Keep it real: The negatives of owning your own store

[AJPRATT]

OMG John... you continue to crack me up!

 

[ElPugDiablo]

A toilet, a toilet....my kingdom for a non clogging toilet.

 

[AJPRATT]

A toilet, a toilet....my kingdom for a non clogging toilet.

I'm right on top of that!

 

[NW JAVA]

" I had to go wit X-raoster because they GAVE me equipment" Yeah OLD used equipment.....and then tell me that my coffee tastes way better. Annd then askes my why his first week nuumber were good but they are falling off...HMMMMMmmmm, maybe the COFFEE?

 

[AJPRATT]

That's one good thing... the bank insisted on us buying the equipment so it would be collateral for the loan. So, if I don't pay the loan, I'll have no store, but I'll still have my house. LOL

 

[John P]

A side note:
In the beginning, you can buy (major) equipment on your personal dollar. Lease it to your business at an appropriate rate.(corp or LLC). File tax accordingly.

This way, if the business takes a nosedive, you can claim the equipment as you are a first in line creditor.

 

[AJPRATT]

Thanks, John... I'll have to look into that.

 

[nemoscoffee]

Re: I agree

There alot of negitives. most can be attributed to employees, heres one that happened the other day.

I had an employee post on myspace.com the following

"Bored at work!"

refer to customers as "interuptions"

complain that she is over worked and under paid while complaining she is bored while using her lap top at work.

Jim

Young people these days are tied to MySpace...
We have a no internet policy, except for management/owners for ordering products, etc. We have a 21 year old girl who keeps going on the internet. We have discussed the policy several times, but we keep catching her on MySpace. We finally had a formal staff meeting and told EVERYONE that if you go on the internet, you will be fired immediately. This is after someone downloaded an internet arcade game software that crashed our point of sale computer.

When you are working 70-90 hours a week, spending additional time to replace a Point of Sale computer, then reformat the HDD and reinstall software on the original one, then swap them out again is very frustrating.
I got a spare computer in there right away, installed our software, restored from backup, and got it up and running. I still have not fixed the old one, and the new one does not have a serial connection for the touch screen function...

Employees are necessary, but they cause some problems. When you talk to them about it, the look at you like you are from Mars.

JD

 

[nemoscoffee]

Re: ownership reality

Then there will be the person whom you wish you could fire because they are just a pain in the butt - causing conflict amongst other emloyees, always whining etc., but not really doing anything to justify firing them....at that point you just pray they quit!
Susan

When we run in to this problem, we hire someone new and cut their hours, giving the hours to the new employee. Over time, we decrease the original employees hours and increase the new employees hours. If asked about it, we explaing that hours are distributed based on work ethic, self motivation, contribution to the team comradery, etc, etc. People either get the message and do better, or they start looking for a different job...

 

[nemoscoffee]

Re: ... i love you but...

Often, dealing with the Starbucks-educated general public. Thats the hard part. Oh-how-I-love my neighborhood, my customers. Sometimes, though you hear the same line over and over... and it becomes a little hard not to laugh at 'em. But then again.... not everyone should know way too much about coffee as most here do. However, here's my favorite examples, heard much too often:

"oh my god, is there supposed to be coffee in this caffe mocha? Cuz it tastes like coffee and i don't like it. Did you, like, put coffee syrup in here or something?"


"can i just have a regular"-cust
"a medium?"-me
"no, a regular"-cust.
"oh, ok, a small"-me
"no, just a regular cup"-cust.
"in-house? ceramic?" -me
"i dunno, just, you know, whatever"-cust.


{Big Huge Sign right in front of them saying "COFFEE. JUST COFFEE. BREWED FRESH." complete with size, price, ect. }
Annoyed: Do you have a cup of just coffee? Why do all these places make it soooo confusing!

These customers get a medium brewed coffee in a to go cup. As soon as we realize they are of the "Midwest farmer Folgers drinker" mindset, we go straight for the medium cup, and leave lots of room for cream.

 

[nemoscoffee]

1. There's never a shortage of stupid people.

2. People asking for donations to their "support local" campaign, and they don't order anything. ????

3. See #1

Oh my gosh...
A seemingly never ending stream of TOTAL STRANGERS that come in, say you have the most wonderful shop, and ask for free product for their upcoming charity event. We thought this might get our name out there, and create a new appreciative 'regular', so we gave free product out. We got no thanks, and the person never came back again (on several occasions). We now only do charity coffee services for major charities (Race for the Cure, American Diabetes Assn, etc) and if we are present to serve the coffee, hand out fliers, and interact with new people. We believe in charity work, but beware the stranger who wants 5 pounds of coffee for their charter school's silent auction!!

 

[nemoscoffee]

Holidays are absolutely horrible for us! Some locations benefit during holidays, they are killers for us. We are near lots of government buildings, and when they are closed for the holidays (all of them, even minor ones like Colombus Day), we are dead.

We are located on a major East West route in Colorado Springs (80,000 cars a day). There is a bus stop in front of our shop. It is unbelievable how many people come in and just want change, or just want to use the bathroom. It is unbelievable how a non-customer can completely trash a bathroom and not care. I stopped giving out change for the bus. I now thell them that I can break their $$ if they buy something. Our sales of Atomic Fireballs at 25 cents skyrocketed!

We have some great employees, and great customers, and we would not change anything we have done. If you are not able to deal well with challenges, then be ready to feel like you are being run through the ringer. If you can handle challenges without freaking out, then go for it.

 

[lizzy]

the fact that you either work really hard or pay someone else to work and they keep the money.

 

[AJPRATT]

1. There's never a shortage of stupid people.

2. People asking for donations to their "support local" campaign, and they don't order anything. ????

3. See #1

Speaking of stupid people... People come in here thinking we're the Chinese place. I wish I knew some Chinese to mess with them. LOL I mean, they walked under a 72 sq ft sign with a big a$$ coffee cup. I wonder what they think the Chinese place is when they walk in there.

People who say, "Oh you're like a Sbux" Um... yeah. But like EPD says, "I reply with, sort of, but we have less stores."

People who say, "I'm just looking..." Seriously, what is that? You came in didn't buy anything, and helped to drive up my expenses because you stood there with the door open on a freezing day. :roll:

I don't want to hear any sentence starting with "You should..." or "Why don't you..." Hey buddy, when you put everything you've got and then some on the line, then I'll think about what you've got to say.

MY FAVE: SALESPEOPLE WHO EXPECT ME TO SPEND MONEY WITH THEM AND DON'T BUY ANYTHING TO SUPPORT MY BUSINESS.

 

[davidsbiscotti]

Speaking of stupid people... People come in here thinking we're the Chinese place. I wish I knew some Chinese to mess with them. LOL I mean, they walked under a 72 sq ft sign with a big a$$ coffee cup. I wonder what they think the Chinese place is when they walk in there.

People who say, "Oh you're like a Sbux" Um... yeah. But like EPD says, "I reply with, sort of, but we have less stores."

People who say, "I'm just looking..." Seriously, what is that? You came in didn't buy anything, and helped to drive up my expenses because you stood there with the door open on a freezing day. :roll:

I don't want to hear any sentence starting with "You should..." or "Why don't you..." Hey buddy, when you put everything you've got and then some on the line, then I'll think about what you've got to say.

MY FAVE: SALESPEOPLE WHO EXPECT ME TO SPEND MONEY WITH THEM AND DON'T BUY ANYTHING TO SUPPORT MY BUSINESS.

Don't hold back Anne, tell us how you really feel about it. LOL

How about asking them if their coffee is for "take out" versus "to go". Or if they'd like some duck sauce with their latte.