12 Lessons from 12 Months of Owning a Bookstore

The need for patience is the most important lesson Ryan Holiday learned when starting his business.

Be aware when you start a business that it’s not going to be as easy and straightforward as you think – or hope – it will be. You must be patient and willing to delay gratification. Author Ryan Holiday and his wife, Samantha Hoover, dreamed of opening their Bastrop, Texas bookstore, The Painted Porch, in the fall of 2019. They expected to have it fully running by spring 2020. The pandemic caused a wholly unexpected year-long delay.

The couple is happy now about how their business evolved, but it took time. At first, they had to learn to be comfortable with small starts and slow progress. Your plans aren’t all going to work out perfectly. Holiday advises getting comfortable with improving things incrementally.

Decide on your measures of success; money may not be your priority. 

A bookstore is never going to rake in lots of money. Of course, The Painted...