"Oh I used to be disgusted..."

"Oh i used to be disgusted
And now i try to be amused.
But since their wings have got rusted,
You know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes."

I totally have a hankering for Elvis Costello, My Aim is True era. And London Calling , The Clash. I wonder if Ranch Records has them in stock as CD's?

Called them, and they had both. Gave them my credit card number and asked them to deliver.

Hey, it's only a block away, you know. Shop local. Get it now. See the smile.

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My friend Clint came in to the store yesterday, and had a list of comics he had downloaded from a site called ifanboy.com. Turns out, they have short fan reviews, and comments on each title, and it made him interested in several he hadn't tried before.

After he left, I got to thinking. This is the KIND of promotion I wish I could do if I was more tech savvy and had more time.

Then again, why reinvent the wheel?

I'm sure both ifanboy and I would benefit if I tried pointing all my customers in that direction. The site doesn't seem too obnoxious about selling comics; though they do have ads from Amazon. Then again, I don't think Amazon or online buying is a secret nowadays, and I figure my customers are comfortable buying comics from me. So I'll chance it.

I think I'm going to try to make a point of telling every single regular about the site. Hell, it would be better than me doing it, because a third party always has more credibility.

So going to try that.

I'll leave the "Weekly Review" page on my store computer to show people, and then give them each a Pegasus Books business card, with the website address on the back. So's I won't sound obnoxious and repeat myself too much, I'll reach for the card and say, "Have I given you my business card yet?" If they say no, then I'll tell them about ifanboy.com.

Thing that has always been difficult here, it getting people aware of the new comics -- they mostly feel overwhelmed, so when I try to show them, they usually back away. This would be less threatening, I think.

And if each customer got interested in just a couple of new titles on average, it would have a dramatic effect on sales.

(Further refinement, write my blog title on the back of each card, and tell people about it, and tell them they can connect to my Pegasus Books site as well. Simple stuff I haven't done.)

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Whenever I get an idea like this -- or something new needs to happen at the store-- or I need to remind my employees of something, it's been a difficult task to know what I told to who.

So I've started writing these down on a piece of paper, with the names of Matt, Jasper and Cameron on the top. And as each is told, I put a checkmark next to their name. A simple thing, that seems to be working.

These are the kinds of refinements to business that I simply wasn't doing over the last decade because most of my attention and focus was on getting inventory in the store, and debt out of my bank accounts. Now that that is done, I feel more comfortable trying to work on things like efficiency and saving on discount levels and postage and stuff like that.

I dont' want to complicate things, though. I feel it's important to be simple and focused on the task of selling product to customers. I've seen too many small businesses get distracted by procedural stuff, the stuff that happens BEHIND the counter instead of IN FRONT of the counter.

So, as long as it's simple and effective, I'll be trying some of these things.

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