A Back to Basics Weekend

I went to the Pokemon PlayDate with all my boys yesterday. I don’t know what else to call it. Every week the local trading card and novelty store hosts an open morning at the Scouts Hall where kids bring their Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards. They used to host it in-store, but quickly outgrew the facilities with so many kids showing up to play. Some days they have tournaments and others the kids just battle.

Until yesterday I just dropped the older two off to play and picked them up later, but yesterday I decided to stay with them so that youngest could get in on the action. Of course, he needs help with the reading and math and to monitor his behaviour. He’s a great kid, but he’s only four (until tomorrow) and I don’t think it would be right to drop him off and expect the owners or his big brother to give him the hands-on attention he needs.

My eldest son won a battle and prize pack. My youngest won two collectible hockey cards from a drawing and a booster pack from a trivia draw. That was my doing. When Tim (the owner) asked the first math question for the prize, my mouth engaged without thinking and I answered. I did manage to keep my mouth shut through the rest of the math problems though so I didn’t win them all. I found it funny that all these years out of school that it takes effort to not answer a times table question immediately and without thinking.

My youngest got tired after the first round table battle. That’s where everyone battles around one table until there is only one winner rather than tournament style where everyone plays one to one and the winners move on until there is only one winner left. One battle was enough for his attention span. So we left and had intended to go home, but I was sidetracked by the thrift store.

Being volunteer run, it’s only open two days a week and Saturday is one of them. I couldn’t resist peeking inside since I had $12 in my pocket and a list a mile-long of things I want for the house. I didn’t find a thing for the house, but I did walk away with 27 books and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia game for $7.75, which is much less than my library overdue fines at the moment.

The books are an eclectic mix of old university textbooks (marketing and business math), romance novels, business how-to books, a couple of true life biographies and a fascinating book on the lives of teenage girls that chronicles life only a couple of years in advance of when I was a teenager in one of the same cities that the writer interviewed in.

The book “No Kidding: Inside the World of Teenage Girls” is the first one I started on. It’s eerie to read about teen girls in the time I was a teen, some going to the same schools I went to and the same malls.  They’d all be in their late 30’s and early 40’s now.

I briefly glanced through the Marketing Book, it’s just one of those standard basic marketing textbooks that I love having around to back up my inspiration and ideas for my own business and when I’m advising clients on their businesses. I picked up the Business Math textbook for the same reason, just to be sure I’m making the right calculations when messing around with numbers. I’ve been self-taught in that area and wanted the assurance and backup.

A brief skim through the first couple of chapters in the book “Homemade Business:  A Woman’s Step By Step Guide to Earning Money at Home” tells me that it’s going provide an interesting perspective. Written in 1992, before the Internet turned into the powerhouse of opportunity that it is today, the basics of building an at-home business remain the same.

I love picking up old books for that reason. The basics of business don’t change and haven’t changed. We, as business owners, simply update the delivery and speed with technology - but the need to plan, target our market, organize and manage our time, simply do not change.

Reading an older book on nearly any subject can be an experience. Whether it provides a trip down memory lane like I’m experiencing with “No Kidding” or helps to focus on business basics like “Home Business” and “Basic Marketing” - there is a lot of value in picking up something that’s not fresh off the presses.

Or maybe it’s just me?