#31 - A NEW CAREER

In one month I turn 51. I've finally "got a real job". I had my first job interview since I was 20 years old on Thursday. Tuesday I start my "second career". But let's start at the beginning ...

Blog #25 and #26 were about my SPIDERSHOPPE (SS). #25 told how my e-commerce website for SS had been "vaporized". I had taken the first step in ceasing retail sales. #26 told how I had rebuilt SS when I returned to the Chicago area in early spring of 2013. From 2007-2013 (except for a short hiatus in Milwaukee) I had lived in Seattle and operated Tarantulas.com while serving as General Manager of its parent company, Northwest Zoological Supply.

Now this Blog will explain the reasons behind my SS moves and changes. It will explain why after 33 years in the pet industry and arachnid & reptile sales I have "retired" and started on a new journey.

First I should clarify the immediate plans with regards to SS. I posted on my FB Michael Jacobi's Spider Shoppe page last night the following:

I regret to inform everyone that I have cancelled my lecture at the Arlington NARBC show and will not be vending at that show or the October Tinley Park NARBC.

Also, you may have noticed that my e-commerce SPIDERSHOPPE site no longer exists. There is a dedicated SS page on my main site ExoticFauna again. Through this page and my mailing list I will be making one final retail close out offer and then retail sales for SS will be closed forever. 

After 33 years in the pet industry and arachnid & reptile sales I am done. I am starting a "second career" in the firearms industry. I will still breed Harpactira and some rare Avics for fun, but my public presence in the tarantula hobby will be limited to my activities as North American Coordinator of the British Tarantula Society, my educational work with lecturing and writing from books to blogs to articles and my photography and field trips. In other words my voice will continue, but my SPIDERSHOPPE will not. 

After posting this I got a few personal messages from friends. Earlier in the day I had already notified close friends like Chad Campbell and Jason Newland as we had talked about them joining me in Texas in late August for a little photo safari and critter hunt. One thing about getting a real job is I no longer can go wherever whenever. I won't be able to travel as much. Then again, all the money I've spent on travel lately is one of the reasons I need a real job!

This morning I checked my post on the SS Faffbook page. As of now it has reached 264 people (out of 1,323 people who have "liked" the page), but only 7 people liked the post and only a handful commented. I then started replying to the comments and adding the following clarifying comment of my own.

I've replied privately to a few messages and comments here. I guess I should clarify. After 33 years I am done selling animals to pay my bills. But I did it for 33 years because I love the critters. I'll still be breeding and my offspring will still need to find new homes. I will be selling privately, mostly wholesale but also to friends, mailing list members, and existing customers. But there will be no public retail sales. I will expand on this in today's blog entry. I am now just a hobbyist breeder not a professional breeder and dealer. Unfortunately, the spider hobby and the selling of spiders in the U.S. has become very difficult and not enjoyable. I discussed this with a couple (former!) colleagues yesterday. It's so much work and everything has gotten so cheap. Look at everyone's adverts. Everyone is having a big sale. Buy one, get one free, 25% off everything. People are desperate. There are too many pseudo dealers and weekend warriors ruining the market. People like me who spend 40 hours or more a week just caring for the animals can't even pay the bills. I've hatched so many spiders and I can barely give them away. I have to stop breeding common species. The market is flooded and German imports keep coming in cheaper and being sold even cheaper. I've worked so hard and the fun is gone. Not in keeping and breeding... I'll do that until I'm dead. Not in educating, I'll always do that. But selling is over. I turn 51 in a month. I decided it was time to "get a real job" and do something else I enjoy. 

So what this means immediately is that I have to reduce my spider workload. I have no idea how many spiders I have, but it is a four digit number. And I have to stop breeding things that I have a hard time wholesaling for $8. It's just too much work. And there are too few buyers. I'm not going to turn around and start chasing purchases from pseudo dealers and weekend warriors instead of retail customers. Where are all these spiders going to go? I've hatched back to back to back eggsacs of some species. I can't even get rid of the first sac's offspring, what am I going to do with the spiderlings from sac #2 and sac #3, etc.? So, I have to seriously reduce my collection and workload. I'm a hobbyist now. I'll keep one female of each species I like and stop breeding them if they're common. I'll focus on Harpactirinae, Monocentropus and some rare Aviculariinae. Everything else has to go. Maybe I'll get a couple of cool reptiles again. I'm a hobbyist now. I'm going to be doing this for pleasure. It just can't be work. I am tired. My rants have come about out of frustration. The American tarantula hobby really has turned to shit. I messaged with a colleague/friend last night and she bemoaned the same things I am telling you. She's putting in so much hard work and it just isn't paying off. There is so much other bullshit, drama, nonsense, etc. in the hobby and so many pretenders giving stuff away. I so miss the days when it was me and Swifty and John Hoke and we were just complaining about guys like Stanton, Cerda and later Botar. Now it is a minefield. I see a new "spider business" pop up almost every day. This goes back to one of my first blogs. In the pet industry your customers become your competitors. And, thus, I am done with the pet industry. It's been a three decade ride. I've enjoyed much of it, but hated an equal part of it. It's tough selling living things. I have a dear friend from Seattle staying at my house right now. He's one of the country's top dart frog breeders. He doesn't even pull the eggs anymore. He doesn't want more babies. He cannot stomach selling one more frog to some idiot who hasn't done any research. He cannot stomach taking money when he knows that what he is selling has no chance of living, much less thriving. I hated selling ferrets and veiled chameleons and frogs to people. I've seen so many animals die. When I ran Northwest Zoological Supply I pulled dead animals every day. Stepping away from being an animal dealer is easy.

Sorry ... I digressed a bit there thinking of the animals I have sold to pay my bills ... Back to SS and the immediate future. I am doing an inventory and will be posting at spidershoppe.com and to my private mailing list. Visit the SS web page to sign up if you are not subscribed. I will be downsizing and many nice spiders will be for sale including a great deal of sexed females. It will take me a week or two to compile the complete list. As I wrote above my intention is to only keep breeding Harpactirinae, Monocentropus and some rare Aviculariinae, and for my other species I will just be keeping one female as a "pet" for display.

Now we move on to the title of this blog entry - A NEW CAREER. I've been shooting handguns and other firearms since I was a boy. My father is a retired police chief. When I was a kid he was a sergeant and was responsible for the Evanston, IL police department's basement shooting range. He taught me to shoot. I have owned handguns my entire life and carry one every day. I have an Illinois Concealed Carry License. My other passions include photography and guitars/music, but I didn't really see an opportunity to earn a living with either of those. I am a member of On Target Range and Tactical Training Center in Crystal Lake, IL. I train there every week. It is where I took my concealed carry course and others like "Shooting from the Holster". Since joining a year and a half ago I often daydreamed about working there. Now, starting Tuesday, I am. I will be switching from selling spiders to selling firearms. I hope to eventually teach firearm education classes there as well.

One thing that has affected the timing of this change is the passing of my beloved dog in December. Since I've always been self-employed (or worked for NW Zoo where I'd bring her to work) she was by my side 24/7. I never left her to go to work. I knew that while she was still alive I never would. I have been very depressed since losing her. It has made operating a home based business very difficult as I tend to become a hermit and wallow in my depression. I leave the house to go out to dinner, to drop boxes at FedEx, to run errands and occasionally spend time with family. Other than that I don't really interact with people regularly and don't meet anyone new except in cyberspace. It isn't a healthy way to live. With a bunch of travel scheduled after Taylor's death in December I couldn't look for a job, but I started thinking about how much I needed one. Not so much for the money, but for my own mental and physical health. Summer has come and I need to get out of my cave and be a real person. I can leave my house to go to work now. And with the state of the tarantula hobby today the timing just meshed. Tuesday I saw an email from On Target announcing an opening for a Sales Associate and I leaped for it. I had sent resume and application within ten minutes of the posting. I interviewed Thursday and they hired me Friday. Tuesday my training begins. I will pack a lunch and a thermos of coffee and drive to work like most everyone else. My spider collection will be my enjoyment during my free time, not something I am a slave to and I need zero customers. I've been speaking my mind here since June 3rd. I've been telling people I was "semi-retired" since I left Seattle in March 2013. Now I am "retired" - from earning a living from selling animals. But my second career has begun. I'll be 51 soon and I figure in 10 years I'll finally pack it in and just travel. But in the meantime I have a paycheck to earn.

In closing, thanks to all my customers over the years. I hope some of you will still do "hobby business" with me. Keep an eye out (or just watch for mailing list email) for my closeout sale inventory in a week or two. I'll try to get it done ASAP. Save a few dollars ... there's going to be some sweet stuff and sweet deals ...

All the best and a Happy Independence Day. Fuck the Brits (except all my mates!) LOL. With kind regards, MJ