all the things we would need to have to open the store, ie; vacuum, credit card terminal, cash drawer, lumber for workbench, ect. Aimee suggested that we pray to ask God for His hand in providing these things for us. Now I am so much a hands on guy that to simply sit back and wait for God to provide something that Discover Card could right now, difficult for me. But I knew how easy it was for me barge ahead of God and run smack into a closed door, so I agreed and remember thinking that this was a time to stand back and allow the Lord to open the doors first before pounding on them.
As we were praying, I felt the prompting to talk to my neighbor who has a construction company, to see if he had any scraps of lumber around that I could use for building my bench. After we finished, I went over and talked to him and he very willingly gave me enough to build my bench!
Now in all my years in the vacuum store, no one has ever given me a vacuum. (except my boss for a wedding present) The next afternoon a young lady from our church calls up and wondered if I want a Dirt Devil vacuum. It was given them by a lady they clean for and they had no use for it and thought of me. Hallelujah!!!
On Monday I went into the store to work and my boss asked me if I wanted to purchase their till, and or credit card terminal. She would even be willing to add the amount on to the Contract for deed price!! WOW!!
Now, what about a place? Over the weekend, Aimee and I felt that maybe we should look around a bit more to make sure that this was the right place for us. So that morning I had found a space that was coming up for vacancy and might fit our needs and budget. The owner said that he needed to think about it and would get back to us the end of the week. We waited all week and on Friday he called to say that no, he couldn’t fit it into our budget. So what do we do. We climbed back into the van and headed for town. Now Aimee was hoping for something that had a reddish carpet in it but was not demanding it. She also had not seen the inside of the first place we had inquired about. After we had expanded all other possibilities, we went back to our very first option. It had reddish carpet, two rooms so that Aimee could spend some time with me, and enough space for years to come. Only two hang ups. One was the $900 rent a month, and two, we would have to sign a three year lease.
After praying about it, we felt that God wanted us to tell the owner we would take it. He was glad and said that he would try to get the lease papers drawn up over the weekend and we could sign Monday. Well Monday rolled around and I showed up at his place of business about the time they opened and he stated that he had not had time to draw up the lease and that his wife would try to get it done before noon. At 11:30 he called to say that it was ready. I was meeting Keith at the store for lunch to show him around and figured I would sign the lease on the way down. However, God had me get busy and when I next looked at my watch, it was noon. I had to rush right down to the shop to meet Keith in time and since the carpet cleaners were coming, the doors were unlocked and we strolled around and talked for awhile. When we left I almost turned right to go sign the lease but I figured I could do that on the way back from downtown where I had to drop some sewing machines off at my old employers place. (almost 80% of my sewing machine repairs were coming from them, a major source of funds in my business plan!) When I talked to my former boss, I asked her if she was willing to refer people to me for a small dollar amount per customer. She stated that she was not sure, she just might start up her own repair shop again and hire a sewing machine technician to do all the machines!
I felt blown out of the water. She had stated over the previous months that she was tired of the sewing machines and was probably going to get rid of them completely, now this! I went back to the landlord and explained that almost half the income that I was expecting to take in was all of a sudden up for grabs. He understood and said that I could think on it for a few more days. I had come SO CLOSE to signing a contract that I would likely not have been able to keep!
I struggled with attitudes that afternoon. But thru it all, I felt that “God, you have led so distinctly over the last few months and strengthened my faith as I saw you move the ‘un-movables,’ I can’t wait to see what your going to do here.” I was facing the pressure of a deadline for changing my $500 ad in the yellow pages for the next year, the store that sold the sewing machines was changing hands within 7 days, yet I felt such a peace that God was in control. Oh the peace that that knowledge brings in the midst of the storm! I went home and slept soundly that night!
(Wow this is getting loooong!)
Tuesday afternoon, I saw an ad for some office space in a good part of town. I called them and it sounded promising and Daddy and I jumped in the van to go take a look. It would have worked for us but the landlord was not so sure. He did refer us to a friend that had some space and might fit our needs. We drove down to it and thought it had a lot of promise. It had plenty of parking, right on the main road with over 11,000 cars going past each day, with a sign out front, and two entrances. The owner lived 45 miles away and was not coming in till Thursday, would we like to see it then? We readily agreed and yesterday I met with him. It has two tenants in it now and thus the options were either two small rooms upstairs, or one big room in the basement. I was not keen on having all the ladies carrying their machines down the stairs, so I asked what he wanted for rent for the two small rooms. (less than 200 square feet :-) The price he said was less than half what we would have been paying at the other place!! We would only need to sign a one year lease, and we can move in this weekend. I said we would take it. It is tiny, yet there will be room to grow since the other tenants are only there month-by-month and may move out at any time and with the lower rent, we will be able to pay of the former owner much faster than before.
On Tuesday, the owner of the store I was buying, said that I could use her mailing list of all the sewers in the area and send them a notice of were I was at. Her list was over 800 long. I had been keeping a data base of my own customers so I had about 200 more. I made up a flyer and photocopied 1000 pages, bought envelopes and stamps, and this past afternoon and evening, my family help stuff, stamp, and label over 900 envelopes.
I am just awestruck at God’s leading and it is going to be fun to watch what He does in the future. Please pray for me though. I find that it is so easy to push God aside when we become to busy and I DON”T want to do that. Especially after we have become so close again through this time of testing.
Add to all this, the baby can come at any day! (just not Monday, please?) :-)
As you may have read back a ways, I was struggling to make ends meet with just the income from my own sewing machine repair shop in our basement. This was due in a large part to the large fee I had to pay to my former employer for them allowing people to drop-off and pick up machines in their store. Just before I took my son to Thailand for his eye surgery, I had started a part time job with another sewing store in town. When I returned from the three weeks, my new boss told me that she was selling the store. She also stated that the new owner did not want to handle the Janome Sewing Machines and was going to have just a fabric and patterns, quilt store. Did I want to buy the dealership with all stock?
This was a huge question for me. I had wanted to do something like this in the future say, three or four years, but is now the time? We explored several options which included me just managing the line for someone else, and the possibility of opening a store in Bemidji.
What has happened in the last two weeks is something I never want to forget. After much talk with my father, and hearing his caution over this opportune time to allow pride to rear it’s ugly head in a fresh way, he encouraged me to slowly pursue this opportunity. The big difference with this was that the owner was willing to do contract for deed, and was not making me make a lump sum payment. That Saturday, Aimee and I went into town to look at properties and found one that would work however the rent was right at the MAX of what we could afford. We felt led to pray about it and take the weekend to think about it. That afternoon, as we were sitting in the living room, I was ticking off all the things we would need to have to open the store, ie; vacuum, credit card terminal, cash drawer, lumber for workbench, ect. Aimee suggested that we pray to ask God for His hand in providing these things for us. Now I am so much a hands on guy that to simply sit back and wait for God to provide something that Discover Card could right now, difficult for me. But I knew how easy it was for me barge ahead of God and run smack into a closed door, so I agreed and remember thinking that this was a time to stand back and allow the Lord to open the doors first before pounding on them.
As we were praying, I felt the prompting to talk to my neighbor who has a construction company, to see if he had any scraps of lumber around that I could use for building my bench. After we finished, I went over and talked to him and he very willingly gave me enough to build my bench!
Now in all my years in the vacuum store, no one has ever given me a vacuum. (except my boss for a wedding present) The next afternoon a young lady from our church calls up and wondered if I want a Dirt Devil vacuum. It was given them by a lady they clean for and they had no use for it and thought of me. Hallelujah!!!
On Monday I went into the store to work and my boss asked me if I wanted to purchase their till, and or credit card terminal. She would even be willing to add the amount on to the Contract for deed price!! WOW!!
Now, what about a place? Over the weekend, Aimee and I felt that maybe we should look around a bit more to make sure that this was the right place for us. So that morning I had found a space that was coming up for vacancy and might fit our needs and budget. The owner said that he needed to think about it and would get back to us the end of the week. We waited all week and on Friday he called to say that no, he couldn’t fit it into our budget. So what do we do. We climbed back into the van and headed for town. Now Aimee was hoping for something that had a reddish carpet in it but was not demanding it. She also had not seen the inside of the first place we had inquired about. After we had expanded all other possibilities, we went back to our very first option. It had reddish carpet, two rooms so that Aimee could spend some time with me, and enough space for years to come. Only two hang ups. One was the $900 rent a month, and two, we would have to sign a three year lease.
After praying about it, we felt that God wanted us to tell the owner we would take it. He was glad and said that he would try to get the lease papers drawn up over the weekend and we could sign Monday. Well Monday rolled around and I showed up at his place of business about the time they opened and he stated that he had not had time to draw up the lease and that his wife would try to get it done before noon. At 11:30 he called to say that it was ready. I was meeting Keith at the store for lunch to show him around and figured I would sign the lease on the way down. However, God had me get busy and when I next looked at my watch, it was noon. I had to rush right down to the shop to meet Keith in time and since the carpet cleaners were coming, the doors were unlocked and we strolled around and talked for awhile. When we left I almost turned right to go sign the lease but I figured I could do that on the way back from downtown where I had to drop some sewing machines off at my old employers place. (almost 80% of my sewing machine repairs were coming from them, a major source of funds in my business plan!) When I talked to my former boss, I asked her if she was willing to refer people to me for a small dollar amount per customer. She stated that she was not sure, she just might start up her own repair shop again and hire a sewing machine technician to do all the machines!
I felt blown out of the water. She had stated over the previous months that she was tired of the sewing machines and was probably going to get rid of them completely, now this! I went back to the landlord and explained that almost half the income that I was expecting to take in was all of a sudden up for grabs. He understood and said that I could think on it for a few more days. I had come SO CLOSE to signing a contract that I would likely not have been able to keep!
I struggled with attitudes that afternoon. But thru it all, I felt that “God, you have led so distinctly over the last few months and strengthened my faith as I saw you move the ‘un-movables,’ I can’t wait to see what your going to do here.” I was facing the pressure of a deadline for changing my $500 ad in the yellow pages for the next year, the store that sold the sewing machines was changing hands within 7 days, yet I felt such a peace that God was in control. Oh the peace that that knowledge brings in the midst of the storm! I went home and slept soundly that night!
(Wow this is getting loooong!)
Tuesday afternoon, I saw an ad for some office space in a good part of town. I called them and it sounded promising and Daddy and I jumped in the van to go take a look. It would have worked for us but the landlord was not so sure. He did refer us to a friend that had some space and might fit our needs. We drove down to it and thought it had a lot of promise. It had plenty of parking, right on the main road with over 11,000 cars going past each day, with a sign out front, and two entrances. The owner lived 45 miles away and was not coming in till Thursday, would we like to see it then? We readily agreed and yesterday I met with him. It has two tenants in it now and thus the options were either two small rooms upstairs, or one big room in the basement. I was not keen on having all the ladies carrying their machines down the stairs, so I asked what he wanted for rent for the two small rooms. (less than 200 square feet :-) The price he said was less than half what we would have been paying at the other place!! We would only need to sign a one year lease, and we can move in this weekend. I said we would take it. It is tiny, yet there will be room to grow since the other tenants are only there month-by-month and may move out at any time and with the lower rent, we will be able to pay of the former owner much faster than before.
On Tuesday, the owner of the store I was buying, said that I could use her mailing list of all the sewers in the area and send them a notice of were I was at. Her list was over 800 long. I had been keeping a data base of my own customers so I had about 200 more. I made up a flyer and photocopied 1000 pages, bought envelopes and stamps, and this past afternoon and evening, my family help stuff, stamp, and label over 900 envelopes.
I am just awestruck at God’s leading and it is going to be fun to watch what He does in the future. Please pray for me though. I find that it is so easy to push God aside when we become to busy and I DON”T want to do that. Especially after we have become so close again through this time of testing.
Add to all this, the baby can come at any day! (just not Monday, please?) :-)
Comments
who's baby? your brother's or who!
have a great weekend and God bless
janice