I’ve been at it 12 to 18 hours a day for almost 10 years now. I enjoyed every aspect of it though from the joy of seeing comics I’d never seen before in every collection we picked up to the thrill of having built something by hand to display or store them. It’s one of the few careers where any day can feel like Christmas!!!
I’ve had years of doing HARD work before. Standing on the back of screaming hot drilling machines in 100 degree weather to being waste deep in mud and foam shoveling to try and keep up. Hauling 94 pound bags of Portland cement around. A lot of the stuff in the military in the HURRY UP part of hurry up and wait may even qualify.
Nothing I’ve ever done involving comics, computers, listing items and such really compares. You have to throw hours into it. They can be enjoyable ones though if you let them.
I think it’s a fine line … you should love the product and be into it so you can talk the talk and walk the walk … just don’t let your own personal feelings toward some material shade your overall judgement …
An example would be the Eisner Award nominees and winners … those, in and of themselves, provide an insight into quality material that, in many cases, is out of the limelight of heat, yet offer a virtual Treasure Trove of Customer selling opportunities …
I’ll add that diversification is important as well … I stock MGT in depth, with boosters going back to the mid-90’s (no singles, stopped those years ago, too much work) … D&D / Warhammer / Older Toys not found any longer at the Mass Market Retailers, etc …
Everyone has their own method. No one will ever be happy with other people’s work. I was just stating that I know what your business tactics are and that I wouldn’t run my shop that way. The fact that you came in and spouted things that anyone can read on the internet means you aren’t paying attention to what’s being asked. Do you give this sort of attention to your customers? Blow them off on thier questions and tell them canned responses instead of an honest answer to what they asked?
I didn’t ask for your autobiography. I asked about shops and formulas to ordering. Insite into the way people run thier business and how they order for customers, what hardships they endured and other things. Again, this is you not paying attention to the subject matter at hand.
I am not going to go there. And neither should you. Do not start spouting out remarks about being in the military and that you feel your owed something. You do not know me nor my history. To assume such just makes you look like an ass. And I will not tolerate that sort of foolishness.
Well, we each have our own definition of Fun … for me, there is a difference between Enjoyable and Fun … I never looked back, enjoyed building a business from nothing, don’t regret (mostly, although the mid '90’s were tough), still get up every morning at my age and enjoy what I do … don’t plan on retiring … they will likely peel me off the floor at some point …
I’m ex-Military as well, and don’t regret a minute of that either … Combat Medic / 4th Infantry / 1969-1972 …
I support our troops, past, present and future (I’ve got plenty of family that have served) but what I don’t respect is when they try to throw lines like that back into my face as a tactic to win a debate or argument that’s irrelevant to the actual discussion. And yes, when someone throws out the… “I fought for your rights” is just being an ass for the most part.
We all know those in the military have sacrificed something for the rest of us, you don’t need to shove it down our throats every chance you get.
I’d also personally welcome any commentary from non-shop owners in regards to how they have been treated as Customers in the B&M’s they go to and what suggestions might be offered on how Retailers can improve themselves …
The fact that you came in and spouted things that anyone can read on the internet means you aren’t paying attention to what’s being asked. Do you give this sort of attention to your customers? Blow them off on thier questions and tell them canned responses instead of an honest answer to what they asked?
I’m not sure what’s canned about my response. In fact you were saying older people wouldn’t take the time to tell you what we do so I did.
how do you judge which books to buy and which do you generally pass on ?
Multiple questions and comments about how to determine what inventory to buy and such and that is how we go about deciding. We can’t order in every book in since there’s too many and even if we wanted to there isn’t enough shelf space for every comic to be displayed. If you think that’s canned I can’t help it. It’s just the truth being expressed and just one of as already mentioned, maybe as many as 1,800 or more different ways. You need to find your own way and feel out your own market. What works for you may not work for me and vice versa. If we can ignore the printed cover price of a book, who’s to dictate which direction and for how long the printed price is to be ignored for. Undercutting is one of the things keeping smaller shops out of the market. Every customer you suck up discounting on the front end without a long term subscription contract is one less person needing a copy from the drug store if they chose to want to stock the shelves again. I don’t like it but it happens. I knew it happens going in. It was almost enough to keep me out of getting new comics entirely. I found my niche though which I have the right to and n need to feel bad about and you found yours. Congradualations!!!
Now if you have a specific question that you’re looking for specific answers for then it helps to put the answers you’re going to be happy with in something like A, B, C or D type choices so we know which ones you want and the way you want them worded.
I specific question. If you’re a CHU member, and we already know you discount comics PreFOC, why can’t CHU work out something with you to have your PREorder’s be the one’s they link to on their FOC list? I’m sure you all could work out something in advertising to make the click bait of choice at least a CHU member like yourself. Keep the advertising money and support in house.
I’ll answer that, being on the inside of CHU. Simply put, Mike wants to make it on his own as an online shop owner.
But I’m confused, you used the term click bait. You do know what “click bait” is right? Actually, don’t answer that cause clearly you do not know what click bait is on the internet. Nothing we link to on CHU is click bait.
Let me just say, I did not start this Thread, but I appreciate Mike’s intent … as a Professional myself, it would be great if things did not submerge into a quagmire of back and forth, thus de-railing the original intent of the Thread …
If it has some derogatory meaning I’m not aware of feel free to remove it and accept my apology. I’m using to mean making an instant buying choice on impulse prior to researching other options that may or may not be better deals like Mike’s offerings for instance.
Click Bait is when a link is misleading in its subject and or picture to drive traffic to a website to boost views as they likely have advertising on the website. It usually leads one down a rabbit hole of more clicks and loads to boost ad impressions and such. Think of it as Advertising Spam.
Nothing we link to from CHU is click bait. It’s usually a direct link to a product listing or another website.
It’s a nice thought, but I can not afford that sort of money for advertising. CHU needs to make money to support thier servers and other expenses associated with running a website such as this. They do not pass that $$ amount to us as consumers, they use advertising for other sites.
What I’m curious about is why the name change? You started in this thread as BJ and then quickly posted as blondestabby and continue to post under that pseudonym
I have a local shop with a tremendous back section of silver and bronze books. The most important aspect of his inventory for me as a consumer - he is alphabetically and for the most part numiercally organized. Every book is priced, however there is a sign on the wall that states “pricing is subject to change because of changes in market, etc”. That signs existence is the very reason I will no longer go to this shop. I spend a great deal of time going through the back issues looking for quality and quantity, and every time I get to the register it takes a minimum half hr for the owner to scour ebay and mycomicshop to see how much he can try and charge me for each issue. It’s a terrible practice. I mine as well save myself the car time ( it’s 2 and a half hrs round trip) and just buy on ebay. His store is in a restricted market so I really dont understand his balance between revenue and pinching extra profits per book.
The shop is also one to mark up hot moderns that are sitting on his shelf (and have continued to do so at the marked up rate).
The other local store is disinterested in the product, “I dont read anything with capes”, scoffs at the customer, doesn’t order volume of anything, and is just not worth the time.
Those are the two stores in my state. We’re starved for a customer centric shop.
