Things About Running A Business Nobody Told Us

Three and a half years ago, my wife and I opened our own business. We knew we were getting in over our heads, but there were a bunch of things that completely blindsided us.

Get Used to Being an Accountant

Nickelodeon

Running a business is all about cashflow. And when you're self-employed, you don't have an accounting department in the back keeping track of all of your revenue and expenses and paying your taxes for you.

You have to do all that yourself.

We've spent weeks trying to organize every single transaction, pair them to a receipt, and put them into a specific category. And during those weeks, we learned more about the United States Tax Code than we ever knew was possible.

Be Prepared For Thieves

Take Me

We all know that security is important. That's a no-brainer. When we opened, we outfitted the shop with a brand new security system. If anyone broke in, it would alert our security system, who would call us and the police.

But that didn't end up being much of a deterrent.

A couple months after opening, someone managed to get a window open and stole a laptop. Our first summer, we had a rash of petty shoplifting while we were open.

The alarm wasn't cutting it. So we upgraded to some wi-fi enabled security cameras that allowed us to keep an eye on the shop, even when we aren't there.

Be Your Own Contractor

Fifth Harmony

When we signed our lease, we thought that our landlords would handle all of the repairs and improvements we needed taken care of. After all, they had a crew of handymen and handywomen in their employ for just such an occasion, right?

Wrong. Very wrong, actually.

While our landlord's crew has stepped in for a couple repairs, we would still be wallowing in disrepair if we didn't pick up the hummer and do it ourselves.

At first, it was just a few minor jobs: replacing light fixtures, installing a new faucet, etc. But after a couple years, we were doing major construction. We renovated a second space entirely on our own after our landlord's contractor stopped answering his phone.

And you better believe we used that work to negotiate a better lease.

Good Help is Hard to Find

Clerks

No business owner wants to do everything themselves. We all hope that someday, we'll be successful enough that we can afford to pay someone to do some of our work for us.

In our three and a half years, we've had a number of part-time employees, interns, and assistants. Each time, we felt like they were the perfect choice for the position.

Then, within a couple months, everything changed. They would display astounding levels of incompetence. They didn't seem to get the mission of the shop, even though they had been around for a while. They stopped caring about their work.

And after a point, they were causing us more work than they saved us.

We have a couple great employees now, but finding them was a bigger chore than we ever imagined.

You'll Meet Some...Interesting People

American Horror Story

To run a shop is to be open to the public. And the public has some weirdos in it.

In the time we've been open, we've acquired a collection of homeless, drunks, and other "unsavories" that stop by just because we're open. Part of that might have to do with the fact that we're across the street from a liquor store. In fact, that's a big part of it.

And over that time, we've developed real relationships with some of these people. We've given them rides home. We've met their dogs. We've helped them prepare for job interviews. On a couple occasions, we've hired them to do some odd jobs for us. Sometimes, we just let them sit in the air conditioning and chat.

They're not customers—they've never spent a cent in our shop, and we definitely didn't consider them in our business plan. But they're a part of our weird little community, and we wouldn't have it any other way.