How we managed major renovations and had an opening party all in less than a month!
Wow, we are finally finished!
Rochelle & I have so much to be grateful for! We've decided to outline them here, hoping that these tips will help you when you're doing any party/event, renovation, or any other kind of project:
1) CALL FOR HELP
My sister and I are the type of people who can do almost anything(that doesn't mean we'll enjoy it), given enough time and training. We've learned however, that there are only 24 hours in a day, and not all 24 are even productive because unfortunately we also need sleep (believe me we tried to see if we could get away without sleep). We're thankful that those we called upon were able to help!
2) LEAN ON FRIENDS & FAMILY
Now, this doesn't mean that you need to ask them to do everything for you ... we wouldn't feel right about that! But definitely talk to them. Find out who and what they know. You never know what connections you can use.
3) BE CREATIVE
It's hard to be creative when you're stressed out, but sometimes the friends and family in #2 above are great for that. We checked out craigslist to hire contractors and to get rid of junk that we didn't want taking up all of our space. When time ran out, we found creative ways to decorate that could only be inspired by sleep deprivation -- and yet it worked!
4) BE WILLING TO LET GO & TO TAKE ADVICE
We were surprisingly happy to relinquish control to any of our volunteers who were helping us paint, decorate, merchandise, etc. Keep in mind that if you don't like something someone else has done, it can pretty much be easily changed later on (hopefully when you're less stressed). Taking advice from other experts is also great - when we were shopping for flooring, we knew we wanted hardwood flooring so that we could resand it and restain it in future ... untill one of the sales staff pointed out that in a small business, closing down for a week to refinish flooring could be a huge deal, and might be unlikely. Needless to say we decided to go with the more practical but still lovely laminate instead!
5) BE FIRM ON WHAT YOU NEED
Some things aren't so easily changed. Take the time to do your research, know what is easily changed, what you want and what you may decide you want in future. We knew we weren't going to want to call in contractors while we were opening, so we wanted all the outlets and lighting in place, so that we could change our minds in future without any hassles. When our contractor didn't initially do what we wanted, we pushed back and found ways to be creative with our timelines so that everything would be done to our liking & on-time.
6) TIME + QUALITY + ON BUDGET = DIFFICULT
When we signed our lease, we had a goal of being open in 3 weeks - that included lighting, flooring, painting, plumbing and partial basement finishing. If that sounds incredible - it was, and yet we basically did it. Good contractors are rarely sitting around waiting for you to call them, and so be prepared to either spend more for a company that has a few staff that they're willing to throw your way, or be willing to wait. Referrals are great most of the time, and sometimes you're just lucky, but there are other times when you have to wonder...
7) HAVE A PLAN/DO YOUR RESEARCH
We decided that although we'd consult with designers, we'd do the actual plan ourselves. Although we both love design and can design a party/event and easily decorate a room, we've never done up blueprints or anything! I don't know what people did without the Internet!!! We did some research on retail lighting, and came up with a plan that I think gives us some flexibility to change our design in future. This was great, because although the contractors could give us some insight, they also needed something to work with! We happened to find a cool program that could help us layout the room, and when we had meetings with the contractors, we could easily tell them what we needed.
8) FIND SOME TIME TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
We don't really have a lot to say here, because we didn't take care of ourselves as much as we would have liked! We do know it's important, and look forward to taking care of ourselves one day! On the day of our opening party, we had plans of doing our nails, hair, and makeup ... well, that didn't happen! Next time, we'll not combine a big party with major renos ...
9) PLAN FOR THE WORST AND HOPE FOR THE BEST
Always have a buffer plan. Ours was that an extra 24-hours would fall out of the sky. We were lucky to find one extra hour when daylight savings time occured, but then somehow we lost it, probably because of sleep. When our buffer-plan didn't work out, we had an additional contingency plan of working up to the last minute with most details in place, and that's what we ran with.
10) KNOW WHAT YOU'RE WILLING TO DROP
On the day of our opening party, we had soooo much to do. It didn't take us long to realise that we couldn't do it all. We had to look at the big picture, and realise that our floor moulding in the basement, door trim, hanging some of our products from the ceiling, putting up artwork/photography were not going to happen, and so we just had to let them go, and figure out mandatory things that had to be done. We rented a few fixtures when we realised we wouldn't have time to buy, and did the best with what we had time for.
11) NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK
We were lucky enough to be featured in a magazine (BizBash) early in our career, and through it met a few people who were able to help us at our opening party. Charysse, an amazing PR-firm owner (pdaPR.com), and Sher, a very talented chef (shers.ca), were just two of the people we met through the article. We met Tabitha (enjoynotcooking.com) through our real-estate agent, and her food was awesome at our party. Janette we met at a home show, and she brought her TV producer and they plan to feature us on their show.
It helps to be nice to everyone, regardless of whether you think they can help you or not. These and many other people were instrumental in helping us get the store ready for opening, prep for our party, and putting smiles on our faces in the past few weeks. Thank you!!!
Rochelle & I have so much to be grateful for! We've decided to outline them here, hoping that these tips will help you when you're doing any party/event, renovation, or any other kind of project:
1) CALL FOR HELP
My sister and I are the type of people who can do almost anything(that doesn't mean we'll enjoy it), given enough time and training. We've learned however, that there are only 24 hours in a day, and not all 24 are even productive because unfortunately we also need sleep (believe me we tried to see if we could get away without sleep). We're thankful that those we called upon were able to help!
2) LEAN ON FRIENDS & FAMILY
Now, this doesn't mean that you need to ask them to do everything for you ... we wouldn't feel right about that! But definitely talk to them. Find out who and what they know. You never know what connections you can use.
3) BE CREATIVE
It's hard to be creative when you're stressed out, but sometimes the friends and family in #2 above are great for that. We checked out craigslist to hire contractors and to get rid of junk that we didn't want taking up all of our space. When time ran out, we found creative ways to decorate that could only be inspired by sleep deprivation -- and yet it worked!
4) BE WILLING TO LET GO & TO TAKE ADVICE
We were surprisingly happy to relinquish control to any of our volunteers who were helping us paint, decorate, merchandise, etc. Keep in mind that if you don't like something someone else has done, it can pretty much be easily changed later on (hopefully when you're less stressed). Taking advice from other experts is also great - when we were shopping for flooring, we knew we wanted hardwood flooring so that we could resand it and restain it in future ... untill one of the sales staff pointed out that in a small business, closing down for a week to refinish flooring could be a huge deal, and might be unlikely. Needless to say we decided to go with the more practical but still lovely laminate instead!
5) BE FIRM ON WHAT YOU NEED
Some things aren't so easily changed. Take the time to do your research, know what is easily changed, what you want and what you may decide you want in future. We knew we weren't going to want to call in contractors while we were opening, so we wanted all the outlets and lighting in place, so that we could change our minds in future without any hassles. When our contractor didn't initially do what we wanted, we pushed back and found ways to be creative with our timelines so that everything would be done to our liking & on-time.
6) TIME + QUALITY + ON BUDGET = DIFFICULT
When we signed our lease, we had a goal of being open in 3 weeks - that included lighting, flooring, painting, plumbing and partial basement finishing. If that sounds incredible - it was, and yet we basically did it. Good contractors are rarely sitting around waiting for you to call them, and so be prepared to either spend more for a company that has a few staff that they're willing to throw your way, or be willing to wait. Referrals are great most of the time, and sometimes you're just lucky, but there are other times when you have to wonder...
7) HAVE A PLAN/DO YOUR RESEARCH
We decided that although we'd consult with designers, we'd do the actual plan ourselves. Although we both love design and can design a party/event and easily decorate a room, we've never done up blueprints or anything! I don't know what people did without the Internet!!! We did some research on retail lighting, and came up with a plan that I think gives us some flexibility to change our design in future. This was great, because although the contractors could give us some insight, they also needed something to work with! We happened to find a cool program that could help us layout the room, and when we had meetings with the contractors, we could easily tell them what we needed.
8) FIND SOME TIME TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
We don't really have a lot to say here, because we didn't take care of ourselves as much as we would have liked! We do know it's important, and look forward to taking care of ourselves one day! On the day of our opening party, we had plans of doing our nails, hair, and makeup ... well, that didn't happen! Next time, we'll not combine a big party with major renos ...
9) PLAN FOR THE WORST AND HOPE FOR THE BEST
Always have a buffer plan. Ours was that an extra 24-hours would fall out of the sky. We were lucky to find one extra hour when daylight savings time occured, but then somehow we lost it, probably because of sleep. When our buffer-plan didn't work out, we had an additional contingency plan of working up to the last minute with most details in place, and that's what we ran with.
10) KNOW WHAT YOU'RE WILLING TO DROP
On the day of our opening party, we had soooo much to do. It didn't take us long to realise that we couldn't do it all. We had to look at the big picture, and realise that our floor moulding in the basement, door trim, hanging some of our products from the ceiling, putting up artwork/photography were not going to happen, and so we just had to let them go, and figure out mandatory things that had to be done. We rented a few fixtures when we realised we wouldn't have time to buy, and did the best with what we had time for.
11) NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK
We were lucky enough to be featured in a magazine (BizBash) early in our career, and through it met a few people who were able to help us at our opening party. Charysse, an amazing PR-firm owner (pdaPR.com), and Sher, a very talented chef (shers.ca), were just two of the people we met through the article. We met Tabitha (enjoynotcooking.com) through our real-estate agent, and her food was awesome at our party. Janette we met at a home show, and she brought her TV producer and they plan to feature us on their show.
It helps to be nice to everyone, regardless of whether you think they can help you or not. These and many other people were instrumental in helping us get the store ready for opening, prep for our party, and putting smiles on our faces in the past few weeks. Thank you!!!
Labels: opening party, party planning, projects, store opening, thank you, volunteers
posted by Cry If I Want To at
5:59 PM
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