should I quit my job and open a bookstore, coworker was disciplined for sharing info everyone already knew, and more by Alison Green on April 24, 2025 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I want to quit my job and open a bookstore I work in tax accounting. Tax season just ended and the overtime nearly killed me. I love my job but I’m tired of it. I’m also in my mid twenties and more or less feel like I settled down too soon. I work at a small firm and the owners are the best bosses I’ve ever had. I really enjoy the people I work with and I enjoy what I do. I’m well paid and have good benefits including 100% employer paid health insurance. But I’m starting to get tired of it. Lately I’ve been fantasizing about opening a bookstore. I’ve planned out the kinds of loans I would need, how I would acquire inventory, etc. It all feels so doable, but I would lose the stability afforded to me by my current job. I’m sure I would make less money, and I fear the bookstore wouldn’t make any money at all. I could switch to part-time hours at my current job, but I would lose my benefits and not make as much money. All that said, the bookstore is still calling my name. I’m dreaming of a store open in afternoons and evenings for people to shop at after work or school. I’d like to have seating and make it sort of a local “third place.” I’m inclined to think that my community would enjoy it, but I’m not sure how profitable it would be. What should I do? Write up a formal business plan, including market analysis, sales strategy, start-up costs, and financial projections (including what monthly sales you’d need to cover expenses). You’ll need that anyway, and that process will give you a lot more insight into whether it’s something you want to move forward with. Look at the American Booksellers Association, too. They have an “opening a bookstore” electronic kit they can send. But also, you should talk to some bookstore owners! Owning a bookstore is a very common dream, and often what people envision doesn’t line up with the realities of the work — which tend to involve long hours, small profit margins, and often more focus on business than books. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t do it successfully and happily, but you’d want to make sure that you understand exactly what’s involved and what your day-to-day life will be like. In fact, the best possible thing you could do might be to work part-time in a bookstore for a while and see it up close. 2. My company disciplined a coworker for sharing info everyone already knew I work in a niche field in a town with a handful of businesses in that field. Many of us know each other and have worked at the different businesses over time. In my workplace, there’s a high awareness of confidentiality about who’s applying for jobs, as there should be, but we had a situation come up that I’ve been curious about. Sally had worked with me at Company A, then went to work for Company B. Some of our part-time staff at A also worked part-time at B. My coworker Lyle and I supervised these part-timers. When we had an opening at A for a different job, Lyle was on the hiring committee. I had previously worked at B, and several people I knew there mentioned that Sally was applying for this new opening at A. One day, one of the mutual part-timers told us that Sally was applying, and had talked to them about it at B. Sally had been very open about it, and it was no secret, so many of us found out. Later, a different part-time staff person was chatting with Lyle about the position, mentioned Sally, and Lyle confirmed through conversation that Sally was applying. This was overheard and heads rolled! Lyle was disciplined, with the threat that he could have been fired for breaking confidentiality in the hiring process. Normally this would be appropriate, and Lyle probably shouldn’t have been talking about the hiring at all. But it did feel odd, since most of us at A already knew Sally was applying because she’d told multiple people, including people who worked here. Sally ended up leaving for a third business and is currently applying for a job at the fourth, which I know about through this network even though A isn’t involved at all! Sally habitually broadcasts this kind of information. Of people I know in our field, this actually isn’t uncommon. Anyway, I was reminded of me of this incident, and I’m curious what you think of it. It’s great that your company takes applicant confidentiality seriously, but threatening to fire Lyle in this particular set of circumstances was a bit extreme. Or at least it was if they actually threatened to fire him. But did they? Or was the conversation more like, “We take applicant confidentiality really seriously and while we know that in this case the candidate was sharing the news widely herself, you still need to be careful because it’s not up to you to decide who hears about it, and there’s too much room for error if you assume you know who already knows. While we understand what happened here, we take the rule seriously enough that breaking it could be fireable, and it’s important that you don’t do it again.” An explanation that the policy still applies despite the circumstances and and why, along with a warning that it’s a job requirement to handle confidential information with discretion and a reminder of the potential consequences, would be reasonable. 3. I‘m getting too many requests for practice exchange I work in professional services in higher education (in the EU). Two years ago I started to be active on LinkedIn. The goal was to advertise our great services and attract researchers to our university, but I now have a very large presence there. Recently, I have been overwhelmed with international colleagues wanting to do a study visit to our unit. They want to learn how to build or improve services at their own universities or sometimes even countries. This is a normal thing to do in my sector, but now we get monthly/weekly requests. We are a team of seven, mostly part-time, and my colleagues (who I manage) aren’t keen to host all these people who basically are fans of mine from the internet. Also, I get invited to give talks about our unit as well, so lots of info is already available in recordings anyway. Nevertheless, I’m having trouble just rejecting everyone. I also went on helpful study trips to the elite UK universities when we built the unit. How many should I accept? What can I offer instead? And how do I tell the people „you’re the fourth person this month to ask me this?” How many you should accept depends on how much time and energy they take up and how much of both those things you’re willing to invest, so I can’t answer that — but it’s very reasonable to put limits on it. You’re seeing that more people are interested than you can accommodate, so you already know you’ll need to say no to some of them; the question is just how many you can reasonably say yes to. Since your colleagues are involved, too, sit down as a group and decide what’s practical. (And you’re not locking yourself into whatever you decide; if it turns out to still be too many, or if it’s not as onerous as you’d thought, you can adjust that number up or down next year.) But the fact that you already have lots of info available in recordings is great because you can point people to those. It’s completely fine to say, “We’ve fully booked the slots we have available for study visits this year (or this quarter, or whatever time period makes sense), but we’ve compiled some information that might be useful” and then link them to it. 4. Is bad eyesight a disability for the purpose of job applications? I’ve run into this question on employment questionnaires and job applications: Do you have a visible/non-visible disability? I have pathetic eyesight and wear glasses/contact lenses as a correction. I wouldn’t be able to function properly without these corrections. I generally don’t think of my condition as a disability, because wearing glasses is so common. But what do I say to answer this question? Technically, I do have a disability, because I can’t function without my lenses. But I feel like I’m faking a label to call it a disability. I don’t know how to answer this question. Currently, I have been saying that yes, I have an invisible disability (because I wear contact lenses, so nobody knows how bad my vision really is). Am I lying? I am wondering if “invisible disability” is usually referring to a condition that doesn’t have any kind of mechanical aid (for sight, hearing, locomotion). You can answer this however you want and it will have absolutely no ramifications for you, whichever you choose. Assuming you’re in the U.S., they’re only asking because companies with more than 100 employees and companies with government contracts over a certain dollar amount have to report the demographic makeup of their applicants and employees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (in aggregate, not individually). They’re not allowed to consider your answers when they consider your candidacy; in fact, they’re legally required to store the information separately from the rest of your application. (The exception to this is veteran status; in some cases employers are permitted to give preference to veterans.) They’re also not legally allowed to penalize you for not answering, and they won’t check back on your answers to ensure they match up with info they get about you later on. (So if you said you had a disability when you don’t appear to, they’re not going to ask you about it or even notice or care. Same thing if you said you didn’t have one when you do. This is just about collecting info in the aggregate for reporting.) If you consider your vision issues to be significant enough to be a disability, answer yes. If you don’t, answer no. It will not matter either way! 5. Addressing a federal layoff in my resume and when networking I’m one of the thousands of government employees who were recently RIFed. I’m searching for jobs (using your resources!) and am unsure whether and how to put this layoff on my resume and cover letter. Technically, I’m still on admin leave, so do I put the date on my resume as July 2014-present or July 2014-June 2025? Do I address this in my cover letter? I can’t decide if people will take pity on me or if it will come off as desperate. I also struggle with how to address this in networking situations: do I still work there or am I a former employee? It can get exhausting having people tell me how sorry they are when all I really want is to have someone say “let’s get you a job.” You can do either! “To present” would be accurate because technically you’re still employed, just on leave. “To June 2025″ would also be fine if June is the date when your employment will end. It really won’t matter much either way. You don’t need to address it in your cover letter at all. In networking situations, you can say, “I work as a taco handler for the Department of Dinner, but my job is one of the ones being cut.” You may also like:what to say if an interviewer asks about your favorite books or movieswhat's up with job ads that include "sense of humor"?my company is not planning well for my retirement ... what's my responsibility? { 90 comments }
PDB* April 24, 2025 at 12:14 am I have a badly damaged eye that looks normal but in which I have very little vision. As a result I have no depth perception to about 6 feet. A one time i was offered a job that had some soldering of wiring and had to disclose I couldn’t do it. Still got the job. Reply ↓
Everything Bagel* April 24, 2025 at 12:20 am A friend of mine *just* opened their new co-op bookstore. It has been a huge amount of work and they are definitely working another job at an accounting firm while the bookstore (hopefully) gets off the ground. I know they’ve been working on it for months and months, maybe even a whole year, before it opened, and it’s been a hard process, but I also know they’re very happy with how it’s going so far. Reply ↓
Desert Rat* April 24, 2025 at 1:40 am I’m friendly with the owner of a local bookstore in my small town. She had been a teacher and quit to open the bookstore because it was her dream. For two years the bookstore was her full-time job, but she was there basically 24/7 and couldn’t afford to hire any employees. At year three, she went back to teaching so that she’d have a steady paycheck and benefits, reduced the bookstore’s open hours, and hired a few part-time employees. She’s still working in the bookstore every weekend and does marketing and other business operations work in the evenings. She says she doesn’t regret it, especially since the bookstore has become a beloved part of our little town, but it’s basically her whole life. Reply ↓
DJ Abbott* April 24, 2025 at 7:06 am I used to shop at a vintage store where when the subject came up, the owner would say she would take a job with good benefits and stability in a minute over owning the store. OP should determine how important benefits, stability, and life balance are to her before she opens her own business. I’m sure she could find a job that doesn’t have overtime hours if she wanted to do that instead. Reply ↓
AngryOctopus* April 24, 2025 at 8:09 am Also, one of the biggest issues with owning your own place (besides the benefits/stability of an outside job) is that owning it has very little to do with whatever your passion is. Want to own a yoga studio? Okay, you’ll be in charge of rent, of scheduling classes, of collecting payments, of finding instructors and subs, of maintaining props and mats for people, of fixing the plumbing issue in the bathroom, of repairing the floor, of fixing the lock when it breaks. You might not be teaching any yoga at all. And your studio might become beloved by those who attend, but you yourself might end up hating it. Reply ↓
nodramalama* April 24, 2025 at 12:20 am For lw4, personally, as someone who also has bad eyesight and needs glasses or contacts to see, my position is that if you can see normally with corrective lens, I wouldn’t consider that to be a disability. Reply ↓
Thepuppiesareok* April 24, 2025 at 12:40 am I agree. I’ve had to have glasses since kindergarten because I can’t see past my nose without them. But they don’t affect my life beyond needing glasses. This is so normal for me it’s only been in the past couple of years that I’ve realized it’s technically a disability. Even if I did consider it a disability I’m not disclosing that for demographic purposes, especially if I’m only applying there. Reply ↓
Polyhymnia O’Keefe* April 24, 2025 at 12:59 am Ditto. Terrible eyesight might have been what killed me in ancient times, but my pre-LASIK eyesight wasn’t anything more unusual than a “lenses required” notation on my driver’s license. It might technically have been a disability, but the most impact it had on my work was when the steam from opening the sanitizer fogged up my glasses when I worked at Starbucks. Reply ↓
allathian* April 24, 2025 at 12:47 am Bad eyesight is interesting because it’s so common that we don’t tend to consider it to be a disability. I guess it depends on exactly how bad your eyesight is. When I was in college, one of my classmates had really bad eyesight, something like -8 diopters (worse than 20/1,000) so he’s legally blind without glasses, but with glasses he’s allowed to drive. I have something like -1.5/+2 diopters, so for distance vision without glasses I have about 1/100 vision. I’m not allowed to drive without glasses either, the limit here’s -1 diopters (20/50). Reply ↓
Nodramalama* April 24, 2025 at 12:56 am Yeah, I agree with this. Like, if I knock my glasses off my bedside table at night, I’m scrabbling on the ground trying to find them, using my phone as a magnifier to try look for them. But put them on and I’m driving, I’m going to work, Im just living my life Reply ↓
Mid* April 24, 2025 at 1:40 am It goes to show that disability is really a societal construct, or at least heavily contextual. Things that are disabling (meaning limiting your ability to function/do the things you need to do) in some contexts can even be beneficial in others. (E.g. the theory that we evolved to have a certain percentage of our population have a “sleep disorder” or delayed sleep cycles. Not helpful when you need to work a 9-5 job. Very helpful when someone needs to tend the fire and watch out for attackers all night.) I have a friend who is really sensitive to bright lights (something with their pupils not dilating correctly) but conversely has incredible night vision. Disability is never black and white or a clear line. Reply ↓
Desert Rat* April 24, 2025 at 1:48 am It also makes me wonder where the line is drawn. I was born without the ability to hear certain tones, but I have hearing aids to compensate for that. Does that qualify as a disability? I also have ADHD. Without medication I would not be able to function in my current role, but outside of the occasional medication shortage, I am medicated daily and my work is not impacted. Is that technically a disability worth disclosing? There’s no right answer to this question, but it’s interesting to think about. Reply ↓
Thegreatprevaricator* April 24, 2025 at 2:50 am I think that there’s something about impact. Under the UK Equality Act you are disabled if ‘you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.’. It doesn’t matter about what strategies or medication you have. So some visual impairment would meet that threshold, as would ADHD. As someone with late diagnosis I’m personally struggling a bit with ableism and also the ‘oh but I’m not really disabled’ . The truth is it affects all areas of my life, and there are clear areas that it shows up at work. I also have poor vision but I consider that less impactful – it doesn’t require any accommodation from my employer. It’s interesting and I think as in answer, you can consider it a disability or not. Is your experience. Reply ↓
MsSolo (UK)* April 24, 2025 at 3:38 am Yes, I was thinking there’s some kind of threshold in the UK for diagnosis. When I asked a doctor about a different condition, they suggested that normal daily activities refers to things like dressing yourself, feeding yourself, cleaning yourself etc, rather than working and driving, so if you can get up and dressed and ready for work without your glasses, the fact you need them to get there doesn’t then lift your eyesight to the level of a disability. Reply ↓
Cordelia* April 24, 2025 at 3:57 am I’m not sure that this does qualify under the Equality Act, as if the vision is corrected with contacts or glasses it is not having a substantial or longterm effect on normal activities. I’m extremely shortsighted, with age-related loss of distance vision too, but with my contact lenses and/or my glasses, I see fine. So I am not disabled. If somehow something happened that meant I could no longer wear glasses, or they stopped working, then I would be disabled. Reply ↓
Boof* April 24, 2025 at 6:48 am As someone with both extreme nearsightedness and mild adhd – eh. I understand why some might want more people to identify as disabled, and that adhd has different severity sand impacts- but i simply do not feel disabled and don’t like calling that “internalized ableism”. For me adhd feels more like “just my personality “ and my personal pattern of strengths/weaknesses. But i do agree labels are a bit scary- not sure if that’s internalized ablism or just human nature to be a little nervous about change (and i’d say a getting a label is a change, if only a mental one) Reply ↓
Opaline* April 24, 2025 at 7:36 am It’s interesting how much we balance prevelance Vs the accomodations “fixing” something into whether we count it as a disability or not. I also have glasses and moderate ADHD. Without my glasses I’m too near-sighted to read off a computer screen. Without my ADHD meds and planning systems, I’m a disregulated mess. With both glasses and meds I can hold down a normal office job just fine, yet I still feel the ADHD counts as a disability to most people where the near-sightedness doesn’t? Even though being without my glasses would make me equally unable to do my job. Reply ↓
TechWorker* April 24, 2025 at 2:59 am Right, I had lasik a few years ago but I was like -5/-7. I wouldn’t consider it a disability but if there was a zombie apocalypse & I broke my glasses with no way to replace them? I’d be screwed. Reply ↓
Nebula* April 24, 2025 at 5:16 am Thinking about my own bad eyesight is what made me fully understand and internalise the social model of disability. The social model is that people are disabled by barriers in society, rather than their own individual impairment or condition. I have a physical impairment which, if correction to it was not readily available, would be a disability. However, as it stands, I have always had access to corrective lenses, and there is no serious social stigma around using this particular aid which would make me feel pressured not to use them. Therefore, I do not have a disability. In a different society, I would. Reply ↓
Santiago* April 24, 2025 at 12:51 am I agree. I have additional vision issues that impact my daily function, require accommodations, and whatnot, which is different from having issues which corrective lenses fix. Reply ↓
hedgewitch* April 24, 2025 at 2:13 am That’s the definition I’ve always operated under, too. AFAIK, the legal determination of blindness also works that way: it considers the vision issues that still remain when you’re already wearing the best lenses for your particular issues. (At least where I am; and I also think in terms of paralympics participation) Reply ↓
londonedit* April 24, 2025 at 4:27 am Yes, that’s my position. It’s on my driving licence that I need corrective lenses because it would be illegal for me to drive without my contact lenses/glasses (and I really wouldn’t want to because I wouldn’t be able to see anything!) but with my contact lenses my vision is incredible, probably better than a lot of people who don’t need lenses/glasses to see. So as long as I’m wearing my contacts or my glasses, I don’t consider myself to have any vision problems at all. Reply ↓
Thomas* April 24, 2025 at 6:52 am I can’t speak for US law, but under UK law (Equality Act 2010 and associated regulations) this is the case – the impact of visual impairment is based on the impact *with* prescribed corrective lenses. That’s an exception to the usual principle that the impact of a disability is based on its impact *without* treatment. Reply ↓
Nightengale* April 24, 2025 at 7:44 am That is my understanding of the ADA (us law) as well. Vision “correctable” with lenses is an exception to the “without regard to mitigating measures” requirement Reply ↓
Dogmomma* April 24, 2025 at 7:31 am agree, I had very bad eyesight. never considered it a disability. on the flip side, once I had cataract surgery, my distance vision was corrected to 20/20 and all I need are readers! Reply ↓
Health Insurance Nerd* April 24, 2025 at 8:03 am I agree. My vision is terrible- I can’t do anything without glasses or contacts. But I don’t need any kind of accommodation or consideration at work, therefore I do not label myself as disabled. Reply ↓
Civil Disobedience* April 24, 2025 at 12:22 am LW#3, If you do take Alison’s advice and have a limited number of slots, you may want to consider having an application form you can quickly send to anyone with an inquiry and then set aside a period of time to review the applications. Having an application can help limit the amount of information you have to comb through and make things easier to review since everyones submissions will be more uniform and you can make sure to request all the information you need. Reply ↓
Agent Diane* April 24, 2025 at 2:42 am It will also weed out the people who just really love your work since they will have to fill in a form. Reply ↓
Account* April 24, 2025 at 3:57 am #1- Can you go part-time at your current job and *work* in a bookstore for a while?? You’ll definitely want experience in the field before trying to start your own business! Reply ↓
JSPA* April 24, 2025 at 12:22 am I so want linked in to be a red herring, and #3 to be “Our Favorite G.B.” (in which case, yeah, people are wanting an excuse to hang out with you, as well as picking up some good ideas and charm-by-association, and please instead do make more video content for all of us). And if you’re not him, that advice likely still holds. Alternatively, apply for a grant to add a part-time position, or convert one of your part timers to full time, to have the bandwidth for more international training, networking and following through on the visibility and outreach. Reply ↓
Non non non all the way home* April 24, 2025 at 2:04 am I don’t understand this comment. I Googled but didn’t find anything for “Our Favorite G.B.” Can you explain this for those readers who are out of the loop? Reply ↓
Snarky McSnarkerson* April 24, 2025 at 5:50 am I read it as JSPA believing that they know who the LW is. Reply ↓
TCO* April 24, 2025 at 12:30 am OP 3’s team would benefit from a way to prioritize visitors. Maybe it would be easier to say no if you weren’t picking guests based on who contacted you first, but on who will make the best use of a study visit. If this were my office, I’d set up a little application form that asks a few questions about the applicant’s home institution, what they want to learn, their readiness to incorporate what they learn, what else they’ve already done to study this area (have they advance beyond what the videos can teach?) etc. Set an application deadline for the next quarter, year, whatever, and then review all of the requests at once. OP’s team can say their criteria in advance for who is the best fit for a study visit. Maybe they want to prioritize certain institutions, certain underrepresented groups, those who seem the most prepared and thoughtful, those who will be the lowest-maintenance to host, whatever. Once the team really prioritizes who they see as the most “deserving” guests it should be easier to say no to some others. Reply ↓
OP3 Practice Exchange* April 24, 2025 at 1:44 am Hm, I can see that as a way to get my team on board as well – if they get to make the rules about who visits, they might feel they get something out as well. Thanks! Reply ↓
rebelwithmouseyhair* April 24, 2025 at 4:37 am It does also make more work though: someone has to design the form, and someone else has to sift through the applications. Unless they can make mostly yes/no answers where a “no” will simply weed the not-serious applicants out for them, but again, that requires someone to configure and test it. Reply ↓
MassMatt* April 24, 2025 at 12:34 am #1 I don’t want to tell you not to follow your dream, but you need to be very thorough with your research and planning before you quit your job (about which you say many great things!) to open a bookstore. The most obvious thing is that even well-known and loved bookstores are struggling, as is retail generally, with online sales. The average age of people who even read physical books is high, and climbing. My city has several large universities and many colleges, and even here many bookstores have closed. On top of that: Have you ever worked retail? Dealt with entitled, nasty, or obtuse customers? Dealt with theft, or the never-ending amount of cleaning, stocking, restocking, and returns that a bookstore would entail? Dealt with vendors and wholesalers? Have you ever had to hire and train staff? You will need to do lots of it, retail is notorious for high turnover. Ever made a schedule for a staff of part-timers? Had to cover for no-shows, or scrabble to find help when someone quits? Retail has high turnover for many good reasons: It’s a lot of hassle for not much money, and “not much” is leaving town. Follow Alison’s suggestions, but also I would say work in a bookstore for at least a few months on weekends and evenings, and see if you still love it once it’s less a dream and more of a reality. Reply ↓
Mid* April 24, 2025 at 1:43 am I was going to suggest the same. Get a part time job at a bookstore. Volunteer at a library. Get as much experience with the reality of working at a bookstore as possible first. When you start out, you likely won’t be able to hire someone, so every hour the bookstore is open, you have to be there. And then you have to do all the after hours work. You will very likely end up working far, far more hours than you currently do, even in tax season, for the first several years. Reply ↓
Abogado Avocado* April 24, 2025 at 2:02 am Lw#1, I second Matt’s advice. I am an investor in an independent bookstore in one of the largest cities in the US, and there are many years where we don’t turn a profit, although we do pay our bills. Which is a good thing. Our bookstore started as a for-profit, mom annd pop business some 50 years ago. Despite loads of goodwill, it was at risk of going under when the original owners retired and wanted to sell out, but had trouble finding a buyer. A consortium of investors was recruited and “saved” the bookstore, but only because most of we investors truly do not expect to earn back our investment. (And we haven’t.) Our store is open six days/week, we do author- and related events 5 nights/week, and regularly staff book sales at author events all over our city. We partner with the MFA writing program at the major university in our city. We also host book clubs and sell audio and e-books on LibroFM. And we are located in a city neighborhood full of educated residents who read. All of this helps us sell books. Despite our store’s good reputation and location, it can be a struggle to recruit and retain staff and to keep sales high enough to cover our expenses. And we can never rest in terms of innovating because Amazon and Audible are our largest and most persistent competitors. Yet, the effort is worth it because our work supports the reading and writing community in our city. So, do your homework and if you’re up for the challenge of operating an independent bookstore, please do so! I firmly believe you’ll be making your community a better place to live — and we will all be better off as a result. Reply ↓
Jill Swinburne* April 24, 2025 at 2:13 am Absolutely. If you’ve never worked retail before it will be eye-opening. Honestly a fairy could guarantee permanent world peace in exchange for me going back to retail and I’d have to ask her for a few days to consider. Reply ↓
rebelwithmouseyhair* April 24, 2025 at 4:42 am yes to all this. I had a friend who decided to open a bookshop just as the big A was gearing up. It did work pretty well but she worked minimum 12hrs a day and then was watching TV programmes about literature and checking the bookkeeping at home after dinner. It kind of broke even. She did tons of events, getting authors to come for signings, with live music and nibblies and all. And she is a very charismatic woman, she had clients who would read the reviews on internet then come to the shop to order their books, just because they wanted her to stay in business. But it wore her out in the end and she now works when she feels like it for her husband’s money-making firm. Reply ↓
Roland* April 24, 2025 at 7:10 am @MassMatt — you are so right! I have worked retail, it’s an experience! Reply ↓
Upside down Question Mark* April 24, 2025 at 7:13 am to this, OP seems quite young and hasn’t mentioned what country they are in. I would start with creating a weekend maker space or something. I would NEVER give up my health insurance in this economy. Reply ↓
WellRed* April 24, 2025 at 7:58 am If tax season just ended I was assuming US, especially since she also mentions employer funded insurance. I agree it’s crazy to give that up, as she also likes her job. Reply ↓
OP1* April 24, 2025 at 8:05 am Yes US and yes I am very young lol. Well I wasn’t planning on going WITHOUT health insurance but having to pay for it myself would be a major factor. I really appreciate all this input. Reply ↓
MH* April 24, 2025 at 12:45 am OP3, in addition to TCO’s suggestions: consider an open week. I live in South Africa and most international visits from our academic staff happen in June/ July when its spring/ summer in Europe. You can then dedicate a week to these visits in group format for applicants who have the potential to become solid partners and have already done some homework. Also consider talking to your internationalisation office as there may be funding available for these visits. You could also consider prioritising universities your university already has exchange agreements or MoUs with. Reply ↓
Hyaline* April 24, 2025 at 8:03 am I was going to say–consolidating these visits might work well for everyone involved. They could possibly even transition it into a workshop or conference if it goes well. Reply ↓
Daria grace* April 24, 2025 at 1:29 am #1 I’m a big fan of bookstores and would love to see more of them but I’d encourage you to be cautious with this plans. While you’re burned out on your existing job you’re likely not in a position to make accurate sober assessment of the risks involved. While it will likely be different types of stress than your current job, I am very skeptical it will be less stress. Any physical retail store is likely to be difficult to get profitable but books are an especially easy item for people to browse in your store then order on Amazon. The idea of creating a third space is very very admirable but I suspect it’s going to be very difficult to even cover costs (renting extra space, facilities maintenance ect ) on the extra sales it generates. Reply ↓
Ellis Bell* April 24, 2025 at 2:47 am Yeah, I have to wonder if OP has ever actually worked retail (and really advise them to try it!) rather than approaching this as though of course they’d have customers and staff who are enthusiastic book lovers. Ever had someone blatantly steal right in front of you? Damage property? Cause a scene just because they have a captive audience? Even the most bookish and reasonable person who is lured to bookshops like a siren song will consider browsing for fun and then buying on Amazon when finances are tight. If the OP wants to create a space for book lovers, and I can see how that would be a rewarding passion, I would really consider alternative ways to scratch this itch, like making it an event space you can control access to and ticket like book clubs or poetry evenings. My local bookshop definitely makes more money off coffee, stationery and events than they do off books. Reply ↓
Jill Swinburne* April 24, 2025 at 2:57 am With a username like that, you clearly know your stuff ;-) Reply ↓
Roland* April 24, 2025 at 7:18 am @Ellis Bell — I order from Amazon and Thriftbooks. And, in the past, I heavily visited and bought from Half Priced Books. I hope OP stays in the current job, and launches a part-time online/tiny brickNmortor bookstore gig. Reply ↓
Potato Potato* April 24, 2025 at 1:30 am About the disability question- you might be interested in learning about the social model of disability vs the medical model. (I’m seriously simplifying these explanations- if you’re curious, look it up for more detail.) Most people are used to the medical model- aka, a disability is something wrong with your body that needs fixing. In this case, needing glasses would probably count. I prefer the social model of disability, though. A disability is defined as a state where you have a difficult time functioning, because of something to do with your body. By the social model of disability, I wouldn’t define my nearsightedness as a disability, because it’s pretty rare that needing glasses poses a problem in my life. This is personal and context-dependant, though. If I worked in a steam room or couldn’t afford to buy glasses after mine broke, then I’d probably consider it a disability. Side note- I have other disabilities too, so the question of whether my glasses qualify isn’t a big one for me. Interestingly enough, my other disability is also subject to the “does it count?” debate. To which my answer is- it depends on the person and their life Reply ↓
Convoluted* April 24, 2025 at 1:34 am LW#1, I’m a bookseller at a small but successful bookstore. Assuming you’re in USA, Alice is correct, check ABA resources and talk to bookstore owners! Particularly ones in your region. I know we’re part of the ABA and also a smaller, regional alliance of indie bookstores that have advice and resources tailored to our area. That said, my gut says shelve the dream right now. Books are a luxury good and we’ve had a noticeable drop in sales with all the uncertainty with the government and most books are printed overseas so you can read between the lines there. Even before this, many other stores we know are barely making it. Our owner is in a facebook group for bookstore owners and many of them cannot afford to pay themselves a salary. They depend on a spouse for support or keep another job. Also, you might think a bookstore is about books, but it’s about customer service. We cannot compete with online prices or the selection, so we have to compete by making the experience better for the customer. The bookstore has to be a destination and the books have to be special. People aren’t buying just to read the book anymore, they’re buying because they want the pretty book to put on the shelf to admire. Why buy a mass market paperback when an ebook is cheaper and easier to read? They want enthusiastic recommendations from the staff and they want to take aesthetic photos with your displays to post on social media. There’s all sorts of other advice I could tell you, but Alice said it best, talk to some bookstore owners! Reply ↓
Retired Vulcan Raises 1 Grey Eyebrow* April 24, 2025 at 2:38 am Yes, for decades I loved going to bookshops, but the ones I knew have all closed. A couple tried adding a coffee shop and seating area to make it a third space, but almost all their sales were just coffee, so they closed down. Also, even some of us oldsters who used to visit bookshops would no longer go, because our deteriorating eyesight means we need ebooks to zoom in on. Sorry OP, but imo your dream is 20 years too late. Like other pp, I suggest the alternative of scratching your book itch by either working a weekend day at a bookshop – if any are still hiring – or setting up a small online bookshop – much less financial & time investment and avoids fighting a losing battle against online shopping. Reply ↓
mreasy* April 24, 2025 at 6:26 am There are plenty of bookstores in the major city where I live – and new ones have opened in the past few years that are doing well. This is not the case everywhere! Reply ↓
LifebeforeCorona* April 24, 2025 at 7:19 am Agreed, I live in a university town with current and retired students and profs. Most of them mourn the loss of the the local bookstores especially the academic focussed one. Know your customer base. Reply ↓
Roland* April 24, 2025 at 7:23 am Retired Vulcan — online idea is great! However, I think many if not most online entities must have software that “knows and calculates” Sales Tax in all states that require such to be collected. That software is not cheap. Reply ↓
Beehoppy* April 24, 2025 at 7:55 am Sadly her dream is probably 40 years too late. I had this dream back in the mid-90s and was on track to realize my goal right when the big box stores opened (Barnes and Noble, Borders) and Amazon was not far behind. Independent bookstores started dropping like flies. It’s only been in the last five or so years they have been starting to come back. Reply ↓
OaDC* April 24, 2025 at 3:35 am The podcast Sarah’s Bookshelves Live had an episode on”From Corporate America to Indie Bookstore Owner”. (Episode 179). It was interesting and enlightening. The guest was in the middle of opening her bookstore and shared a lot of her thought process and some of the resources she used on the way. Reply ↓
ZucchiniBikini* April 24, 2025 at 1:43 am For #1, I’m not in America, but where I live, the market for bricks and mortar bookstores has contracted considerably. We do still have a vibrant independent bookstore culture, but it is notable that almost all new ventures have started and folded very quickly over the past 10 years – it is the more established stores that have survived. I also concur with the other commenters suggesting that you try to work in a small non-chain bookstore for a while before taking the plunge into starting your own business. I worked at one for three years, many moons ago while I was a graduate student, and it definitely put paid to my own teenage dream of opening my own bookstore. At the end of the day, retail is retail – selling books is less messy than selling food, and has maybe a more pleasant ambience than selling shoes or handbags, but you are still working enormous hours while dealing with staffing issues and rising costs and, of course, wrangling Joe and Josephine Q. Public in all their frequently challenging glory. It’s also hard physical work, especially if you are trying to do a lot of it yourself initially. I know it doesn’t scratch quite the same itch, but one thing a friend of mine did was to set up an online-only store for secondhand and new books in a fairly niche subject area. She ended up building a very nice part-time income doing it as a side hustle, and was much less exposed to bricks and mortar risks. Reply ↓
Just One Cornetto* April 24, 2025 at 1:47 am OP1: As others have commented, this is a very tough dream to realise. Have you worked in retail? While a bookshop is IME one of the better retail jobs, in the end of the day it’s still retail work. I do know someone running a small bookshop in a quiet side street while working a full time remote job in publishing (I work in publishing myself). While the interruptions during the day wouldn’t work for me, it seems to work for her and at least exposes her to less risk financially. Either as a precursor or perhaps to scratch the itch permanently, have you considered setting up a book related community group? Where I live there are various book swap and book meeting groups. This could serve your community so fulfil part of your idea. Reply ↓
SamiLou* April 24, 2025 at 2:09 am OP 3: What about taking, say, a few weeks and gathering the most common topics and questions you get from your talks and visits? Then write a presentation (complete with visuals) – similar to a TED talk. People can be invited, people can watch, and people can watch (refer) to it later. Reply ↓
Fancy Mouse* April 24, 2025 at 2:17 am #1: As someone who quit their job and became a small business owner, I completely agree with meticulously doing your research and calculations – I did all that and also saved money for several years for this – but I also want to give you my encouragement. Would you be okay with failing and losing all the money you invested into the business and still be happy that you did your best and got the experience and the learnings? If yes, then go for it! I’ve grown and learned tremendously from this experience and never felt happier even when I’m working much harder than ever before. I’m also still living on my savings but I’d have zero regrets even if I’ll have to call it quits at some point and go back to working as an employee at someone else’s company. If that happens, I’m pretty sure I’ll just start saving money again and try again later with even more knowledge and better understanding of it all. It doesn’t have to be the end if you fail once, but for that you need to calculate how much you would be okay losing and be ready to give up if that time comes so you won’t lose too much and be in big trouble. Of course I’m lucky that the field I’m in doesn’t require big investments into the business beforehand so also figure out what it would mean to fail and if you’d be okay with it. We only have this one life so follow your dreams and try the things you want to try but do it properly, wisely, and responsibly! Also this one is much harder but if you’d happen to have a possible business partner who you would trust and who shares your values, I couldn’t recommend it more! I’m extremely lucky to have like-minded people sharing the ups and the downs of company ownership with me as we experience all this for the first time and keep learning new things. But even if you end up going into it alone, at least get to know other business owners so you’ll have people who understands what you’re going through and can share information and experiences with. Reply ↓
bamcheeks* April 24, 2025 at 5:12 am I co-sign this comment! LW, there are literally a million great reasons not to start a bookshop, all of which come down to “a bookshop is a very difficult business to make work, and probably won’t survive”. OK, let’s take the most likely outcome: you run a bookshop for a couple of years, never make a decent living, discover you don’t particularly like retail, and close down at the end of a 2-year lease. Is it still worth doing? It might be! You would probably still learn a ton. You might love some parts of it. You might find, or build, a new community of people. It might be an experience you just want to try. Accountancy is not going anywhere and it’s a solid skill to pick up later. Having a run a small business might make you a better accountant, or give you the skills to run your own accountancy business, or take you on a whole new path you can’t even imagine now. So if you do it, I would treat it like going travelling for a year or going to grad school or something– don’t think of it as something you’ll be doing for the rest of your life, thing of it as something you are doing because you want to do it right now, and keep your options open for what happens after 12-24 months. A business failing doesn’t mean *you* failed, any more than going travelling for 12 months and then coming back to a corporate job is a failure. The experience itself can be worthwhile. On the other hand, if the thought of “failing” terrifies you — if you think it would be a waste of time and energy if it doesn’t become a sustainable business, if you are terrified of taking on debt that lingers long after the scent of book glue and espresso has faded, if you’d have to flee town to escape the ignominy – then don’t. But if you think you can do it and fail cheerfully, go for it. Reply ↓
Ty* April 24, 2025 at 2:53 am OP2: I think I can offer more context in the sense of how confidentiality and privacy laws generally work. It’s all about who discloses information and how and why they had the information in the first place. The issue is that Lyle was on the hiring committee. He shared information that he received in confidence through being on the committee. The way the law generally looks at this sort of thing, it doesn’t really care that he also received it somewhere else or that it was well known and available elsewhere: once he received it in confidence for the purpose of hiring someone, he was breaching that confidence by being the one to disclose it. It’s like if a doctor’s office gave a patient’s email address to someone else. That patient’s email address might be really easily found by googling, but the office had it because the person is their patient and the patient gave it to the doctor’s office so they could contact them, not so they could give it out. And even if the office didn’t look in the patient database and gave it out after getting it by googling instead, they’d still be in violation of privacy laws because they had also received it in confidence with the expectation that it wouldn’t be shared. It wouldn’t be fair to the patient if that was a loophole or argument that the doctor’s office could make. This kind of thing can seem really nitpicky, but it makes sense when you think about the practicalities of proving when confidentiality and privacy have been breached in a way that’s fair to the person whose information it is. Reply ↓
JustKnope* April 24, 2025 at 6:43 am This is really important context! Came to say something similar. His role on the hiring committee meant he needed to be held to a different standard. Reply ↓
WellRed* April 24, 2025 at 8:08 am While I agree that his postion on the hiring committee makes this instance a problem, I don’t think you can compare a doctor office with another business when it comes to private information. Doctors are bound by HIPAA which is a different kettle of fish. There’s an expectation of confidentiality, sure, but I think you’d be hard pressed to say this violated any laws. Reply ↓
Cordelia* April 24, 2025 at 4:01 am LW3 – we had similar, though for a different type of workplace, and the requests for visits, shadowing, resources etc became overwhelming. But like you we wanted to help, and we had benefited from other services giving us their time while we were setting up What we do now is arrange “Open Days” where we set up a programme of talks, presentations, tours of the workplace and informal discussion opportunities, and when we get enquiries about a visit we invite them to the next open day. This is much less time-consuming, especially now we’ve got the presentations all set up, but we always get good feedback. Reply ↓
Cruzer* April 24, 2025 at 4:05 am For OP#1: If you are thinking about a bookstore, consider operating it as a nonprofit and having it double as a community space. If possible, a bookstore with a separate meeting room would allow for local events (story time for kids, book signings, charity drives) or workshops (writing, crafts, language classes, etc.) Bookstores are very, very difficult to make a profit from. This is why these days, you see places like Barnes & Noble selling vinyl records and board games, which have better profit margins. I’m no expert in terms of nonprofits, but I HAVE been seeing more and more independently owned businesses (movie theatres, music/stage venues, and yes bookstores!) being operated as nonprofits so they can accept donations, apply for grants, and ultimately provided enriching community spaces for locals. “Third spaces” truly are needed in many cities and towns and I think it’s a lovely idea to pursue! Reply ↓
I'm the Phoebe in Any Group* April 24, 2025 at 4:41 am Check out the model of Half Price Books. They’re are several locations of a used book store. I love it because I can walk out with a stack of books for thirty dollars. People bring in books for small amount of credit.Or possibly some cash, so the cost for stock is very, very low. That is supplemented with some remainders and a small amount of new books. There is a very friendly childrenxs section. They always have way more books than they can shelve and do a lot of giveaways to schools and nonprofits and literacy organizations. They are a for-profit business with a nonprofit feel. They’re pretty friendly and I bet they’d be willing to talk to you. Good luck! Reply ↓
Ganymede II* April 24, 2025 at 5:35 am LW1: What if you tried to separate the 2 statements? I want to quit my job. I want to open a book store. Tjose are two true things, but they don’t need to happen at the same time. You could quit your job and not open a book store. You could keep your job and open a pop-up book store in the weekends in your garage, or ask for a leave of absence and make your business plan. If you separate the two mentally, it might give you clarity as to what is driving this need for change. Do you need to have a different purpose? Are you burned out? Are you bored with your current life? They’re all good reasons for wanting change, but this will help you narrow down what needs to happen. Reply ↓
niknik* April 24, 2025 at 6:33 am LW2: That whole thing with people switching between companies A and B forth and back, while others are also working part-time in both at the same time ? Whats going on there ? It doesn’t sound too healthy, to be honest. Reply ↓
A. Lab Rabbit* April 24, 2025 at 8:07 am From LW #2: I work in a niche field in a town with a handful of businesses in that field. Many of us know each other and have worked at the different businesses over time. That pretty accurately describes where I live, although we have three or four particular niche fields here, and some of those businesses are local sites of large national (and international) companies that you have no doubt heard of. The situation LW describes doesn’t sound all that unusual to me. I think this very much depends on where you live and how dependent that area is on a particular industry for its economic vitality. Think of a place like Battle Creek, Michigan (aka, the “Cereal City”) where at one point almost everybody there worked or knew someone who worked in one of the cereal factories there. Reply ↓
LifebeforeCorona* April 24, 2025 at 7:13 am LW1 Would it be feasible to change your bookstore dream in some ways? Buy or partner with a current store owner? Open a used book store? Our last new/used book store closed when the owner passed away. Book lovers miss the stacks of books, comfy chairs and quiet atmosphere. It was focussed on academic and classic literature so there was no children’s section. Buying books on-line is very mainstream and that’s a service you can offer to help people navigate finding obscure books and using the store as a delivery point for an extra charge. Reply ↓
Dogmomma* April 24, 2025 at 7:28 am #1 you are much too young to be fed up with/ disappointed with your chosen profession. Opening your own store/ starting your own business is twice as hard, requires a significant amount of money and there will be no overtime. How will you pay your rent …and eat? and those expensive health benefits will all be on you. This could be a dream down the road, but we all have these dreams. Life gets in the way. Work at your current job, research thoroughly, talk to people who are self employed. Barnes and Noble, and a few other well-known bookstores, are few and far between anymore if they’re still in business. Smaller ones are not necessarily profitable. Really think about this before you jump ship. Maybe this could be a seasonal or PT position to see if you want to/ can do this. Reply ↓
NotAnotherManager!* April 24, 2025 at 8:04 am It’s a little patronizing to tell someone they’re too young to be fed up with something. Part of the problem with choosing a vocation at 18-22 is that it’s hard to have enough experience at that age to know what you really want to do. I think part of first jobs is actually figuring out what you do/do not like doing. I do agree that the bookstore is a bit of a pipe dream, but it’s OK to decide that this type of accounting is not their jam. I used to manage junior paralegals at a large law firm. Most kids who came through were there for a few years before going to law school. Some decided after working in a firm they did not want to be a lawyer and the job was very different than what they expected. That’s valuable info to have before going six figures into debt for law school, and most of the were in their early to mid-20s. Jobs are about figuring out what you *don’t* want to do just as much as what you do. Reply ↓
Burnt out tax accountant too* April 24, 2025 at 7:33 am op #1 like many of the other commenters are suggesting, I would advise you to work at a bookstore for a year, and see if you can’t start doing their bookkeeping (since you’re a tax accountant, working at a small business,this is something you’re probably familiar with) and get an idea of how the bookstore is doing financially. also, if bookstores are difficult to keep open maybe you could find a way to support/volunteer a local bookstore to help keep it open. that might scratch your itch, without you investing any money into it. also, being a tax accountant myself who went through a terribly busy tax season, the trade off for working so many hours in the spring is you should be able to work a lot less hours in the summer and winter while collecting the same salary. wait until your not working as much, and then see how you feel. Reply ↓
It's Me. Hi.* April 24, 2025 at 7:37 am LW3 – who can you team up with to offer some of your info/program as a webinar? Certificate program? I’m sure there’s a professional membership society that would want to make that happen if your program is that in demand! Bravo! Reply ↓
Rebekah* April 24, 2025 at 7:47 am LW1 have you considered trying to scratch that itch to curate and share books in a different way? Perhaps a Little Free Library that is thoughtful and well maintained. I’m part of a group of hobby librarians (The League of Lending Librarians on FB) who maintain private lending libraries for niche interests. In the case of this group it’s primarily about older and “living” children’s books, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t have a private lending library on any niche topic where the local library has a smattering of books but real fans want access to hundreds or thousands of curated books. Many of the private librarians charge an annual fee and some of them have large subscriber bases and tens of thousands of books. Reply ↓
LD* April 24, 2025 at 7:49 am #1- when I was the most burnt out at my job I often fantasized about being a barista. I later learned that’s a common sign of burn out. I didn’t truly want to deal with the stresses of being a barista, I just wanted an escape. I found a lot of happiness in fixing my job, staying in my chosen career and enjoying coffee shops on the weekends. Only you can answer if this is a lifelong dream or an escape fantasy. But the suggestions of really learning the stressors are great ones. Reply ↓
Hyaline* April 24, 2025 at 8:01 am Well-put–I think a lot of us create fantasy escape hatches that would not be much fun in real life. Fantasy escapes are fine and can be fun and help us learn about ourselves, but they don’t address the problems we CAN fix in our current situations, like you say! Reply ↓
Trudy's Blue Summer's Dress* April 24, 2025 at 7:54 am Sure, Lyle shouldn’t have said anything but it sounds like the reaction was way over the top… Threatening to fire someone for this? No that’s absurd Reply ↓
NotAnotherManager!* April 24, 2025 at 7:58 am If OP#1 was burnt out and ready to quit with the OT of tax season, I do not recommend being a small business owner. Most are not a set your own hours and primed for work-life balance – you’re on the hook for everything, and doubly so for a retail establishment with specific hours open (you will personally cover a lot of shifts). If they love books, making them their job can also kill the enjoyment when a love becomes the grind. Bookstores are also a niche market and under tremendous pressure from megacorp competitors – unless you have community support and offer more than just books (events, community space, etc.), it will be hard to make it long-term. Both my spouse and I were raised in families that owned small businesses, and they are a grind with very lean years. There is a reason both of us work for other people. Reply ↓
Hyaline* April 24, 2025 at 7:59 am LW1, at the risk of sounding like I’m responding to Not What You Asked, I kinda feel like you’re doing a thing MANY of us do when we’re unsure of our current choices or we’re not contented with our situation but we’re unsure why–we create an alternative that’s actually pretty extreme and difficult to pull off, so it’ “safe” to dream about, but it creates this false dichotomy of “this current situation or that major change.” That’s not an accurate representation of the choices you have open to you at all, and it can cut you off from the chance to make smaller or more strategic changes to address what you come to understand are your biggest concerns or issues. And speaking of that…do you know why you’re unhappy? Have you done that work to hash out what it is you want, and what’s missing from your current life? Maybe your work is boring–a lot of bookstore work would be boring, too, and a lot of work everywhere is boring. Maybe your work is unfulfilling–why is that? What would feel fulfilling to you? Maybe your work is stressful–a lot of bookstore work would be stressful, too, and a lot of work everywhere is stressful. Or maybe it’s not about the work, really–maybe you’re feeling like you Did the Right Thing you were supposed to do and there’s still something not quite right. I feel like we told your generation that they needed to first get a good education and then get a good job and then–well, good luck building a life, we have no advice for that, and the two things we told you were most important uprooted you from friends, family and community–twice at minimum. So I guess I’m saying–do the work to dig into what’s missing for you before running after a false dichotomy dream. Reply ↓
Bookworm* April 24, 2025 at 8:00 am As someone who once worked at a bookstore (big box), it may seem really romantic, but it is hard work (customer service, finances, etc.). That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, just that you may have to do a ton of research confirm that is the right move for you. Good luck! Reply ↓
oirishgal* April 24, 2025 at 8:09 am OP 4. I work in the employment and disability support field and the question is usually “do you have a vision impairment/ disability that cannot be corrected with glasses/contact lenses”. In the EU and Britain correctable (with lenses) vision impairment is specifically excluded from being classed as a disability for employment purposes Reply ↓
Workerbee* April 24, 2025 at 8:09 am OP#1, also factor in, if there is no such space currently in your community, WHY that is. Failure to adequately plan? Not enough people actually interested? Or is there actually such a space being used as such, but it hasn’t been on your radar because you’re only focused on a very niche demographic/use? I’m coming from a city that has a lot of start-up bakeries and coffee shops, for example, each promising something a little different from all the others, but they really need to have that wow factor to survive (unfortunately for them). Reply ↓
Workerbee* April 24, 2025 at 8:11 am Addendum: I’d recommend socking away as much money as you can now with your current job and revisit the idea in a couple years. Reply ↓