The above is the photograph of the area we handed back to the landlords and where this new packaging company is situated. A firewall has since been built for insurance purposes and this company is literally right next door. They already borrow our forklift every now and then so the relationship is there.
Around 3 years ago my business partner and myself placed our packaging business on hold basically mothballing the Johannesburg operation due to a lack of consistent supply of raw materials. I walked away from this on the grounds of not wanting to let any of our existing clients down which I think is more important as your name and reputation is all you have.
I mentioned a month or two ago that our new neighbor who took over the other part of the warehouse we gave up is a packaging business. I was not sure exactly what they sold and this morning I could not resist popping my head in and saying hello. They are a decent sized operation and being next door makes sense financially supplying them with a few lines. This was by no means planned and it is amazing how successful these types of unplanned pop ins are. I was pleasantly shocked on the volumes they consume and sell on so they would be an ideal starting client.
Packaging is a lucrative business and being the manufacturer it is fairly easy to gain new business and this deal will be done this week. I did not really want to restart this business until next year, but right now I could do with some extra cash to fund the business expenses. Being next door that does not involve any travel so basically hassle free and it is low hanging fruit that needs picking.
Six months ago I would never have even considered doing this because you can only juggle so many balls at once. It is always advisable to focus on one project at a time as the chances are you will end up getting no where. Good ideas are not necessarily bad ideas it is just the way you deal with them and to make them work takes full commitment or they quickly turn into a bad idea. I think this is why I accumulate one crypto at a time achieving the target set and only then moving on to the next. Funny how real life habits end up influencing what you do and in this case I think it is actually a good thing.
The packaging business is a proper cash cow that can generate big money very quickly and all you need is a handful of decent sized clients. Thankfully I am flying to Durban this weekend and will have a meeting with my packaging business partner. I need to know that the raw material short supplies are over completely before I commit to this again. From my understanding they are and our factory is steadily increasing production again. I am only involved in the Johannesburg side of things and do not want any more hands on involvement with the day to day running of the factory. Things have moved on and there is no time to go back to what we were previously.
This was the cash relied on that got me through Covid lockdowns and I know I can slowly claw back the clients that I reluctantly let go. Those bridges were never burned and more importantly they respected my decision at the time. It is never easy walking away from a business that you worked so hard to grow, but the intention was always there to get it kick started again.
The other clients I will leave on hold till next year because you never change suppliers going into the busy festive season.