Why make it complicated?

You've heard the saying, "Don't work harder, work smarter." 

Now normally, I hate these kinds of easy answers, but I've been thinking about my business and all the permutations its had over the years. And looking at the competition and wondering why they are doing what they are doing. 

I can only speak for myself, but it seems to me that people make things unnecessarily complicated.

For most of the 43 years of Pegasus Books' existence, it has only required one worker in the store at a time. There are a few exceptions, of course, but mostly one person can handle the load of work. Admittedly, you can't sit around too much. You need to be on your feet, cleaning, straightening, ordering, and--most importantly--dealing with customers. 

There is some work that needs to be done from home, but it's not an onerous amount. Mostly, it's working on a working level: enough to maybe be tired at the end of the day but not exhausted, stressed but not unhealthily so. 

For that to happen, the procedures required need to be simple and easily done. If a service is more trouble than its worth, it gets jettisoned. My job is to sell product to the customer in a friendly, competent way. That's it. 

It is not my job to entertain them or feed them. It is not my job to spend a hundred dollars worth of time and effort for ten dollars worth of sales. I mean, mostly this isn't a problem, and when it is, I've learned how to disengage in a way where no one's feelings are hurt. (99.9% of the time; there is always a few people every year....)

I don't have to read every book or know every answer. If I don't have something in stock I'm more than willing to order it for the customer; but I don't take money in advance and I don't call them when it arrives. The book is held for a few days and then put in general circulation. This works almost every time; it is very rare that a person doesn't come back for a book they special ordered. 

Those are basics.

I don't do signings, or special events (except Free Comic Book Day which is industry-wide and pretty much my duty.) 

We don't have play space, or couches in which to sit and read, or coffee or any other kind of food. 

We are a store, plain and simple. All transactions are done at the cash register and at the end of the day, I go home.

When I look at some of the stores that are profiled online I wonder why they do what they do. I suspect its because it's the way they've been told it should be done, what they've seen done by others. 

Back in my sports card days I constantly saw the phenomenon of a card store failing and another store popping up and doing exactly the same thing!

Just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean it's right--especially if it doesn't seem to be working.

I was scared away from doing new books for a long time because I kept hearing about how hard it was. Well guess what. Compared to comics or games or toys it's incredibly easy! Compared to those product lines, books have a wide customer appeal. Just carry good books and people will buy them!

Of course, it isn't that simple. The trick is know which books to carry and how to display them. The trick is to be in a location where the customer can find you. The trick is to be knowledgeable and efficient and everything else a good store needs to be.

That said, books themselves are very saleable. 

What I see elsewhere are all things that require extra space, time, and energy. 

For all of these there are only two solutions: either you work harder and longer or you hire someone to do these jobs for you. Both of these, to me, are hugely complicating factors.

Selling online: Sounds simple, but in fact is very complicated, at least compared to simply ringing up a sale at the cash register. Besides, either I'm working in the store full time, doing what a full time job entails, or I'm taking time away or I'm adding to my hours. It's an extra job, basically.

Holding events: signings, book clubs, special activities. Again, this requires a whole lot of extra space, time, and energy. And employees.

Selling food and drink, and having table and chairs for people to sit. Obviously, space, time, and energy. And employees.

Buying in bulk for clubs and/or events and then returning them if they don't sell. And employees.

Expanding past the point where one person can handle the job. Duh...employees.

Opening more than one location. Obviously, a whole lot of space, time, and energy. And employees.

So hire more people, right?

Oh, boy. That's where things get really complicated. Managing even one other person is a full time job until they are trained, which in my store usually takes a several months. With no guarantee, by the way, that they won't just quit after the effort is made. 

Every new employee is a bit of a gamble, in honesty, reliability, and friendliness. Sometime you don't find out what that employee has really been doing until they are gone. And this isn't from lack of oversight; you're the boss and you can only see what a boss can see; just as when you are a parent, you can only see what a parent can see. 

Here's another thing you find out. No matter how good the employee is, they will never be as dedicated as you are; at least until they feel they have ownership in the store as well. 

Basically, by the time you pay another person to do a job (that you would probably do better) you are paying for them out of the profits from that job. I think there is a matter of scale--reaching such a size that you can plug people in like cogs and expect bare minimum and still make money, but is that really the reason anyone opens a small business? (I'm sure there are many tycoons, bless their little hearts.)

I did all this. I opened four stores, had ten employees, and at the end of it I was stressed beyond capacity and poorer than when I started. OK, maybe I was a lousy manager. But it also made me question myself: Why Did I Buy The Store In The First Place?

The answer for me was, to earn a modest living doing something where I was in control and in which I could arrange my surroundings the way I wanted them. 

Simple. I forget to keep it simple (stupid.)

What I'm going to say next is only a supposition on my part, but I don't doubt it is true much of the time. I'm making as much profit in my little one and half person operation as many much bigger stores are making. Plus I'm a lot less stressed and overworked. Much less risk. Much more fun. 

There is a tendency to "churn" money; that is, bring in a lot of gross profit but relinquish much of it through all the extra employee and space and extra services. I will submit that putting 100% more effort into something for a 50% gain sounds good in the advice books but is unsustainable in the long run. 

Sure, you have to work harder when you own your own business; that is a given, but it needs to be within the realm of being reproducible or it is only a business as long as you are there. 

Keeping it simple and within reach is the way to do that.