As I drive by a local quick oil change business, I notice two people standing on the roadside holding up signs that read “no wait, $5.00 off”.  At first I think to myself what a great idea.  If they have no customers, they stand out road encouraging customers by offering “no wait” and a $5.00 discount. Over the next few weeks, I begin to notice these guys more and more. I wonder if they have always been thereor I just didn’t notice before. In the end, I realize that the oil change business has changed ownership recently and the road waving must be a new strategy brought in by the new management.

Let me say, I know next to nothing about the quick oil change business.

I do find this concept interesting as on the surface, it appears to accomplish the immediate goal of filling an empty bay. After seeing these guys out on the road for several weeks, I quickly realize that if I should ever decide to get my oil changed, I should wait until I see them out on the road. For in my mind the sign actually says,  “no wait $5.00 off unless we have a car in the bay already at which point you should wait until no one is here again”.

This seems to me to be a classic example of short term gain, at the expense of long term gain.  Put another way, being on sale is only special until it becomes regular price.

I have not asked this oil change place anything in regard to this. I admit that I am unaware of the nuances of the business model. Perhaps their regular price already has $5.00 worth of coupon room built into already. The $5.00 off could be “not valid with other offers”.  If it occurs that a high percentage of oil change customers use coupons then perhaps this offer is not so bad to the long term business after all.

Discuss in the forums.

I am in my early fourties, married and have been self employed since I was 20. I have owned business in food service and current own a specialty retail shop. I am not wealthy, in fact you could say i live paycheck to paycheck.  At times i struggle to pay the bills. So why do it? Why not give it up and get a job? The reason is simple; Im really that happy! I love my work.

I am fortunate to have 3 great employees. They have been working for me for 12, 9 and 4 years. It is because of these guys that i can live the lifestyle i choose.  Maybe I got lucky. Maybe I just have an eye for good people. I honestly don’t know.

My current retail store I would consider a specialty retail store. We service a very niche market we refer to as tabletop gaming. We sell miniature war games,  collectable card games, role playing games and board games.  We have table and chairs set up in an area where we organize tournaments and play of the products we sell(known in our industry as in-store gaming).  While some of things we do, might not cross over into other types of retail stores, im guessing a lot of things will.

We constantly struggle with credit card processing. Hidden fees, undisclosed rate changes and generally bad service. We are under constant attack from big online discounters like Amazon.com, not that all online sales are bad. We have an online store for the products we sell. But we also have to make money and places like amazon.com  can hurt us with predatory pricing, if they choose.

We are always on the lookout for new things we can try. Diversification seems to apply to almost every business. While I probably wont be selling bread, milk and eggs anytime soon I’m always on the hunt for something we can add that will help us grow.

So this website is built, the core is finished. Now we need content. I thought about hiring some writers to generate a bunch of articles on various (quite generic) topics. But as i began jotting down some ideas for these topics i quickly realized they began to fall into two categories.

A) topics I , as a business owner, already knew

B) topics I, as a business owner, didn’t really need to know.

When I say topics I dont need to know about, a more complete statement would be “topics I dont really need to know to improve the day to day situation at my business”. While every business owner should, and probably does know the difference between an S-corp and an LLC, to sit down and actually read a blog about that topic is likely to force me to switch over to ESPN.com and follow up on the World Series.  It’s boring! Plus topics like that always have some sort of disclaimer text about checking with a local lawer or accountant.  If you’re starting a business, by all means study the difference between S-corp and LLC. But as an existing business, i want something more.

I want to read a blog post that gives me an idea, that I can use today to improve something in my business. No matter how small or insignificant it might seem. I realize life changing revelations are few and far between, but just slightest improvement, even if its just to put my mind on a concept for a few hours, only to be shelved as something that might be useful at some point in the future.

Many small business owners feel alone when it comes to their business. I know i did for a long time. I was able to find a horde of people who were willing to consult my business. Most of the suggestions, were so far out of the realm of what I was doing, they might as well tell me to go to the moon. In the end I realized I didn’t really need to change anything, I was only looking for other people to talk to, who could relate to my situation.