Once upon a time not very long ago, a man named Tom (not me) went out for the afternoon with a friend. Together they went to a business Tom had never been to. It was supposed to be a pleasant afternoon with the two enjoying spending some discretionary money. Unfortunately, the afternoon did not go as planned.

As they were leaving, Tom told his friend he thought he would enjoy it if they tried another similar business. The friend told Tom that all of the businesses in the area gave the same poor customer service and experience.

Tom's profession was a completely unrelated industry. He saw this experience as a call to action, and an opportunity. He studied all of the same type of businesses in the area. With his collection of experiences, Tom decided to open his own business. Things went well for Tom and he opened another location.

Today, Tom's business, a direct competitor to where he had the bad experience, has more than a dozen locations with more in the works.

Who caused Tom to go into business? There is a similar story told of how Bass Pro Shops came into being.

When the Internet evolved into something that involved the public, becoming a place for people to purchase products and services was not a part of the plans.
However, there were people who saw the same kind of opportunity that my friend Tom saw - someone doing a poor job of taking care of their customers.

They could offer little customer service, eliminate a lot of operating expenses, and lower prices to get to customers.

Many of us as small business owners continue to leave the door open to allow the Internet, or people like Tom, the opportunity to take our existing customers and prevent new customers from finding us.

Shut the door.