Evolution of an Office Space
We moved Kinoli’s offices from our house to an actual office space in an office building on Friday. Luke mentioned that he thought it would be interesting to take a journey back through all our previous office spaces. It’s been quite the evolution from 5 years ago when we started Kinoli.
2005:
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We started Kinoli in Florida a couple months before we got married. The office space we had was literally 30 sq. ft. in a corner of Luke’s apartment. Just enough space for a little computer desk, a small bookshelf and a whiteboard.
2006:
We bought our first house within our first year of marriage and set aside one spare room as our office. We literally worked side by side in this room for almost 2 years. This room had just enough space for our desks and we stashed a bookshelf in the closet.
2008:
We moved to Colorado and let most of our clients go to focus on our own websites. We rented a house for nine months and set up our office in the loft. We hired our first employee and at times had four people working out of the loft. (Excuse the mess in the picture, it was the best picture I could fine.)
2009:
Our house was finally built and we temporarily used the front living room as an office. That was tough because the space was completely open to the rest of the house and Izzy was constantly in the office. Five people worked out of this office and my office space moved into a nook into the kitchen.
A few months later, we divided our three car garage and sectioned off the back portion as a home office with a side access door and a door to the house. This space was 225 sq. ft. and had up to seven people working out of this space at one time. It was literally a sweat shop with all the computers going plus the body heat.
2010:
Once we maxed out our home office it was time to look for a real office space. Here it is! We were able to purchase an new unfinished space and plan the layout and decor of it. It’s approximately 1,400 sq. ft., a HUGE improvement from our home office and probably the same size as our first home in Florida. Currently there are seven people working from this office, with another employee joining us in May. My office space is still in the kitchen since I’m primarily home with Izzy but there is a desk for me at the office when I feel the need to go work in an office.
When we planned out the desk arrangement we figured that we could fit a max of 16 people into this office space. That hopefully gives us plenty of time to grow without needing more space.
Office Progress
Our office space is in it’s final week of construction. Move in date is tentatively scheduled for next Friday. Hopefully construction will keep on schedule so that we can move on that day! Here are some pictures of what it’s looking like.
Spring Break
This week is Spring Break at Izzy’s “school”. She usually goes to the Mother’s Day Out program on Tuesday and Thursday mornings but this week she’s home with me. Since it’s Spring Break for all the schools, our regular babysitters are also not available. So, I dedicated this week to Big Sister Boot Camp for Izzy. On the agenda this week are just two things: Potty Training 101 and Eat Whatever Is Placed In Front Of You 101.
Potty Training is still a work in progress, but at least now she’s peeing for me when I put her on the potty. She still has accidents during the day, but I’m hopeful that she’ll pick it up quicker if I’m consistent. I’m still finding that leaving home while potty training is difficult and she gets stage fright, but again, hopefully consistency and patience will pay off.
Eat Whatever Is Placed In Front Of You has been filled with tears and screams, but she’s getting the hang of it. The first day she screamed for a half hour before she started eating what was on her plate, but now the screaming and tears is down to 5 or 10 minutes. Progress! We’ve cut down on her milk intake and told her that she has to learn to eat “real” food which she does eat eventually and reluctantly.
Today was a nice day so we spent the morning at a farm/petting zoo. Spring is around the corner so most of the animals are pregnant. I look forward to going back and seeing all the new baby animals.
Our basement finish is coming along slowly. I think once drywall has been hung things will progress a little faster. The office finish is coming along quicker than expected, which is great! Hopefully that space will be done in a month and everyone can move out of our tiny home office. Below are pictures of the basement.
Happy Birthday Luke
Today marks Luke’s 33rd year in the world. Luke and I celebrated his birthday and Valentines day early this year by going to a Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets basketball game earlier this month. He was cheering his fellow Canadian, Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns. Today however, we had a traditional Dairy Queen ice cream cake to celebrate his real birthday.
Today, work began on our basement. There will be two bedrooms, one bathroom, a storage room and a media/rec room. We moved all of our stuff from the basement into the marked storage room in the basement and half of the stuff is now sitting in my front living room.
The nursery is currently in the middle of a makeover to become baby number 2’s room. My mom made some new crib bedding, I had a crash course in sewing by making new curtains, a blanket and pillowcase for the nursery as well. This weekend my rocker got a new paint job and a new dresser for the nursery will be delivered on Friday along with all the furniture for Izzy’s big girl room. Pictures of both rooms to come later.
I found some pictures of the office space we are purchasing on my camera today. Here’s a sneak peek at the unfinished space. After we close on March 1 our contractor will be working around the clock to finish the space off within 5 weeks. Meanwhile we’re collecting office furniture which is now sitting in my formal dining room.
So yes, things are a little crazy here right now. I realize I have not posted many belly pictures this pregnancy. Now I’m getting to the point where pictures just aren’t appealing to me. Maybe one of these days when I feel a little cuter I’ll take another belly picture.
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- BBall Game
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- BDay Cake
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- Blow!
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- Basement
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- Basement Room
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- Storage
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- Office
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- Office
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- Office
Whoosh…
“Whoosh” is how I feel the year is passing by. It’s looking like another busy year with lots to do and many changes happening. Izzy just has her two year check up. She’s 33 inches tall (80 percentile) and 25 pounds (40 percentile). Overall, she’s growing up a tall, lean, healthy girl!
Her personality comes out more everyday. We’ve now realized that Izzy’s kind of an introvert around big groups of kids and kids she doesn’t know. At “school” she feels most comfortable hanging out by herself and observing the other kids. If there are only one or two other kids, she’ll start to play with them after a time of observation. At home, it’s a completely different story. She has to be wherever mama or dada are and one of us has to be watching her play or playing with her. That makes it a little difficult to get anything done around the house during the week, but I enjoy hanging out with her.
I am now almost 6 months into my pregnancy and really starting to POP. Our little girl is moving and kicking all night long and jumping on my bladder. That makes it hard to get a full night’s rest. I’m also still trying to get over a cough and congestion that has lingered on for weeks. I’ll be glad when my immune system picks up again and I can feel completely healthy again.
We’re working on transforming our upstairs guest room into Izzy’s big girl room. Paint is on the wall, towels and rugs are in the bathroom, now we’re just waiting on furniture to come in and hopefully it will come together quickly. We also plan on finishing off our basement soon so that construction will be complete before our baby girl comes.
This month we’re also finalizing a contract and construction order for our new office space we are purchasing. Seven people in a 225 square foot home office was getting a little crowded. Our new space is close to 1400 square feet and a huge improvement from our home office. Unfortunately with the move of our office it means Izzy and I won’t be seeing Luke as often during the day, but overall it will be a good move.
Michelle finally sent me copies of her pictures she took while we were in California in September. Here are some of my favorites.
Annoyed
Before Izzy arrived I was a project manager dealing with all things web. I loved what I did. I built relationships with our clients, created estimates, scheduled projects, built budgets, wrote specification documents, managed a specific project process and handled any issues that would come up during the project. We realized that great customer service was the key to keeping our customers. So during every project we tried our best to find solutions to any issue that presented itself, to make our clients happy, to keep the project budget under control and to keep the project on schedule or faster.
I am annoyed because a lot of companies don’t realize that great customer service is the key for happy clients. Because I was a project manager, I’m probably one of the worst people to work for because I keep record of everything that I request and any agreements that are made. I also expect the level of customer service that I gave to my clients. If I present an issue that was overlooked on their part, I expect that company to find a solution…period.
I’m annoyed because I hate a project that seems disorganized and lacks process and approvals. All of this annoyance is making me want to just take over and do things my way. But I’ll control my urge and try my best to be an understanding client. ARGH!!!!
New Projects
Luke’s been up to so many things these days it’s hard to keep up. He also has too many ideas rattling around in that brain of his that I think he’s having a hard time getting them done!
Here’s what he’s been up to:
Luke and his brother Jesse created an iPhone application that is now selling on the iTunes store. It’s called Coupon Sherpa and is an application which allows you to view coupons for various retail stores on your phone to show to the cashier at check out. Depending on the retailer, they will scan the barcode off your phone, or type in a coupon code.
He also just launched a new blog on FreeShipping.org called Go Frugal. Luke also keeps up with FreeShipping.org, with the help of one employee and one contractor who work from our loft.
There are several other projects and ideas percolating which hopefully he’ll find the time and manpower for.
Teeth, Choices, Free Shipping and Fall
Isabelle is teething her top two teeth right now. What does that mean? It means, few to no naps, a little more cranky and not wanting to eat as much. Doesn’t that sound fun?! Okay, I’ll admit, I have it pretty easy compared to some other moms I’ve talked to. Isabelle just won’t let me see how those teeth are coming in.
In home news, we’re in the process of picking out everything for our house. Last weekend was appliances, this weekend it’s lighting and hard surfaces, weekend after that probably cabinets. Whew…I didn’t realize there was going to be so many choices!
Business wise, Luke just hired his first employee for FreeShipping.org. I’m so glad he has help now because he doesn’t have to spend as many nights and weekends at his computer. The website has gotten some pretty good TV coverage lately. Stations across the US have been picking up on the website and featuring it on their news hour.
It’s fall in Colorado, so the temperature is cooling off and leaves are changing color. I love fall. I’ve missed fall. I’m going to take it all in! I’m also looking forward to winter. I’ve missed my winter jacket, scarves, hats, sweaters and boots.
Working Hard
Most of you know that Luke and I own and operate Kinoli (USA) and deal with all things web related. Luke’s the creative genius and I’m the project manager. At the end of last year, Luke decided to create a website called FreeShipping.org that lists only online free shipping offers. For the past 5 months, it seems like I’ve heard the words “free shipping” at least 20 times a day. It may get old after awhile, but I’m proud of Luke for making the site work. He’s recently received quite a bit of online buzz resulting in an enormous growth in website traffic.
I am currently working on launching a site called Best Baby Stuff, which is a site dedicated to product reviews on the best baby products I’ve found. It’s slowly coming together since Luke and I have to work on it at night or weekends.
We’ve been keeping busy with our Kinoli clients during the day. Some days we feel like we’re too busy, but work is good. I’m finding it a little more challenging to balance taking care of Izzy, all the normal housework and cleaning on top of working and running the business when we are really busy. However, I’m very grateful that Luke is around all day to lend a helping hand if needed. I don’t know how I could do it without him!
Hi Ho, it’s off to work I go…
Today is my official first day back on the job. However, I’m going to have to see how it goes and how much work I’m actually able to get done. I’ve been trying to get Isabelle on a schedule so that I have blocks of time to work. She did really well on a schedule two weeks ago, then last week she decided that she no longer wanted to take an afternoon nap…which was planned as my time to sit down and work. It’ll also be interesting because I have to “wear” Izzy during the day, which makes it hard to take phone calls, because at any second she could burst into tears. (That actually happened on Friday when I was on the phone and I had to hang up on the person!)
I am learning how to really multi-task. I have my computer set up in the nursery so that I can check email while I’m feeding or rocking Izzy, and just yesterday I was wearing Izzy, cooking dinner, watching TV and talking on the phone at the same time =)