A Day in My Life

So this time of year is always hard.... it is hard to own a store when things are slow. You have to take the good with the bad. I could live with that, it is the fact that when you do get a customer they ask, the minute they walk through the door, What's on Sale? Then when you tell them, they scoff at it and say... well, I don't want to spend $50 to get 20% off. So you should know that they walked through the door a t 4:55 and that was fine, until they started to talk. They got to 30 dollars in things to buy and wanted to know if that was close enough to get the discount. I said no, the sale is for $50. So they came up with 16 more dollars worth of stuff and didn't really ask, kind of demanded that that should be close enough for the discount. The woman tells me "you know everyone is giving discounts now" and I tell her" we are giving discounts too, but you have to get to $50 to get that discount." UUGH..... and people wonder why small businesses are going out of business every day.... because to many people think that we (small business) are marking our product up 300 % so we ought to be able to give it away at 50% off. What no one realizes is that at 50% off we are not even getting our money back, you know, the money that was spent to buy the product before the heat, lights, insurance, mortgage, taxes, or any of the many other things. If you want to shop at big box stores, than shop there, ask them for discounts, demand that your not going to pay what the tag says and stay to hell out of my store.

Saturday after the Storm....

Good Morning, Well we have had about a foot of snow dropped on us last night. So I will be headed to the store this morning early so that i might dig out the front door so that my customers may find us open and happy to be there. Stay tuned for some more juicy insides on running your own store.

Recession

What has the recession meant for you? Well from a SMALL shop keeper it has meant this....

R - Respect. Something you will only have from a few of your most loyal shoppers...
E - Energy. You will need more energy than you have ever had before
C - Creativity. You will not be creative enough no matter how hard you try
E - Everyday. That is how much time you will have to spend at your store.
S - Sale. Did someone say Sale, you will be asked even if they know different
S - Stupid. That is the way you will feel because you cannot find ways to bring customers
I - I, Me. The only person who has to hold the weight of the world. Lonely
O - Overboard. You will either want to jump overboard or you will go overboard trying to fix it
N - Nitwits. You will meet several, who verbally abuse you as you stand there smiling

Kind of a big word with lots of little meanings. Recession started this whole feeling of emptiness and being lonely... feeling like your in this alone and never going to get back to where things were better. One thing you all should know. I didn't buy this business to get rich, (maybe that was my first problem) I bought this business to put my heart and soul into it. To be able to go to work and do something I love, to bring smiles to faces of so many, many people. The problem is..... It was working and well. I could even have some time off in the beginning, Now after 3 years of the dreaded R word.. I work alone alot of the time, just trying to keep my business. What was once one of the great loves of my life has become the biggest nightmare I could ever imagine.... What I am worried about most is that the next 3 years might bring more anxiety, a heart attack and a stroke. To be continued.....

A New Year

Here is hoping for a new year, a better year..... something that makes you want to continue to run your own shop.... something, just a brief but significant sign that the times are turning...that once again we will be able to make money, pay down bills and feel like we can hire someone to help us. About 3 years ago I started a journal, one to keep me sane. I wrote in it everytime one of my customers did something or said something mean to me... Expected to much out of me.... Figured I was making a killing and had no qualms requesting things that I would never had dreamed of ...

I decided that I should share some of these things so that the consumer would maybe be a little mindful as to what they say and so that other shop owners can relate... sometimes that is all that has saved me is knowing that other shop owners are going through the same things.

Please don't be offended by this blog, it is written strictly as a way to vent, a way to let go of the things I cannot change.. It is written so that others can get a good laugh and enjoy a smile, sometimes at my expense, sometimes at the expense of others. Read it, enjoy it and let it go...