We were lucky to catch up with Lindsay Schultz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lindsay , appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I started my on my birthday. My friend Tammy and I were talking on the day that I got laid off. She asked me if I was going to get off my butt and actually start my bookshop or just keep talking about it. I wish that I had done it sooner. I think if I started it sooner, it would’ve given me more of an opportunity to be happy in my work life and I might be further along in my job.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into my industry by just starting a bookshop website with three books. I started it upstairs in my office and just kept going until I could find a rental space. We offer new and used books and anything I don’t have I can easily order for you. The thing about my bookshop, that makes me the most proud is that I lean into local authors. I pride myself on how I provide customer service. I want all of my customers to be able to find something that they like. I would love for more people to read local authors. I think by choosing more popular books they’re missing out, sometimes on local authors and the amazing stories that are in their books.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Sales are really slow down during the months of October and November and a little bit in December. I had to pivot to figure out how to bring in more sales and get more people to come into the store. Having sales and discounts and promotions during those months help bring in business, where otherwise we wouldn’t have anything. Hosting events help to bring in people as well, like Book Clubs and Author signings, and release parties a good way to bring in more business

How did you build your audience on social media?

I read somewhere in one of the business magazines that you have to post at least three times a day every day. So I tried to make relatable post offering information about what we have in our store, authors that are getting ready to release novels, and events. Anytime that we are hosting an event I posted on every type of social media we have including email campaigns so that people know that we are doing an event or having a guest speaker or anything that we’re doing. I tend to also post content that isn’t yes or no type of content. I want my readers to interact with my post so I tend to post open ended type of things like “What is everyone reading this week?” etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thespinebookshop.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespinebookshop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSpineBookshop