117...

I just had what I will definitely classify as a weekend. Wow, forgot what that was like. Allow me a moment to bask in the glory as it will likely be the last of its kind for a while.

Ahh...

Never try to convince yourself that the greatest thing about opening your own business is that you will be able to control your schedule. No more bowing to the mercy of an overlord with no compassion for your social life (let's assume for the moment that you have one). Yeah, see, that's all wrong there bub. You are a slave to yourself, now and for all eternity. But, you are less a slave to yourself and the very operation that you are now building than you are to the very people who will keep you afloat.

That's right...those people. The customers. No matter what you do they will be there. Understand now that when you leave the building, you don't flip the sign to "closed". You're always open for business now, and you know what? You want it that way. You never want to shut the lights off, you never want to close down the register. You want to make money with every step you take and the further away you get from your building, the more you want to compensate your absence with cool cash. It isn't greedy. It isn't vain. It's commerce and it's why you left the colony of ants to start your own ant hill. You are now, in some respects, like the celebrities of the world. You are always being watched and you are always available for questions, and your personal life is nothing more now than an offshoot of your professional life. They are entwined. Get used to it.

But where do they come from, these customers?

Well, come on now...where?

I don't have a store yet, so in a traditional sense, I can not possibly have customers, right? Did you know that internet sales (nationally that is, and across all companies) account for more than 8% of all books sales? And from Thanksgiving through New Year's that percentage jumps to nearly 22%? Ah, so mark one: The internet. Did you know that the traditional author event--showing up at a store and sitting at a table and signing books, then leaving--is now officially dead? Authors want to lecture, they want the largest crowd you can offer and they want to be in close proximity to the airport or the hotel at which they will stay. They also like books fairs, festivals, and any large gathering that will guarantee an audience of 50 or more people and help to inflate their well-earned ego's. So, are there any organizations or individuals that are wrangling authors into town and need only a venue or a bookseller to make it go? Does your local library host events? Schools? Corporate headquarters? Press Clubs (larger cities only in all likelihood)? Anyway, you get the point on that one. Authors tour, it's what they do. Since they no longer look for the traditional store setting, then you only lose out by not investigating. Somebody will give you a chance to sell books somewhere. Then you play the contact game and build from there. Don't get me wrong, it's not simple. This is one of the parts of your life you have now given to the business you hope to grow. Again, the sign always reads Open.

Russ hates this term, so I use it any chance I get: B2B. Business to business. What could be better than ordering books for somebody in large quantity, shipping them directly to the customer and receiving a check a month or so later (depending on how their net terms work) for books you never touched? Businesses have training programs, they have sales meetings, they have customers they like to buy books for. Schools are the same. Look into it. It can be a cash cow.

Without getting long winded here, I'm hoping you see that there is a great deal of business to be had if you simply look for it, work for it, and realize that you are trying to get it whether you're in your store or not. I also want you to notice that I have not even mentioned the customers you hope to build for in-store sales. Here's a little secret nobody outside the industry (or to a degree Inside it) will tell you: Relying entirely on in-store sales will give your store a year or two of life if you're so lucky. Running a bookstore is not what it used to be. You have to work outside the box for sales more than you work inside it. This is, quite directly, where you earn your money.

So, that is where I find myself now. I have my certification numbers, I have my accounts and I have to my name a schedule of authors, a host of business clients, and a network of souls willing to help us in any way they may do so. Speaking of which, you may want to look the word "network" up and figure out what it means. Another word of vital importance, quite along the same lines, is "partnership". If you run around destroying relationships then your business will go belly up. There are many examples of this to be sure, but having just emerged from one--working for a boss with no appreciation of such things--I have grown to accept that a business cannot succeed without them.

Go...find people. Let them like you. Like them back. Make friends with them and let them relish the thought of seeing you again. This is business. This is what you do. They are your customers and now that you have found them, you will do anything short of give books away to keep them.

Right?

--zach