Pep Talk.

Finished my advance orders for July/Aug. Came in under budget. Now I have to go through two to three more weeks of austerity before I can start ordering for the 'real' summer -- which these days is more or less, mid-June to mid-Sept.

One thing I need to remind myself about austerity measures, is if I actually succeed at my goal, I get to go back to normal spending. When I'm in the midst of austerity, it can seem like it will never end, and that nothing's happening, and it seems like all I can see is all the gaps in inventory.

When business was so spectacularly good in March (14% increase), and after seven straight months of increases, I let my spending get out of hand a bit, expecting to at least be able to break even. In my defense, there were some smokin' deals being offered by my suppliers.

Unfortunately, April and May have not lived up to expectations.

I almost immediately realized this, and cut back on my spending.

And waited, and waited.

Until this week, when I was finally able to make a nice little reorder of games and books and graphic novels and fit it within my budget. I cut back far enough over the last two months to be able to cover the overspending early.

But it can be very hard to not break down and buy when you've gone weeks, and months.

So in about 3 weeks, I'll be able to get back to a regular schedule. I've given myself a reasonable budget, generous but with an upper limit, starting in July. If I stick to that budget, and stay disciplined, I should be able to both stock the store AND make money.

Instead of overspending by 3K or 4K or 5K in a short period, and then being able to spend almost nothing for longer periods.

I've mentioned before that I tend to either go pedal to the metal, or completely coast. I need to find a nice cruising speed. Everything I've done this year has pointed toward a July 1 restart.

So forgive the repetitive pep talks, over the next three weeks of so. It's how I motivate myself: ---- pick a future date and then psych myself up so I get a good strong motivated and successful beginning.