What happened to my Blogging!

In February, 2008, the date of my last post, my company was housed in the same 1500 square foot basement where we had been for the last 8 years. We were packed to the gills! Every day I was straddling inventory while answering phone calls and meanwhile tucking in my buttocks enough to let others squeeze by.

I knew where I wanted to move and what the building would look like. I knew the neighborhood, the price, the size, the architecture. But of course I was much too busy to actually look for this new space, plus forget about all the paperwork required to apply for a real estate loan. But a girl could dream. And I did, over and over, it was my daily refrain.

Then, one day completely out of the blue, two men knocked at our door. No one ever knocked at our door except the UPS driver and the Mail Carrier, so we opened it to these two angels with great suspicion. Apparently angels sometimes have a brokers licenses, because they took one look at my space, listened to my dream and handed me a flyer. "You need to buy THIS building". When I went to see it, I touched its concrete block walls and knew immediately I had found my new home.

Long story short, after months of negotiation, the price came down to a place where I could act, and we moved into our new warehouse on July 5th, 2008.

Since that time, it has been a whirlwind of growth at TKB Trading. All along I had thought I wanted more space so that I wouldn't have to tighten my buttocks. Turns out that was the least of my concerns, because with more space comes growth, with growth comes responsibility. More employees, more paperwork, more inventory, more stress.

Here we are almost a year later. Although my buttocks are a little less exercised, my "Risk Muscle" is greatly strengthened. I've gotten past of shock of the move, and I've gotten more comfortable with the current level of pressure and responsibility that my small business demands of me. One year later, I am relaxed enough to begin enjoying the creative aspects of my business, including regular blogging.

I'm happy to be here, and I look forward to sharing with you as 2009 unfolds. This is an exciting time to discover dreams, and we are so fortunate for every opportunity we have to do so.

Kaila Westerman
TKB Trading, LLC