I'm a storekeeper. That's my job.

Customers often ask if I sell online or do mail order. When I say no, I can see in their eyes that they think I'm missing out on sales.

Here's the thing, if I have time away from the store to do those things, then it means I've not created enough person-to-person business in my store. To me, if I'm doing my job correctly, my work shift will be filled with selling product already in my store to customers who are already in my store. 

I'll admit, there have been days, weeks, even months and years, where that wasn't happening. But it seemed to me that any time I took away from trying to create business outside the store was just making it harder to get there. 

I admit, if things had ever gotten bad enough, I would have gone online. But the store has been doing relatively well as long as "online" has existed. So I've concentrated on making the in-store even busier. Create the atmosphere, get the inventory, reorder what sells, display them properly, keep the store clean and organized. Be knowledgeable about my product.

If there isn't someone in the store, then it gives me time to straighten, to order, to clean, to rearrange more attractive displays. Do the basics and do them well and the day will go by fast. Concentrate on my job INSIDE the store and make it work. 

If I'm successful, I don't have the time or energy to spend looking for business outside the store. To me it's a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more time I spend looking for business outside the store, the less time I have to make the store itself works--which then forces me to spend even more time outside the store, and on and on. 

But the opposite is also true. The more time I spend trying to make the store work, the less time I have to spend online or elsewhere.

Does that make sense?

As I've always tried to point out, it's my opinion that as many stores go out of business because of burn-out as because they don't make enough money. The entrepreneurs are given the myth that they should work 80 hour weeks, that they should do everything the customer wants. That not only should they run their store--which as I'm trying to make the case, should be a full-time job all by itself--but do the extra things. Hold promotional events, go to conventions, open early and stay open late, have constant sales, sell online and through the mail. But all those things are distractions from doing your basic job better.

The weird part is that, given time, concentrating on the basics should in the end create as much business as one person can handle. And that's all I'm looking for. I'm not interested in being a manager, of taking all the work home. I'm interested in a full eight hour day: doing all the things that make the in-store work. 

I'm a store keeper. That's my job.

I suppose the road to success is relative. But I know that the road to personal satisfaction came in keeping things to basics, refining them constantly, and just making it all work.