meena Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 It has been my dream for years to work with books. Former jobs include teaching English/Language Arts and working in a library (in reference and grants). In the past couple of years, I've wondered if I could swing owning a bookstore. Today I found an ad for a used bookstore in the next county over and, after talking to my husband, I wrote to inquire! I know it's not signing a contract or anything, but it felt like a big leap without a whole lot of looking. I do have past experience in retail, but other than that I know nothing about running a business. I'll have to see if they even write me back. Until then I'll be doing lots of research. Has anyone done something off-the-cuff like this? (With good results? lol) Any tips/thoughts/opinions from small business owners about getting started or life as a business owner? 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momacacia Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Would you buy the business or manage the store? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 They are selling the business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Oh, how fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 I off-the-cuff registered to study, if that counts? I'd been thinking about it for a couple of years, but finally made a phone call on the cut-off date for registering. Still not sure if it worked out - ask me when I have a job! I'm not one for impromptu decisions, so I tend not to do much. There have been some complications along the way and that's hard because then I beat myself up for not thinking everything through. I have special skills in self doubt and self recriminations, though! Owning a bookstore would be wonderful. I think you'd really want to think about why people will go there instead of Amazon, though, and build that into your business model. I'm actually studying information and library studies at the moment, so we're on the same page there :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Yell Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 (edited) Take a class or get your hands on some textbooks for retail management. I have seen many small business fail or struggle financially because, while absolutely expert in their field, the owner didn't know how to work the business end. I have also seen mediocre talent make large amounts of money from good business skills. Editing to add: GOOD LUCK and keep us posted! Edited October 27, 2016 by Rebel Yell 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 How exciting! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 I off-the-cuff registered to study, if that counts? I'd been thinking about it for a couple of years, but finally made a phone call on the cut-off date for registering. Still not sure if it worked out - ask me when I have a job! I'm not one for impromptu decisions, so I tend not to do much. There have been some complications along the way and that's hard because then I beat myself up for not thinking everything through. I have special skills in self doubt and self recriminations, though! Owning a bookstore would be wonderful. I think you'd really want to think about why people will go there instead of Amazon, though, and build that into your business model. I'm actually studying information and library studies at the moment, so we're on the same page there :-) That totally counts--congratulations on making that call to register! I tend to second-guess and doubt myself as well, so sometimes just making a blind leap is the only way to take action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 Take a class or get your hands on some textbooks for retail management. I have seen many small business fail or struggle financially because, while absolutely expert in their field, the owner didn't know how to work the business end. I have also seen mediocre talent make large amounts of money from good business skills. Editing to add: GOOD LUCK and keep us posted! Great advice! We are seeing this somewhat with my in-laws right now. As their retirement "gift" to themselves, they became licensed to sell a product and are trying to build a business from scratch. The product is pretty amazing but their business skills are, ahem, unrefined at this point so they are really struggling to be successful. Just like you said, if they could just get the business side under control I think they could do wonderfully. My husband and I know we need more of a framework from which to start, which is why I like the idea of an already established store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 FWIW, I would not think that a "blind leap" into a small business is at all a wise course of action when you know nothing about running a business. From my point of view, it sounds like a good way to bleed dry any retirement or college savings at the speed of light. Or run into trouble with debt. I have seen it happen. If this is a serious interest, take the details that you get from the seller and then put in the time and effort to put together a business plan and take a class as suggested. This could take quite some time, but if you really want to do this, be calm and smart about it. Sorry to be a wet blanket. Good luck pursuing your dreams! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 (edited) Just adding on to wapiti's thought: think through what you would be spending the majority of your time doing, and decide if that is really what you love and would be a joy. Taking a class in what is required to be a small business owner is a great idea. :) My brother in law started/owns/runs a small art gallery and framing business, and the majority of his time is spent NOT on what he loves doing (framing and art photography), but on business and entrepreneurial things like: - sitting at the cash register and ringing up sales - record keeping for book keeping and taxes - marketing - developing and keeping up the website - cleaning the store -- bathroom esp. - purchasing supplies - stocking and inventory - dealing with flighty employees (there are only about 4-5 other workers) -- and having to always be on-call to fill in when they are unable to work, or when they leave Fortunately, he enjoys some of those more entrepreneurial things, BUT, he is always right on the edge financially since the big down-turn in the economy, and local taxes are a KILLER on small business owners. Plan on spending 60+ hours a week just to keep the business afloat. Just a thought, but if working with books is what you love, perhaps something like one of these jobs below would give you much more direct "hands-on" time with books, while minimizing the time spent on non-book related tasks that owning your business would require. Some ideas: - book reviewer - book buyer for a book store - book hunter -- track down specific titles for customers - audiobook narrator/reader - literacy volunteer - librarian - employee at a book store - employee at a local publishing company - independent book seller through Amazon or other used bookseller website - book editor - literature teacher - historian - book conservator - contribute to, or run, an online book review blog or book club website - book fair coordinator BEST of luck, whatever you decide! :) Warmest regards, Lori D. ETA -- PS Also do some deep digging research into WHY these people are selling the business, how much money it has been making (or losing), what are the book-buying trends like in that location (has there been an increase / decrease / flatline level of sales). Would you be assuming any business debt that the book store has? Most businesses rent their store front property -- will the rent be going up with the sale of the business (property owners often use a change of hands like that to increase rent). Lots and lots of very specific financial concerns you would want to research here! :) Edited October 28, 2016 by Lori D. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 FWIW, I would not think that a "blind leap" into a small business is at all a wise course of action when you know nothing about running a business. From my point of view, it sounds like a good way to bleed dry any retirement or college savings at the speed of light. Or run into trouble with debt. I have seen it happen. If this is a serious interest, take the details that you get from the seller and then put in the time and effort to put together a business plan and take a class as suggested. This could take quite some time, but if you really want to do this, be calm and smart about it. Sorry to be a wet blanket. Good luck pursuing your dreams! That's not a wet blanket--that's wisdom! This is not JAWM, so I truly appreciate your opinion. It's very likely that this opportunity won't pan out; if that's the case at least we know that we have the desire to pursue something similar in the future. In the mean time, we will be spending our time working on being ready for when the time is right and input like yours helps with that, so thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 As always, Lori, you've given fabulous input. I appreciate hearing your brother-in-law's experience with all the ins/outs that might not immediately come to mind for me when being starry-eyed and dreaming about being a business owner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I sort of sideways-ed my way into owning a small business that now takes up all of our time, hah. I started it because I liked the things I was doing (mainly sewing, then making fabric labels) but the parts of the business that I really *like* - namely product development - I get to do about 2% of the time. The rest of it is supplies, inventory, customer service (which I loathe), production, market research (I like market research, actually), shipping, etc. The thing is, I am pretty good at those things too (and DH is good at the parts I am not good at) and the only part I really *dislike* is customer service, so it works out. The business is still a constant struggle and source of stress, and I never feel like I am giving it 100%. The best advice I can give you, I think, is to outsource the things you are not at least average at. For me, we sell online, and I am a mediocre photographer. So I don't photograph our products - I pay a professional. On the other hand, I am a competent writer, so I write our advertising copy myself. I think 90% of owning a small business is problem-solving. Do you like that scene in Apollo 13 where they hand the engineer guys a few boxes of stuff and tell them to make the round tube fit in the square hole? That is what running a business is like, except you have to go collect the contents of the box yourself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 ETA -- PS Also do some deep digging research into WHY these people are selling the business, how much money it has been making (or losing), what are the book-buying trends like in that location (has there been an increase / decrease / flatline level of sales). Would you be assuming any business debt that the book store has? Most businesses rent their store front property -- will the rent be going up with the sale of the business (property owners often use a change of hands like that to increase rent). Lots and lots of very specific financial concerns you would want to research here! :) the bolded times a million DH has a friend who sold a used book business for approx. 10x what it was worth. Whoever bought it did not stay in business. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I don't have any more wisdom to add from the business end, except for stock. The more successful used bookstores I've browsed are genre focused. I think if you cater to certain tastes, you're more likely to get repeat customers. One had shelves and shelves of romances. You brought in books, they either gave you money (not much) or gave you credit. For the credit stores, you could use those funds to buy more books, paying 10-25% of the cover price. They were essentially a romance lending library. Another book store was fantasy and science fiction focused with some thrillers thrown in. Another was rare books. Except for the romance bookstores, most weren't outwardly successful, but the owners made a living doing what they loved. But they were tightly focused on their stock, knew the genres extremely well, and would immediately recognize an author's name and find another author with a similar style, clerks included. The owners were very selective about who they hired. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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