Say goodbye to Twinkies (1 Viewer)

[justdave]

Then it's even less believable for me to hear you say you were making less than minimum wage working 120 hours per week and doing $45K per month in sales at an average of 300% muf.

Anyway, I guess it's Obama's fault the internet came along and ruined all your fun.

In fairness to DK I will say that with his main product (livestock) there are a lot of associated costs that he had that would go well beyound those associated with many products found in retail stores. A lot as in a mind numbing amount that those outside the industry wouldn't be aware of.

I would say that the number one reason that this type of store fails is because of the way they are started. Usually by someone in the hobby that thinks it would be so cool to have a business selling what they love and they approach it as an extension of what they are already doing at home but on a grander scale. They soon realize that nothing could be further from the truth and depending on income and resources they soon go out of business, try all kinds of things to keep the business afloat which prolongs the inevitable, or they understand what the real purpose behind having a retail store is and adapt/evolve to make it profitable.

I'm certainly no expert on the subject nor am I inferring that any of the above applied to DK. I did ,however, open such a business 17 years ago and made many of those mistakes but I fortunately had the resources that allowed me the time to learn and adapt before it was too late.

This much I believe. If two people were going to start identical businesses and one knew everything there was to know about the things he wanted to sell and the other didn't but was really sharp and had really good business acumen my money would be on the second guy as to who had the greater chance of success.

I just sold my business a couple of months ago and in retrospect I think I would have done better selling Twinkies as opposed to aquarium livestock. I might not have enjoyed it as much but there would have been less overhead and I'm pretty sure Twinkies have a longer shelf life.

 

[dtc]

Well if your passion is Marine Aquariums then it is. You cant have a day off for Christmas, or take a weekend off. Fish have to eat and if a system has a pump go out you can loose 10k in a few hours. Employees are the main issue fish guys and fish girls are hard to find. I had one reliable employee in the 5 years, heck even caught a Mormon girl stealing coral.

In hind site I would have opened an Asian Massage parlor cause that sells itself and you just gotta go pick up money.....

We are talking about business not passion. I love fishing and eating oysters and beer, but I'm smart enough or lucky enough to have not made the bad decisions depending on your perspective to have not decided to become a charter captain or an oyster bar owner.

I know full well I'm not cut out for 80hr weeks in a restaurant or dealing with 120 wait and kitchen staff. I know from simple math than you can't make what my lifestyle requires by running billfishing charters in NW Florida.

But that's not the point. You are here on this thread blaming Obama for your business failure. You've cited restrictions and regulations and fear mongered about upcoming tax cuts and other perceived problems. You've also proffered some seriously bad math and asked us to believe you when a cursory review of your numbers makes it pretty clear that you are either engaging in dishonesty or that you had a flawed business model.

Further, here you are now talking about passion and hobby when, in fact, those have nothing to do with the structural capacity of a business to make money.

Here's what I think is the truth. You love fish and aquariums so you turned your hobby into a business that you had little idea how to run so you did what you thought was best and you weren't making enough to make it worth while. And, you quit. There's nothing too wrong there and it happens every day and with all the success we had in retail, I've opened a couple of stores that were dismal failures due to bad location choices which in translation are my failure to properly do my job.

I didn't blame fantastical upcoming regulations for my failures though.

 

[DesertKajun]

Might want to research the industry prior to making broad statements. I was very well informed on the industry and the hobby prior to buying. I worked with, and knew several very successful people in the market and know coral reef tanks better then most. I was stone dumb on how many taxes were out there when opening a place though. I made it past that money grab but now its just too much, if I didn't hire an accountant (more income gone) you run the risk of messing up and going to jail these days. Obama's admin has have a lot of effects on importation of marine animals as well as the burden Obama care is putting on pet stores. Margins are not allowing them to keep employees with the fines. I know few places that offer health care and you cant really raise prices with internet competition having the upper hand already. Stores here are dropping staff or using 1099 for labor. In this climate I doubt I would have been able to sell the store at all. I saw this coming though, but again I sold to spend more time with kids and less with fish not that my business model was failing.

 

[Cosmic201]

That's what the fish store is for.......

Banker " Why does this money smell fishy?" lmao.....

"Well. I run an Asian message parlor."


Don't explain further.

 

[dtc]

Might want to research the industry prior to making broad statements. I was very well informed on the industry and the hobby prior to buying. I worked with, and knew several very successful people in the market and know coral reef tanks better then most. I was stone dumb on how many taxes were out there when opening a place though. I made it past that money grab but now its just too much, if I didn't hire an accountant (more income gone) you run the risk of messing up and going to jail these days. Obama's admin has have a lot of effects on importation of marine animals as well as the burden Obama care is putting on pet stores. Margins are not allowing them to keep employees with the fines. I know few places that offer health care and you cant really raise prices with internet competition having the upper hand already. Stores here are dropping staff or using 1099 for labor. In this climate I doubt I would have been able to sell the store at all. I saw this coming though, but again I sold to spend more time with kids and less with fish not that my business model was failing.

You said you were working 120 hours and making less than minimum wage. That's about $320 per week and working 120 hours for $320 per week is what I would call a dismal failure. It's also completely impossible that Obamacare had anything to do with it because it hasn't even been enacted. And, were it to have been, you said in one instance you were the only employee and later that you had one, but either way your business wouldn't have qualified.

However, you, personally, would have been eligible for personal healthcare subsidies since you were making so little money.

So, in fact, Obamacare and regulation had nothing to do with your failure. It would have actually helped you and your employees. Still, your Romney style math doesn't add up.

 

[DesertKajun]

unless your figuring min wage as 3 bucks an hour your math must reflect you actually own a business in China where the wages are a tad lower. Even at 12 hours a day min wage is 609 a week not 320.

 

[SWJJ]

unless your figuring min wage as 3 bucks an hour your math must reflect you actually own a business in China where the wages are a tad lower. Even at 12 hours a day min wage is 609 a week not 320.

So you were making 609 a week?

 

[DesertKajun]

About 1000 before taxes average I would say, Summers were leaner with AC bill so high and sales lower. Not terrible for one location but nothing I cant make working 40 a week for someone else until we get some sanity on spending and taxing. Now figure what Obama care will cost small business and I can't see some making it.

A lot of pet stores are still mom and pop and work off these numbers. Reptile stores were similar with a 300% mark bu tons of overhead. They mostly live off selling feeder mice and rats which is the smell you get in a reptile shop.

If they don't give waivers to a lot of small business Obama care will kill them IMO. If you apparently have a small bus making "obscene" profits to afford a big house and boats like some here then I guess you can just downsize the toys and move to a smaller house or lay off a few people your choice....

 

[SWJJ]

About 1000 before taxes average I would say, Summers were leaner with AC bill so high and sales lower. Not terrible for one location but nothing I cant make working 40 a week for someone else until we get some sanity on spending and taxing. Now figure what Obama care will cost small business and I can't see some making it.

A lot of pet stores are still mom and pop and work off these numbers. Reptile stores were similar with a 300% mark bu tons of overhead. They mostly live off selling feeder mice and rats which is the smell you get in a reptile shop.

If they don't give waivers to a lot of small business Obama care will kill them IMO. If you apparently have a small bus making "obscene" profits to afford a big house and boats like some here then I guess you can just downsize the toys and move to a smaller house or lay off a few people your choice....

So you were exaggerating the "making less than minimum wage" bit then?

 

[DesertKajun]

So you were exaggerating the "making less than minimum wage" bit then?

I worked way more then 12 hours a day.......it was min wage or just above it.....

 

[BHM]

Daily Kos: Inside the Hostess Bankery

Why did he just go get another job paying $16/hr?

 

[dtc]

I worked way more then 12 hours a day.......it was min wage or just above it.....

So you were making minimum wage on 80-120 hours per week?

Still, the fact that you keep saying the costs from Obamacare are what doomed you is like me blaming the Mayans for stealing my last beer.

 

[DesertKajun]

So you were making minimum wage on 80-120 hours per week?

Still, the fact that you keep saying the costs from Obamacare are what doomed you is like me blaming the Mayans for stealing my last beer.

"Would have" doomed me had I not seen it coming and sold. It is dooming the current stores in town....

 

[dtc]

About 1000 before taxes average I would say, Summers were leaner with AC bill so high and sales lower. Not terrible for one location but nothing I cant make working 40 a week for someone else until we get some sanity on spending and taxing. Now figure what Obama care will cost small business and I can't see some making it.

A lot of pet stores are still mom and pop and work off these numbers. Reptile stores were similar with a 300% mark bu tons of overhead. They mostly live off selling feeder mice and rats which is the smell you get in a reptile shop.

If they don't give waivers to a lot of small business Obama care will kill them IMO. If you apparently have a small bus making "obscene" profits to afford a big house and boats like some here then I guess you can just downsize the toys and move to a smaller house or lay off a few people your choice....

Here's what's wrong with your thinking and that of many who think Obamacare is going to kill them.

First hand now so hang on....

It's not going to cost me anything. I don't have 50 employees. I already provide insurance and since Obamacare passed my premiums have stabilised rather than continuing their 15-30% annual increase.

Even if it were going to cost me a couple grand per employee, I wouldn't cut back on boats of toys one freaking bit. I'd do a little more advertising. I'd try to pick up one additional little remodel job per year. I'd raise my prices, but the one thing I wouldn't do is give up and resign myself to a life of willingly being misinformed and cry about it.

 

[dtc]

"Would have" doomed me had I not seen it coming and sold. It is dooming the current stores in town....

I prefer to live in reality so i guess it's not going to doom me.