Thinking about writing a Small Business book.

I'm thinking about writing a small business book. The subtitle would be, "How to Survive a Small Business."

I went on a day long walk yesterday. Drove out past Millican to the old highway to Prineville, and pulled off on one of the trails. Very much in the middle of nowhere.

Anyway, I was thinking of how I'd do a business book, and it occurred to me that I could pick topic headings, and then sort of riff on each topic.

Right away, I rattled off 27 topics, which is a small proportion of what I'd could come up with after 37 years of doing this. In fact, I was thinking of one every few minutes and purposely cut off the flow.

Then, as an experiment, I picked one of the topics and wrote about it, just off the top of my head.

So the fact is, this book would be extremely easy to do. I have a whole set of ideas I've expounded over the years, and I have examples for all of them. 

So I may do this.  Does this look interesting to anyone?

Here is the first draft of the first topic, and a list of the other topics.

"YOU'RE STILL HERE?!" "How to Survive a Small Business"

1.) Remember--most "small business" books...aren't. 

This isn't your usual business book.

After some early success, I went through what I call my "young entrepreneur" phase.  I devoured magazines like Inc. and Entrepreneur. I even wore a coat and carried a briefcase; albeit with blue jeans and without a tie. (Never a tie!)

Most books I read back then seemed to think "small" businesses were places with 50 or more employees, but I tried to glean from them what I could.

It took some brutal missteps but I finally realized that business books and magazines exist mainly to sell more business books and magazines. 

More often than not, the advice in these publications is disastrous to mortal humans. For example, when I opened a store in the local mall, I tried to create an "Incentive" program for my manager based on a gung ho article I read. It was a complete failure. I made the mistake of rewarding gross sales without enforcing profit margins. It never occurred to me that my manager would sell everything cheaply. (He didn't stick around once the "Incentive" was removed...)

This one mistake almost brought down my little empire. (The word "empire" is my "young entrepreneur" talking, not the grizzled veteran I am now. I carry a backpack these days, not a briefcase.)

Stupid, yes. But that is sort of the point. I should have been sticking to basics, not trying to get fancy. I forgot who and what I was.

So be forewarned. Many of the observations I'll make in this book are going to contradict common wisdom, and more often than not be counter-intuitive.  Notice I say "observations" rather than advice, because I think every store is different, every owner is different, and so giving advice is pretty risky. And yet, some things I've noticed over the years might prove useful.

What this book isn't is a Get Rich Quick scheme. The focus here is on making a decent living, working in a pleasant place, being your own boss.

33 years ago, I bought a very small business that I'd worked in for the previous 4 years, called Pegasus Books; in downtown Bend, Oregon. I'm still there. Somehow I survived, and I'm finally ready to say thrived. (By my standards, and that's what counts.)

This book is written with small retail businesses in mind, with a few employees.  Though some of the observations might be useful for service businesses, or restaurants and bars, it isn't specifically designed for that.

There are very few books that really address the needs of Mom and Pop style businesses. Why? I think because the Powers That Be have decided there is no money in it. And yet, a large percentage of small businesses are like mine. An owner and perhaps the spouse and a few employees, in a single location.

I won't be using business jargon. For one thing, I don't know any business jargon. I didn't go to business school. I'm not going to address technology or accounting or taxes or anything like that. This is more a book about how I survived, and after a long struggle, finally thrived.

I went up to the local community college once for business advice. The advisor told me I had a "primitive sophistication." No doubt, he was damning me with faint praise, but I embrace that description. I believe, in fact, that I survived and thrived because I didn't pay too much attention to what the business community said. I resisted writing this for a long time despite the urging of others because I didn't feel I was successful enough.  I've made a bunch of mistakes and it took some time to finally reach real profitability.

Ironically, it is these very same mistakes that make whatever observations I make useful.

This is the only time I'm going to qualify my observations. Obviously, what I say may not apply to your own experience. Obviously there are exceptions.

But that said, I'm going to try to be as honest and forthright as possible.

Stick to your original goal.
Decide if you want to be a shopkeeper or a wheeler dealer.
A lifestyle store, but a store: not a hobby and not a charity.
Start small; don't throw money at it.
Follow the herd...right over the cliff.
Where did all my neighbors go?
Competition: can't live with them, but you have to live with them.
Turnover. What does it matter?
Inventory, inventory, inventory.
Location is your store, your store is your location.
I have some quirks. So do you.
Burn out. Only thing worse than not making money.
Advertising is a scam.
Don't quit your corporate job to open a small business.
Know your town, live in it. Then open a business.
No one cares if your fixtures are used.
Bootstrap or borrow?
Don't wear the clown suit unless you're a clown.
Analyze your business. Doesn't everyone? Nope.
Fads and bubbles, a deadly opportunity.
Cagey gets you nowhere.
Selling isn't everything.
If the customer is always right, does that mean you're always wrong?
and so on and on and on. I can come up with many more.

Writing vacation over. I have to work on Thursday, but I'll get started writing again on Friday.

I'm not sure what will happen. I've not taken this much time off before because I was afraid of losing  my connection to my subconscious. I'm guessing that won't be a problem, but we'll see.

The full month off was probably a good thing. I realized that I'm way ahead of the game. I've gotten much further along than I ever expected. I'll even say this: I've probably had about as much success as I deserve, no more, no less.  ("We all deserve it, kid.")

I have the second half of Fires of Allah to write. When I'm finished, I intend to do a lot research and flesh out the book with accurate telling details. I'd like the fire fighting to be real.

I may have something happening on the publishing front. The publisher used the word "likely." But I've had a publisher use the word "likely" before and it didn't turn out, so I know it isn't a sure thing. I feel like Shroedinger's Cat, half alive and half dead. Eh.

If it happens, then next year is pretty much covered.

As I mentioned before, I'm extending the writing process by adding a couple of extra steps. We'll see if that works. 

I still feel like I"m more or less on track. Each book I write I'm learning a little more. One of these days I'm going to put it all together.

I decided to go back to my original title on Freedy Filkins.

I asked Mike Corley for a new cover to go along with it.

LOVE this cover. It feels good.

This is a sort of Hobbit Cyberpunk novel. It's the book that got me back into the groove of writing, where I threw away all doubts and worries and just did what came to me.

It was a really good feeling writing it. I loved the main character, I loved the adventure, I loved the love story. I thought it came out really well.

But I wasn't sure what to do with it, so...well, I didn't do much with it.

Coming back a couple of years later, I decided I still like this book and should try a little harder to point out it's existence. A short fun little book. (Free on Amazon Prime, by the way.)

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Immortal-Vampire-Evolution-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00K1XI0QM/

So I woke to a 3 star review of Death of an Immortal, because it was too "Christian."

Oh, the irony! (Linda thought it was hilarious...she's been trying to get me to go to church for years...not in an annoying way, bless her, but an occasional gentle suggestion...)

That was my first response. Then I started thinking about it.

The story purposely uses the classic old-school vampire tropes of Holy Water, sacred ground, crosses, and demon dispelling Catholic prayers. Which to me are as exotic as the vampires themselves. I wanted my vampires to be vicious and evil, and yet at the same time...with a human component.

But, to be fair, the theme of the book is redemption. Now I don't think redemption is exclusively a Christian idea or value, but certainly since it is framed in a story with Christian symbols, then I can see how someone might interpret it that way.

Thing is, it is all in service to the story.

When I started writing Blood of the Succubus, I hadn't gone more than a chapter before I realized that there was going to be a whole lot of sex. Because that is what the story demanded.

When I started writing a book about a gangster Golem, (The Last Fedora), I hadn't gone far before I was using Jewish mysticism.

I think it's unavoidable that a writer's world view is going to be included in their writing. But I'm a pretty middle-of-the-road guy, a moderate. Whatever liberal leanings I have are not inserted just to be liberal, but just because that is who I am. I've gotten three less than stellar reviews because of my supposed liberal leanings. I think they had to look pretty damn hard for something to be offended by, or they were so extreme themselves that they are the one's who are off base.

Certainly, there is no extremism. I'm not Heinlein with his dirty-old-man Libertarian-ism, or Orson Scott Card's stealth Mormonism, or Frank Herbert's...whatever the hell that is. I read the Narnia books without any awareness of the Christian themes. (Duh!) I read Ayn Rand without any awareness of her philosophy. (Double duh!)

I don't have to agree with an author to read them. I know of quite of few authors who I read and enjoy who I don't agree with. Dan Simmons, Stephen Hunter, Heinlein, even Tom Clancy. I suspect that thriller and old-time S.F. writers as an overall breed are probably more conservative than I.

If I was going to be offended, Stephen Hunter is double damned. As a reviewer, he has disparaged S.F. and Fantasy and comics. But here's the thing--Stephen Hunter writes a corker of a story!

And finally, color me old-fashioned, but I think reviews ought to reflect the quality of the writing and the story, not whether you agreed with everything the author said.

I hope reviews don't follow the example of online comments (Never read the comments!) or they'll become pretty useless.

I'm giving myself the Christmas present of my original books: Star Axe and Snowcastles/Icetowers.

They've got terrific old/new covers designed by Mike Corley. (The original Sword and Sorcery artwork by Romas updated.)

You know how they say everyone has one book in them? Well, Star Axe would have, could have been that one book. Except, well, I had more books in me. But it came from my pure love of LOTR's at a time when there wasn't a excess of LOTR's type books.

(My father challenged me to write two more books, and offered to get me a new Selectric typewriter if I did. So I wrote Snowcastles and Icetowers.)

I've scanned them, which is a messy process. I have to go through them line by line, which is a bit tedious. So I've decided to take the rest of the month to finish Star Axe at least. Snowcastles should be easier because I just downloaded a pirated version. (Heh). Icetowers is also going to be a chore. But I think I can get them done by mid-December.

Thing is, these books sold many more copies than anything I've currently written. They were mass market at a time when that was the market. They were in all the bookstores and newstands.

I got a single royalty statement for Star Axe which had numbers I may never again achieve. The publisher had a bankruptcy reorganization shortly after, so that was it. (Dorchester lasted another 30 years, the bastards. I took it to a lawyer and he scoffed at the paltry amounts. Paltry to him, but a few thousand dollars would have been nice back then.)

Snowcastles undoubtedly sold even better, because it was sold in the British Commonwealth, by a different publisher. They seem to be all over the world.

However, I was in my mid-20's when I wrote these, a pretty immature mid-20's at that. The innocence actually works pretty well for fantasy, but the writing is a little clunky compared to my current abilities, so I kind of wince my way through the transcribing.

I decided about a fourth of the way through Star Axe to change the more egregious sentences. I've decided that as long as I don't actually change the real content, improving the writing here and there isn't a crime. The book seemed to be liked by people--very much liked by some--so I don't want to change that.

But...improving a sentence only makes sense. I'm certain that no one will notice the difference.

It will be fun to have these available online, and why the hell not? Right?

Two week non-writing vacation.

Feels weird. But I'm going with it. I still want to finish Fires of Allah, but I had to break off twice in writing it before, and each time it's harder to get my head back into it. I want to be absolutely sure nothing will get in the way of finishing it.

I worry if I take too much time off, though, I'll get used to it. I might start liking it.

Meanwhile, at the store, I'm finding that I'm not in touch with what's happening as much as I'd liked. On the other hand, the store is doing great, Cameron is excelling as manager, and he and Matt are the faces of Pegasus and that's a good thing.

We are reaching subscription levels we haven't seen since the mid-nineties. We almost always have a big day on Wednesdays, which is when the new comics come out, and which is an indication of enthusiasm.

New books continue to do well, and I think as I continue to focus on them as my main job at the store they'll continue to do well.

In most ways, things are going extraordinarily well. Knock wood.

Here's the thing. I have several years worth of books finished.

Yes, several years. Finished, done, edited, covers. Ready to go. (There is some clean-up left to do, but that's just a matter of doing it.)

So what's the hurry?

There is no hurry, but I do have the concern that if I'm not compulsively obsessed with writing that I won't write at all. That there is no middle ground.

I guess I'm about to find out.

Shocked, Shocked! Tourism in Bend!

So to the person quoted in the paper who moved to Bend a grand 11 years ago, who wanted a "small town mid-western" feel: you can actually move to the mid-west for that. Of course, it won't have mountains or high lakes or a world class ski resort or Smith Rocks or...well, the list is endless. That's why we have tourism.

People often ask how I feel about the growth because I'm a native.

Hey, my store couldn't exist in the town I grew up in. 13,000 people, max. The 20,000 extra people in town on summer days is what makes my store possible. Without them I wouldn't have a store, or it would be a very different store. (My rent would be a lot cheaper too, I suppose, but whatever...)

The other answer is--I find the craziness easy to ignore. The traffic is the only thing that really impacts on me, and as a local I know ways around that most of the time and it certainly isn't a dealbreaker.

The outlines of old Bend are still here. I just ignore those other places. Northwest Crossing could be in another country for all I notice. I have no reason to go out there. No reason to be upset by anything they do.

Here's a rule of thumb I've found to be true. The first stop on a tourist route will be twice as crowded as the second stop, which will be twice as crowded as the third stop, and so on. So if you're willing to go a little further off the beaten track, you'll be fine.

I go walking every day in the high desert. On my path, I've run into people 3 times in the hundreds of times I've walked it.

But if you go to Tumalo Falls, or Sparks Lake, or Drake Park in the middle of July and August, then yeah, it's a zoo. If you go to the festivals, or the concerts, or any of the other venues, then it will be hectic. But, come on...those of you who moved here instead of the real mid-west, you kind of like that activity, don't you?

If you really hate the crowds, then don't do that.

If you want to see places like Dillon Falls, or Lava Butte, or any of the other cool places, you have April thru mid-June, September thru mid-November to do so. The weather might actually be nicer.

Live your life as normal, ignore the rest, and we still have nice small town.