Friday, March 12, 2010

The Labor of Love

Even though I have been at this bicycle retail and repair thing now for 18 years or so, I still seem to be caught flat footed when the dead zone of Winter changes to the manic madness of Spring. There is no gradual changeover. From zero to a hundred in one week. Seven days ago, no repairs, no tire kickers, and then this week I couldn't keep up. And it wasn't as bad as it will get in a few weeks.

It's Hammer Time folks. And that means my blogging time will be curtailed severely for a short while until the Spring rush concludes. If I do not visit your sites as regularly as I have, it is only because I have precious little time to waste.

Odd how I ended up. Nah, I guess it isn't. Other than the child hood fantasies of wanting to be a jet pilot, a fireman, a cowboy, I never once thought about what I would like to do with my life. I got into truck driving as a spin off from part time work for a moving company when in college. I got into nail banging because I needed money when trucking was losing it's charm. I became a bike shop owner because well, I liked bikes.

I attended a multi day seminar once called "Do what you love and the money will follow." The title indicated that somehow one will follow the other. I am here to say it doesn't. They should have titled it "Do what you love as long as money doesn't matter".

Being a self employed owner of an independent retail business on Main Street, USA is most definitely a labor of love these days. To do it successfully without the proper up front capital investment like I did makes it even harder. A couple of downturns, one or two bad buying decisions and the next thing you know, the credit industry owns your sorry ass.

Later................

7 comments:

Utah Savage said...

Oh Nooo. I was hoping you could do both-blogging and the Bicycle Shop. I'll miss your visits. It's awfully nice to have someone as smart as you drop by now and then.

Anonymous said...

"If I do not visit your sites as regularly as I have, it is only because I have precious little time to waste."

Fantastic apology! A Crummy at it's finest.

- pj

Randal Graves said...

Stop! Hammer time! When fixing up bikes, do you wear parachute pants?

Demeur said...

Hey at least you're working. That's a good sign. Steal or hot dogs eh?

David Barber said...

Mike, same here mate. I've had no time for nothing since I've got back from Manchester and well andtruly beyond. It's a good thing that it keeps the wolves from the door but my writing and blogging suffers. I will endevour to get back on track with my buddies blogs and comments. You are in my thoughts. Keep up the good work my friend and one day it may be me dropping by for a tyre change.

BBC said...

I attended a multi day seminar once called "Do what you love and the money will follow." The title indicated that somehow one will follow the other. I am here to say it doesn't. They should have titled it "Do what you love as long as money doesn't matter".

They failed to mention seasons and location. Bike shops in more mild locations do better I'm sure.

Out at Granny's cafe (in the country) they make all their money in about four months during the summer, the rest of the year they just make enough to pay the mortgage and hold on until the next summer.

I've never done anything hoping for a lot of money, I just did things cuz I wanted to and I've never seemed to need as much money as most other monkeys.

Kulkuri said...

My problem was I never figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up. I've been a migrant aircraft mechanic, carpenter, truck driver, asst. greenskeeper and once an interment excavator and a few other jobs. Now I'm retired and none of that matters.