It’s been a month of glorious changes here at GetBullish.
First, Jenny Palkowitsh joined us as Bullish’s first full-time employee. We had already been bursting at the seams in our old location – like, we could not walk because there were boxes of merchandise we did not have room to unpack – so I went looking for an affordable office/warehouse space here in Brooklyn.
I also needed it to be convenient to my neighborhood, because I’d be toting a three-month-old baby to work. (Incidentally, the cost of daycare for an infant and the cost of renting a 750 square foot office/warehouse in Brooklyn are basically the same.)
I found this space at Industry City!
March 1st, right after I got the keys. I sat here for awhile, waiting for a furniture delivery. Items began arriving, but not anything to sit on. Instead I opened up boxes that contained a landline phone, a tiny copper trash can … you get the idea.
This looks luxurious, but not if you sit on it for five hours while waiting for World Market to arrive. Being an entrepreneur is often an unexpectedly physical experience.
I realized when I needed to buy business insurance that I have $70K in merchandise on hand. That’s a fucking lot of Motherfucking Girl Power socks (etc.)
We started forming a warehouse area.
A storage wall separating office/nursery from warehouse.
There was awhile that we had only this standing-height work table and a single stool. We took turns sitting.
Beginnings of the nursery.
The phone is by Wild and Wolf. The mugs are from our shop.
CEOing.
Look at us not throwing a thousand tiny Keurig pods into the landfill. Drip drip drip.
At the Industry City photo booth with Phoebe. The first week of our office move, my mom came into town to help. Then she left, and I really am bringing a 3 month old baby to the office. The key to this, I’ve found, is to prepare for a decade before pregnancy so you can hire people to do revenue-generating work while you sometimes do revenue-generating work and sometimes breastfeed in front of the UPS man.
This worked for me and I’m happy to share strategies (see A Not Very Relatable Post About Taking Zero Maternity Leave and Doing All the Things and Everything Working Out Just Fine) but this is obviously not a sustainable plan for millions of working parents and I support a variety of publicly-funded Scandinavian-style solutions.
Quick video!
Not all babies would adapt well to an office. This one is a bunch of chubby girlboss magic.
You get the idea.
Aerial view. We sometimes have up to 4 people (not counting the baby) working here.
Tiny video.
The nursery has a rug! Boss Lady nameplate from the shop.
Classy as fuck over here. Seriously, I bring my baby to work, #AMA.
LOOK HOW CHUBBY. Our profit margin, I mean. Our profit margin is chubby? Like baby thighs? Look, it makes as much sense as most sports metaphors.
Yay, a warehouse!
Trophies and books in our warehouse.
Welcome to GetBullish!