There have been a lot of exciting changes and growth at Lifetime Creations. This blog post is the first of our "Business Growth Insider" series. Our hope is that by sharing our journey and experiences, you may be able to discover something useful to apply within your own business or organization.

During the 2016 holiday season, our busiest time of year, we quickly realized we needed more production and office space. Starting in January, we began our search for Lifetime Creations' new home.

Our space needs are somewhat unique. We have traditional offices, but also need a larger area for production which includes equipment (currently laser engraving and embroidery machines), fulfillment (packaging & shipping), and inventory - not to mention our growing team. We soon learned moving was not going to be as easy, or happen as fast, as we naively assumed.

By July, after an unsuccessful search, we made the decision to stay at our existing location in Lansing, IL and expand into adjoining space within our building. This will allow production to move into an area more than three times the size of its current space while giving our offices room to expand.

Planning this renovation has been challenging, but we love seeing it all come together and can't wait for it to be finished. More importantly, it's been a great learning experience. Here are a few things we would recommend if you're planning an office relocation or renovation in the future.

Make a decision based on what's in the best interest of both the company and your employees, and then move on.
By waiting to find the perfect office space, which didn't exist, we only delayed company investments, hiring, and improvements. We made sure to do our due diligence, but once we knew it was best to expand at our current location, we set things in motion as quickly as possible.

Things will never move as quickly as you want, so staying patient is key.
Whether it's getting estimates back from contractors, or project timelines being pushed back, always build in plenty of additional time to allow for delays and setbacks out of your control.

Prioritize.
We need our new warehouse/production area to be complete before we can expand our offices. As eager as we are to do everything at once, we have to prioritize in order to keep things moving smoothly.

Plan for 5 years from now.
As we continue to grow, we're keeping in mind that our needs in a few years will look different than today. And even though we're doing our best to predict what that will be, we know there's a chance we could be wrong.

Don't delay delegating.
Because we're a small business, and the fact that I like to think of ourselves as the next Chip and Joanna Gaines, Nick and I have often taken on DIY projects in the past. However, that's become less realistic as our projects have grown in scale and our focus needs to on the business itself. There are much more skilled people out there who are more efficient than we could ever be.

Set a budget, and then get creative.
Even as a growing business, working within a budget that's going to leave you room to be comfortable will help you get more sleep at night. 

With renovations still underway, please pardon our dust if you stop by in the near future. Pictures to come - stay tuned!