Ok, so I obviously have not posted in a while. It's easy to forget to do so, when you've been traveling as much as I've been lately. Well, that's not entirely true...since I stayed at my Mom's for about a week and a half trying to get my purchases all caught up. Before that free extended stay, I traveled to Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma to attend book sales and a few Borders bookstore closings. I was very fortunate to acquire thousands of books to list, unfortunately, I still have not finished them up before I headed out for more book sales. Thankfully, my Mom is being really cool about helping me out right now, and letting me store several boxes there. Of course, I have to get there in a couple of weeks and get them all caught up, but that's a deadline I am looking forward to meeting.
I feel horrible for putting the blog on the back burner, so I apologize for not keeping up with you all. I am hoping to get everything caught up so I can get back to writing about the crazy things that happen to me on the road. Like last night's attempted robbery. That's being a little exaggerating, but some dude tried to take my books that I set aside at last night's sale. I put them in a tub, at the end of the table with a bag on top, but turned quickly to see some dude stealing my stuff. He was cool and apologized about it, but I'm like...duh, if everything you're pulling out of a tub...when the library is using boxes...scans for bucks and you remove a bag off the top to get to them...don't you think that they're some one's stuff?
I got most of the stuff back, although I noticed several things that were missing this morning as I sorted and boxed up the merchandise for listing. I was so angry, I immediately paid for the remaining books and took a break...which I do not normally do at these sales. My neck was in excruciating pain (if you did not know, I had neck fusion surgery last year), so I was already on the brink of crying, and then getting my stuff ripped off, just make the tears flow. Thankfully, I waited until I was at my truck and released the anger and was clear to just let it all out. Although it was a girl moment, it was very therapeutic and I was able to go back inside and kick some butt! I was able to refocus and it made the night go much better, which seemed to be a disaster from the start, since I did not know that they sold wristbands starting at 9 am. I got there and hour and a half early to line up, but I ended up being #82 in line.
Since I was so far back, I decided to try the higher priced items in the specialty room. OMG, what a waste of time. I cannot justify paying half price of the current market value and expect to make a living. I wasted about 10 minutes before I went to the big room and started getting luckier. I quickly filled up my tub and had to use a box to transport new stuff to my stash. Although I was blessed to leave with 170 books, I have no idea how much of my treasure was stolen by the jerk. (This only happened because the organizer said that my cart was too big to take into the sale area, so I only took in a tub. Since I am not as strong as I was before the surgery, I had to leave it at the end of a table. I put a bag on top, but it still wasn't enough to stop the poacher.) I apologize for still being angry about it, but I am now remembering more and more of the stuff that disappeared...I know, how can I remember the books, I guess it's a photographic memory thing. I should have just taken everything out of his cart, but wanted to be fair, so I left some. We could have gotten banned from the sale if we got into it, so it was best to just walk away. I know, this is about the future, so you gotta take it every once in a while.
Next trip will be in Texas, however, I am taking my travel buddy along to share the cost of the trip, so I will spend a few days in Oklahoma after the next sale. Then, I am rushing back to Fort Worth, because my sister will be in from Hawaii (plus I have to clean up my mess at my Mom's). I only get to see her once a year now, because I don't have the money to visit her yet. I had made plans last year, but had the surgery instead. Every time I show a desire to go, something financially altering happens, and I can't come up with the airfare. One day, I will get to visit.
I know that I can't continue to live for my business as I do, but it's hard not to work like I am right now. I figure I only have a couple of more years to build this company (and pay off the insane debt load from previous mistakes) before the electronic media forces me to find another avenue for supporting myself. Only time will tell, but I would love to be one of the lucky ones who can still have a viable book business. Seeing Borders close is a sign (even though their business model of paying high rents and charging full price for a book is very out dated in the age of Amazon). I think that Barnes and Noble will be next and we will see a resurgence of the Independent book store again. However, I do not think that the individual stores will be able to survive by selling only new books, so it will be interesting on what kind of mix the next generation of bookstores will be. (Ok, I think I had started a really good synopsis of my own ideas, but decided that I can't share them with you because a competitor could stumble upon my blog and steal my idea/current business practices...so I better stop right now before I give the secret recipe away.)
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