Signing a 10 Year Lease: Jumping Right In

In an interview once I was asked where I envisioned myself in five years. I replied "Uh, in a field?"

You're wondering. I did, in fact, get the job.

This is just to say, I have not fathomed ~ have never imagined fathoming ~ my life 10 years from now. For the most part, I wake up when the sun's up and figure it out from there.

An early bird, I am not

There's things I want to do, a general trajectory, but no real step-by-step plan, milestones, or personal goals to speak of, if I'm being honest. This whole gift shop owner/candlemaker/entrepreneur thing was never something I considered wanting until I was doing it ~ I don't even like shopping. My degrees are in journalism and creative writing, and I thought I would maybe do something with that?

So logically, I signed a 10 year commercial lease to run a eco-conscious gift shop on the outskirts of DC. I figured, since I was I really thinking about it, that I do see myself needing employment for the next 10 years. It's a lot of financial risk to take on, and for the most part I don't think people expect to pay to be employed. I think they expect get paid. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) 

Whereas, to be employed as a store owner, I have to pay for the store, pay for the products, pay to have a day off, and if and only if there's money at the end of all of that, I get paid.

It's definitely not lost on me the state of retail, along with the general state of the economy, are not doing so hot. It's also not lost on me that 50% of businesses don't make it past 5 years and only about 1/3 make it past 10, and that people generally start successful businesses when they have years of experience, as well as a well-rounded understanding of business, economics, accounting, the industry they're starting a business in... 

That's not me (can I drop a 'lol' in a blog post?), but we're going to make it work, and I want to actually use my background in journalism and creative writing to help me become a better businessperson. Journalism gave me the skills of knowing how to ask the right questions, and how to find answers. Creative writing taught me how to be observant, in a way where I'm able to synthesize information in my own way, and record it.

One reason I wanted to utilize the blogging function on this website is that I can keep track of Green & Bean's chronicles periodically, and over time learn what's working, what's not working. None of these are meant to mean very much and I'm not expecting anyone to deeply read into my meandering thoughts.

I'm doing this because as someone with limited knowledge and experience in the business world, I have nothing to do but learn more. And I realized that I can learn about business in any way I want to. I have no notion of gross albeit effective business philosophies I fundamentally disagree with, and I don't have to believe it's the only way it has to be.

It's also why I like having our brand profiles. Our brands are actually my greatest resource in learning how to run a sustainable and ethical business. Their transparency, their dedication to their teams and their surroundings is something that I never associated with 'business' and 'capitalism', and I'm learning a lot about the different ways in which that's more than possible.

Over the course of our lease I want to detail, for myself and anyone who's interested, the bits and bobs of what this job is like, and the factors that eventually mold how I look at and run this business. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to get out of this exercise and how successful it'll be, but I think I need to make the data before deciding how to use it and it's worth.

It's going to be a growth spurt of the brain for the next few years, but for the record, in ten years ~ I still see myself in a field. Wish me luck!