I love quotes, don’t you? Can’t find the source of this one, but it’s worth a little mulling over:
A poor man asks, “How much will it COST me?”
A rich man asks, “How much will it MAKE me?”
That’s a vivid way of pointing out thatsome purchases are simply expenses and quickly used up, pointless, useless or gone, while other purchases are investments. Think about what you’ve bought for your business recently.
A shopkeeper I know was really proud of the incredibly low price she paid for an entire wall of shelving she bought at a going-out-of-business store. And it was cheap! Trouble was, she wanted to display shoes and the shelving was very deep. So what she got was a square-footage hog that hid, in its shadowy depths, the very merchandise she wanted to show & sell. She was so overwhelmed by how little it cost her, that she didn’t stop to think if it would make her anything (and in fact, it cost her in lost sales and wasted space.) No bargain, was it?
Another example: I just got a message left on my phone by an outraged man, who asked me how I dare sell TGtbT The Manual for $76.95.”That’s ridiculous when I want to start a store that saves people money, that you charge so much!” He was so overwhelmed that an operations manual cost more than a paperback novel, that he never stopped to think how much that investment could make him. The value of a business purchase is in its usefulness to the task at hand. In his case, learning to open, operate, and make profitable a resale shop.
So, next time you’re thinking of a purchase for your business, take a breath and think: Have I considered how much this purchase can make me, or am I simply looking at the price? Is it a bargain simply because it’s cheap…or will it help me accomplish something that is worth many times the price I have to pay? We all know, as resalers, that something useless is not a bargain at any price (well, until we resell it in our shops to another person to whom it’s a treasure! LOL)
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Oh my Gosh! When I first opened my store a year and a half ago, I saw your book on the internet, but didn’t get it because of the price. A few months ago, I decided to buy it in spite of the cost and I’ve been kicking myself ever since!! If I had bought the darn thing right away, I would have saved myself SO much grief. I wish I had known then what I learned from your book. I have read through it several times and each time find out something new.
And I’ve purchased a couple of the other books too. I will keep reading them! – over and over! Since I’ve opened our family has had four deaths and 2 family emergencies that have resulted in my husband and I flying home to be with family, so have had to close the store several time and so I have had a very slow start, but when I get back home and try something from the books to let people know we’re back, I always have great results. Luckily, we’re a small town and people have been very understanding and supportive. I’m hoping for a calm year this year and am excited to get things hopping around here trying out all the ideas the books have given me. Thanks!
Terri Guenthner
Classically Trendy Consignments
Colfax, WA
The Manual is my business bible. I still refer to it when I have a question, and I have been in business for 5 years. It is the best money I’ve spent. Poor guy on the phone, he just doesn’t realize what it costs to buy a MANUAL.
Thanks, Ruth. Actually, it NEVER bothers me when someone thinks that $77 is too much to invest in educating her/himself about how to run a shop. With that mentality, the manual is, I agree, literally worth ZERO to that person, because (s)he will never succeed well enough to make ANY investment worthwhile. I just ache for their families, who stand by while money is spent on leases, equipment and supplies, but not on education.
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[…] How a question is asked, might well predict the financial future of the asker. See what we said about this over on Auntie Kate the Blog. […]
Wow, that poor man on the phone message, he will never get it! I wonder how much his time is worth? If he spends say, $20 on the useless ‘manual’that I have seen on the web-that actually came with the store I bought, and wastes his time reading it, only to make hundreds of mistakes that said manual will lead you into – he is going to be broke within the first year.
His time and money will have been wasted in setting up a store that never had a chance, because he didn’t stop to realize that a book that has been reprinted as many times at the TGtbT Manual, has to have loyal readers recommending it to others. In other words, the TGtbT Manual has already proven itself to how many readers? I have recommended it to several people who are considering opening a store, and more importantly I have recommended it to people who already have a store-it is so important to be willing to learn new things and look at life through others eyes.
Hopefully that man with a tight wallet, will find the courage to swallow his pride and get THE book so that he might have some success.
Molly Boyles
Once Again Consignment
Roswell, NM