dont fiddle with it you'll break it

[purpledragon]

So there i was with an hour to spare and it occured to me that theres no paypal button on my web site www.mybiggerpicture.com this didnt seem right so i thought to myself how hard can it be !!!
now at this point its worth mentioning that i have norton antivirus that does like pre filling password boxes at random
so whilst sifting through the settings of my all singing all dancing very very expensive website and i come accross a range of options one of which said paypal .
Ah haa i thought to my self thats the kiddie i'll click that after all what can go wrong !!!!
so half an hour later i get a phone call from one of the shops i supply " oh dear you cant use your credit card you say, just a blank screen you say hmmm i'll look into it"
couldnt see any problem and assumed it was down to the ineptness of the shop worker well that was for 5 minutes until i recived another call from another shop with the same problem and another then another
aaaaagggghhhhh i broke it bloody noton had rest one of the passwords somewhere god knows where i had to contact the guys who look after my site . that one click of the paypal button to add to my site cost me £65 to put right .
Moral of the story is dont fiddle with it you'll break it (but if you do fiddle switch the auto fill off in norton first)

[Dave271069]

hi mate
how are you finding the website? are you getting much new customers to it, whats it like compared to the shop?
i ask because i was looking at a shop recently and it is something im considering but was wondering on how much business it can bring compared to just a website etc.
might have to come up again soon for a drive and a cuppa to see how your getting on..
Dave

[purpledragon]

Hi Dave
i have 2 websites one for purple dragon and one for my biggerpicture though i think i'll be merging them pretty soon. mybiggerpicture gets a lot of business but then i do supply a lot of b2b and they use the website to order throughso i suppose it would be busy. the purple dragon web site holds its own im not gonna take over the world with it but its not making a loss so i suppose thats a good thing the physical shop is something differnt alltogether. we have just had our best xmas in the shop since opening 3 years ago but if im honest its not as busy as id like as they say on tv location location location and my problem is the location isnt the best. id love to move further into town but the rates are crippling so im unsure what to do for the best and as you have seen when you were last up i need a lot of space . if i were you dave id stick to the web sites for now, theres very low overheads working from home i reckon my shop probably costs around £1500-£2000 a month to run thats a lot of mugs to print !!!
you're always welcome for a cuppa dave

[Dave271069]

I viewed a shop this week, rent £500 pm and no rates, it's in a busy high street with lots of bouquets gift shops etc, no printing shops but there is a photographer and a ballon shop oppersite.
it was just a thought at the moment,

[purpledragon]

no rates ??? do you mean rates are included in the rent . I know that the wag are keeping small business rate relief going this year but thats soley dependant on location and shop value . if the shop is £500 pm incling rates id say thats cheap esp if its in a busy high street . rates in a shop i was looking at in our town centre would be somewhere in region of 1-2 grand a month

[Dave271069]

Rent is £500 and because its known as a council redevelopment area they have stopped rates for the next couple of years, but if they do start up they are only £1200-£1500 per year. shop front is similar size to your rear of shop, and the storage space is similar to your front of shop, (if you know what i mean)
im at the stage of trying to convince mrs that its something which will bring in extra income, i am the devil on my right shoulder she is the angel on the left, (got her head screwed on) if it was up to me i would be in there today....

[James990]

I think it is about time that some of these councils wise up and realise that most start up concerns cannot pay some of the stupid rates etc from day one and that they should have a period where they either don't have to pay anything or very little.

[purpledragon]

well theres the problem james councils still get rates from empty buildings so wheres the incentive to give lower rates

[pisquee]

There were some shops in our town going for silly low rents in the few months upto Christmas, one we had our eye on, that worked out at £60-£70 a week and no rates to pay. Our cash flow was fully allocated though, so couldn't stretch to it, and there is now a dog groomers in there, who apparently got local development funding to rent it - an option we hadn't had time to investigate!

[James990]

Yep, that is the problem. The main problem is that all they can see is money, money, money, they don't give a fig for the fact that if they were to give an incentive, like lower rates/no rates to start with, let the business get established and then introduce rates that they will get better returns.

Yes I know that there will be thouse who will milk the system, open the shop for the rate free period and then close it! Dell did that in Scotland, I think it was. They were offered a big incentive to locate there, given lots of funding, no rates etc, and as soon as that period was over basically said, up yours and moved!