Sage Advice from a Bookseller and Entreprenuer

I can't agree more with this sage advice:

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There is one required quality for the person who would consider opening a B&M and/or making a living full time on the internet, and frankly I'm not sure that can be learned while working for someone else. I'm thinking that some of it has to be innate, a part of one's personality. That quality is that an individual business owner HAS to be a self-motivated person. We have no one to rely on to tell us what to do or when to do it.

A second quality (which maybe should be the first) is that we HAVE to be willing to risk--every day. And the key factor of that quality is that we can't let that risk cause us to become trembling masses of ineptitude and indecision. One has to make decisions continually with sometimes inadequate prior knowledge, going often on gut feelings, and just know that things will turn out just fine. (A lot of prayer is helpful. :-)) In other words, we have to shoot and whatever we hit, we call THAT the target and know we did the right thing for that instance given those circumstances.

Do we make mistakes, fail, spend money foolishly at times, take stupid chances, make wrong decisions, etc.? Of course! That's the fun of this thing. :-) How else would we learn and grow? Risk, in this case, simply has to create within the independent business owner a sense of excitement rather than dread and worry.

Dread and worry are negative states of mind and they block the creative flow of positive possibility thinking--which leads to new ways of doing the same ole things to make a living. Do we also experience dread and worry? Of course, we are only human. But we are able to see through, over, under, or beyond that to the possibility that dollars are possibly there to be made if a chance is taken. Sometimes we are right, sometimes wrong--but wrong doesn't make us Quit, it makes us back up and try again.

These same principles apply regardless of the type of business one would open, not just bookselling. But whether an individual is a self-motivated risk-taker will have a lot to do with whether or not that individual jumps ship at the first upset--only to go on and get out of our way. Booksellers come and go on a regular basis, especially on the internet. My belief is that most will go on to something more suitable for them, so I put little time into fretting about the 'competition'. They just don't have the gumption to keep on keeping on faced with the reality of the bookselling atmosphere.

Then there are those non-quitting independent souls who refuse to admit that bookselling can be an all-consuming, frustrating, and/or misery-making money-losing proposition and they just keep on supporting their family by working full-time at selling books on the internet--learning and growing and Daring others to attempt to follow their footsteps--and that's the individual we should either pay attention to (or recommend counseling to) if we are to succeed at this wonderful/awful business. (How is that for a run-on sentence? )

Cameo and George (and others new to booksellering), you are right to research the possibilities before jumping in, but don't be afraid to admit to yourself if this business just doesn't 'fit' your life. The sooner you would know that the better for you so you can go on to that which is best for you.

Craig is the only bookseller I know that fits the non-quitting description above, fearlessly giving away 'trade' secrets, and making mistakes that we don't have to make as he details his experiences for us to follow or disregard. If one reads all that he has written on the subject of bookselling and still has feelings of being daunted by the whole prospect, then most likely bookselling is just a fascination for you and not something that should be attempted full time.

I would discourage more folks, than encourage them, to be become full time booksellers as the romantic notions and general mystique surrounding the trade do not necessarily match the reality. It's during those especially dull times that one needs the innate qualities to sell one more book, then one more book...until one has the light bill, the mortgage payment, groceries, etc. Much easier to punch a time clock while someone else takes the risk.

Written by Emmy at the forum boards http://www.BookThink.com

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Michael & Julie Anna Schultz
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