Originally Posted by
Flatballer
I often wonder how well I could do running a business, when I see how badly run a lot of places are and are somehow still doing fine.
I've definitely gone into bike shops who acted like I was an imposition for being there and wanting to give them money.
It is at the same time both way more complicated than it ever seems and also just as simple as you describe.
I can talk about this for hours (and I have on the podcast from time to time).
The cycling industry is a little special in that there isn't enough money in the industry. This means almost everyone who is in it is there because of the passion or love of the activity/sport. If there was more money then actual professionals would be more involved than they are. Think about other jobs you've had in life. Most of those jobs weren't run by someone who just had an undying passion for "TPS Reports" that started at a young age. Instead it was a job staffed by people who were good at doing the specific business tasks involved (or at least showed some experience or talent for it). This is not the case for the vast majority of cycling businesses. Quite honestly I wouldn't be here still if I was a run of the mill cycling business owner. If I hadn't spent years in an actual industry learning the specifics of accounting, costing, etc.
So yeah most smaller shops suck when it comes to business. The big ones like Trek shops have Trek doing their accounting for them, have sales training, POP displays and literature, etc. If those aren't doing well then it's the management.
As for being treated like "being more of a nuisance than a customer" - I know where that comes from. Sometimes it's the customer that comes in with the perfectly normal ask but it just so happens the answer is a long one that most don't follow and they aren't going to be happy with the result. Sometimes it's that, as an owner, I know this is going to take a ton of time and I'm not able to get adequately compensated for it and the whole time I am going to be thinking about all that better paying work that has been waiting around longer...
Sometimes it's just that customer that comes in and presses the wrong buttons. Maybe it's asking a question and not being satisfied with the answer. "I want to turn my 1988 Schwinn World Sport into tubeless. I read on the internet that is how I will stop having flats." while I might go into detail on all the specifics about how that's going to be extremely difficult and/or extremely expensive before coming to my conclusion about using the right tires, pumping up the tires before every ride, etc. other shops will just go, "yeah/no. that's not going to work."
So yeah - lots of shops suck at being small businesses. After having spent a lifetime watching my mother run her own small businesses and having had a couple myself - doing this one for the last 12 years (geez....) it is never what it is cracked up to be. There are piles of well meaning, awesomely executing, passionate and talented business owners who went bust. It's more than working hard and treating every customer was the best you can.