Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Letting it all hang out.

As you can see, I've decided to let it all hang out.

When blogger readers have been in my store, I've said to them, "I'm nowhere as negative on my blog as I really feel."

To heck with that.

You can thank Jim (P.T. Barnum) Cramer for that.

I was watching him interviewed and he said something like, "Well, I really feel as though it's going to get much worse, but if I keep saying that, it makes me a perma bear. And I don't want to be a perma bear."

WTF?

If you tell the truth, your BRAND is tarnished?

So we've established that you are a shill, Cramer, and now we're just haggling over how big a shill?

Anyway, it will no longer be a surprise to any of you that I think next year is going to be a challenge.

Oh, there I go. Challenge, right. Sugar coating it.

No, it's going to be a total bear.

Anyway, at least it seems only sensible for me to plan for it.

Here's the thing. I know that 90% of the people who read this blog aren't regular customers and 99% of my customers don't read this blog.

Which sort of frees me to be a truth teller as I see it.

Also should say, that if I manage this correctly, it could turn out to be a boon in the long run.

I think I can manage this so that I don't eat into saving, I don't resort to credit, I pay all bills on time, and I keep the store up and stocked.

When it all starts back up, one year or two or three years down the road, at least I won't be starting from a hole like I have in the past, which should give me a jump on the competition.

So...

But it requires seeing it clearly for what it is.

As I've said many times before, it takes a simple phone call to order more stuff if I'm wrong.

Oh.

And Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope to see some of you this weekend!

4 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

I mean, what are the chances that you are even reading this blog if you never want to hear negatives?

Chances are, most of you are a bit more informed, and if you're a bit more informed, you are a bit more forewarned, and if you're a bit more forewarned,--

what I say won't surprise you.

Duncan McGeary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Dunc,

If I were selling non-essentials, in an economic climate where people are only spending on essentials to survive I too would be cynical.

Ok, just being cynical. I agree with you, why would the kinds of people who play games, and like sci-fi comics, .... bother reading a boring business blog. You already know that 99% of your customers don't know about this blog, and if you smart, you'll keep it that way.

Like the 'master' say's NEVER MIX BUSINESS & POLITICS.

This is why almost ALL of us bloggers are 'private', because we know that publicly saying what we think has always been bad for business, in any FUCKING economic environment.


Bilbo

Unknown said...

Thanks for giving me the real scoop on Bend. We're considering a move there and I've been looking for days for someone to tell me the truth about the economy there. I have my obsession for comic books and your insightful blog to thank.

IMHO, you're probably not negative enough for the economic situation we're in. Things are going to get much, much worse before they get better.