Posted by ClearSkies on December 7, 2007, at 14:52:37
This online store venture. So close and yet still not yet a going concern. There was some glitch with their code for making the transactions go through. Argh! And when you send an email, it takes a day, sometimes, to get a reply. (That's why I'm dealing with antiques, I guess. The longer the correspondence takes, the older the merchandise becomes, is that their philosophy?) I don't know. I have to laugh about it, or else I'd cry.
I guess I'm learning about being my own boss, but not being in control. About the limitations of "canned" software. About the failings of error-reporting loops - grrr.... - and I'm also, slowly, learning to become ever so slightly detached from this process of creating the business.
I think that I can be passionate about the product, but I can't afford to be passionate about the delivery of it. I love the discovery process of finding an item and then learning about its provenance and doing further research. I like the creative aspects of the store: making sure we've got good photographs of the items, being artful in the writing about them. But I can't be as emotionally invested in the nuts and bolts of the store because I very quickly have found that I will burn out like a piece of, what - magnesium? - really hot and bright but won't last long?
In the meantime, I've been to a few auctions, which are fascinating and can be quite exciting. They go by so quickly, and if you're not careful, you'll end up (like us) with an end table you didn't intend to buy! And I've gone to some estate sales, which make me rather sad, to see big houses filled with things with price stickers on them and no people to enjoy them. I've been to a few church rummage sales which can be lucrative but overwhelming to the senses. And, my least favourite venues have been garage sales, at which (locally, at least) I have found people to have an over-inflated sense of what their junk is worth!
And the fun is just beginning.
We'll get there, but my oh my what a ride we're having.
poster:ClearSkies
thread:799350
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/work/20071028/msgs/799350.html