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.”

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{ 220 comments }

{ 220 comments… read them below or add one }

  1. PDB*

    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.

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  2. Everything Bagel*

    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.

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    1. Desert Rat*

      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.

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      1. DJ Abbott*

        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.

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        1. AngryOctopus*

          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.

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          1. knitted feet*

            Right, exactly. I could fantasise all day about being surrounded by books in a wonderful little space that I could make just how I wanted it. In that fantasy, though, I spend a lot of time wafting around the shop and soaking in the ambience, occasionally selling copies of my favourite books to like-minded souls who behave themselves and don’t make a mess or use the children’s section as a free daycare. In reality, it’s retail and the buck stops with me for absolutely everything. Doesn’t sound so relaxing put like that.

            LW, take the books out of the equation for a moment. Do you want to run any other kind of store? Does the day-to-day work of it appeal to you, even when you’re selling something that you couldn’t care less about on a personal level? Because passion is great but the bulk of the work is not going to be about books, it’s going to be about the logistics of operating the premises and selling the product.

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          2. Don’t know what to call myself*

            This is why I think knitting/yarn stores tend to close within a few years of opening. The owners usually aren’t business people, they’re fiber artists who want to share the love of their art with the community, and owning a business can be really hard and time consuming in ways they don’t expect. They get bogged down in the minutiae of running the business and it can take so long for small businesses to be profitable that it seems insurmountable.

            I think making a business plan would be a good way for OP to get a feel for whether owning their own store would be anything like what they’re imagining.

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            1. Hmmm...*

              It’s funny you used yarn as an example. I’m almost 50 and my whole life I have wanted to open an art supply store with a huge section devoted to yarn. I have everything OP mentioned – the plan, financing and the dream. While I hope to have things off the ground in the next few years, I am quite content right now having my art store be online where I can do things at my own pace, time and manageable as a one person show.

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            2. Pastor Petty Labelle*

              A quilt store owner bluntly said — if you never want to quilt again, open a quilt store.

              You dream of being able to pet fabrics and make beautiful quilts all day. In reality, you are meeting with sales reps to decide fabrics you will carry, scheduling classes, managing employees, etc.

              OP I get it, especially with tax where from the opening of the season to April 15 every year its a non-stop crunch. And with extensions, companies having different fiscal years, etc., it really only sorta slows down. So it could be you don’t want to be an accountant in a firm, b ut maybe go work as an accountant for organization where that pressure is less.

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          3. NotRealAnonForThis*

            I’m pretty sure that this is the only reason why my spouse’s business has been able to do as well as it has and all of us have maintained our collective sanity – its NOT a passion project. Does he enjoy what he does? Yes. But its not as if he decided to take his hobby and turn it into a business.

            And yeah, you still need a steady income and benefits like healthcare, if you’re in the USA. Those are through me.

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          4. Irish Teacher.*

            Yes, when I was a teen, a lot of people told me “oh, you should be a librarian/work in a bookshop because you love books.” I loved (and still love) reading. I hate sales and customer service. Even as a teen, I could see that…wouldn’t exactly work so well.

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            1. ZK*

              I’m a bookseller. I love reading. But selling books is not the same. It’s work. There’s no time to read a book in the corner with a cup of coffee. I’m lucky if I have time to read the blurb on the back of our monthly picks, so I can talk to others about them. The main goal is to sell books. Which also means stocking the books. I don’t stand still unless I am actively searching my computer for a book for a customer.

              The only advantage is that my TBR list grows by leaps and bounds daily as I put out new stock. As a part timer, I still have bandwidth to read after work, and I don’t spend every hour of every day focused on work like I did when I worked at it full time.

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          5. metadata minion*

            Yep. Libraries have somewhat of the same problem as bookstores when it comes to people wanting to work in them because “they love books”. That’s great! Many of us went into library science because we love books! But with a very few exceptions, you’re not actually going to be doing much reading as a librarian. And those exceptions are positions like children’s librarian, and while I do genuinely enjoy getting to flip through children’s books when I catalog them, that’s not really what I’m normally talking about when I say I like to read.

            Do you love books *and want to share them with other people*? Are you willing to stock books that you think are terrible? [If you’re a very niche bookstore maybe you can avoid that, but realistically you’re probably going to need to deal with books that you think are anything from just terribly written to actively harmful.]

            One other thing I’d think about, LW, is that while an afternoons-and-evenings bookstore sounds *amazing*, and a deeply needed resource, are you actually ok with basically never getting an evening off, especially in the first year or two? You might well be, but that’s the sort of thing that often sounds just fine in theory and then turns out to actually not be in the long term.

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          6. Antilles*

            And ironically the more successful the business gets, the *less* you actually get to spend with your passion. The yoga studio that just opened and is just renting a tiny room is small enough that you’re going to be able teach most/all of the classes personally. But as the studio grows and you move into your own larger studio space, suddenly your issues magnify and you need employees to teach classes…and at some point, you get to the point where you’re maybe teaching one yoga class per day.

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          7. Rogue Slime Mold*

            I am forever grateful to the mom of one of my daughter’s friends for laying out the argument to get a degree/job that allowed her disposable income, and to spend that on the passion. Because the passion job was going to be mostly tasks that were not the passion, with a lot of being polite to assholes who didn’t know what they were talking about. (I was giving this advice, but I was her mom.)

            Also, it became much less of a passion as she moved into different life phases, with different communities, and new interests that connected her to new communities.

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    2. Your Local Password Resetter*

      It definitely feels like a librarian situation.
      Owning a bookstore means being a small business owner that happens to specialize in books, so make sure running a small business is what you want to do.

      It sounds like OP is already planning the practicalities, but it’s good to do a thorough reality check and make sure they know what they’re getting into.

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    3. the cat's pajamas*

      Author Jenny Lawson opened a bookstore a few years ago or so, she has tons of blog posts about it, and probably social media, but I mostly follow her blog at the blogess.

      If you haven’t heard of her, she’s a very funny author who writes about mental illness and other health issues. Her dad is a taxidermist and she has some interesting life stories.

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      1. Alpaca Bag*

        Ooh, The Bloggess is excellent! Some of her struggles match up with mine & my kiddo’s, so I started reading her for that, and the bookstore opening came later (with a delay for the pandemic). I have also bought her books. Her web site is thebloggess dot com. (Yes, with 2 Gs…)

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    4. Not Tom, Just Petty*

      I have a buddy who has a little rare bookstore. It’s open Thursday afternoons and Saturdays.
      Kind of like a hobby farm. He also has it online.
      OP, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

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      1. WindmillArms*

        Yes, this! I operated a (non-bookstore) type of community “third place” for two years while keeping my regular 9-5 job. It was a way for me to try it out without taking too much of a risk, and to see if the daily grind of operating it matched with my dream. It didn’t for me, but even if it had worked out, having that starting period be a test run would have been informative!

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    5. Sneaky Squirrel*

      Purely anecdotal but my knowledge of bookstores is that it’s a huge amount of work and generally most bookstores have to sell something in additional to books to stay profitable (which is why most bookstores have coffee shops or the cute stationary in them).

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      1. Thistle*

        if you just want a taste, you can book a holiday in Wigton in Scotland where you get to run a small bookshop for a week. they get people from all over the world who stay flat and run the bookstore for a week at a time.

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        1. Paint N Drip*

          oh this is a fantastic recommendation! Getting to taste the life without throwing yourself into it full-time sounds great (or maybe OP can open their bookstore then get others to vacation there and run it occasionally hehe)

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    6. Junior Assistant Peon*

      Anyone over 40 or so will remember when every shopping center had a small independent bookstore. First they got plowed by Borders and Barnes & Noble, then the chain bookstores got plowed by Amazon. A small bookstore in 2025 is going to be about as viable as a typewriter factory.

      Anyone planning to open a small business should get a part-time job in a bookstore, coffee shop, bakery, winery, or whatever their interest is so they’ll understand what they’re getting into before committing.

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  3. nodramalama*

    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.

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    1. Thepuppiesareok*

      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.

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      1. Polyhymnia O’Keefe*

        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.

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    2. allathian*

      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).

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      1. Nodramalama*

        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

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      2. Mid*

        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.

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        1. Desert Rat*

          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.

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          1. Thegreatprevaricator*

            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.

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            1. MsSolo (UK)*

              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.

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            2. Cordelia*

              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.

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            3. Boof*

              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)

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              1. Opaline*

                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.

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              2. Irish Teacher.*

                I may or may not have autism, but if I do, it feels to me pretty much like ADHD does to you, a personal pattern of strengths and weaknesses and not a disability. It probably has more pluses (for me) – good memory, lack of susceptibility to peer pressure, very decisive, honest, great ability to focus/obsess, very organised – than weaknesses – extreme picky eating, discomfort with being touched/people getting too close to me, difficulty knowing the right thing to say sometimes, a tendency to monologue (in writing too, as is probably obvious from the length of my comments sometimes).

                I really think it depends on the impact it has on you. Some people are definitely disabled by things like autism or ADHD, others not so much. It both depends on how those things specifically effect them and also…on their role. The school I work in is pretty awesome about difference, possibly because we have a lot of students with additional needs, and it is perfectly acceptable for me to simply say to somebody, “sorry, I don’t always get nuance. Could you explain ?” Teaching also suits me perfectly because of the autonomy and…well, I get paid to talk at a captive audience about history and books. Like…that is beyond awesome. Things like food service would not suit me at all as I find those kind of busy, noisy environment very overwhelming (and yes, a school is busy and noisy but it is different because I am not expected to be part of that and a classroom is a regulated environment; I do not like yard duty!).

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              3. Neutral Janet*

                Not sure if this will nest properly but @ Boof:
                Nebula has a good description of the social model of disability below, but I want to say as a disabled person: my disability IS just my personal pattern of strengths and weaknesses. What makes it a disability is that our society doesn’t accommodate those particular “weaknesses”. The reason poor eyesight isn’t considered a disability by most people is that where we live, vision aids are widely available and societally accepted.

                I’m not saying this because I “want more people to identify as disabled”, but because I think it’s important that more people understand the social model of disability. I also had mild ADHD prior to being visibly and physically disabled and honestly reading about the social model of disability before I faced “real” disability was extremely helpful when it happened to me. I only wish more people in my life were familiar with it.

                TLDR: everyone should educate themselves about the social model of disability, the odds are basically 100% that it will apply to you or a loved one before you die (and in fact it already does apply to everybody, you just may not have considered yourself or society through that lens)

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            4. Beth**

              The Equality Act deals with the question of vision correction specifically. If your eyesight can be correct by glasses, it does not count as a disability in the UK.

              (5(1)An impairment is to be treated as having a substantial adverse effect on the ability of the person concerned to carry out normal day-to-day activities if—

              (a)measures are being taken to treat or correct it, and

              (b)but for that, it would be likely to have that effect.

              (2)“Measures” includes, in particular, medical treatment and the use of a prosthesis or other aid.

              (3)Sub-paragraph (1) does not apply—

              (a)in relation to the impairment of a person’s sight, to the extent that the impairment is, in the person’s case, correctable by spectacles or contact lenses or in such other ways as may be prescribed;

              (b)in relation to such other impairments as may be prescribed, in such circumstances as are prescribed.)

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            5. metadata minion*

              Yeah, for me, my vision (around -9/-10 diopters) isn’t disabling, but my ADHD definitely is. Medication helps a lot, but it still significantly impacts my ability to get stuff done.

              And if I couldn’t afford my very expensive glasses, my nearsightedness quickly *would* become a disability. Cheaper glasses would be much heavier, distort my vision significantly more, and probably give me chronic headaches. If god forbid my glasses got stolen or smashed or something and I couldn’t immediately get new ones, I would be unable to work or do many household tasks until I replaced them. I’m sure I could learn to cope — blind people do just fine! — but it would take a *lot* of work, and my current job is something that I probably just plain couldn’t do with uncorrected vision, since it requires a lot of visual acuity.

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        2. TechWorker*

          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.

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        3. Nebula*

          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.

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          1. Joana*

            “and there is no serious social stigma around using this particular aid which would make me feel pressured not to use them”

            That definitely depends on the area, culture, and in many cases the age demographic. I have several coworkers under twenty who say they should be wearing glasses but refuse to, and they complain about things like blurry vision, headaches etc. This thing against glasses definitely wasn’t prevalent when I was that age and I honestly have no idea where it’s coming from, but I hope it gets better because as everyone here seems to agree, there’s nothing wrong with wearing them.

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        4. Reba*

          Yes! Those who are interested may want to read up on the “social model of disability,” a frame work developed by disabled people that posits that disability is about how societies are set up than about individual bodies.

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          1. Seconds*

            As someone whose disability is 100% not a social construct, I have problems with this idea.

            Obviously there is truth in the idea that society could be better set up to support all different bodies.

            But there exists no possible society that would allow me to function halfway normally. I only make it out of my bedroom every few weeks, in a reclining wheelchair. Until recently I couldn’t have conversations with friends or tolerate the vibrations of a car ride or a wheelchair, and I still can’t tolerate loud voices. I still can’t watch movies.

            The idea that disabilities are social leaves people like me out completely. My disability is due to severe illness, not to anyone’s decisions.

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        5. Timothy (TRiG)*

          I’m the person who hates street lights. I’m far more comfortable in the dark than I am under artificial lighting at night, especially anything at a low angle that blinds me. And I happily go walking out along the canal bank at dusk, returning after dark. The annoying bit is when I get near town and have lights in my eyes, making it much harder to see the ground under my feet and avoid puddles. I thought I was alone in this: glad to hear of another.

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        6. Irish Teacher.*

          I read an interview once with an autistic priest and he said he would probably never have been diagnosed had he chosen a different job, one that involved less…social skills, I guess. The way autism affected him, it hadn’t caused him any problems in his student days or personal life but it meant he found the pastoral care role of a priest difficult.

          My…lack of a thyroid also always makes me think of this. Without medication, I would experience depression, lack of energy, etc, but…I wouldn’t consider it a disability since well, the medication just does what a thryoid does for everybody else. Yet, if somebody needed anti-depressants to prevent depression, it would be more likely to be considered a disability. There’s no clear line.

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      3. anonymous particle*

        For reporting purposes, I always assumed they were asking for info about disabilities where you’d need a work accommodation. Things like glasses and hearing aids are like “self accommodations” where your work doesn’t need to do anything because your assistive devices are your own.

        However, I would personally never answer this, especially in the current political environment. It’s an optional question, and could be used for harm with no direct benefit.

        If you’re filling out actual paperwork to get employer supplied accommodations, or medical leave, it is still a risk of disclosure, but makes more sense to me because you’re getting services and not just complying on advance by handing over private medical info for no reason.

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      4. Another Kristin*

        I had severe myopia, worse than your college friend’s, before I got laser eye surgery a few years ago. I did not consider it a disability because it was 100% correctible with contact lenses and about 85% with glasses (lack of peripheral vision).

        Of course there are SOME eye conditions which would I would think of as a disability, but assuming the OP doesn’t have retinitis pigmentosa or something, this ain’t it. It’s like, celiac disease is a disability but being lactose intolerant isn’t. Both are medical conditions which affect what things you can eat, but one is easily managed with OTC medication and/or avoiding cheese, while the other makes it very difficult to eat in restaurants and other peoples’ homes, and you can wind up in the hospital if you’re not careful.

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      5. LL*

        Yeah and it’s often not considered a disability when people are asking about vision disabilities. I’ve seen forms that ask about that and they sometimes specify that if your vision can be corrected to 20/20 with glasses/contacts, they don’t count that as a disability.

        I’m not saying it’s not or that it’s not for this purpose, but it’s often not really considered one even though it is.

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    3. Santiago*

      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.

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    4. hedgewitch*

      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)

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    5. londonedit*

      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.

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      1. Keymaster of Gozer (she/her)*

        Same – my eyes are something ridiculous like -11 so without the glasses I can’t even walk across a room, but with glasses I can see just fine. I definitely don’t class my eyesight in with my disabilities.

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    6. Thomas*

      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.

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      1. Nightengale*

        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

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    7. Dogmomma*

      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!

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    8. Health Insurance Nerd*

      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 ↓
    9. Visually Impaired Guy*

      I have a visual disability, because glasses don’t fix my problem and it has affected my employment.

      There is a great definition, which unfortunately I can’t find, that essentially says a disability is when it limits employment opportunities. In my case I can do most of my paperwork job without issue, by making the font larger and I am given the slight accommodation of a larger computer screen. Yet there are a lot of jobs that aren’t available to me, and my employment over the years has been limited because I can’t drive and can’t see distance (for example as a teenager I took courses that allowed me to teach swimming, but they would never hire me because I couldn’t see perfectly – I can understand the rationale because it’s safety, but I struggled financially as a student when otherwise I could have done well). I joined the Persons with Disabilities group at work because we talk about our problems and how to find equity with our colleagues (for example, how to attend events in remote locations – answer, I reach out and ask about carpooling).

      There’s really no advantage to being a person with disability and the only reason I do it is to get accommodations and support my coworkers with similar problems. I admit that I would find it inappropriate if someone with bad eyesight that is completely fixed with glasses would consider themselves to have a disability, with the big caveat that there are people who wear glasses and still have bad vision (myself, for example, because my underlying problem still exists and yet I now have the added problem of deteriorating vision due to old age yet thankfully that can be fixed with glasses). If that person does have limited employment options because they aren’t able to do a job that requires good vision without glasses then fair enough! But given that being a PWD has no real benefit and we’re mostly just trying to find ways to cope… I’d be happy to have someone with ‘normal’ corrected vision as an ally who wants to know if they can help me, but I’d be grumpy if they joined our group and complained about their vision because I’m reminded daily that I’m not normal (can’t drive, have large font on all my work) and I’m tired of people who think that their need to wear glasses is equivalent or that I’m lucky to have a larger screen. (Sorry, I know I’ve deteriorated to venting and it isn’t directed at LW, but it’s a prevalent situation and frustrating).

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      1. Visually Impaired Guy*

        Found the definition!

        Employment equity
        A person with a disability has a long term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and:
        * considers themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment
        * believes that an employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment

        This definition also includes persons whose functional limitations owing to their impairment have been accommodated in their current job or workplace.

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    10. LaminarFlow*

      I was born visually impaired, and I cannot pass a vision test to drive a car. If I had a dime for all of the “get new glasses/get lasik” comments I have heard through my lifetime, I would have retired at 25. I work in tech, and I always confirm the size of the monitor I will be using during the coding portion of interviews. I’m sure I have been discriminated against over the years due to my vision, regardless of my technical skills.

      While there are varying degrees of visual impairments, most of us in the category would say that if one can pass a vision test at the DMV with glasses/contacts, they aren’t disabled. But, as Alison points out, there’s no rule or standard for what constitutes a disability for low vision.

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    11. deaf person*

      I am deaf, but wear a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. By your logic, I am not disabled, but 99% of society would consider me so. The thing is, I’m still deaf, I just have devices that help me hear – and I hear better than most people when I use them. You’ve still got bad eyesight regardless of what types of corrective lenses you wear. Does that make you disabled? The only person who can answer that question is you.

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      1. Media Monkey*

        that’s really interesting. on strictly Come Dancing (Dancing with the Stars in the UK) there was a completely deaf actress on a couple of years ago who won (she was amazing). last year there was a comedian who is blind and a reality star with a cochlear implant (who was also an amazing dancer). the reality star is presumably as deaf as the actress, but she didn’t get the kudos of the actress (presumably as her implant allows her to hear the music). or was it because the extra difficulty faced by her in a dancing competition was eclipsed by the difficulty faced by the blind comedian?

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    12. Disability Educator*

      That is also the court’s decision, for what its worth.

      A disability, according to the various laws, has to “substantially limit” “one or more major life activities.”

      If you’re so nearsighted that you can’t drive, even with glasses? That’s a disability. Having to wear glasses has specifically been found to NOT be an ADA-protected disability by the courts.

      Your visual disability is assessed with your glasses on. If, when wearing your glasses, you have no substantial limitation to major life activities, you’re not disabled. The need for glasses, even if you find them annoying, is not a substantial limitation.

      https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/visual-disabilities-workplace-and-americans-disabilities-act

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    13. Mockingjay*

      I have terrible eyesight (since childhood) and wear trifocals. But I don’t consider myself to have a disability.

      Truthfully, weak eyesight (near, far, astigmatism, etc.) is much more common than most people realize (contact lenses disguise the need in many). And the longer you are in the workforce, the more of your coworkers will have corrective lenses just like you. (Age is a wonderful leveler, lol.)

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    14. Lenora Rose*

      I don’t think it’s quite that simple, as there’s a definite gradient among glasses users. I’m in the “I’ve needed them from childhood but I can function at many things without, including navigating streets and some limited computer use” range, my husband is in the “I can’t work or cross the street without them but I’m not fully incapacitated, I can still get around the house” range, and a couple of our friends are in the “my glasses are correcting so many things beyond standard vision that even with them I’m not 20/20, though I can work, and I am effectively blind without and have to use touch and sound to get around my own home.”

      I’d grant slack for any person who would be unable to work without their glasses to call it an invisible disability, and the last I definitely think counts.

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  4. Civil Disobedience*

    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.

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    1. Agent Diane*

      It will also weed out the people who just really love your work since they will have to fill in a form.

      Reply ↓
      1. Helewise*

        I work in a very different field, but do this regularly. It’s very easy for someone to ask a casual “just wondering” question that will fill two of my workdays; asking them to provide some basic information up-front helps reduce idle inquiries and allows us to focus on people who actually need the information.

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    2. Account*

      #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!

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      1. Roland*

        @Account — You are spot-on! I have learned that part-time day-dreaming must eventually be followed up by ACTION. Alison and you are correct to encourage OP to work part-time, I add including some holidays, in bookstores that are close to the type of the bookstore OP envisions.

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  5. TCO*

    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 ↓
    1. OP3 Practice Exchange*

      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!

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    2. rebelwithmouseyhair*

      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.

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      2. Mockingjay*

        OP3 and her team are already expending much effort dealing with the requests. I think a survey or application form is a great idea. There are many tools today to make putting a survey together a snap. As for reviewing, part of their job is outreach, so they would likely spend time preparing for the study visit anyway. Upfront planning will make the preparation easier, the presentation consistent, and give visitors a better experience.

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      3. bananners*

        This is a beautiful example of putting in some work up front to make the process smoother moving forward, though. It can be done. Not everything has to or can be path of least resistance 100% of the way.

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  6. MassMatt*

    #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.

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    1. Mid*

      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.

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    2. Abogado Avocado*

      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.

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    3. Jill Swinburne*

      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 ↓
      1. Aww, coffee, no*

        I was thinking ‘Permanent world peace; yes that’d be worth going back to retail’. And then I thought some more and, okay, yes it would be worth it…. just about.

        Reply ↓
        1. ScruffyInternHerder*

          I would need to know if “permanent world peace” included customer behavior, or lack thereof, before I answered.

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    4. rebelwithmouseyhair*

      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.

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    5. EventPlannerGal*

      Hard agree to all of this. I feel like a lot of people dreaming about this kind of thing put the emphasis on ‘I’m going to open a BOOKstore!’, as in, they love books and talking about books and browsing books. The actual important part is bookSTORE, as in, you are starting a retail business.

      I worked for an independent yarn store for a few years during uni, and tons of crafters would be like ‘oh that’s my dream, how amazing!’. As a crafter myself it was amazing, don’t get me wrong, but it was primarily a retail job. I spent my days stock-checking, ringing up purchases, replenishing stock, cleaning, doing customer service, all the exact same stuff that I would have been doing if I worked in a corner shop or H&M or whatever. I did get to advise customers about their projects and try out products and so on, but that was NOT the majority of my day. My manager was doing all the same stuff that she would have been doing as the manager of any other kind of shop. And there were times that I just could not bring myself to look at another ball of yarn in my spare time, so sometimes it actively put me off my hobby!

      If the LW thinks that that stuff sounds appealing then that’s a great sign and they should follow Alison’s advice about drawing up a business plan etc, as well as working in a bookshop part-time to get some experience. If they are basically just dreaming about spending lots of time in a book-filled environment with like-minded people, that is a less good sign.

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    7. Upside down Question Mark*

      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 ↓
      1. WellRed*

        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 ↓
        1. Last tiger of Tasmania*

          I did see OP’s reply that they are from the US, but just for the sake of information, Canada also has employer-funded insurance and tax season in April.

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      2. OP1*

        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.

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        1. MusicWithRocksIn*

          So…. just a bookshop? I can’t even remember the last time I was in one that wasn’t also a coffee shop. Even the local kids bookshop has a cafe off the back of it. Which brings in extra revenue, but then you get the fun of running two businesses side by side.

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          1. ScruffyInternHerder*

            Brings to mind what opened right near my home – its a coffee shop that also happens to sell books, both new and used.

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          2. Hannaconda*

            Believe it or not, the small town I live in has 5 bookshops that I know of, none with coffee shops attached! Two of them have been around for decades, three of them are new within the last couple of years. Most likely the new ones won’t all survive, but it can work under the right circumstances and in the right community. I do love a bookshop cafe, though…even better, a book bar! A girl can dream.

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            1. Red Reader the Adulting Fairy*

              We have one of those in Indianapolis – Books & Brews, where the brews are of the beer kind. Unfortunately the last time I was there they had a really unsatisfactory assortment of books available, I think they were only selling used books? I’m not sure if that’s changed. They also have an event space and host small performances.

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        2. LadyVet*

          One idea I had so you could keep your benefits for a while: Are there any bookstores near you that you already like? Maybe you could work something out with the owners to run extended hours a few nights to see how it does, and then work out a partnership so you aren’t starting from scratch.

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      3. Sloanicota*

        That’s a thought – I wonder if OP could scratch this itch with a “pop up” book store, perhaps open for the holiday month (biggest book sales) or whenever is good for their other job. I have seen pop up stores open in coffee shops and bars around where I am.

        Reply ↓
        1. MusicWithRocksIn*

          I’ve also seen a few local Book Trucks – mostly old school busses that someone converted into a traveling book shop. I see them at local events pretty often, and I’ll bring my son to the kids one when it’s around.

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        2. Antilles*

          Other alternatives could be starting a local reading club, joining an online book recommendations forum, or starting a small YouTube channel. This can let OP get the fun parts of suggesting books, talking about books with people who love them, and helping people discover authors/series, but without the awful hassles associated with owning/operating a retail store. And these can be done on nights or weekends so it doesn’t interfere with their existing job.

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    8. Irish Teacher.*

      Yup, I really wonder how my town’s small bookshop is going to survive now that Ireland has started giving free schoolbooks, because really, school books (and school uniforms and pens and stationary) were probably what gave them most of their profits. They used be mobbed every August and pretty quiet the rest of the year.

      I’ve been trying since covid, where convenient to buy books from them or from O’Mahony’s in Limerick rather than the large chain stores.

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    9. LaminarFlow*

      Yes to all of this! The fact that LW is an accountant is an asset in this decision. They have knowledge about business taxes and payroll taxes that the average person doesn’t have (well, at least I don’t have).

      A good friend of mine owned a beautiful little bridal boutique in a very charming neighborhood. She eventually sold it to someone who was very wealthy, and could bankroll the business. Her store had a few highly sought after designers, but wedding gowns aren’t usually repeat purchases, so there were A LOT of browsers. And, those browsers still needed an employee to be there, which wasn’t cheap. Since it was a small business, the staff was small, and someone calling out sick was really hard to work around. She ended up working 6-7 days a week for many years.

      LW, you sound exhausted and burned out, which is 10000000000% understandable since you are an accountant, and it is tax season! I hope you have a vacation planned very soon, and I think Alison’s advice to hammer out a business plan is a fantastic idea. I just read that Barnes & Noble is possibly opening some locations, which doesn’t help indy bookstores in the least, but it does speak to bookstores becoming popular again.

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    10. Spacewoman Spiff*

      This is all great advice. I worked retail for about 8 years, including in three bookstores, and before jumping into a retail business, that’s experience you want to have. For all the reasons MassMatt noted (learning how to do inventory, orders, all that) and also just to get an understanding for the physical work itself, which is very hard. I also worked in a library and people’s reaction was always how they would also LOVE to work in a library, because their vision of it was sitting around reading books all day (what you do when you go to the library as a customer!), very different from the reality of spending 8 hours lifting 50 lb boxes of books, processing hundreds of returns an hour, finding all the…interesting…things people use for bookmarks, etc. Retail and library work were both things I enjoyed in their ways, but even just being an employee–without all the stresses of having to financially manage a store!–the work wiped me out every day.

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  7. MH*

    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.

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    1. Hyaline*

      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 ↓
  8. Daria grace*

    #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.

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    1. Ellis Bell*

      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.

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      2. Roland*

        @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.

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      3. Irish Teacher.*

        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.
        Honestly, that’s a pretty good description of me – I’m drawn to bookstores as if by a magnet – and…well, for me, it’s less about finances and more about physical space. I sometimes have to resort to buying on my e-reader Amazon device because…I’ve run out of bookshelves!

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    2. Sloanicota*

      It was a strike for me that OP is currently very burned out from their current role – right after tax season is a difficult time! Definitely don’t do anything right now other than take a nice long vacation and treat yourself until you feel more at your usual level of energy. This idea doesn’t need to be rushed.

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    3. OaDC*

      I just read Jordan Chiles’s memoir and she had various setbacks and challenges and times she wanted to quit gymnastics. Her mom told her “you can quit, but quit after a good day. You’re not quitting after a bad day.”

      Reply ↓
  9. Potato Potato*

    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

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    1. A mathematician*

      I have fairly bad vision without my glasses, but generally don’t consider it a disability because as long as I have my glasses I’m fine. Then I did have an interesting experience a few years ago when my country introduced those electronic passport control machines. You scan your passport, and then are given instructions on a screen some distance away. Step 1 is “remove your glasses” – at which point I’m stuck and can’t do anything because I can’t see words on the screen.

      Now I do have another issue – I’m now completely deaf in one ear. I can still hear with the other, but it’s harder especially in noisy environments. It’s not too bad, and on the whole I can still live my normal life – but this one is getting closer to “actual disability” in my mind (if still a relatively straightforward one to accommodate, and not always relevant).

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    2. AnneM*

      I find the topic of vision impairment pretty fascinating – primarily because I’ve had monocular vision since childhood (I’m missing my left eye due to illness). Per the ADA in the United States, monocular vision is not considered a legal disability. However, depending on the degradation of the vision in your seeing eye, and whether it can be corrected via lenses or other tools, you could then be considered disabled.

      Generally, monocular people can drive, because many states allow for a diminished field of view to obtain a driver’s license. And when you’ve had monocular vision for an extended period of time, like I have, you develop your own system of depth perception. There are limitations to monocular vision, of course, but your brain is very resilient and can adapt to these limitations pretty well over time.

      I’ve never heard of the social model of disability, and I do like framing the question as to whether it “poses a problem in my life”. Interesting stuff!

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    3. Analyst*

      The problem with the social model of disability is that it treats disabilities as something that are at least mainly if not completely an issue because of social barriers. The medical model makes more sense for some disabilities….no societal fix is going to make my Crohn’s go away and frankly there is very little accommodation or social change that helps my daily life. It’s an almost purely physical issue: my immune system is overactive and likes to tear holes in my intestines. Society isn’t creating my disability, my body is. Accommodations to help me live with my pain don’t actually make the pain go away.

      Mobility impairment? Societal barriers are absolutely an impact (but also…it’s completely reasonable to still recognize that mobility issues mean you can’t do some things and that’s physical.

      I’m in favor of a mixed model of understanding disability for that reason.

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      2. Nightengale*

        The WHO “biopsychosocial model” is probably what you are looking for

        Having said that, I find the social model does recognize the need for medical care, and that looking at possible society factors and accommodations is relevant for most disabilities. When I think about my diabetes, I still have no pancreas function regardless of society, but how well I am accommodated at work and how accessible my insulin pump is given my other disabilities are still really key factors on how impairing it is.

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    4. Visually Impaired Guy*

      I mentioned it above yet I’ll repeat it here because it’s a third model:
      With regard to work, does it affect one’s ability to be employed? In my case, I consider myself to have a visual disability because it limits many job options due to my inability to drive. I can do my current job just fine (with small accommodations) but I’ve also missed out on a lot of opportunities through the years.

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    5. Lola*

      Adding on this: Alison’s answer surprised me a bit, since many countries are legally moving towards the social model of disability. (I don’t know how it currently works in the US).
      I worked in my country’s last census, and we had a question about disability that also used the social model – it asked whether people had [visual/physical/cognitive] impairment, considering the use of correction or assistive technology that they have available to daily use.
      So, in your case: if your glasses or contacts correct your vision perfectly, you are not considered disabled. If even with glasses/contacts you have difficulty, then you’d be considered disabled.
      That could be a few different situations: an issue that isn’t fully correctable with glasses, the visual field is significantly reduced even with good vision in the center, monocular vision, …
      Those would be invisible disabilities: there’s something impacting how you function, but it’s not visible to any onlookers.

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  10. Convoluted*

    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!

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    1. Retired Vulcan Raises 1 Grey Eyebrow*

      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.

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      1. mreasy*

        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!

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        1. LifebeforeCorona*

          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.

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      2. Roland*

        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.

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      3. Beehoppy*

        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.

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      4. Sloanicota*

        The cutest bookstore combo I ever saw was books + plant store. It’s pretty smart, because you definitely want to pick out houseplants in person and not online and of course the curation was super on point. And while you’re there, you see all the pretty pretty books … still got to be low-volume of sales though.

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      5. Guy Incognito*

        I’m in the same position with starting my own business (candles, not books) at the worst possible time to do so and honestly I’ve decided to damn the torpedoes and proceed full steam ahead. There’s never a perfect time to start, and I’d rather fail on my own merits than never try.

        The plus side is I have been really getting into the business minutiae as well as just having fun making the candles. Cost per unit and calculating overhead is weirdly satisfying, and working out the business plan has made me feel better about how I’m placed to compete (I have a 2500 sq ft workshop just waiting for me to use it, for example). There’s no real path ahead for me in my day job, so I’m going to forge my own.

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    2. OaDC*

      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.

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    3. Sloanicota*

      This is also why bookstores are often event-focused. They have a book club, they ask authors to come in person. Customers buy the book at the bookstore price at the in-person event, the author signs it, and it’s an experience you can’t get on the Zon.

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    4. Middle Managing Cog*

      In high school, college, and for years after college, I worked in libraries and bookstores, including working in the flagship Borders store before Kmart bought them. I still work the Friends of the Library book sale every year.

      In that time I saw a lot of people who thought that working in libraries and bookstores was their fantasy because it was “working with books.” You know, a little light reading, a lot of discussing favorite series with like-minded people…. probably some moderate “work” like shelving or inventory but it somehow wouldn’t FEEL like work.

      I am here to say that I loved library work, and the bookstore was a better retail job than most… but at the end of the day, working with books is WORKING with books. They’re heavy, and dusty, and a lot of them are crappy. And selling them is customer service. And customers are often jerks. And they want you to stock books you’ll think are stupid, or wrong, or misguided, or offensive. And they’ll say awful things and you’ll have to smile and not punch them because nowadays if you do that you’ll go viral on a community facebook page. It’s not “sharing your favorite books with kids,” its “scrubbing toddler shit out of the carpet while someone explains that they don’t want this picture book because it looks like there are same sex couples holding hands in it.” For every sale of a new local author there’s going to be ten people asking why you don’t have Ann Coulter’s memoirs stocked in full. And you have to keep that smile on your face and your customer service voice on.

      Meanwhile, books – the physical aspect of them, the boxes of them arriving from Ingrams or Baker Taylor – became just more objects. Heavy, smelly, objects. One of the most satisfying things I’ve ever gotten to do is help clean up after the Friends of the Library Sale one year, when they brought in giant crates to get rid of the books that didn’t sell and I got to literally heave handfuls of moldy donated books into them with no care for broken spines or torn pages. It was freaking liberating.

      I actually really loved my time working in libraries and bookstores, but the reality is nothing like the fantasy. Bookstores and yarn stores, man…. so many openings by people who have never worked in one, so many rapid closings…

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    5. bananners*

      In my mid-sized college town, we have an independent book store that opened a year or two ago and they are currently expanding. People LOVE the bookstore. It is exactly how LW describes. Truly a delightful place and the customer service is outstanding.

      That said, the owner was independently wealthy before they opened the bookstore – so no guarantees that the bookstore is cash flowing.

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  11. ZucchiniBikini*

    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.

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  12. Just One Cornetto*

    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.

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  13. Jam*

    LW3: it might help to keep in mind that when people ask for a visit, they might be asking because it’s a commonly available option, not because it’s actually the best way for them to achieve their goals. If that makes sense? Alison’s suggestion of turning them down and sending them some recordings might well be even better than actually doing the visit for some of them since they don’t have to work out logistics. So I would write up a template and not feel bad about it, and meanwhile make a strategy for how you want to go about scheduling visits that suit you.

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  14. SamiLou*

    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.

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  15. Fancy Mouse*

    #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.

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    1. bamcheeks*

      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.

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    3. Sloanicota*

      Yeah, this is a great point and OP as an accountant has the skills to be really practical here! A few years ago I was super burned out and took a year off to freelance. I was super lucky to be able to do that. I made about $40K, which is about half of what I make in my real job, so it was not practical to continue freelancing after the year … but I mean, I survived it. It was a great experience. I wouldn’t change what I did even knowing it didn’t “work out” in that I no longer work for myself. My main concern is the difference between the likely economy now vs then, but honestly part of my period was covid so ther’s always challenges. Just be clear eyed about your risk tolerance and your options under various economic scenarios.

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    4. HigherEd Expat*

      Also – your local area likely has some sort of small business planning assistance. This might be through the local chamber of commerce, small business association, or even university. Make sure that in the planning process you utilize all those local resources! They may be able to help with market research, business planning, grants, and/or legal assistance.

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  16. Ty*

    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.

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    1. JustKnope*

      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.

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    2. WellRed*

      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.

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  17. Green great dragon*

    OP3, can you group people? Maybe once every two months is a study visit week, and everyone needs to come one of those weeks. It probably increases the disruption for that week but the clears the rest of the time, and the visitors may actually benefit from getting to know other people interested in the same things.

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  18. Hazel*

    Lw4, “invisible disability” refers to disabilities which cannot be observed by visual inspection. As such, your poor eyesight (but not legally blind without corrective lenses) does not qualify, even if you (by preference) wear contact lenses. Thinking about contact lenses in practice makes this apparent: contact lenses aren’t truly invisible. People get dirt in them, they lose one, get an eye infection and have to wear their glasses, etc., etc.

    Invisible disabilities are, well, invisible, for example, severe allergies, chronic migraines, ADHD and autism to name a few.

    While Alison is of course correct that *you* will suffer no consequences for claiming a disability that you do not have, people with disabilities definitely will suffer as a result. People with disabilities are chronically underemployed and underpaid. Temporarily able bodied people distorting those figures, regardless of intent, only perpetuates that inequity. So thank you for your question and for taking the issue seriously!

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    1. ThatGirl*

      Curious about your last paragraph. How do disabled people suffer if a near-sighted but otherwise able-bodied person checks that they have a disability? I’m not quite following.

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  19. Cordelia*

    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.

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    1. Beth**

      This is similar to what I was going to suggest. Have a couple of days a year when you combine visits. It’s more efficient for you because you’re not answering the same question multiple times with different people and the attendees get to network with each other as well as with you. Depending on the exact nature of the work and the visitors, you might be able to give a presentation with different members of the team contributing and then have a Q&A session. If you can get budget from your university, maybe a lunch for everyone, but it doesn’t have to turn into a big Organised Event.

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  20. Cruzer*

    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!

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  22. I'm the Phoebe in Any Group*

    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!

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  23. Ganymede II*

    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.

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  25. niknik*

    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.

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    1. A. Lab Rabbit*

      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.

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    3. Dogmomma*

      niknik..be aware that if OP#1 goes PT, those great benefits may go away. I believe there’s a law or reg that they must offer benefits at 30 hrs a week, but not less than that. I wanted 24 hrs a week at 1 job. They encouraged me to take 30 so I would have health insurance & 401k. (My husband was on Medicare already so there was no family health policy.) I had 1 PD to make it 40 hrs but if they didn’t need me I had a 3 day weekend

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  26. LifebeforeCorona*

    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.

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  27. Irish Teacher.*

    LW1, my first question here would be whether you can compete with Amazon? An awful lot of booksales are online now and organisations like Amazon can afford to undercut local bookshops. I definitely think your community would enjoy your idea but…I think there is a risk that they might go in, browse, enjoy the ambiance, then when they see a book that looks interesting, go home and buy in online on their e-reading device.

    An awful lot of small businesses fail. It’s not only about not making money. It is possible to lose money. Could you afford to pay the loans back if you made little or nothing? If you only sold a handful of books each week? Do you have capital or would you be entirely dependant on loans, which need to be paid back?

    And are you willing to work very long hours? There would be a lot to be done outside of actually running the bookshop, sourcing books, accounts, possibly hiring staff if things go well. You’d need to be running the bookshop while it is open, maybe working part-time in your current job and then when you are not in either, working on things like accounts, business plans, etc.

    And this is probably going to sound a bit patronising, but I don’t mean it that way, you are very young. I’m not saying nobody can start a successful business in their 20s – people certainly have, though many of those either have wealthy families to fall back on or have family members in the same line of business who can help them out – but a lot of people in their 20s just wouldn’t have either the capital or the experience necessary yet.

    I know I’m sounding very negative and the fact you work in taxes is probably an advantage because you presumably know how much bureaucracy there is in running a business.

    LW4, in my experience (and I am in a different country), poor eyesight is usually only considered a disability if it cannot be corrected by glasses or contact lenses. I don’t know if this is because they do generally work to the point that the person can function normally or if it is just because so many people have poor eyesight that it is considered the norm, but generally, it is “with corrective lenses.”

    Invisible disabilities are more things like mental health conditions or chronic fatigue.

    That said, you are definitely not lying or doing anything wrong if you choose to say that you have a disability. Disabilities aren’t “all-or-nothing.” There is a certain line for interpretation, but I think it would be more usual not to include eyesight unless it is very severe and the contacts don’t fully correct it.

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  28. Dogmomma*

    #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.

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    1. NotAnotherManager!*

      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.

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      1. Seashell*

        Hopefully, those paralegals understood that working in one particular large law firm doesn’t show the entirety of options for the legal profession.

        I had a friend who, after going to a highly ranked college and law school, worked at a large law firm of the “you have to work a minimum of 80+ hours a week” variety for maybe 2 years and then decided she never wanted to work in the law ever again without ever looking into any other types of legal jobs. As far as I know, she subsequently got married, became a stay-at-home mother, and never worked outside the home again. Different strokes for different folks, but I would have felt like it was a waste to spend more time on getting an education than actually using it.

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      2. Dogmomma*

        inmy experience, this can be someone who job hops all their life. Note I said
        can, not is or always. No job is perfect but to give up a decent salary and great benefits bc there’s 1 season of the year that’s rough, to me, that crazy. There are people here that post how awful there jobs are all year round. I’ve had awful jobs myself, by I stuck it out as long as I could bc i was single and had a mortgage & there was no help if I failed, quit or was laid off.

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    3. T.N.H*

      This just isn’t true. So many people accomplish their dreams even with “life getting in the way.” It’s almost certainly better to change careers young than to wait.

      Reply ↓
  29. Burnt out tax accountant too*

    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.

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    1. Llama Turner*

      I want to be a taco handler with the Department of Dinner! Leave it to our current president to eliminate such an appealing position…

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    2. Burnt out tax accountant too*

      wait a second ….your around 25 right? In order to get a loan from a bank you need collateral. what collateral do you have to offer a bank? do you own a house? it’s extremely unlikely a bank is going to give you a business loan, *IF*they give you a personal line of credit, it’s going to be based off your W-2 earnings, which they won’t give you if they know you’re going to quit your job to run a book store.
      do you have the financial savings to run a bookstore and not turn a profit in the first year? if you do business tax returns-you would know many businesses in their first year don’t turn a profit.
      I think you need a long vacation, then you can go back to enjoying your job, that you said you like. everyone gets tired of their job from time to time.

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  30. It's Me. Hi.*

    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!

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  31. Rebekah*

    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.

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    1. Workerbee*

      +1. Also it occurred to me after rereading that OP seems most strongly craving the community feel, gathering people together around a common joy. Perhaps OP can organize/host a Meetup at a friendly coffee shop for a bit first.

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  32. LD*

    #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.

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    1. Hyaline*

      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!

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  33. Trudy's Blue Summer's Dress*

    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

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  34. NotAnotherManager!*

    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.

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  35. Hyaline*

    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 ↓
    3. Trudy's Blue Summer's Dress*

      You make some great points, but I don’t think it really has to do with this generation, or any specific ages. Wanting to leave the rat race and do your own thing is pretty eternal

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    4. Tea Monk*

      I liked this comment. When I was frustrated as a kid I’d say I was running to some obscure country as a vent for my frustration. But as an adult OP1 can move forward and create a real life they want

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  36. Bookworm*

    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!

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  37. oirishgal*

    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

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  38. Workerbee*

    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).

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    1. Workerbee*

      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.

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  39. Trawna*

    LW1: Have you considered a vacation? Seriously – relax, travel, clear your mind.

    Then, maybe volunteer at a book festival. Spend some bucks at an existing bookstore. Write a poem about how damn tired you are.

    I totally applaud bookstore heros, but just get some rest and re-boot your brain before thinking that working 24/7 for minimal income is your best alternative.

    Hugs.

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  40. pomme de terre*

    For LW #1, I agree with all the folks who’ve said to take a part-time job at a bookstore to get some firsthand knowledge of the job.

    Also, if they are the best bosses you’ve ever had, talk to your bosses about your feelings of burnout! They may have some strategies for getting through the busy season and/or re-charging once it’s over.

    If talking to them seems like rocking the boat, try a professional organization in your area to see if they have some peers or mentors you can talk to, or even just events you can attend. I know accounting is, demographically, an older profession and there’s concern about attracting and retaining young talent, so I bet you can find some help or even a different job in the same profession.

    I had a friend who was a CPA who took 10 years off to stay home with small kids and then went back to work and she has had the smoothest and most lucrative return-to-work of any SAHM I know. It was like the profession was like, “OMG A PERSON UNDER 40 GET BACK IN HERE!!! DO YOU WANT SOME MONEY AND A PROMOTION IN A YEAR” whereas most others are like, “You’ve been out of the game for a decade? Here’s a demotion and a paycut. You’re welcome.” So your skills give you a lot of leverage to find a work/life balance that suits you, which might include some kind of side hustle.

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  41. OP1*

    Thank you to Alison and the community for all of the helpful insights and suggestions. I found the input from commenters about regarding my dissatisfaction with my current job and my dream of opening a bookstore to be particularly useful. This has been tremendously helpful for my decision making. I will continue to think about this and not rush into any decisions.

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  42. Fluffy Fish*

    OP 1 – if opening a bookstore is really your dream and you do your due diligence then absolutely go for it.

    but.

    it’s really really common to realize work kinda sucks or that the work you thought you wanted to do makes you want to beat your head into a wall and fantasize about doing something else. so explore those thoughts too. maybe you want to open a bookstore or maybe you really just want to do something else.

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  43. Caution: Scars at Work*

    OP #1: Accounting was my second career, but I was in a tax firm for my first accounting job. Similarly to you, it was a job with great bosses and I enjoyed what I was doing.

    I got through four tax seasons and realized I couldn’t do it anymore. The long hours were a lot and I had (have) young kids.

    In my experience, there were two types of people in public accounting: those who saw it as a step to something else, and those that loved it.

    If you are thinking of leaving, first give yourself a break after tax season! If you like the rest of the work, maybe you can talk to your bosses about making tax season a little less awful.

    Honestly though, I feel like once I started thinking I didn’t want to do the tax hours anymore, it was time to move on.

    Good luck!

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  44. The Other Evil HR Lady*

    #1 – There is a “bookstore capital of Scotland” called Wigtown (it’s a beautiful village south of Dumfries, UK). Someone came up with the brilliant idea of setting up an AirBNB where you can stay and run the bookstore. It probably has a miles-long waiting list, but if you do nothing else, why not reach out to the bookstore owners in that town? I’m sure they’re on Facebook and you can contact them on WhatsApp. Most of them have been independent owners for only a few years because the town was revamped into the “bookstore capital” in the late 90’s. The bookstore owners love to help the people who stay at the AirBNB and give them pointers, etc. One of the owners has written a series of books on what it’s like to be a bookstore owner – it’s not all cozy spaces and cats on laps, unfortunately, although he admits that it’s mostly rewarding.

    Good luck!

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  45. Beth**

    There is a wine shop in our neighbourhood that is owned by a single individual as a passion project. He had previously worked as a wine journalist and also in a large chain of wine stores and he’s still found it hard to make his business profitable (which he is happy to discuss with regular customers. At length.)

    His initial concept was just a wine shop, but then he put in a couple of tables and started selling wine by the glass and snacks and now the wine bar side is the source of most of his revenues.

    He has, at times been able to afford staff, but sometimes cash flow is just too tight and he has to work whenever the shop is open.

    The shop is in an affluent area, but he has found that this just means the locals have large mortgages and not so much discretionary income to spend on wine. (I expect books would be similar as something one can cut back on in leaner times.)

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  46. Nightengale*

    So I am as pro social model of disability as they come as well as in favor of people identifying in a way that feels right to them

    But just FYI, my (not a lawyer let alone a disability lawyer) understanding of the ADA is that it does specifically carve out vision “corrected” by glasses from being considered a disability. From the EEOC “An individual who uses ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses that are intended to fully correct their vision typically will not be covered under the ADA.”

    Generally under the ADA, disability needs to be determined without regard to mitigating measures such as medication, hearing aides or equipment. My type 1 diabetes counts as a disability because without insulin, I would significantly impaired in major life activities (and life itself.)

    Being otherwise qualified to do ones job is determined including mitigating measures – if a person couldn’t do their job without medication but can do it fine with medication (even if they also need accommodations) they are then considered qualified.

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  47. blupuck*

    The bookstore- Unless you currently OWN the building where your bookstore will be, it will be an exceptionally hard row to hoe. I worked for many years at a lovely bookstore. Well managed, great inventory, great staff.
    The one thing we could not control killed us- the landlord raised the rent.
    Look at area rentals and do the math.
    Now add on $1k or $2k a month to your rent and do the math again.

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  48. A*

    1: I think your accounting background makes you better situated than most to start your own business.

    I don’t own a small business but I frequent them. My neighborhood sustains two independent bookstores. One of them is a standard small bookstore and the other sells only romance novels.

    From my perspective, as a customer and resident, they aren’t selling books. It is significantly cheaper and easier to buy books online or from a big box store. They are selling an experience. They are selling a vibe. They are selling customer service.

    How talented are you at aesthetics? How good are you at remembering names and book preferences? How good are you at staying on top of #booktok?

    I don’t think this idea is as far fetched as a lot of other people because I see this thriving in my everyday life. I just think you have to really know what you are selling and it’s not books.

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  49. Hmmm...*

    OP1 I mentioned this in a comment above but to expand a little more. Have you thought of testing the waters and having an online bookstore? You would have little overhead to worry about at first. This is in addition to getting retail service and volunteering with libraries. I have no experience in books, but I am slowly building an online art supply store (my dream) in hope that in a few years to have a brick and mortar store. I did the research and everything you did as well saving, the plan, the dream…and I’m an accountant too (I feel your pain after tax season). I’m testing a physical presence at local craft fairs and similar. So far for me things are working out according to my business plan but I can tell you even with little overhead, online is a TON of work. If you are going into this bookstore with your eyes wide open and know the ups and downs… I’d say be prepared for any outcome and go for it, but be realistic. If you don’t (realistically try) you never know if it would be a success.

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  50. OhGee*

    LW1: Please work in a bookstore part-time first. Especially if you haven’t worked retail (recently or ever). Source: my parents moved across the country to semi-retire and take over an existing, successful bookstore, because it was my mom’s dream. She’d never worked retail, but my dad’s entire career was in retail. Turns out my mom hated customer service. Her dream was to be surrounded by books and book lovers, but reality had a lot more “politely listening to a person’s long, drawn out stories in hopes they’ll actually buy a book.” They also took over the store in summer 2008 – at the beginning of a major recession, and if you’re in the US, we seem to be in a similar spot. They also didn’t anticipate the way ebooks would explode (very bad timing on their part). The shop didn’t last. Alison’s advice is sound – please try it before you invest your life in this work! (And this is coming from a bookstore lover whose city has several successful newer bookstores.)

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  51. B Wayne*

    #1. I am a total bibliophile but I have zero confidence an afternoon and evening cerebral hangout for the inteligencia is going to survive. I have no facts or figures of course but reading this or that over the years about the demise of the mom and pop or independent bookstore these last two decades would worry me. While I was in B&N two weeks ago to renew my membership and ordered books off Amazon this week (cheaper by several dollars each than B&N online or instore), trying to find an independent, small bookstore never entered my mind. I would have to look in our larger city 50 miles up the road.

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  52. RCB*

    OP #1: You are in a unique situation compared to a lot of people right now in the sense that you aren’t as impacted by the tight job market, accountants are always in demand. If you have a CPA then even more so. While everyone seems to be struggling to find jobs right now I am being flooded with new job offers and clients (bookkeeping and accounting). My point here is that you have a lot more flexibility in taking a chance because if it all goes tits up then you should be able to jump back into the workforce very easily. It also means that you could probably take on some side clients and do bookkeeping or some tax work to supplement yourself while running the bookstore and it won’t be overly strenuous (I almost said taxing before noticing the inadvertent pun) on you. If you are an AICPA member than you also have access to a ton of much cheaper insurance options than you can normally get on the regular market (Life, disability, etc) that will help you keep costs down too.

    So, use your skillset to supplement your dream and factor that in to your decision, you have a skill that pays incredibly well as a side gig, it could be very lucrative and just what you need to make all the numbers work.

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  53. Juicebox Hero*

    There’s another wrinkle to starting a small business: city hall. Even if you open in a place that was formerly a retail establishment, you’re going to have to jump through the hoops. Offstreet parking, including X number of handicapped spaces. Traffic study. ADA compliance. Maximum occupancy regulations. Certificate of occupancy. Building permits for fitting out the space. Fire safety codes. Hiring reliable, licensed contractors who will do the job properly so that the end product passes inspection.

    If you plan to serve food, you run smack into department of health regulations and they are crazy strict.

    If it’s not a dedicated retail space, some municipalities won’t let you convert a residential building to commercial.

    I work for town government and our building code and zoning guys have to put the kibosh on a lot of would-be developers with big dreams. People complain about the bureaucracy, but Da Roolz are in place for safety and not snarling up traffic for blocks.

    There was a guy who opened a pizza place that was literally built around this fancy wood-fired pizza oven imported from Italy – the oven didn’t comply with building codes and he installed it on the sly without proper permits. During the final inspection the code enforcement guy saw what he’d done, and he had to rip the whole thing out and basically start from scratch, including paying hefty fines for doing work without permits.

    This is on top of all the other expenses and hassles of running a business, which others have covered pretty well already.

    There are jobs out there for accountants that don’t make April 15 feel like Armageddon. You don’t have to give up on the bookstore dream, but in the meantime try to find a job that you can live with. Our finance guy is a CPA who fled from tax accountancy :D

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  54. Keymaster of Gozer (she/her)*

    OP1: I often fantasised about opening my own bookstore when I was burning out in my job – it’s a lovely dream to escape into. But I also know that I dislike dealing with the public, the market for bookstores is contracting rapidly round here and I can’t accept the risk of losing all the money that I put into the enterprise.

    Now if you know the market is good, you don’t mind working retail and long hours and can accept that you may not get the money back if things go to pot (and can deal with health insurance – a lot of things can go wrong with your body/mind in retail!) then go for it.

    OP4: If your eyesight can be corrected with lenses then I wouldn’t count that as a disability, no. I have very bad eyes (-11 in both) but with glasses I can see just like everyone else and do not count as disabled because of that. My physical disabilities cannot ever be corrected up to ‘normal’ – even with aid I’m no faster than a stoned sloth – so they do count.

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  55. Ann O'Nemity*

    If I ever won the lottery—and could skip the business logistics and customer service—I’d open a bookstore. Not one that has to turn a profit, just a cozy, welcoming place filled with books I love. Ideally, it would be connected to a little café, just like in Three Pines from Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series. That’s the dream.

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  56. I'm just here for the cats!!*

    #4 I also have horrible eyesight that is corrected with glasses. Without them I would be legally blind. If you are still unsure what to put consider if you would need accommodations from the company such as an extremely large computer screen, brighter lights, or any other adaptive needs. If yes, especially with your glasses/contacts then yes. If not then you’d be safe to mark no.
    I consider poor eyesight to be like a medical condition that is easily managed, just like someone who has diabetes that is well managed with medication.
    Also, remember that no one is going to come back and say you lied or anything. So mark it how you feel comfortable.

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  57. bluesalt*

    OP1 – I come from a family of entrepreneurs, I’m married to a small business owner, and I have a small side business myself, plus years of working at a nonprofit that helped small businesses launch.

    The #1 thing I would say to consider – especially with something like a bookshop that sounds very romantic on the surface – is to be very, very honest with yourself about whether you want a business or a hobby. I have seen SO, SO many people try to open a bakery, craft store, flower shop, etc. and then make absolutely no money. For some people, that’s fine! If you are supported by a spouse/family/inheritance, you may not need to make a ton of money. If you want to do it to fulfill a dream and create a community space, by all means! But just recognize that it will likely not be a profitable, scalable business, and treat it as such. There is NOTHING wrong with wanting a hobby like this. Not everything has to be for profit! I knew a baker who ran a baking business for 18 years, and every year she was just happy to break even. She had some pretty massive contracts, but she just really loved baking and creating relationships within the community. She was super happy with the business and that is what matters.

    There are certainly people who people who are successful with retail businesses. But in general, they are businesses that sound much less “fun” and much more “needed.” My most successful family members, by far, are in construction. As far as retail, my cousin owns a health supplement store in a small town where there is no competition. Another cousin owns a waxing salon, also in an area where there are no others. So I would do some very thorough research on competition and actual demand. Again, if you’re looking to start a business that will be profitable, very honest about your findings.
    One last thing: you don’t *have* to open a full location right off the bat. Have you thought about a mobile book cart? Selling at markets? Doing pop-ups? Even just starting a book club – that could provide some great networking into the local community. If you start smaller, you could even focus on a niche (mystery, romance, etc) and really deep-dive into your market. Well-executed niche/specialty retail tends to do better. And if you do decide to open a location right off the bat, with the goal of profitability, try to think of ways to diversity your revenue streams. For example, could it be a coffee shop/cafe as well? Could you offer children’s literacy classes?

    I would also look for small business initiatives in your area. Some Main Street America communities have small pop-up shops that can be rented for a low rate on a yearly basis, with lots of support to grow.

    I hope this helps!

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  58. borealopelta*

    Hi OP#1-
    {please note I am saying this with all the love and kindness in me, it just doesn’t come through in text sometimes}

    Do you really want to open a bookstore, or are you creating an escapist fantasy in your head to deal with the pressures of your job? I do the same thing- I’m a horse person, and my escapist dream is to run away, move to Montana, and find work on a ranch somewhere. Could I do it? Sure, if I wanted to give up my steady job with great pay/benefits, move away from my family, live a hard life with near-constant work and very little time off to enjoy my own horse, etc. It seems so lovely when I’m dreaming about it, but the reality is that I wouldn’t like it very much.

    Forgive me, I don’t know a ton about accounting, but is there another type you could switch to, rather than doing taxes? Something that would spread the work more evenly throughout the year? Or if you want to stay in taxes, maybe during the slower season, you can take more time for yourself, maybe get a part time job at a bookstore so you can have that experience of working there and helping create that community third space without the stress of ownership? Maybe, as others have said, start on online bookshop, or a book club, or something bookstore-adjacent?

    I wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do!!

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  59. Twinklefae*

    I’m Canadian and I work in Early Childhood Education, so YMMV, but as I understand it, if your vision is worse than 200/20 (which is the definition of legally blind) then you can claim it as a disability, depending on a variety of other factors. But within ECE, any child with vision that is considered legally blind without correction is eligible for follow up/resources.

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  60. Gigi*

    LW 1:

    Two things. First, can you talk to your current bosses about taking some extended leave after tax season? I believe in your passion for the bookstore (and would love to visit it) but also this could be a little bit burnout talking. At least some time off might extend your time at the job while you plan for the bookstore without you hating it quite so much.

    Second, have you ever heard of Jenny Lawson? She’s one of my favorite writers and opened a bookstore (Nowhere Books in San Antonio) during the pandemic and it’s exactly the kind of place you’re describing. Given that she wishes me a happy birthday on Facebook based solely on my parasocial love of her, I bet she’d answer an email asking for advice. Good luck! And please update us if you open your store.

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  61. VR*

    Folks who have been recently laid off from a federal job — if you’re looking to transition into a private sector role, I built a tool called UnFed My Resume as a side project (not looking to make any money from it! You’ll see there’s no requirement to pay anything; it’s a free tool).

    It takes in federal resumes and gives advice on what specifically you should change to make the resume conform to private sector expectations. Please check it out if you’d like: https://unfed-my-resume.vercel.app/

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  63. Robin*

    I am a resume writer and career coach, focusing on helping clients in the civilian and federal government sectors.

    LW#1 – I had a corporate position for many years with benefits. I chose a generous buyout when I was burned out, and it looked like the organization would close (it later did). I looked for a new position in the job field, and additionally, helped a resume writing and career coaching company with their accounting. While helping the company, I started writing resumes. I eventually got a job in my original career field, but after a few months, while working with a career coach, I realized I was more suited to resume writing and career coaching. At the time, I took a significant salary cut – but with proper financial advice and management, I left that company, formed my own small business, and it has been financially sustaining for nearly 20 years. I understood the grind of owning a business, having grown up with my Dad owning a retail business.

    That said, I have worked with many people who were burned out on their jobs and wanted a change. As I did, I recommend working with a career coach and a financial management professional (it’s better to get an independent opinion) to determine the best path forward for you. I also recommend, as others have, that you work in a bookstore before starting a new business running one (I worked as a resume writer for several years before starting my own business). In addition to determining if you want to own a bookstore (or is it just a pipe dream), you will learn valuable information on how to run your own business.

    LW#5 – You still work for the federal government. Until you leave, put “to present” versus July 2025 on your resume (it is easier to get a job when you have a job). It is not a lie. You can say that it is likely you will be leaving the federal government when you network. Do not put the future date on your resume (it may not happen).

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  64. DisneyChannelThis*

    For OP1 – consider why you want to quit your job. What aspect(s) of your life feels unfilled? Can you fill these with more vacations to cool places, new hobbies, more volunteering, join a community garden etc? Are there different tasks at work you could learn to take on to break up the routine? Maybe time to move apartments/houses and take on a organizing and renovation project? Maybe talk to boss about more significant time off and go do one of those month long backpacking adventures?

    You are living the dream of many people with good bosses, benefits, pay. The job market in the US is rough right now. Do some soul searching before quitting. I know I’ve definitely struggled with the difference between making what I love work, and working at the “eh its okay at most” job that has the money to fund other aspects of my life that are fulfilling.

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  65. J9justintime*

    3. Maybe you can organize and offer a few cohorts so that a few groups can visit together. It would be a planned timing for you, an opportunity to network and make new connections for the participants, and the marketing might be an additional boon for your institution.

    Reply ↓

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