The Life Of A Businessman

It was the spring of 2015, I was just signing up for my courses. I studied history and excelled. Was the only subject I enjoyed, and was able to go above and beyond without any work outside of the lectures. My brother has a service station business not far where I'm from, and offered me the management position. Seems like a raw deal, but I forced him to incentivize; giving me 22% ownership by fall 2018. I took over the business at age 25, and it was scary. I was burdened without a business worth over 3 million $, and I barely knew how to manage my life. The gas station was in debt, roughly around 1 million dollars, and had many repairs that were needed. One month in and I knew I was in over my head. I realized I had to approach this like a numbers game, but by bit and with patience yet urgency st the same time. I canceled weekly trash pickups, installed a new ac unit, carried less merchandise (dead merchandise), that we didn't need. I also stopped relying on distributors and began making daily trips to local grocers for items. The ac unit alone was 11000$ but saved me roughly 1200$ a month during winter and 1900$ a month during the summer. I also rented the kitchen, rented lots outside the shop, which brought in any extra revenue that didn't exist prior. It all adds up, even as cliche as that is, lol. Next step was putting emotions aside and firing childhood friends because they lacked productivity and didn't tend to clients as well as they should've. One lost customer creates a ripple effect since humans are gossipers by nature. I also looked into my franchise contract for the business and made the corporation complete promises that were in ink that the other manager never managed to inquire about. I stocked less but more frequently; in turn, decreasing the chance of having any expired products and new products seem more appealing to the eye. Art correlates with business. Humans are drawn to contrast that lead to symmetrical focal points. Changed the logos and decorations outside. Customers love honesty and familiarity. When you show them honesty when they're buying and create dialogue, they are more likely to return to your business. It wasn't and still isn't easy, but I live for the struggle to keep the business thriving no matter how many hours I have to put in. Currently, the business is only 380k in debt, and the future looks bright. History is still one of my passions, and I read during the evenings to help with the stress involved. No matter how difficult the task, as long as there's will and no sight of complacency, there's no stopping your dreams from coming to fruition.