Today is Tioli's last day open to the public. As I walked around the shop turning on lights and fans, I thought back to the first days of setting up shop and opening for business. We had something special here, but times have changed enough that we've been left in the dust.
Even when we opened almost five years ago, we were a dinosaur, an anchronism. We were a shoppe like those of olde where you went as much to socialize and hear the news as you did to buy. We bartered products for food, we extended credit, we gave away pens and toy gliders. We carried Slinkys and jigsaw puzzles for crying out loud. About all we didn't do was allow folks to spit on the floor.
On Sunday we got together with a couple we met through the shop. They said they had a business opportunity for us. They were overwhelmed, they said, with their internet business and needed someone to help. Sarah and I thought it was related to their sales of fine art giclees and originals. They showed up at the restaurant all spiffed up in mainland-style business attire. I figured they had just come from church, but learned soon enough that they hadn't.
They went through a long presentation involving a canned speech and visuals. They talked about how Amazon makes their money, and how the internet is on the cusp of revolutionizing small businesses. My heart sunk more and more with each moment, and Sarah's rage waxed with each moment. I finally realized that it was just another multi-level marketing scheme like Pre-paid Legal or Amway.
I tried to pin them down to the bottom line. "I'm out of work," I said. "I need an income. How much can we expect to make for our 20 hours per week investment?" They had their answer but it was so wacky that it took me several minutes to believe it. You don't MAKE money in this scheme, you SAVE money, and the money you SAVE is your income. You pay your $55.00 a month, and that lets you buy wholesale from hundreds of businesses and choose from millions of products that you already use, from clothing to paper towels. As you recruit other marks, your discount percentage grows.
We said this was not for us. Sarah said buying online is what helped to sink our business (which is definately true). We said this was so far from our committment and desire to be a part of and contribute to our community that it would be a soul-sucking thing. Further, without an income it doesn't matter how much we might save, because we aren't going to be able to spend on clothing and digital cameras and a flat screen tv.
I felt betrayed by these folks, ambushed, like I feel around Mormons and Jehovah's Witlesses and like my marks must have felt when I was involved in
Evangelism Explosion way back when. I was disappointed, too, that they didn't understand what Tioli's was about, and by extension what we were about.
It reminded me of the
friends I wrote about awhile back. Like the couple in the older story, the couple we met on Sunday started in a very patronizing manner. They didn't find about their target audience, they didn't try to find out our background or business philosophy, they assumed that since we're white and in business for ourselves we must be conservative republicans, religious, and only interested in making as much money as we can, traveling as far as we can, and buying as much stuff as we can.
The couple Sunday started by commending me for my willingness to talk about our financial troubles, and my apparent egolessness (HA! ask Sarah about that one). I don't remember where I was going with that, and I don't care anymore.
End Rant Alert.
