I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since I was a small kid – it started out with me buying cases of Cola in public school and chucking them in a cooler filled with ice during summer sports.  ”Buck a can buddy… oh sorry I don’t have change for a ten… but you can buy 9 cans for your friends!”

I grew up near a golf course and along the course was a water way and heaps of scrub and long grass.  Golfers lost their balls constantly and I paid the local kids 50 cents a ball for every one they brought to me.  I made a deal with the owner of the golf course and in turn sold those balls for $1 – $2 each depending on the condition to them. He sold them back to the golfers at higher rate out of the pro shop.  Ahh the life of the middle man and my first learning experience of the power of sub contracting.

25 some years later and nothing much has changed – except I’m older and my knees are all creaky like.  Still have all my hair – good genes there.

Being an entrepreneur is exciting and challenging.  Every reward is yours and yours only but every failure is also yours.  There are so many failures but I reckon every single success is worth about 5 failures as when things go wrong you really do learn a lesson for life.  Not sure if that made sense or not…

Over the next few months I’m going to start writing about the history of Third Gear and how it has gotten to where it is and what it has taken so far to get Third Gear out of the trenches and on its own two feet.  Third Gear is by no means a big massive company churning over heaps of cash – I’m not starving but I don’t eat steak every night… but we are growing. I think – I mean I pay an accountant and book keeper to crunch the numbers.  So who knows!

I’m going to cover topics such as:

• Do you want to start your own business? Are you prepared?
• How to start up your business – first steps
• How do I find stuff to sell?
• How do I find customers?
• Everyone says my idea sucks – I’m kind of doubting myself…
• plus heaps more!

There are many answers to this question for me – here is my story as to why I prefer to shop online. Grab a cuppa – it’s a long one!

A few weeks ago I was in a well known car accessories store that makes reference to how they are super cheap.  It was a Weds afternoon, the sun was out and I had a bounce in my step as I could feel spring was going to arrive soon.  I entered the shop with bike helmet in hand and a sunny disposition on my face ready to have a persue of their fine selection of goods for anything that might be of interest.  I was doing something I haven’t done in ages. Window Shopping. Though of course I was in doors so while the term isn’t correct the reference to my going ons is.  I walked up one aisle and down another and could feel this dark presense over my shoulder.  Just there in the corner of my eye!  Not quite in view but I knew there was something…  I could feel it watching me.  It felt close but I knew it was far away.  I go to turn down one aisle and quickly do a double take and sneak up on some snot nosed kid who is pretending to dust some products all the while watching me.  I asked him if he knew where the lawn fertiliser was and he gave me this dumb founded look.  I apoligised and told him I got my stores mixed up and asked him if he had any types of remote switches or small thick pipes that could hold nails.  He now looked really confused and I thanked him for his help and picked up a small $1 attachement for a garden hose and proceeded to the check out.

I stood there staring at two girls who either hated their jobs or loved their jobs because it gave them ample time to update their Facebook status. Neither of which were that interested in helping me proceed with my big purchase for the day.  I put my item on the counter and said hello – I was greeted with a cold dead stare and she went through the process of ringing up my purchase of a buck.  I was tempted to pay by credit card just for fun but decided that placing that single gold coin on the counter would be the wisest move.  I was about to leave and she asked to check my back pack – perhaps my jokes were over heard and now I’m suspect of not only being an idiot but also stealing something. I mean who goes into a store and only spends a $1? There MUST be something wrong with that guy.  She goes through my bag and asks me to open another pocket. I oblige.  While she is going through this I think about how much fun it would be to have a jack in the box type device just for these moments.  Hilarious.  I finish and as I’m leaving someone gets on the P.A. and states there is a “408 in Aisle 3… 408 in Aisle 3…” Wonder what that could be.  Oh well…   the girl looks away and obviously distracted by the announcement forgets to thank me for my purchase and wish me a good day.

Five minutes in that shop and I left feeling like I was treated as a criminal in waiting – I really hate it when stores have staff who do nothing but stalk you. To top it off bag searches and staff who are rude about it don’t exactly make my day either.  This is one of many reasons I shop online. I can go to any online store and use their search function to find what I want, when I want.  Retail stores complain that online business is taking away from their bottom line. I reckon more of us would go to shops if the staff were friendlier and offered a better level of customer service.

Yes that was a long story and I’m sure we all have similar tales.  You are one of the minority though who is a smart shopper because you choose to save time and money by shopping online.  Good on ya!

Adrian

Director of Third Gear