I have always loved retail. I guess I get it from my dad. When I was 13 he brought me along with him to a local tackle shop where he had been working part time since he was a kid. He showed me where the back stock was located, told me to find inventory in the back that we were low on out front and restock everything I could. Starting at 5 a.m. every Saturday morning I would be going around the entire store looking for things I could stock. I would really get excited if I found something that wasn't on display, it was like hitting the jackpot. I was soon trusted with working the registers and helping customers find the gear they needed for their next fishing trip. My goal was to know where every item in the store was located so when a customer asked for something I could take them right to it. I would ask questions about what they were purchasing so I could be slightly more knowledgable when the next person came through the door. I worked together with my father at that shop for 10 years and throughout that time we would often talk about what it would be like if we had our own store. What could we do differently, what would our goals be, how could we stand out from other stores?
In 2010 when I graduated from college our discussions became more serious. It started to seem like this dream we had may actually be obtainable. Around 2012-2013 time period, I put together a business plan for "Rock and Blues Tackle Company." I had product/shelving suppliers lined up, a location picked out, and insurance information. I had an entire initial inventory order ready to fill out the store with all kinds of fishing supplies. We had meetings with potential investors and banks to line up funding and meeting after meeting we received the same response, "this is too risky for us." Maybe having our own shop wasn't meant to happen. The dream was dead.