Things I would do differently if I were starting over

[Gregory K. Norris CPF]

We have our share of natural disasters here in WV. Recently I had a conversation with another small business owner about having a disaster plan for our businesses. One of the questions that came up was: What would you do differently and you had to start over from the ground up?

One of the first things that came to my mind was that I would hold out for 60" inch wallcutters and mat cutters. It seems I am frequently struggling these days to manage oversize materials.

Another is that I would not wait so long to buy a saw.

Anybody else have some suggestions?

We had a recent scare here so I am seriously working on a written disaster plan.

 

[Jim Miller MCPF GCF]

Initially setting up a frame shop is often a matter of money more than preference. We upgrade, modify, and add equipment as we go, improving the shop over time. I'm still doing that after 25 years. A few years ago I bought a Valiani CMC with all the toys, and just two years ago I got a Fletcher FSC wall-mounted/free-standing cutter. Right now I'm looking for a new stapler to replace the old one that recently stopped working, and I guess it will soon be time for a new compressor.

Having said that, I probably wouldn't do anything differently if I were starting over. I would still establish a list of priorities in tools & equipment, and spend as far down that list as possible. The priorities would be different now, however. The pneumatic underpinner, CMC, POS software, and a good saw would top the list today. Ironically, not one of those items was on my priority list in 1988. I started out with a chopper and a pair of Stanley vices to join frames wit brads, and nobody had computers back then. Times certainly have changed.

 

[Kai Vanuffelen]

My father bought a pictureframing shop in Palmerston North in 1986 and it had a crude POS computer inside an upright wooden cabinet. It had a small monitor at the top which gave a greenish white picture.
The printer handed out perforated paper at the side, that we could tear off. It made this screeching noise while printing.
Conservation glass came on the market soon after that. Things started to change in the pictureframing community around that time with more communication and literature available.