5 things I've learned from opening my small business

Tuesday morning, 10:45 AM, I just walked and fed the dogs, a new audiobook playing in the background, and a bowl of cereal sitting on my desk beside a cup of tea. I’m totally judging myself for starting my workday at almost 11 AM but with my crazy late-night schedule lately, I’m proud of myself for starting it at all.

I admit, I’m not one of those structured business owners - I work from bed sometimes, outside of scheduled events I usually have no plan for the rest of the week, and because of the crazy schedule mentioned above, I’ve been power napping quite a lot within the last month.

Does this make me a bad business owner? Some might question. Possibly, but I’m not only a bookstore owner but also an artist. Now, that probably explains everything. Unfortunately, I don’t have a big book deal just yet, so instead I write whatever I feel like on a particular day. I write books, essays, vocal articles, and poetry. I usually work on a nonfiction and a poetry book simultaneously. And since I closed the brick-and-mortar location in Virginia and moved to Austin, Texas - I have been going all over the city with my “traveling bookstore”.

A bookstore that supports indie authors was an idea born during COVID. However, I never had the guts (or financial resources) to follow through. Then my husband died at 27 years old and my corporate job made me feel like I was dying inside. One day I just woke up and decided to open up a bookstore. I named it after my husband - Drew's Bookstore. Since then, I have written and self-published two books while helping other indie authors to promote their work. I also had our storefront for about 6 months until I realized I actually hated the little town where it was located (and where I lived) so I closed it down and moved across the country, slowly shipping the inventory from Virginia to Texas.

Mistakes have most certainly been made. While I’m only 27 and have very limited business experience, there are some things I know for sure every new business owner should know before opening their own company.

1. Less is More

I had a vision - as probably most business owners do. I wanted a perfect, cozy, cute, jaw-dropping storefront. I wanted everyone to come in and have no doubts this was a REAL bookstore. I invested a lot of money in the furniture, inventory, POS, and live music for our events. I was so proud of what I achieved and in my mind, there was no other way to do it because people wouldn’t come to a store that was only halfway done. Not until I decided to close and sell all of our furniture, I realized that people couldn’t care less. Our last live music event was with a high school band which consisted of our open mic regulars. They didn’t charge me anything for performing and showed up with a huge crowd of friends and families who filled up the store to the point people had to wait outside to come in. I was in shock! Suddenly, paying $600 for a musician who brought literally no one with them seemed extremely unreasonable.

For the whole month before closing, after I sold our register, I did all the transactions on my phone. The bookshelves were also sold, so most of the books were placed on the floor or even on the couches. It was a mess, I was embarrassed about how unprofessional the store looked… and we were still making money just the way we did when everything was “perfect”.

2. Do you really need an employee?

I didn’t but I hired one anyway. I thought that if we could have longer working hours, we would bring more people in and make more money. But it was winter which is the slowest time for all retail stores and even in spring I realized this town was kind of dead during the week. Staying open for so long on the weekdays when we made 90% of our sales on weekends, made absolutely no sense. I should’ve come up with hours that worked for me during the week and focused on weekends when I knew I wouldn’t be sitting there and doing nothing. Instead, I paid someone to do exactly that just so I could say the store was open 10-6. My advice - don’t hire an employee/s unless you’re 100% sure you can’t live without and can afford them.

3. Choose the right Location and Community

If you are planning on opening a store, restaurant, cafe, or any other business that requires people to come to your physical location, I’d say 75% of your success depends on where that location is. I thought that opening a store on Main Street in Old Town was a great idea. Things I didn’t consider before committing to a 3-year lease:

- Main Street location means nothing if the store is hidden or inaccessible.

- I was aiming for a completely different demographic than this town had to offer. You can do all the marketing in the world but if you’re trying to aim for young people in their twenties in a family-oriented town with loads of retirees, you will probably fail.

- Fighting with close-minded people is exhausting and simply not worth it. Do yourself a favor and don’t try to change the world by opening a progressive small business in one of the most conservative and closed-off communities in the area. I thought I could make a difference, and while I know I did for some people, it was definitely not a good business move.

- Find a place where other small businesses will help you thrive. Partnerships, reposting each other’s posts, sharing space, etc. - it’s all so important! Yes, technically you can do it all on your own BUT it’s so much easier when other small business owners are there to help out and share their resources.

4. Don’t waste your money on marketing

And no, I do not mean do not promote your business at all. I mean, choose very carefully how you’re going to promote it. These days there are so many FREE marketing tools that it almost feels silly to pay for them. I do occasionally pay for marketing, but over the last year, I have learned what actually works for my business. One thing I definitely encourage you NOT to do is to spend thousands of dollars on any kind of promotion. Unless you have that money start small.

- Social media posts, especially reels, TikToks, and maybe even YT videos - start with spreading the word!

- Post stories with behind-the-scenes. Many people are actually interested in your journey and even if they don’t buy anything now, one day they will!

- Targeted Facebook ads - from my experience, they work much better than Instagram ads. IG tends to bring clicks only, while FB ads have brought me many customers!

- Postcards with a logo, basic info, social handles, and a QR code! I always have them with me, leave them at coffee shops and community boards, and give them out to people who show any interest in my store. I don’t waste them for just anyone who passes by but once I see the interest, I give out the postcard. I created them on Canva - they are small and on cardboard paper so it’s hard to wrinkle them. That way they can go home and check out your business when they have a moment.

- Free events and meetups - the only investment is your time. Let people get to know your product and get involved before investing their money in what you're selling. Events build a community and before you know they're not only your customers but also friends. Which brings me to...

5. Make it personal

It’s quite simple really. When people pick up my book (the one I wrote) I say “Oh, it’s my book”. They ask “You wrote it?!” and then I tell them a quick story about how I wrote two books, have poetry prints for sale, and try to support other indie authors because I know how hard it is to publish and sell books. And just like that, from a person who was slightly interested in my store, I have a person fully invested in my story. And when it’s personal, it’s much harder to say no to the product you’re selling! People like supporting other people, not the things they sell. True, it helps a lot when they like your product but there’s a huge possibility someone else has the exact same product (perhaps Walmart or Amazon) and they probably sell it cheaper - so personal touch is the one advantage you have over them.

I’m finishing this article at the very first writers group I organized in Austin, Texas. We are a total of three women, me including, who have one thing in common: we love writing but our day-to-day lives love getting in the way of this passion. Once again, I’m creating a community of like-minded people who need the space to share their art with others. And yes, I know that technically I make no money on it. I should stop volunteering to do things for free and start making more money. At the same time, I’ve never felt more fulfilled. The money will come… I hope. Meanwhile, I’m betting on myself, my writing, and my bookstore.

“It is not childish to live with uncertainty, to devote oneself to a craft rather than a career, to an idea rather than an institution. It’s courageous and requires a courage of the order that the institutionally co-opted are ill equipped to perceive. They are so unequipped to perceive it that they can only call it childish, and so excuse their exploitation of you.” - David Mamet

As per Memet - if you have a backup plan, you’ll always fall back on it. So for now, as crazy as it sounds, I do not have one. I truly believe that by the end of the year, I’ll be a successful writer and a bookstore owner. I learned from my mistakes, I moved to a new city, and I’m giving myself a chance for a fresh start. I'm sure that I found the perfect location and community for my business. Now it’s time to thrive. And this time, instead of having idealistic expectations, I’ll take it step by step.

I’m still a dreamer but I’m no longer naive. You could almost say I’m an experienced business owner.

And yes, this is absolutely a sign to quit your job and follow your passion... responsibly!