I need to kick myself up the you know what

[Paul David]

Over the years i've been a very driven person however for the last couple of months i've gone off track a little bit. Maybe i needed the "break" but i seriously need to get myself going again.
I've mentioned before on another post i have a retail computer repair business which i've had for 15 years but it doesn't make much money ($1500 a month after staff wages (1 person) but before any overheads and after so long i'm finished with retail.

The majority of my income comes from my ecommerce business, selling worldwide mainly on Amazon and Ebay and that is based in same location as Computer Repair Store so closing as a shop is not going to reduce the rent, rates etc.

My wife has a relatively well paid job $5500 a month but it's very stressful and with having two young children we've now decided it's time she handed her notice in to spend more time at home.
Obviously this is going to put more pressure on myself which doesn't worry me and i'd rather the stress was on me that my Wife. I had decided to close the computer repair store but now with my Wife leaving her job it's planted a doubt in my mind. I am spending days now going back and forth which obviously isn't helping the situation. Oh to have a crystal ball and see into the future.

How confident am i of covering the lost extra revenue $1500 by concentrating solely on my ecommerce business, yes i can do it certainly.

Doesn't stop the doubt in my mind at the moment!

 

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[Paul David]

I should have added that i don't actually work in the Computer Repair Store, my one staff member covers everything however it still doesn't stop the stress from knowing it's there and not really generating much money.

 

[LateStarter]

The way I see it, you have two options.
1) Figure out a way that you can better earn $1500/mo and shut down the store to remove that stress, or
2) Make a pivot with the store to try to make it more profitable and reduce the stress it produces.

For option 1) To me it sounds like stepping up your game on the online business is the obvious (and perhaps easiest) first option to explore. Once you have that, then you can kill the B&M repair shop and move forward.
For option 2) Take a look at other B&M shops that do repairs but also do other things. Look for best performing competitors in other cities/countries and take those lessons back to your store to eat away at the local competition.

 

[RogueInnovation]

Just be still... Just be still...



Are you nuts bro?
Do not go quietly into the void of suck.

Rome wasn't built in a day. Its fool hardy to just up and do whatever you feel like without working your a$$ off to know exactly wtf you are doing as an entreprenuer.

Jeez man...


Thats how you get pawned.
No no no, do something better!

 

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[Vigilante]

The most valuable commodity that people have... is time. When you ask people to give you their time, the best payback you can give them is then to take action. You may agree with what they said, or you may not. But standing still is not an option.

I used to host a parade of people that would want to buy me a cup of coffee, bounce their idea off of me, make me an offer to execute their ideas for them, or generally seek career counseling. It's not that I am great (I'm not...) but just they were searching a path to freedom. It's relatively assumed for some reason that entrepreneurs will donate their craft for free. You don't go to a doctor for a free checkup, and you don't call a painter for a free paint job, but for some reason, everyone calls an entrepreneur for a free coaching session.

Anyway, the one rule I had was that I wouldn't meet with you a second time just to talk about the same shit over again. If I couldn't discern you had taken action on what we talked about last time, that was it. I wouldn't meet with you again, because you were wasting my time. I'd meet with you a month later, or a year later, as long as you weren't standing in the same spot.

You're standing in the same spot.

You had a thread a month ago in which you posted essentially the same dilemma. Meanwhile, you have let life get to you over the past month, and taken minimal discernible action with all of the discussion last month about the dilemma that is still plaguing you. That's OK, but don't ask people to have the same discussion again. Time is too short. You're free to spend as much time in limbo as you want to (and you want to...) but this isn't worth a whole new thread over.

Read through last month's thread. Nothing's changed with regard to your business. The development with your wife may be new, but that didn't really just happen over night. Standing still is not going to produce a different outcome. Take action. Decisive. Don't let fear and analysis paralysis keep you in it's grip for another month.

Steven Covey has a great analogy on putting first things first. You need to answer the BIG questions, but you've let the smaller things dictate the last month's activities. It's time to let the first things be first. Make the BIG decisions, and then let the littler things that come up fill in around the big initiative, what ever direction you decide to go in. Decide, and move.

 

[Vigilante]

 

[randomnumber314]

You're netting $1,500 a month, after 15 years in business. You've done screwed up by being complacent. Stop it. Change something.

OR come back in a month or two and wonder why things didn't get better. Even business owners have a path on the sidewalk.

Take Vig's words with great heed: he remembers you for some reason--make his next memory better.

 

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[AlterJoule]

Hope you figure it out this time... Hate for your wife's stress to turn into martial or health problems...Or both....And your kids.....I hope it works out so you can give your kids the life you know they deserve...And you, I hope you finally get your shit together so you don't regret wasting you and your family's time...

There's some Damon Dash video going around where he says something like "I work for my last name, not my first name."

Maybe it's time for you to throw in the towel. Not everyone can do it.... And that's OK. What's not OK is stringing your family through it all, so you can obtain nothing...

 

[Damage Inc.]

You're netting $1,500 a month, after 15 years in business. You've done screwed up by being complacent.

He's saying that he nets $1,500 from the computer repair aspect of the business, but he is also running an ecommerce operation from the same building with the same employee which is making more money than the repairs. He's thinking about stopping the repairs and focusing solely on his ecommerce, but is worried about replacing the $1,500 in lost profit per month.

To the op: I think Vigilante has some good points there. Whatever you decide to do, jump in and make it happen. Whether that's pivoting your strategy on the repairs, or focusing only on your ecommerce. I can't recall a time I've taken a calculated risk, stepped out of my comfort zone, and then regretted doing it. Whether that particular decision was a "success" or not.

 

[Chaseb731]

Hello Paul- I have a great idea, ...honestly! Let me know if you and your wife would like to talk. Julie

It only requires $250 down and to attend a seminar by an 80k a month earner and his downstream!!!!!

 

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[Shdreams]

The fear of not providing for mine, Would have me on a warpath to something better. I say keep the $1500 a month from the shop. research what other shops are doing. and reinvest the $1500 into Improvements. Hell maybe the Improvements won't even cost you $1500. You said you don't even lift a finger for that money. Sounds like an un-watered house plant withering away.

 

[Paul David]

Tremendous and brutal response to my post which is exactly what I need. Now I know why my wife calls me an entrepreneur schizophrenic. Decision made. Computer repair business closed it's doors for the final time today.

 

[randomnumber314]

Good for you. It's enticing to have "back up ideas," but they tend to take attention away from other projects, which leaves a bunch of half-done things. Good luck with the ecomm. There's plenty of people on here who are happy to help.

 

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[Paul David]

Good for you. It's enticing to have "back up ideas," but they tend to take attention away from other projects, which leaves a bunch of half-done things. Good luck with the ecomm. There's plenty of people on here who are happy to help.

Thanks. Last year I had about 4 little things on the go and you're exactly right. A man who chases two rabbits doesn't catch any.

 

[EN_VY]

I was in the computer repair business, but it got extremely competitive. With so many online tutorials, people spamming the crap out of Craigslist, self proclaimed techs (formatting a hard drive and reinstalling Windows does not make you a tech).. I was able to maintain a decent list of clients because I always strive to go beyond what I was supposed to do.. I ended up not doing it as much. It's now my side hustle. You have to adapt to the marketplace. I'm sure I could have tweaked my marketing, but I really didn't want to stress too much on something which isn't fastlane.