An arrogant mood.

I thought when I started this blog that I might have a hard time being downbeat when downbeat was called for. That is, I wouldn't be able to admit when things weren't going well. But....it hasn't been a problem. Partly because things have gone pretty smoothly over the last year and a half. No real test.

I found that I could mention a 15% drop in sales without blinking, because I knew our profits were up, our customer count was up, and that much of the drop was accounted for by reasons I understood.

No, the real problem I have, is trying to restrain my arrogance...err, self confidence.

I was talking to Linda this morning about Obama and Hillery, and how I wouldn't want Hillery and Bill looking over my shoulder; but that it would show great self-confidence from Obama if he did pick her. "He has a bit of arrogance to him, I think."

Obama is Linda's fave right now, and she'd hear no negatives about him. "He is self-confident, not arrogant."

"Yeah, it's a little strange when the son of a Kenyan immigrant is accused of being an elitist, and the son of a high ranking military officer isn't. Kind of reminds me of a guy winning a Silver Star and Purple heart is considered a coward, and a guy who spent most of his time dodging the draft is a patriot."

Anyway, ignore the politics. I really don't want to get into an argument.

The point of this blog is when self-confidence trips over into over-confidence. Things are going very well at the store right now. It would take a massive melt-down from this spring's sales going into our busiest season to change that. (Knock Wood.)

So why is it that my store does so well in hard times?

I think it's because I put all my profits into it. Most people would've taken more money out of this store over the years. I'm so gun-shy about slowdowns, that I spend most of the busy years building up the store so that we can weather them. So that when they start, I'm not only strong, but still able to do the job. At a time when others are faltering.

So the trick this time is to not accrue any debt during the recession/housing, commercial bust that I'm certain is coming to Bend, so that when there is a recovery I'll be able to actually profit something this time. Instead of plowing all the profits back into inventory again.

I think I'm just really self-protective. I tend to plan for 5 years down the line; not thinking as much about what is happening now. Life is what happens while you're making plans. I've relaxed a bit, but I'm still really wary.

At the same time, I have to restrain my exuberance over how well things are going. I'm superstitious, and I have to be careful that I don't mistake outside factors for something I did.

Off to the store, and I'm excited by all the cool stuff we're getting.