Our landlord came in last week and told us that we had to move. He wants the space back for his moving and storage business. We had planned to move a long time ago, but plans sometimes don't work out. Now we have to scramble and locate a reasonably-priced place that suits our needs in a market that doesn't have much available. Another in the long list of reasons that we enjoy being entrepreneurs!

One of the reasons that we have stayed where we are is that we have continued to find ways to make the space we have work for us. It's amazing what you can do with limited resources when your business depends on it. At some point, the loss of efficiency overtakes the savings in rent and it's time to move. Or, your landlord tells you it's time to move!

This will be our first move and I'll report how it goes, but moving entails some obvious costs. Our address will change and more than likely we won't be able to keep our phone numbers. Everyone we do business with will need to be notified -- customers and vendors. Envelopes, forms and letterhead all become obsolete. Thank goodness for good software and laser printers. Desktop publishing looks like a good deal when a business is forced to re-do everything that has their address and phone number on it.

Moving requires advance planning, even for our small enterprise. We don't want to miss any orders or interrupt production and shipments any longer than necessary. We haven't figured out who does what and when just yet. We are spending our time now trying to locate something that's available and affordable. When we do, then we will sit down and create a plan to move with a minimum of business interruption.

On another topic, I attended a town hall meeting with our Congressman, Dick Chrysler, last night. I expressed my desire to see a simplified tax code along with some version of the proposed flat tax. He is on a committee to study eliminating the income tax as well as the IRS and replace the whole unwieldy mess with a consumption tax. I have my fingers crossed.