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Business & Tech

Small Business Q&A: Pak Mail

Priya Joseph recently took the reins of Pak Mail at the recommendation of a friend.

Priya Joseph, owner of , talks about being a small business in the packing and shipping industry.

Q. What's the hardest thing about being a small-business owner?
A. When you get into small business, it’s not just one small area of focus; it’s everything for the business. To keep up with the balance so that nothing slips away from you, that would be the biggest challenge.

Q. What's the best thing about your job?
A. Networking, getting to know a lot of people, what they do in other businesses and how we can help each other grow, and also keeping your current customers happy and coming back to your store.

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Q. What is the best thing about Northeast Cobb?
A. You have a good number of businesses and residences here and a lot of services that cater to you.

Q. Why did you choose to open your business in Northeast Cobb?
A. We didn’t open this; it was an existing store. But I like the location here. I’m exploring a lot so that in the future I can open another business in the area.

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Q. Why did you pick this particular kind of business?
A. I had a chat with my friend. I looked into other industries, too, industries that have demand from the public like food and child care. But those didn’t work out, and this was referred to me by my friend who owns another business, and she gave me a lot of information about how to run a business like this. So I kept looking for places for sale, and I found this one which was not too far from my home.

Q. What are some of the services you offer that people don't know about?
A. We do large freight shipments. We sell banners, signs and magnets. We just started a shredding service. And we do crating.

Q. What advice can you offer to someone thinking about starting a
small business?
A. It doesn’t matter how the business is doing currently, but look for various growth opportunities in the business. ... The rest is all marketing and executing your plan the way you designed it.

Q. Is there anything else you would like our readers to know?
A. We pick it, pack it, ship it and track it, so you can just sit back and enjoy the experience.

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