Conflict Resolution

So we had our first disagreement today. (Erm, yesterday actually. It's 3am.)

I asked the guys what they thought about having a layaway program. Jay had no opinion, and Matt wanted to know details about what kind of plan I had in mind. Note to self: do not bring something up to Matt unless you have done some research and have a plan, because apparently he isn't the lets talk it out kind of person.

So panic a little and spout out the first thing that comes to mind (or jot down, since it was over facebook messenger), and he was like "sounds good to me." I don't know what this says about me, but I get nervous when people agree with me without asking any questions or suggesting changes, especially if I'm in BS mode. It weirds me out. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm clever. I'm just not that clever.

So I sat down, looked up some articles about how to write a decent layaway policy, and jotted down something I thought was fair which wouldn't take advantage of the customers but would cover us and prevent undue risk on our part. Turns out Matt and I have different ideas about what constitutes "undue risk". He is not okay with letting people do special orders and pre-orders... like at all... which kinda blew my mind. I had kind of taken that for a given.

It wasn't an argument or anything, just a bit of a disagreement. I was basically like, "What? Really? Won't that lose us a lot of sales?" and he was like, "No, and here's why..." and I agreed. Or rather, I let it go. I still think pre-ordering, especially for big selling items like new set MTG boxes & event decks makes plenty of sense and is a minimal risk. Even if the person who ordered it doesn't come back for it, those items will sell pretty easily. On the other hand, I definitely see his point about special orders. If it isn't popular enough to carry as a regular stock item, you run the risk the person won't come back to pick it up and then you have to figure out how to move that product, even if it means taking a loss on it. And some of things we'll be carry are high ticket stuff. It's a tough balance between serving your customers and covering your own butt. Still, if you required them to pay for the purchase up front to mitigate that risk? Meh. I don't know.

I mean, Jay and I wouldn't be looking a starting a business with him if we didn't trust his judgement. It's not like we can't revisit the topic if the need arises later.

So We're Gonna Open A Game Shop

My name is Ash. I'm 24 years old, a military wife and stay-at-home mother of two (Aymae, age 2; and Roman 5 months), and I finally know what I'm going to do when I grow up:

I'm gonna open a game store! Yay me! 

Okay, so it's not just going to be me. Jay (my husband) and Matt (great friend and awesome guy) are going to help.... by which I mean do most of the hard stuff and actually be the ones running the show.... but I'll be there to look pretty and come up with paint colors and stuff!   ^_^

Seriously though, I'm totally excited. I am the very picture of the enthusiastic novice, reading everything I can get my hands on that relates to running a business. I got me a copy of "Small Business for Dummies." I'm reading Business of Gaming Retail and Behind the Counter which are blogs about the logistics of opening and running a FNGS (friendly neighborhood game store), and I'm just generally doing all kinds of research. And I'm planning on going back to school to be and accountant. I'll be putting my math skills and OCD tendencies to good use keeping the finances in order and the bills & taxes paid while the boys do all the hard stuff. It's exhilarating... and overwhelming because I have no clue what I'm doing. ACK!

So far we're still pretty early in the planning stages. Matt, being the one currently studying business management and actually knows whats going on, is working on the business plan. He's been discussing some of it with me, and I'm surprised to find that not all of it is going over my head. (I suspect he is humoring me.)

This is what we know so far:
- The shop will be somewhere in he Jackson area (Matt is thinking Flowood on Lakeland drive, Jay is thinking Pearl near the Hinds Campus, and I feel like I don't have enough info to have an informed opinion yet.)
- We're planning on having a game room, and a pretty aggressive event schedule. Like 3-4 nights a week we want to have SOMETHING going on.
- Our store strategy is going to place heavy emphasis on customer service. We want to make gaming as fun and accessible as we can.
- We want this place to be a hang out spot for people in the geek & nerd subculture, which is why we're thinking either "Geeks and Games" or "Geek Haven" for the shop name. You can tell by the name of the blog which one I'm leaning toward. Also, if (BIG IF) I can get permission and thus avoid copyright issues, the store slogan is tentatively "It's not about what you love, it's about how you love it", which is a lovely Wil Wheaton quote, and exactly the sort of sentiment that's driving this. We are geeks and gamers, all three of us. If this thing gets off the ground, it is going to be a labor of love. No doubt about it.
- And last and probably least... *drum roll*.... I designed a logo! It's just a concept design and subject to change, but I'm actually kinda proud of it:

I'm also working on a design for some gaming tables... but that's not going as well.... my spacial dynamics skills leave much to be desired. A carpenter I am not. Maybe Matt and his dad can fix the design so it doesn't suck. *crosses fingers*

Besides that.... as far as I can tell, it's mostly up in the air. I'll keep you guys posted!