The Turning Point

In this episode, everything comes to a head. While venting my frustrations to the sellers’ agents, they unexpectedly add the owners to the email chain—whether intentionally or by accident, I still don’t know. What follows is a full-blown fallout. The owners are furious, I’m mortified, and it becomes painfully clear that their agents aren’t helping anyone navigate this deal with any professionalism.

Listening back, it might sound like I’m circling the same complaints—and I am. That’s exactly what it felt like at the time: stuck, confused, and convinced I was trying to buy a business with shifting rules and missing pieces. I wanted the store and felt like I was getting screwed.

I make amends with the owners and write them a low offer… but then: crickets. No response at all. And that silence becomes the message I need.

This is the moment I accept it’s time to move on—to find my own space, start sourcing inventory through estate sales, and shift fully into a new plan. It’s messy, emotional, and imperfect. But hindsight makes one thing clear: I had to walk away from that deal in order to be standing right here now, one step away from opening The Phoenix Used Bookshop.

(Any bleeps in this episode are intentional—to protect confidential business information.)

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