More musings.

Well it's Sunday again, it's the coffee shop in Newcastle again and it's the same old mental landscape again. This past couple of weeks have been mainly characterized by gritted teeth as my IBS (or whatever it is) has been playing up and making it's presence felt...very literally. It has settled a bit but is still niggling away. It has once again reminded me of my isolation and tbe fragile nature of my existence...I do not mean life itself as I don't require a reminder of that but more on tbe practical front. I run my own business (currently struggling) and I have no plan B should anything take me off my feet completely. Often people berate me for this and tell me how difficult it is but they are less than forthcoming as to what exactly I am supposed to do about it. Your health may be your wealth but it is not much good when it comes to buying the groceries ...I have yet to see anyone in Tescos hand me a free box of cornflakes simply because I am looking a bit less peaky than usual. People who tell you such things and shake their head disapprovingly at the idea that if I am able to only crawl on all fours I still must turn in to work are either those with a high disposable income or (more often) they work for the Government and get paid even if they spend six weeks in traction. Of course they no doubt have their problems but one of them is not turning up to open the door of a shop even though you are seeing double and can barely put one foot in front of the other in the knowledge that if you do not there won't be any money to pay the wages that enable you to eat. And yes that is my chosen profession so that's that...and it is...but it doesn't change the dynamic of the situation in any way nor does it make the above comments any less stupid or irritating. The reality is that a couple of weeks closed would be enough to put my business over the edge and me in the grip of bankruptcy. Every business is different of course and there may be those out there with huge reserves of ready cash who could happily survive a prolonged crisis and still live to tell about it...or indeed with well defined management structures in place to cope with the prolonged absence of key players. There undoubtedly are. But as a sole trader with an ageing parent and no permanent staff who is constantly reliant on the largesse of the bank to keep the bills being paid, I am not one of them. Hence my pessimism. Our type of business, which is reliant on holding a quantity of stock most of which is bought six to eight months in advance and then waiting for customers to come in and buy it is without question one of the worst an most problematic business models there is. The "dragons" on Dragons Den would be "out" after the first few sentences of the pitch...you get the stock in, you pay for all of it, you sit and wait for the money to come in, you buy more of it for next year before you've sold any of this years...the chourus if "I'm out " would be deafening. It is madness. And yet it is modern retail. It is the daily reality for me and thousands like me. We can't sell without stock...we can't get the stock without cash flow...we can't get cash flow till people buy...people won't buy till we have more stock...and on it goes. And that's not taking any account of price/competition/Internet etc...the latter has all but made it impossible for "bricks and mortar" stores like mine to survive. The Internet is the ultimate poison chalice for small retailers like me...we certainly can't beat it but joining it is much more problematic than is often imagined. I am often asked if I have an online store and my answer is always the same...not yet. In truth I am seriously looking at it but...and it's a big but..,going online for a small set up is NOT as easy as it sounds. You can actually get on these days reasonably cheaply. There are many highly effective templates that can be used on a pay as you go basis and with a bit of savvy you can be up and running quite quickly and without substantial expenditure. Alternatively you can throw a clean fortune at it of course as with everything.  But most of the problems you have with high street retail are simplify replicated on line...you still need stock/cash flow etc...it is not a magic bullet for a struggling business as it is often presented. The biggest problem is being seen on here...and here's where the smaller guy is at a huge disadvantage...as he always is. Economies of scale are universal and the bigger operator with the most cash can always buy their way to higher search engine recognition than the cash strapped one man band. The Internet may seem like a great leveller let with it's worldwide market place etc but it is subject to the same rules as everywhere else...money talks and more money talks louder. I merely make this observation...it is how it rolls. So if and when I do go online there is it seems to me little or no point throwing money I don't have at Google ad words or whatever in the certain knowledge that countless others are throwing a lot more at them. Is there another way...well possibly...organic search engine management (if that is anywhere near the correct term) is the only option for the likes of myself...a slower and no doubt more time consuming process that may well be beyond my limited skills. We shall see. 

And now I really must go before I am thrown out.