Ignore the hype.

I don't think I'm a very good prospect for retirement. If I'm not writing, I just don't have enough to do. So I'm glad to be back at the store. It's officially 2 days a week, but it turns into 3 days a week because I go back in to put the books away.

On my way yesterday, I stopped into Herringbone Books in Redmond. Brandon was talking about going to the Bend library for an author event to sell some books. In the course of the conversation we talked about the potential for burnout.

I found myself saying, "What I learned was to eliminate everything extra. For instance, going to the library to sell books for an event. Anything other than the basic showing up for work, having diligence and ethical standards, stocking the store with the best books I can. Doing the basics."

Of course, everyone gets the opposite advice. It is pretty much the standard myth that you should try everything you can to make the customer happy, by going that extra mile, by being better than everyone else, by bending over backward to please them. Extra customer service, that's the ticket.

Of course, there is no end of that. I found that just doing the basic job was enough--that my energy level almost exactly matched doing the basic job. That I'd be tired at the end of the day just doing the the regular stuff.

I learned this the hard way. In the beginning I stayed until midnight much of the time. (The first 15 years or so.) I went to conventions, I promoted as much as possible, I held sales, I made newsletters and created advertising campaigns, I spent a lot of time learning everything I could about every product line, I special ordered product, took preorders, took on consignments, bought and sold collections from off the street, and on and on and on.

Of course, I did the thing that every red-blooded American business owner is supposed to do. I expanded and replicated. At one point I had four stores in Bend, Redmond, and Sisters, with close to a dozen employees.

I found myself being the little Dutch boy, running around trying to plug the leaks in the dikes.

It all collapsed around me. I managed to save the main store by working seven days a week and being very active.

I was exhausted and burned out. I only stuck with it because I didn't feel like I had any options.

But when we finally did get out of debt, I decided that I would do the basic job of a store owner and eschew everything else. I expected it to cost me, but I didn't feel like I had any choice.

And it may have cost me, in the short run. But little by little, I built the store back up on my own terms. No promotions, no sales, no special events, not staying until midnight, no buying off the street, and so on and so on. For the last 20 years of so, I've stuck to the mantra of "keep it simple."

Just buying and selling product. Being open during the hours posted, having relatively good knowledge of the product,  buying wholesale and selling retail, and just trying to have the best mix of product I could. (Keeping the store neat and tidy and organized, etc. etc. The basics.)

And the store started to be fun again. I made Sabrina the manager and gave her more and more responsibility. I kept the book ordering to myself because that the part I like the most and am the most knowledgeable. Managed to keep the store simple and functional.

I know I talk about this a lot, because I think that it is the biggest untalked about danger to being a small business.

So there it is. Keep it simple. Do your job. Have the courage to say no to anything that isn't part of the basic job. Ignore the hype.