The 411 on Business, Pt. 1
Being a business owner is fabulous, or is it? Now that my business is all said and done, I will dish about the side of business you don’t see! Owning a business is definitely not for the weak!
Fresh eyed and bushy tailed is how I describe the state I was in at the beginning. Eager to get my business up and running with dreams of grandeur! We didn’t purchase a turnkey business; we were building from the ground up! Every aspect required hands on from demo to painting! This before the doors even opened. Not to mention the mental stress from dealing with the City of Gretna and all of their rules and regulations. You would have thought we were opening a million dollar establishment!
From this point, you move into that honeymoon phase. You are exhausted from everything you have been through but so excited to finally have the doors open. You don’t have the resources to have a staff so you wear every hat in the business. You process flowers, wash buckets, design arrangements, sweep and mop the floor, bake, do dishes, greet customers, take phone orders, deliver, do paperwork, ect. You are in your shop from before sunup to late in the evening. The business is new so the demand is there straight from the start, and you want to capitalize on every penny you can! Life as a business owner is great, little do you know at this point that a time will come where you start to resent the very business that you love so much!
There are so many hidden aspects of business ownership that you run across after you initially open. The biggest topic that I quickly learned is that you will be taxed on every single thing your business does! There is this little tax that came to my attention. It is called the business use tax. I was told that I had to pay taxes on the items in my shop that I used every day. Meaning, the walk-in cooler, the display coolers, the desks, the computer, the oven, the cooling racks, ect. Even though I purchased these items, some years ago, and already paid the taxes on them if I used them in my business, I was expected to pay this business use tax on them! With my mind blown I told this gentleman to get out!!! I refused to pay a tax on my property that I already was taxed on just because I use it in the day-to-day activities of my business! They always get you though, if you don’t pay it, they won’t renew your occupational license!
The stress level with every new situation increases. With the demand, comes the long hours to fulfill the orders. Taking the orders is the easy part!!! Now you are approaching midnight the day before the deadline with tears streaming down your face wondering how in the hell you will power through! Miraculously, you get it done and stand with pride at what you have created! You can’t wait to get it delivered so that the customer can finally see their ideas in front of them only to get the wind knocked out of your sails with the words “It’s nice but…”! There is nothing worse than pouring everything you have and creating something to the specifications given and hearing those words! It didn’t happen often but man when it did it stung!
What happens when the customer isn’t right?