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A LIFE SO FAR
Killing My Business Was the Hardest Decision I Ever Made
I have earned money one way or another since I was thirteen years old. I have struggled and succeeded, fallen back and risen again for fifty-nine long years.
In 1983, I started the business that would consume more than three decades of my life.
I had started businesses before this. I had a part-time rare coin business with my brother in law and had been in a partnership with a friend running a wholesale/retail hobby ceramics shop. Those businesses were deliberate and planned; starting them was a decision reached after serious consideration and planning.
Beginning this business was more from desperation than planning.
After giving up on those prior businesses in 1981, I worked as a Customer Support Rep at the Tandy Computer Center in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. My base pay was a mere $5.05 per hour, but I also was paid a cut of the store’s entire sales revenue. The store was doing very well selling early Tandy Computers to consumers and business customers, so I was also doing well. Life was good.
Then IBM introduced the IBM PC. The effect on Tandy Computer sales was immediate and draconian. Our…
