Nothing Happens Until Somebody Sells Something

Nothing happens until somebody sells something.  You can own the best looking retail store in town.  You can have the best looking advertising campaign in the market area.  You can adequately stock the best brand names of products in your region.  You can employ the most efficient and the smartest accounting team.  You can dress up your displays better than anyone else in the country.  You can train the best staff to handle customer service with the superb strokes of a professional painter.  You can manage daily operations and maintenance better than any competitor.  Yet, until somebody sells something...nothing great will begin to happen long term.  Period.  Sales do not occur naturally if somebody does not sell something.  Retail stores are designed to present, arrange, manage and produce sales.  Something has to sell.

Nothing happens until somebody sells something.  What a stupid cliché.  Not really.  Selling is the main component to your business success.  Revenues need to start flowing into your business model in order for your model to begin its success trek.  Well, dah.

Hobbies are something we do for fun, not income.  Leisure pursuits are not usually put into practice to produce income.  If you build a retail model, or any business model, and you build it for leisure pursuits you are not building a business.  You are creating an escape for relaxation.  Eventually you will be faced with money challenges treating your business model as a hobby.  You will run into larger expenses with not enough money to throw at them.  Unless you are blessed with some very nice flowing entitlements that come in from other sources, you will eventually need to close your doors.  You will become a statistic.

Do not get me wrong.  Many a great business started from the love of a hobby.  Somehow, along the way, they transitioned into a healthy business model.  So if you are one of those who wants to do your hobby as a business, by all means, do so.  Just keep in mind that eventually you will be faced with choices at a crossroad that will force you to decide which direction you want to take.  One road will be relaxation and hobby activities.  The other road will be some forms of maturity pressures to convert the hobby into a business.  You will be able to enjoy that wonderful decision.

My business model choices have never been about my relaxation desires.  I have never felt that my recreation pleasures need to become my all consuming driving interests.  Owning a business is very much like doing something all consuming.  The two did not match in my mind.  Be very careful when you decide to blend them together.  One will beat the heck out of the other.  Think about it.

The steps to making a business model work well are more than what you can find in making a hobby more fun.  Running a business like a hobby can only lead to a more expensive hobby.  If you plan on spending a good deal more to enjoy your hobby...than by all means, turn it into a business.  That kind of decision will reward that type of desire very well.  You will multiply your expenses for maybe less fun.  I do not recommend that kind of decision.  Be very careful.

I have had several good friends who tried to make their hobby a business.  (Note: the past tense, "tried," to make their hobby a business.)  All have failed to make it work profitably.  Some have destroyed their love for a once great hobby!  The pain of what they went through took over the pleasure they derived from the hobby.  They were warned.  Step back one big step...read the last post on this blog, the one just before this one.  It gives a rude hint as to how we can make these simple mistakes.  Let your hobby be your hobby.  Let your business desire pursue something other than your hobby.  Your chances are much better.

Something Tells Me This Was Not The Original Hobby!

I know many folks have made their hobby work well as a business.  But I can assure you they do not do their hobby like a true hobby anymore.  Hang out with them for about 6 months and you will discover some different treatments for that hobby.  The changes they made in their hobby pursuit was necessary in order for the business to survive well.  The spontaneity that drives a hobbyist will likely change when the hobby becomes a business.  The love for that hobby will likely change.  Be careful.


I work with a lot of people who want to turn their hobby into a business.  Be careful.  Be very careful.  A hobby will need to become a business if it is to survive.  You will eventually be faced with that reality.  Be prepared for that kind of transition.  Some people can make that transition work well.  It is rare, but it can happen.  Just be aware of the reality.

When your hobby becomes a business, nothing good will happen until you sell something.  Remember, you are going to have to sell a bunch of stuff to pay for that expensive hobby.  When you succeed at selling enough stuff to pay the bills to become a successful business...you no longer have a hobby.  They are completely different.  You can trick yourself, but that does not change the truth.

I Have Many Babbling Brooks!

Let's have fun with our hobbies.  They are placed in our lives for really good reasons.  They can become very important "babbling brooks."  If you know what I mean.  They do not need to become your business model so you can be found babbling in a brook.  Think it over and get very ready to sell something.

Until next time....