Adeena Mignogna - Minding My Business: The Complete, No-Nonsense, Start-to-Finish Guide to Owning and Running Your Own Store

Minding My
Business

Minding My
Business

The Complete, No-Nonsense,
Start-to-Finish Guide to Owning
and Running Your Own Store

By Adeena Mignogna

Copyright 2013 by Adeena Mignogna

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mignogna, Adeena.

Minding my business : the complete, no-nonsense, start-to-finish guide to owning and running your own store / by Adeena Mignogna.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-62636-007-5 (alk. paper)

1. Retail trade--Ownership--United States. 2. Stores, Retail--United States--Management. 3. New business enterprises--United States--Vocational guidance. I. Title.

HF5429.3.M534 2013

658.87--dc23

2013028099

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Preface

Why I Wrote This Book

I wrote this book to fill a gap. When I started my retail business in 2002, there were plenty of how-to-start-a-small-business books around and I voraciously read as many as I could. There were also plenty of books out there by successful business folks. For example, Pour Your Heart Into It is about the success of Starbucks, written by CEO Howard Schultz. Books like these can serve as a wonderful inspiration. (See for a list of great books you should read if youre contemplating starting a small business.)

However, when I was opening my retail store, I was looking for a different kind of bookI was looking to read about businesses like mine; I wanted to read about people going through what I was going through. What happens in between the time when you get your business license and when you (hopefully) become wildly successful, I wondered. You dont grow a business like Starbucks overnight.

The content in that first set of books on startups only talked about what happened before the business was up and running; the latter set of books skipped over the really hard parts of the day-to-day life and hardships of the new small business owner. Yes, Howard Schultz wrote about the early days of Starbucks, but he was writing with the knowledge that in the end, it worked. In the end, he wound up with a huge, successful corporation. Most people who write these types of books do so from the top of the mountain, not while theyre making the climb.

Lets face reality: the majority of small businesses are lucky to be around after the first couple of years. The ones that survive the startup stage can be very successful and bring in a steady income to the owner. Knowledge about what that post-startup-trying-to-keep-head-above-water-and-numbers-in-the-black stage thats what I was looking for. Even though I found Mr. Schultzs story very inspiring (he came from nothing and Look at me now, Ma!), most of what he went through with Starbucks didnt feel like it applied to me, so I didnt connect with it.

One of my passions has always been writing, so with not quite two years of retail under my belt, I decided to start writing about my business, The Pot & Bead, while all the problems and joys of new, small business ownership were still fresh. The wounds from my mistakes still stung, and the little joys of a great compliment or an awesome sales day still kept me going. As I finished of the book, my store was approaching its fourth anniversary.

I kept writing because the story kept on going. I continued running the business and gathering more useful tidbits for other would-be small business owners.

A lot was happening in that third, fourth, and fifth year of business. I was living a double lifeI had a full-time career working for someone else and continued to be a business owner, while trying to figure out how to balance the two or make a change. I couldnt live the double life forever.

This book is written mostly as a memoir because thats exactly what it is. It covers the start, middle, and end of the life of a business with all the ups and downs that went with it. As you read through it, youll notice that there was a pretty fundamental shift in my attitude about the business in . For the first few years, the business really was successful; I wasnt taking home a large salary at the time, but I maintained a positive attitude and was hopeful for growth. In the last few years, especially when I started to lose money and I couldnt implement an easy exit strategy, my mood declined with it.

If youre thinking about starting a business, retail or other, then use this book as a supplement to all the how to start a business books out there.What Ive written is about what its like once youve started a business. I talk a lot about the mistakes I made, a lot of which are fairly common, and by reading this book youll be in a much better position to avoid making the same ones. If youre already in business for yourself, then you might see some similarities between my situation and yours. Either way, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as Ive enjoyed writing it.

I hope this book will serve as an inspiration to new small business owners who are also trying to survive their early years in business. I also hope it will fall into the hands of those thinking about going into business for themselves for the first time, particularly those going into a retail business. Retail is not easy. It requires lots of hard work and dedication and sacrifices in terms of income, family, and time. Many people think of retail as a build it and they will come type of business. Thats simply not true. This book should serve as an insight into what really happens in that cute little store.

Id like to thank all the people who were there for me at the start and end of The Pot & Bead. While I worked very hard at the business and at this book, there were so many people aroundfriends, family, employees, customers, coworkerswho were extremely supportive and without whom things would have been much more difficult. The person I have to thank more than anyone else is my dad, Raymond Mignogna. He was a source of support and advice from day one through the end. He helped edit the book and was always there providing advice. Unfortunately, he passed away before the opportunity to republish this book came up, so Id like to dedicate it to him.

PART I

My, What a Cute Little
Store!

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is working 80 hours a week so you dont have to work 40 for anyone else.

Corporate CEO Ramona Arnett

Hi, my name is Adeena and I owned a small business.

You would think that there would be a psychiatric support group for small business owners; the amount of time, effort, and work borders on the masochistic. The sacrifices are great, but at the end of the day, the rewards can be even greater. Yet, you have to wonder about people who start their own business no matter who they are or where they come from, the odds are undoubtedly stacked against them.