The real joy of owning your own business.

When I see a problem or an opportunity, I don't have to ask permission to deal with it. I don't have to convince anyone else, I don't have to get a consensus. I don't have to worry about how it might affect others in the group. I just do it.

I can avoid group think, altogether.

I've had yet another example of that.

A couple of months ago, I noticed my 'direct' shipping costs had doubled, making what had been a convenient but only marginally profitable process into a convenient and unprofitable process.

I brought this up on the Comic Book dealers forum. Now, I haven't been posting there much. At the beginning, when it was new, I used to defend my viewpoint vigorously, but as time went on, the usual 'in' crowd developed, and with it the usual group think. I could always count on Rory Root -- a highly regarded dealer in Berkeley -- to give me a fair hearing, but once he died, I kind of just used the forum as a place to get information.

So I brought this up, and was summarily dismissed. By the leader of the group, who has in my opinion become a bit of an arrogant guy, telling me in a somewhat patronizing tone that "postage prices were going up."

Well, yeah. I knew that. My question was, why so much? And what were others doing about it?

But, hey. I got over my twinge of anger. My fault, I thought, for not being there more often, for not joining in on the banter. I could defend my viewpoint, but why bother?

I analyzed the shipping times and costs and came up with a solution that worked for me, and forgot about it.

So...for the last two days, there has been a long thread on the Forum about how shipping costs have gone way up, and what is everyone going to do about it?

Shrug.

I try not to be resentful of this. I'm aware that small groups work because of socialization, and because you prove yourself. They work by consensus and discussion.

I see a problem and just want to deal with it.

I never try to be part of the in-crowd. There lies 'group think', which I find so often to be wrong for too long; eventually they get it right, and then rewrite history to reflect that they were always right.

But by then, the damage is often done.

Besides, I have a feeling that if I was part of any in-crowd, I'd turn into Caligula or a Heather or something. Wouldn't handle it well at all.

Making my own decisions when I want, and how I want.

That is the true joy of owning my own business.

Later: And while I'm burnishing my loner persona, I also ought to mention my dismay with the professional organization that has been set up by the comic dealers.

Oh, I understand that they need dues and fees for the organization to exist. I understand why membership should be required for things like health insurance and banking services.

But their bulletin board is also for members only. Indeed, some retailers who used to post quite often on the comic forum have removed themselves.

Why? If the information is meant to be helpful for retailers, why make it exclusive? If you must, you can have an exclusive part, where you discuss membership matters.

No...my immediate reaction is, exclusivity sucks. You can keep it.