Why the Hell am I so upbeat? Really.
Other than the fact that I think it's a personality characteristic that is a necessary part of being a shopkeeper. Being a bit of Pollyanna. Goldilocks. Pangloss.
Despite having my slowest month since 2005, I feel like the store is in good shape. I still turned a profit this month, I kept the bills paid, I kept the store up to a very high standard of inventory. I have plenty of ammunition left to fire away at Christmas.
You just get a sense of when things are all right, and when they're not. Sales are not the only standard to judge by.
I'm still excited to go to work every day. I still think the future looks interesting.
I'm ready for the challenge. For some reason, it gets my juices flowing.
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I mean, I looked around the store on Friday and thought to myself, This is a great store, even if not everyone realizes it.
I know what I've accomplished here, and I know what it took to get here, and I know that it would've been very difficult for anyone else to do the same thing.
I'm proud of the store, and I'm really to just keep forging ahead creating a store that I can be proud of, and which at least gives me a living wage.
I also think that running a business requires a huge amount of willpower.
You willpower the store into existence. You willpower it into growth. You willpower it to survival. You willpower it to success.
I used to wonder if an element of fear was required -- a lack of alternatives. But frankly, I'm no longer at the mercy of the store for survival, and my willpower feels undiminished.
So the willpower requires that I keep up the morale; morale requires pep talks. Pep talks requires motivation.
My motivation is to succeed against all odds.
I think it is different to cheerfully face reality and have the self-confidence that you can deal with it; than to cheerfully deny reality and not adapt to changing circumstances.
Willpower is the one element of a store that you simply can't see from the outside, though you can get a sense of when it wanes...
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