We recently connected with Brian Kearney and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brian, thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I think about this all the time! I’m continuously asking myself, “Is it worth it”? Half the year I’m on one side of this fence and the other half of the year, I’m on the other side. Back and forth all the time. Currently, I am leaning toward being happy as a business owner, but I know January and February will come around and I’ll be on Indeed… Again! Recently, I took the reigns back and let go of my entire staff. I only had one high school student left on payroll, but I decided to let her go. I’m the only one here now, like it was when I first opened in 2018. Since then, I’ve had several people work here including a couple of supervisors. Through the years they have left for other jobs, or left because they graduated and got a “real” job, or perhaps I let them go. Trustworthy people are hard to find. Sales have gone up since I took the reigns back and, of course, payroll is zero now, So, I’m leaning on the happy side again because I see profit. However, on days that we struggle financially, I always get on Indeed and look to see what else is out there. The thing is, I really like being my own boss. And, I’ve become accustomed to doing things on my own schedule. I don’t really think I could work for someone else, unless I was really able to enjoy myself. But of course, I’ll probably send ten resume’s out come January ; )
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I was a triathlete, coach, personal trainer, etc. for Lifetime Fitness for about seven years before I opened this running shoe store back in 2018. I was always telling clients to “Go get fit for proper running shoes”. So, I decided to open my own store for this. When I first opened, I had a PT room in the back of the store to workout with clients. We also did three different nights of running from the shop. It was really based around staying fit. Then COVID hit and that kind of changed. We leaned more towards walking and hiking. Now we have a lot of running shoes but also hiking boots, backpacks, hiking poles, etc. I enjoy hearing everyone’s journey when they come in to pick out a pair of running, hiking, or walking shoes.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was in business as a partnership with my wife. Then in 2021, we divorced. I had to change all my accounts, tax papers, contracts, etc. It was a very difficult time because I was also selling my house, looking to buy another, trying to see my kids, etc. Just a really crazy time. I even had a couple of people interested in buying my store. In fact, I almost sold, but the buyer dropped out last minute. After that, I decided to reinvest in this company and take the reigns back and start over again. We are doing a lot better now. In fact, we are thinking of expanding.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I want to share this as a way NOT to fund your business. I started with about $40,000 cash and ended up putting about $80,000 on credit cards. Do Not Do This! After a couple years, I had to put those credit cards into a debt consolidation program that didn’t really do anything to help me other than take my money and pay my bills, just like I could do by myself. Only, they were charging me for it. Five years later, I still have about $30,000 in bad debt and this killed my credit score. It went from 790 to 580. I’m still trying to work my credit back up to a reasonable score.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wingedfootrunwalk.com
- Instagram: wfrunning
- Facebook: wfrunning