I took a two-year break from blogging on Addicted Geeks to focus on other projects. Since then, I’ve put more time into writing for Medium and have published three more books, with three more story ideas in the works. I have learned that I am truly a writer at heart, even if I do not have an audience and am lucky if I make $20 a year. I thought maybe it’s time to re-visit the idea in preparation for future changes for my business, but also to reconnect with Addicted Geeks and its customers.
Addicted Geeks was always my dream, but I was never a huge fan of e-commerce. I mean, I shop online a lot simply because I cannot find what I want locally. I prefer to see and feel most items in person when I can, which isn’t often possible in today’s e-commerce world. Running a website is certainly much cheaper than opening a brick-and-mortar location, and while I still dream that someday I can open my store locally, I fear that day is a long way off.
Last September we setup at the mall here in Lebanon for their vendor fair. We made enough to cover the space and table rental fees, but not to cover the supplies we had to purchase to sell in person. It was still a win since we have those supplies for later use, and hopefully we will have another opportunity to sell in-person. Many of our products just are not as impressive in pictures on a website, and we do not have some of the smaller ones listed because of shipping costs for such little items.
This brief in-person selling reminded me of why I always wanted my own business. The people who bought from us were in awe over the items we carry, freely showing their inner geek and excitement that they found something simple like a God of War keychain, or a plush T-Rex backpack for their grandchild. The best ones were the little customers: the little girl who HAD to have the unicorn backpack and the one who couldn’t decide between two axolotls. It was then that I remembered this was MY business and offered the axolotl girl’s mother a discount for both so the girl didn’t have to choose. I built my business for both kids and adults, remembering the fun times I had at Toys R Us, both as a child and later as a grown-up “Toys R Us Kid.”