Psychology includes an explanation of understanding referred to as the four stages of competence, formally summarized by Gordon Training International in the 70s. Summarized, they are: Unconscious incompetence A person does not know how to do something, and does not recognize their lack of knowledge. They will make mistakes they do not recognize as mistakes, …
Yesterday, Privateer Press announced the end of their Press Ganger (PG) program. Our local PGs are, understandably, upset. Many of our Warmachine and Hordes players are, also, understandably upset. The end of the program came with little warning, and as a surprise to many. We hope our PGs will remain active parts of our community, …
As part of building a class on writing for game design in Fall of 2017, I’m creating a series of assignments here. Some will end up in the course, no doubt, and some won’t, but I think my teaching is better when I echo chamber my work far in advance and then go back and …
Today a customer who was in town for work, who had previously patronized the Game Universe chain of stores I managed in Milwaukee, stopped by my new store in Rochester NY. Unfortunately I was not there, but the staffer commented that he had mentioned how he often got things cheaper online, then proceeded to drop …
In business and in life I spend a lot of time looking ahead and projecting. Will big box retail hurt my sales? Will my staff perform above average, or just average? Will I remember to order playmat tubes if I leave myself a 5th reminder message? Whatever it is I’m dithering over, 90% of the …
Part of running a game store, or any business, is customer acquisition and retention. One of the big struggles a game store faces is, somewhat counter-intuitively, what kind of customers to pursue, charm and win over to their fold. Some of this is based on the demographics of a stores’ region, but much of it …
Read more “3 Game Stores in the Wild and How to Identify them”
Customers occasionally ask me “Isn’t Kickstarter bad for game stores?” They almost ask this like they want me to be pissed off about it. Or like they want me to agree “Oh yes, it’s killing me, and your total comes to $145.62, would you like a receipt?” Or they wonder how we can possibly be …
Lots of blogs out there will tell you the cost of opening a good game store. I’m here to tell you not to do it. This is not going to be a polite post; I’m not being discouraging or encouraging, I’m being pragmatic and blunt. If that offends you, you’re not ready to open a …
I see a lot of store owners sweating their competitors. Mostly the ones who apparently operate without business sense or an infinite advertising budget. Or a trust fund. There’s lots of those, in every industry, but far more important is to recognize the good, healthy competitors you have and work with them. Aren’t your competitors …