Rhiannon is debating whether to continue working out of a makeshift office/store in her basement as opposed to a store in the city. Her home expenses total $1,000 a month and she estimates her basement takes 40% of the home's available space. A store would cost $2,000 per month, but grow sales by 75% (80% of the sales would now be in person). If she decides to go in this direction, Rhiannon plans to hire a part-time helper who would produce 1,000 rings per year. Rhiannon estimates that this worker would work 250 hours a year at a rate of $16 per hour. Rhiannon is wondering about the costbenefit analysis of going in this direction. She is also wondering how she might evaluate the helper's performance once she has actual sales and expense numbers. Also, she wants some insight on the best ways to discuss performance with employees.

Rhiannon is wondering if she should also pay the helper a sales commission of $1 per ring sold. This would allow Rhiannon to focus more on production. In addition to producing 1,500 rings a year by herself, Rhiannon is wondering if she can gather and prepare stones for cheaper. Assuming 100 stones per month, she estimates the added fuel expense for this approach would total $150 per month (Rhiannon isn't sure if other vehicle costs like insurance should be included). Materials to prepare the stones for mounting would total $100 a month. Rhiannon is wondering if she should consider other factors like time spent- she expects to spend 6 hours a month gathering, cleaning, and coating stones. She is wondering about potential pros and cons of producing her own stones, outside of projected cash flows