An Intriguing Tale Of Being An Owner

I have to take my hats off to the spouse ! why?  every friday night – they have gaming sessions in our store – but as you can see – the store is really busy on a friday and each time a customer needs help – which is often – he had to stop – serve the customer first and then go back to gaming. He won’t let me stay back to help him out – now that the kid is back in school – and insist on doing it this way *slap forehead*  And yes! the store had been busy – we are getting a lot more popular these days – since we are the only movie store in town and also the most reasonable priced computer repair shop with the fastest service.  Sometimes, I’m tempted to hire someone to help – but I dare not – after all, we had been bitten so many times – it’s crazy to think that anyone would really work because they want your store to thrive except ourselves.

I was at the doctor’s today – for my princess – she was taking her second flu mist at our family doctor’s and I had asked if the Zhu’s were accepted at the clinic as well – because I had submitted their application on the first day when the ballot was out.  I was really happy to find out that they were accepted. Woohoo!!  can’t wait to tell them about it – I bet they are going to be very happy – health care careers are aplenty in this town – just look at the doctors – we can’t get enough of them.  And when we do get them – they don’t stay to long, but yes ! if I could turn the clock back I would definitely take up a career in health care that’s for sure.

Woohoo!! good news for us – looks like we may be the only video store in town soon – the competition down the road is closing its door in a week.   And to think that someone was thinking of making movies and video big at that store.  Poor Tim at E-One – burst your bubbles eh!   I feel bad for the people who worked there – but not for that Tim fella that’s for sure.  He must have thought that he screwed us up – when he pulled his movies and games out from us some 3 years ago – but see – we did even better.  Outlasted that big boys like Movie Gallery and now him as well !  Serves him and his ego right!

Of late – we`ve been seeing some high end computer come in for repair.  This particular one cost as much as $12K – doesn`t belong to a local here though – it was someone from out of town – and here on the boat.  But yes!  even though he wasn`t from town – he found us.

I had asked the customer how he found us – and he told us that he was recommended by someone he was visiting here.  In fact, he said he did check at the competition but they had wanted $55 just to look at it – and about another $120 to scan for viruses – and cannot guarantee that it will work still.   Yes! 11 years in business and we are getting some good recognition I tell yer.  I`m so happy we stuck at it – and made it work.  A few years ago, we were ready to throw in our hat.

It had been a busy month for us last month and I foresee a lot more customers now that fishing had just started – and like they all said – as soon as the fishermen starts coming back with their cash – and selling some fishes and lobsters – the money will come in.  I think by the end of the month – I would be losing lots of hair from eating out too much, I better get some hair loss products soon – before I lose all my hair.   Every year during this time, we hardly have time to cook – we usually just eat whatever we can find and conveniently – thus I noticed that I do lose more hair than I normally would during the slow times.  I guess – the MSG in the food – the stress and the extra hours put in – can do that to one’s hair but I kinda anticipated it – because every Christmas – we are very busy here in our store – just gotta learn to take care of myself better.

This town is pretty self sufficient when it comes to shopping but even with so much to offer, there are some things that I can’t get in this town.  When I can get them – I get them in the city – so shopping in the city once every few months is a must for us.  But you all know that owning your own business, one can’t up and go as and when we want – so when we do get a chance to go – I have to get my best acne treatment and all my skin products that I can’t get here.  Shopping in the city is fun – I get to see and buy all the things I can’t get here in this town – I spend a lot too.  But when it comes to my skin – I know there is just no saving on it – because it’s very important to get rid of the acne and pimples.  Many asked me why I can’t use a brand here from Shopper’s Drug Mart – but I guess it’s because I’m confident with the brand I’m using and am quite use to it – so although it’s troublesome – I still get my skin products in the city.

The store had been busy for a few weeks now – we are definitely grateful for the business but you know – with the spouse doing so much at the store already – I don’t even dare ask him to do anything else.  A customer was in tonight and said the same day – that though the standard of living is not high – we still need to work a few jobs – just to give our family and kids a better lifestyle for the future.  She was telling me that she need to get some best male enhancement products for her spouse to spice up her private life  – and I don’t blame her for thinking that.  Sometimes, we are so tired from a day’s work and looking after our kids – and on top of it house cleaning – and the extended family – we are totally drained.  So I told her – if she finds something that works – to let me know – we could use some too.   After all, for centuries – the woman are always doing this and taking that to please their spouse – time for the spouse to do something too eh.

In our 11 yrs in business – one thing we’ve learned – a value thing and lesson – is never to hire friends or people you are familiar with.   Why? because you don’t want to lose a friend or a relative or a customer if things doesn’t work out.  And usually it doesn’t – because when you hire friends or someone you know – they too have expectations out of you.  When you become a boss – things changes – you need to get work done – but as a friend – they think that things are still the same – thus – very quickly you will hate each other – one for being a slacker and the other for being a tyrant.  So remember – if you own your own business – especially a small one like ours – never hire a friend or a customer – or someone you know – else – you are just asking for trouble.

Yes! if you don’t know by now – we have a downtown walking club to help folks from downtown – or around town to stay healthy – i think they walk during lunch time.  I see quick a few people walking every afternoon – but I’m so shy to join – because I walked so slow.  But a customer who was in today – and works downtown does her walking and she said that she not only walks but uses  www.bestweightlosssupplements.org to help her keep fit.

The problem with the downtown walking club – they seems like an elite group of people – and people like me – well – you know what i mean – not that socialable – and not very interactive – and not very fit – how do we join right?  not really the most comfy people you want to work with.  So I’ll check out the website instead.

I’m sure by now – you all know we have a wonderful town.  The other day – I received a call from this guy who asked if I knew anything about the xbox 360 that he just bought not too long ago.  He said he doesn’t have the 3 lights blinking on his console – but only one – so is there anything that can be done for it?  or do I know what is wrong with it?  The boss wasn’t around – so I wasn’t able to pass the phone.  But you see I’ve smarten up too – and asked me – where did he purchase the console – in which he replied – oh – at Zellers!   So I replied – well – give Zellers a call – maybe they can help – haha!  Once again – why do people feel that we need to help them – when they never bought the console from us?

A woman and her young son was in to rent a free movie – yes!  like any local business – we sponsor some local activities and give out free movie rentals.   It is pretty normal – but with this “customer”  -  many moons ago – her son had bought a “M” game from us – and she had gone crazy about it – and called us a crook because of it – even though we refunded the money to her.  Instead of teaching her son – not to buy games not meant for him – she came to berate us – and called us a crook on a local Facebook  yardsale.  So if we were such crooks – why would she come and rent a “free” movie from us?  People are strange here – did I tell you?

A customer came in looking for some steiner binoculars for her outdoorsy boss – who loves to go bird watching and hunting of ducks.  And since duck season is just round the corner – she wonder if we had any to sell – or could order some for her.    No, we don’t carry any – but we found some good binoculars for her to choose from and steered her to the right direction and this place does price matching with no tax and free shipping – not bad at all.  Another happy customer – sure we didn’t make any money – but we aim to please whenever we can.

I’ve time and again told you that this town is extremely funny !  you see they even have bylaws for signs – that means you need to get permission to put up a sign and no flashing signs too.  Yes – apparently – flashing signs can cause accidents?  Mannn!! this people haven’t been to Las Vegas or Japan eh – muahahah!!  anyhow – we were out looking for door chime from the local hardware store when we heard a conversation between 2 customers that the sign bylaws were gonna be changed but there is going to be a big debate about it.

The town planner fears that with this new bylaws or freedom for putting up signs without getting a permit could lead to more cost – because they might be asked to remove it. *sigh* – how ridiculous right?  businesses need a permit to put up signs!  how is a business gonna thrive if they need a red tape on everything they are doing?  Makes no sense to me !  is the concern of the town planner a real concern?  I really can’t tell – but this town sure looks pretty dull in my humble opinion – even India has some awesome signs in the city. So more debate i heard soon – we didn’t continue listening as we needed our door chime and head back to work.

This year the Seafest Marshall is my favorite businessman – why can’t everyone be like Jim?  Nice and unassuming always polite and non-confrontational and always giving a good word and encouragement.  Oh and honest!  It’s hard to come by someone with such good quality – truth be told – i’m also striving to be like him.  But so hard when you’ve got some crazy demands from certain customers.  Thank God !  we only get a few of those every month.

This year seafest was very colorful – I’ll have to say – they even got Clements Park’s float and a lot of clowns – of course – the RCMP is not to be missed as well.  So the local town dispatch moved to our side of the town – did we see less loitering?  Yes – around Tim’s – but they moved upwards – thank God – they didn’t move up to our store – HAHAHAHAH!!! but really – i’m sure they meant no harm.

The good youth of the town was in the parade too – i saw quite a few of our customers’ kids in this parade – all grown up.  Even one of the boss’s cousin was in the parade giving out ribbons for MADD.

Woohooo!! Miss Canada International!!

The Seafest Queens – all dressed up – and all looking really pretty.

And our new MLA – Zach Churchill – it’s good to see the new MLA mingling  with the locals but i’ve yet to see him at our store and I’m still watching his every move – afterall, we did vote for him.

Love the pipe pipers – who doesn’t right?  makes me think of that story of the pipe piper. I do have more pictures of the entire parade – but I just wanted to share a few – to let you see what it’s like in this small town.  This year – i’ll have to say was pretty impressive – but the prizes that went out to certain float – makes me wonder.  But what do i know right?

Seafest 2010 officially opens today – the children’s parade started at 1.10pm and the weather was really good too.  Despite the fact that it was raining yesterday – the kids’ spirit was really high as you can see here.  So what is Seafest – i hear people asked all the time – it’s a series of event for the town and its resident and hopefully the neigbouring county to come celebrate summer by the sea.

We used to sponsor some events some 10 years ago – and have our name printed on banners for the event we sponsored but lately they haven’t approached us – so that’s ok too.  I see this year a lot of big names were in their sponsorship – like Register.com – Pharmasave – Rudders – Eastlink Advertising – Canadian Tire – Boston Pizza – CBDC – City Drug Store – Coastal Financial Credit Union – Murray GM – Tim Hortons of course Warptech – all the big boys in this town.  I wonder why they didn’t approach Walmart eh?  Afterall, Walmart gets most of this town’s money in my humble opinion and put some outta business as well.  Oh did you see our new MLA ?  yes ! there he is!

As I sit and enjoy my patio furniture cushions that we had just bought – I took a look at some of the recent elected candidates for MLA for this town.  One was the ex-mayor of this town for the last 20 yrs  – someone whom I’ve walked by now and then on the streets but never once said hello to me – not that i’m a small woman either – that he could have missed me.  Most likely thinks i’m just poor immigrant from China – muahahhaa!

Then we have  few others that I have never met or seen in my entire 10 yrs here – and then we have the above  – the youngest – and most promising one – only 26 years old.   I saw a video clip on his nomination speech this afternoon – and yes – he was full of zest, aspiration, hope, promises – boldness and personally, i do want to believe him but his speech was so overwhelming for me – why?  In the last few years – I’ve heard a lot similar pitches and in the last few years – I’ve been truly disappointed by our “leaders”

We are not into politics, we are business people as I had sat down and written to one of the candidates on his website, I had asked him the reason/s why I and my household of 5 should vote for him?  I’ve yet to hear back from him and it had been more than 24 hrs and the general consensus after speaking with several customer was – does it matters?  Does it matter who gets voted in?  Does it?

So I hear a lot of people sharing their dreams with us – many wants to open their own businesses – like 2 yrs ago – a lady customer came in to let us know that she just finished her business course at the local college and she is going to get all these fundings out there.   So we wished her good luck and 3 yrs later – she is still unemployed and living on welfare.

Don’t get me wrong – i’m sure many would be good businessmen/women but the kind of town we are in – it’s really hard for any zealous people to get a go at it – I wanna tell them not to loose any sleep over it – about the funding and for some closer customer/s, I want to recommend some  sleeping pills in advance – but I know they would take it the wrong way – so i nod and agree with them.   Why do I say that? or think that?  well, we’ve been down that road – and it sure wasn’t the easiest – in fact – if it weren’t for the extended family – i think we may not have stuck it out that long.   The fundings that are out there – are not for ordinary people like you and I – because they are so deep into themselves – the ones that holds the money – it’s never going to you or me.  The bank?  no way – you are not bankable unless you have assets but at 20 something – what asset would one have ? except for a beaten up old car and some comic books.

Today, someone was in pricing up what we charged for a computer part – because he was working from home.  He wants to be brave and start up – I told him good luck.  But deep down inside – i wanna share our experience with him – but bit my tongue.  I know most ppl will take it wrongly and with such a small town – people who sees you do good – wants a share of the pie as well.  We have been in business for 10.5 yrs and till today – there are some people who don’t know we exist – yes ! you heard me right.  Word of mouth can only go so far – when you are a new business – opening a business is easy – to keep the business going – well that’s another thing altogether – well, unless you have lots of money or strong back up.

So the music store is now a canine store which will be opened on Monday – about time!  I’ve seen them slowly renovating the store that we were at some 2.5 yrs ago.  I heard they needed  roadside assistance to help with their break down on their delivery van one day when they were half way transporting some of the animals that were from another store.

Yes! till today – there are still people asking about the Music Store and this town does need something but I’m guessing that the old music store expected much more than just mediocre business.  There used to be a toy store where this Canine store was – then we took over – after they couldn’t support the store – we moved after 2 yrs to a smaller store – not because we couldn’t afford it but because the landlord (assistant) – wouldn’t fix the draft at the display windows.  The place cost an arm and a leg to heat – then the music store took over for less than 2 years and now the Canine store -  i wish them luck!    because the fengshui for that store ain’t that good.

As you all know we are a computer/game store – but the questions that some people asked us when they walk into the store is amazing.  Sometimes, you don’t know whether to laugh or roll your eyes in disbelieved.  Today, we had a woman coming in to try and sell us her collection of CDs that she said she did not use anymore.  Fair enough, we explained to her that we don’t pay much for it.  In which she replied – so do you sell any CDs yourself *roll eyes*.  So what did she think we were gonnd do with the CDs that she was planning to sell us…??   This is not the funniest though – the other day – a customer who was a skinny as a pencil came into our store – all huffing and puffing asking if we sell weight loss pills – hahahha!!  the spouse look at me .. and i looked at him – and we both pointed at our sign above us – saying – computer sales and repairs.  hahahahaha!!

We get a lot of sales calls ..  from insurance company to web design companies and even those who wants to sell us the best diet supplement – I kid you not.   I can understand why a computer supplier or a movie supplier would call and do their sales pitch on us – but mannn….!!!  you get just about anything and everything these days.  Just the other day .. the RCMP called to ask if we wanted to support their some RCMP book but you and I know – that all these donation will come to nothing – because who really go look at those RCMP books or even the school year book.  Even Roger’s the telephone company would call and don’t get the hint about not wanting an extra phone.  So what do you do when you have one phone line for the store.. and there are customers in front of you waiting to pay up..?? usually i don’t get mad with them.. but the boss.. he hangs up on them.