Day 315 of 362

It's Saturday at the store. We supposedly have Warmachine going on at the store, but no one is here for it. To that end, I blame myself as I really didn't advertise it well. That's something I/we will have to change with the new place, but part of that is an issue with manpower. With a larger space, we'll have to hire two to four more people. We have most of those people lined up, already in one form or another, but it brings me to face an aspect of myself I hate... Even with doing twelve years in food service management, I know that I absolutely *SUCK* as a manager.

I'm great as an employee. Set a task down in front of me, and once I know how to do said task, I will do it as well as anyone who's ever done it. I can work without supervision, and honestly prefer to, and my employers always knew that things would get done. As the guy who does the bulk of the day to day work here, I do okay, as I have pretty much only myself to direct. No, my problem is letting go and TRUSTING people to do the things I need done to put my mind at ease in terms of business.

I have this mindset where it is easier for me to just do the work that needs to be done than it is to train people to do it to my expectations. That's a very short-sighted mindset to have, and it needs to change if the Gopher is going to continue to grow. I've read advice from other game store owners who went into this with full blown business plans and how they planned their staffing from the start, and I am amazed and terrified. We didn't do that. We bought a store from two guys who started it on a tax return. They didn't have much of a plan, and we didn't have much of a plan when we took it over other than I would run it long enough to either grow the place, or realize we should shut the doors.

As has happened three years ago when we moved the store to its current location, we stand on the edge of a precipice... The store HAS to move... Not to survive, but to grow... It's needs space... With space comes added necessary manpower. We (Loq, Skribl, and I) can't do everything here in the space we have now. We NEED the help, and I know it. As with the previous move, I feel, in my gut, the upcoming move will make or break the store, and I don't know what scares me more...

Failing, which means I would have to get a real job again in order to help support my family... I enjoy working for myself. I highly recommend being your own boss if you can manage it. The job stress is higher, but it's different and satisfying. At the end of the day, though, what you have is yours. Failing would take that away...

...or...

Succeeding... I honestly do not know how I would act if this move made the business explode. I do not know if I could personally handle it, mostly because I have never been in that sort of position before, and the unknown always scares me more...

GopherDave

Day 314 of 362

It's Friday... that means Friday Night Magic. It also means that we have three or four places to look at as potential new sites for the store... and we have Gopher Mafia T-shirts and hoodies in if we can get over to pick them up today...

Behind... as usual... gotta go...

-- GopherDave

Day 313 of 362

It's Thursday, and I'm not actually running behind too much. I have to go run a couple of errands for the store before I get there, but it shouldn't be too terribly hard to accomplish.

Not much is going on in the way of gaming currently with me. One game is on semi-hiatus due to some real-world issues for the GM, and the other game I play in, well, I wasn't feeling well when it last happened, so I couldn't tell you exactly what went on.

The one game I run? The Dearborne Ring (their name, not mine) went against five semi-generic villains this passed Sunday.  Three villains (Kilohurt, Psy, and Hatchetman) got away... two others (Sky Tiger and Bonecrusher) got beaten down, and one hero (JP) (along with several million in corporate bearer bonds) is missing. In the PCs defense, they were down a man, so it was four-on-five, putting them at a disadvantage from the start. We'll see how it goes...

-- GopherDave

Day 312 of 362

Good morning... Running a bit late as usual, but I did get an early start on the day. Got up and gave Loq's car a jump start, then followed her to the auto parts store and got her a new battery for said car. So, I've been productive...

Heading to the store to receive orders. It's not that bad, except somewhere, with the earlier opening hours, we seem to have picked up a few regulars who pretty much hit the store right at open. This typically cuts into the flow of receiving, but I am slowly learning to live with it.

On the storefront side, T-minus two days before we go look at four more potential spots for a new Gopher hole. Part of me is very anxious to see places, while another part of me just wants to move on and choose from something we've already seen. I'm going to try to display some patience in this, but my gut is kicking at me. Once this weekend is over, we are hitting the ground running. It's going to take a lot of help from folks outside of Loquacious, Skribl, and myself to make this all work in the time frame we have. I'm confident we can get the bulk of it done, but it will be close.

-- GopherDave

Day 311 of 362

Okay... It's Tuesday. It means I need to place some orders. It also means that I need to do a bit of stop-gap soda shopping. I've already been a bit busy this morning, having picked up a stop-gap solution to my wife's car problems, and hopefully I can put that to the side for a couple of days now.

We'll be making a (hopefully final) decision on the new Gopher hole this weekend. Loq and I are scheduled to look at three last properties this Friday. From there, we'll be narrowing it down to a final two and throwing those options out to the Gophers for opinions and comments. The final decision is still ours to make, but soliciting some outside opinions may help us catch and think about some overlooked-by-us details.

It is my hope that this is the final move for the business, but for the right reasons, and not the wrong ones. I've known too many game stores that bit off more than they could chew and either opened or expanded into spaces that were too large for them to handle. I've also known game stores that refused to move and decided to "make do" with a space that had become too small for the items they carried AND the crowd they would pull in. It made for a claustrophobic atmosphere that was NOT enjoyable to shop at, and that's close to where we are now. There some ways to make our current space more efficient, but at the rate we are trying to grow, it'll be less than another six months before we're right back where we are at currently.

Adult decisions are hard...

-- GopherDave

Day 310 of 362

Hey there! It's Monday and I have about as much time as I did yesterday... stupid book.

It's 40K night, so I'll get to go home early. No idea what I'll actually do for the night except hag out with the kids. Ehhh... I'll find something....

-- GopherDave

Day 309 of 362

Hey there... It's Sunday, so I'm running late. even with an extra hour due to reclamation of Daylight Savings Time. I blame Clinton J. Boomer and his book, The Hole Behind Midnight. It takes a bit to get going, but it's turning into a fun read...

There are stuff and things going on at the store today. Mostly RPGs and Board Games. I'm running one of them. Can you tell how behind I am?

-- GopherDave