Middle School Teacher Starts Business, Fails and Hurts a Lot of People

[haha]

Knowing when to close the business - Your Business - MSNBC.com

The part that really jumped out at me was

"In December 2006, the former middle-school teacher partnered with two close family friends to start up a high-end baby boutique. Not only did Tacchino invest every waking moment into her business, she also invested every penny of her family savings, the deed to her home and the whole retirement nest-egg of an elderly relative.

I bet this elderly relative wishes she had never heard of Ms. Tacchino.

Ha

[bssc]

I won't invest money with friends or family. I have heard some proposals from Amway to apartments but have been happy without them.

This story is a reminder why.

[youbet]

Just curious ha.....

The article mentioned the entrepreneur was a former middle school teacher only in passing and down in the text. Their headline was "Knowing When to Close the Bisiness."

You changed "former middle school teacher" to "middle school teacher" and made that modified statement your headline. Why? Did you feel, more than the author of the article, the fact that she had been a middle school teacher at some unspecified time in the past was the problem?

In any case...... retail shops are a death wish unless you have some special competitive edge or you personally have a skill people need. No surprise it failed. And the fact she continued to toss in good money (including other peoples' good money!) after bad only makes it worse.

[CuppaJoe]

Reminds me of an eccentric guy I worked for many years ago. His business was investing in oil & gas partnerships. His wife ran a small boutique store in a hard-to-get-to upscale area; I went by her shop several times, it was never open. I figure places like that are just tax write offs. Too bad the former middle school teacher didn’t know that.

[Bestwifeever]

She's probably a former "former middle school teacher" now anyway--back in the classroom for her!

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet Just curious ha..... The article mentioned the entrepreneur was a former middle school teacher only in passing and down in the text. Their headline was "Knowing When to Close the Bisiness." You changed "former middle school teacher" to "middle school teacher" and made that modified statement your headline. Why? Did you feel, more than the author of the article, the fact that she had been a middle school teacher at some unspecified time in the past was the problem? In any case...... retail shops are a death wish unless you have some special competitive edge or you personally have a skill people need. No surprise it failed. And the fact she continued to toss in good money (including other peoples' good money!) after bad only makes it worse.

Not at all. I figured she had left her job, maybe to be an entrepreneur. I shortened the title because it was long and I wasn't sure it would fit. As far as the article being about when to close the business, in this case the ideal time would have been 6 months before she opened it.

As I said in the OP, my attention was on the "elderly relative" who got creamed. I wondered how anyone whould think that was a reasonable thing for an old person's stash.

I also wondered what kind of crazy projections Ms. Fassano must have made to let her invest that much of anyone's money, her own or others, in a kiddie boutique. The surest way for a boutique to stay open is for it to be the hobby of the wife of a wealthy man. Otherwise look out. ( I just saw that Cuppa Joe alluded to this principle above.)

I know a lunatic like this myself. She didn't lose anyone else's money, just her own nice inheritance which was the only thing standing between her and a long life of working at low level jobs. Down goes Frazier!

Ha

[ziggy29]

For her sake, I hope she at least had enough years on the job as a teacher to qualify for a pension -- looks like she's gonna need it.

[LOL!]

My sister-in-law is a middle-school teacher. She and her husband started a retail business (a franchise) many years ago as a side activity and to provide jobs for their children. They were very successful and ended up owning several stores of the same franchise in their area. The whole family is very successful.

Businesses come and go. Retail stores in strip shopping malls seem to come and go as quickly as June bugs and other summer insects around the house. Nothing new in the article. But isn't it nice that with the current digital world that one can recycle articles forever? At least with movies, they have to go from black & white to color to Betamax to VHS to DVD to Blu-ray. Nevertheless, it's the same ol' same ol'.

[deepc]

Perhaps too these business owners don't understand the concept of sunk cost as they continue to pour money into a failing concern.

Also seems to be a habit of risking other people's money on top of their own.

[ladelfina]

Hmm deepc, sounds like you could be describing GM or any number of financial companies at this point.. Who will soon be getting quite a bit more of OPM.

[BLS53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Not at all. I figured she had left her job, maybe to be an entrepreneur. I shortened the title because it was long and I wasn't sure it would fit. As far as the article being about when to close the business, in this case the ideal time would have been 6 months before she opened it. As I said in the OP, my attention was on the "elderly relative" who got creamed. I wondered how anyone whould think that was a reasonable thing for an old person's stash. I also wondered what kind of crazy projections Ms. Fassano must have made to let her invest that much of anyone's money, her own or others, in a kiddie boutique. The surest way for a boutique to stay open is for it to be the hobby of the wife of a wealthy man. Otherwise look out. ( I just saw that Cuppa Joe alluded to this principle above.) I know a lunatic like this myself. She didn't lose anyone else's money, just her own nice inheritance which was the only thing standing between her and a long life of working at low level jobs. Down goes Frazier! Ha

I suppose it depends on how "nice" the inheritance was. Was it enough to make her immediately FI? If not, this was possibly this individuals only chance to escape a lifetime working at "low level jobs". She rolled the dice and lost.

[BLS53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladelfina Hmm deepc, sounds like you could be describing GM or any number of financial companies at this point.. Who will soon be getting quite a bit more of OPM.

Good point. It's always interesting listening to all the moralistic handwringing when individuals are involved. When large corporations have difficulty, it's just business.

This attitude is especially prevelant when filing bankruptcy is the issue.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLS53 I suppose it depends on how "nice" the inheritance was. Was it enough to make her immediately FI? If not, this was possibly this individuals only chance to escape a lifetime working at "low level jobs". She rolled the dice and lost.

It was marginal for her; she was divorced from a high earner husband and grew up in a well to do family, so she had expensive tastes. It would have plenty for many on this board.

I was troubled more by the high dollar way she went about her ambition, rather than the plan overall. I was fairly close to her, and I did try to get her to concentrate on getting some revenues coming in before she started to "improve" everything.

Even a very small business takes an unusual combination of vision and even stubbornness, along with the ability to make realistic assessments of what is going on. Also, blind adherence to an idea sometimes wins, and often loses. So it is hard to really know which case you're about to become an example of.

Ha

[Sarah in SC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Even a very small business takes an unusual combination of vision and even stubbornness, along with the ability to make realistic assessments of what is going on. Also, blind adherence to an idea sometimes wins, and often loses. So it is hard to really know which case you're about to become an example of. Ha

This is what so many folks don't get, Ha. I learned from my entrepreneurial father that I never wanted to own my own business. Too much responsibility and too much capital at stake for my risk tolerance. And everything you said above. That is a sad story to have not only lost her money, but that of her relatives as well.

[Gardnr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Even a very small business takes an unusual combination of vision and even stubbornness, along with the ability to make realistic assessments of what is going on. Also, blind adherence to an idea sometimes wins, and often loses. So it is hard to really know which case you're about to become an example of. Ha

Too many people fall in love with their own idea and don't look at it with a critical eyem nor do they seek the advice of anybody who doesn't just validate their own views. Too much emotion and self deception and not enough cold, skeptical analysis of what they're doing. Then they often are in denial when it starts to go bad and follow it into the ground, pouring everything they have at it (and more, such as credit card debt), just as this lady did.

[DJRR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC This is what so many folks don't get, Ha. I learned from my entrepreneurial father that I never wanted to own my own business. Too much responsibility and too much capital at stake for my risk tolerance. And everything you said above. That is a sad story to have not only lost her money, but that of her relatives as well.

I guess she should have listened to her "poor dad" and just cashed her teacher pension