Monday, August 10, 2009

Contrary cuss.

This blog will be pretty self-absorbed for the next three weeks, and probably won't interest too many people beside myself.

As a downtown business, I'm fond of saying that I lose money four months out of the year, break even four months out of the year, and make money four months out of the year.

Well, that can be refined even further. The 8 weeks of July, August and the last two weeks of December are the majority of those profits. It isn't time to take my eye off the ball.

I'm pretty tired. Linda had an ice-cream social at church yesterday, so I knew I was going to have the time after 4:00 closing to myself. I thought about driving out into the woods, or working in my yard -- but the idea of a nap started creeping over me, until I really, really wanted that nap.

So that's what I did. Went home and crashed.

I absolve myself of all guilt, because I know that these last three weeks of August are so important to my business.

It's a marathon, to be sure. I'm just trying to make it through, and I've just hit that last big hill before the finish line.

The temptation for me is to always see the next week, or month...as the "most important.' Obviously, they can't all be the "most important." But I will say, as far as putting money in the bank, the next three weeks are very important.

I think I've finally reached a point where I see putting money aside for the future as an imperative. Before now, I almost always chose to put the earnings back into the business, thinking I could leverage my cash into higher earnings for the future.

Partly, the store is full. Partly, I'm just older and starting to see the endgame a bit more clearly.

The profits I'm talking about would probably be considered pretty minor by most people, but they ARE profits, and I just need to be the tortoise and keep putting it aside. Funny how small profits can make me feel more insecure somehow that just breaking even. Possibly, I just see was a steep hill I still have to climb.

Also interesting to me is how utterly contrarian I am. Here I am, earning the best profits of my career in the midst of the biggest downturn in my lifetime.

Odd, that.

5 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

I've been pacing myself pretty well up till now.

What I watch out for is being what I call "bone tired", which is another level.

I woke up this morning feeling bone tired. I've been on the edge of this a couple times this summer, but usually because of lack of sleep or something. This time, I think it's just the draggy nature of work.

Like I said, the solution is on the horizon. Sundays off, minimum. Plus, the customer count will drop dramatically with the fall.

So nothing I can do but gut out the next three weeks....

Poor me....

tim said...

Time to play the theme from Rocky.

H. Bruce Miller said...

Naps are good, especially for old guys. Churchill took one every day -- insisted on it. And he had a pretty big job to handle. So if he could spare the time for a nap, so can you.

Scientific research show that naps improve your efficiency and clarify your thinking. So don't apologize for taking one.

Duncan McGeary said...

I prefer "Eye of the Tiger".

tim said...

'I prefer "Eye of the Tiger".'

Umm... That's kinda like preferring Menudo to The Stones.