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When to hire and get an office location

by wonderd
3 replies
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Hello everyone, this question is address to successful ecommerce business owners who have hired people and grown there business.

When should a eCom business owner start to hire people and get an office space.
#hire #location #office
  • Profile picture of the author NickSway
    If you're running an eCommerce business and don't have stock (you dropship), there's no need to get a physical location. Unless you get so big and are getting 1,000s of orders a day and simply can't process them all yourself. Even in that case, all you need to do is hire a VA (or multiple VAs) and you'll be good to go. Unless you have a unique circumstance, I don't see the need to have a physical location. PM me if you'd like to chat more.
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    • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
      Tough question.

      When I hired my first employee, I didn't have an office yet. I had a 2 car garage that I turned into a small warehouse. It worked for me at this time because I kept a low volume of inventory that rotated quickly.

      At the time I was making about $4,000 in profit a month, and knowing I would have to pay between $1400 and $1600 for assistance was pretty scary. Whenever I thought "Man, I really need some help" I would then talk myself out of hiring someone. I pushed it for a couple more months and realized that I was pretty much plateauing in sales and shipping and my customer service was starting to slack.

      I decided to hire a family member, and it didn't work out. Two months after that I hired my first employee, part time for $800/mo and my offer was that although I wasn't offering much that they could come and go as they please as long as them not being around didn't affect my business and as long as work got done. This person is still with me today. I have a pretty open scheduling policy that people in my area in the U.S. love because of other things they have going on and people not being here has never been an issue.

      After my first employee was hired is when I realized that I had a lot of room to grow. I could focus twice as much on sourcing and customer service and actually growing my business. I hated locating items and packaging them up and getting them ready to be mailed out. It was too time consuming. I feel this is one of the reasons why most eBay sellers who are legitimate businesses and function like a business don't grow.

      I got a warehouse when I hired my second person and couldn't effectively fit items in a 2 car garage anymore.
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      • Profile picture of the author wonderd
        I don't keep inventory but another reason I want a office location is to look like an official business. It may be easier to convince bigger brands to do business with me if they see I have an actual location with employees rather then tell them I work out of my house.
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