Having a great store is NOT the same thing as having a highly profitable one, as counter-intuitive as that may seem. In fact, the two goals can be at odds.
It took me a long time to learn this, and personally, I think having a satisfying workplace is at least as important as making money.
"Wait a minute!" I hear you saying. "You have to make money to survive!"
True enough, but I'd argue that you also have to have a satisfying experience to survive as a small business.
I'll say it again -- I think as many businesses quit because of 'burnout' as quit from not making money.
Sure, there are people who open small businesses with the sole purpose of making lots of money. I think that's usually a forlorn goal -- you'll make enough to get by, probably, if you do a good job and you don't burn yourself out along the way.
But other people open small businesses, in a sense, to buy their own job. To be their own boss. To be in a congenial place selling to friendly people and enjoying what they do.
What I see around me, is that people underestimate that aspect of business. They do things they don't want to do because everyone tells them they should and because it makes them more money and then they wake up one day and it isn't fun and they ask themselves why they are doing it.
I mean, why do you own a business if isn't something you like doing? So, you know, try to avoid doing things that will make you dislike what you're doing!
Every advice column you read will advise you to overextend the effort you make. So you have to maintain an inner gauge as to how much you can handle -- that extra service you just offered that brings in a few more bucks a month, is it really worth it? Extended hours? Extended menu? Extended everything?
Measure your workload, your satisfaction, the same way you measure your money.
Time, energy, space, stress....satisfaction....ARE money.
It took me a long time to learn this, and personally, I think having a satisfying workplace is at least as important as making money.
"Wait a minute!" I hear you saying. "You have to make money to survive!"
True enough, but I'd argue that you also have to have a satisfying experience to survive as a small business.
I'll say it again -- I think as many businesses quit because of 'burnout' as quit from not making money.
Sure, there are people who open small businesses with the sole purpose of making lots of money. I think that's usually a forlorn goal -- you'll make enough to get by, probably, if you do a good job and you don't burn yourself out along the way.
But other people open small businesses, in a sense, to buy their own job. To be their own boss. To be in a congenial place selling to friendly people and enjoying what they do.
What I see around me, is that people underestimate that aspect of business. They do things they don't want to do because everyone tells them they should and because it makes them more money and then they wake up one day and it isn't fun and they ask themselves why they are doing it.
I mean, why do you own a business if isn't something you like doing? So, you know, try to avoid doing things that will make you dislike what you're doing!
Every advice column you read will advise you to overextend the effort you make. So you have to maintain an inner gauge as to how much you can handle -- that extra service you just offered that brings in a few more bucks a month, is it really worth it? Extended hours? Extended menu? Extended everything?
Measure your workload, your satisfaction, the same way you measure your money.
Time, energy, space, stress....satisfaction....ARE money.