Pause…Breathe..Think 🙂
It was a dull day and the rain Gods were in their elements. Had been raining non-stop throughout the night and continued to pour from the dark skies above inspite of it being well into mid- day. There was no sign of the sun and this is exactly how Cyril Thomas felt as well that day – depressed, low on energy and no excitement.
Cyril owned a decently large book store in the small-town square. He had loved helping his father in the store as a kid and most excited to delve into the sea of knowledge, information, and stories these books held. Unfortunately, his father had passed away suddenly due to a heart attach on the same day that he had graduated from college.
The burden of running the shop fell on Cyril’s shoulders. He had to give up on his dream of becoming a pilot and visiting the same places that he had once only seen in the books at the book store. He now had to take care of the family that included his mother and two younger sisters who now looked up to him.
The book store that used to be his safe haven and had taken him into a magical world of stories, people and places now changed. He had to ensure smooth running of the store, look into sales, inventory and yes, the key part – revenue it generated to sustain. Not something he really enjoyed doing, but learnt it quickly as anybody would when pushed into the deep waters.
Today while it had been pouring heavily, there were hardly any customers in the store and he did not expect a lot either in this damp weather and a working day. Except for the regulars that included senior citizens or research analysts and his helper, the store was reasonably empty.
So, he made a hot cup of coffee and went to his most favourite place in the store. This section had the oldest books and had a different aura of its own. The smell of old books and coffee was a heady mix. He grabbed a stool to sit on and another one to keep his coffee mug.
He then ran his eyes over the faded covers and book titles –
- The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
- The book of Healing by Avicenna
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- The Republic by Plato
And so on…
Books in this section were not for sale. Anyone interested could grab a stool and read while in the store and keep it back while leaving. This is how both Cyril and his father had maintained this collection of old books for a very long time. There was no other store in town that could boast of such an old collection.
While his eyes scouted through the books, it stopped abruptly at a very thin hard cover book. He slid it off the rack – it was called Book of Quotes and randomly opened a page. It had a quote calligraphically painted in gold on a dull page and it read –
He continued to stare at it for few minutes and then after mulling for a while, he thought of how he had been running the book store. Nothing had changed since the day his father passed way 20 years ago. This quote made him think if there was a better way to do it.
After sitting like what seemed a few minutes but had been an hour, his felt his heart racing as he thought of ideas of how the book store could be run differently. Usually sitting like this made him feel the heaviness of time with the way it dragged itself forward through the banality of Life’s routines.
Now these thoughts excited him and he could feel the blood circulating through his body. He quickly took the book and mug of coffee and went back to his desk and started jotting down the ideas that came up –
- Books make for a great gift and a bundle of books would appeal to people even more. Thought had to be given on which kind of books to bundle up.
- Procure related items that go along with books such as stationary, creative book marks, diaries, games, chocolates, and toys. This could help attract customers, increase the foot fall in the store and could just increase the sales of the books as well.
- Consider a website for the store so that folks could buy books online
- Start a book club. This is something that had appealed to him even in the past, though he had never given though to it
Cyril worked hard over the next few months to work on these ideas. He first went over the inventory of books and made a few combinations of books that could be bundled and sold as gifts. He then printed some of the best quotes from the book that had pushed him to think differently and shared it with his mom and sisters who used them to make beautiful bookmarks.
He spoke to various homemakers to see how he could procure home made chocolates and toys. This would ensure an additional income to these folks as well. He decided to hold a flea fest in his book store one weekend so that folks could display their talent in one corner that sold, chocolates, key chains, pens, book marks and toys. Though the sale was not that great, it help increase the foot fall, which is what mattered to him in the beginning.
When he realized how he could impact lives, that gave him an added impetus and he kept pushing the envelope and saw his hidden capabilities emerge. He also saw how his store ambience had changed, though he had done no physical alterations. It was just the way he had thought that had changed the aura of the place and of how he felt.
This was just the beginning for Cyril. At his desk, he had this huge printout of the quote beneath the glass so that it reminded him always –
There is always a better way to do it. Find it.
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