#59 - IT'S NOT ABOUT MONEY!

There are a number of previous blog entries that touch on the commercial side of the animal hobbies and focus on the enterprise of making profit off of living things - in our case invertebrates. There follows a short list of those to review. Some are rants about douchenozzles who have unsavory practices in the interest of making a buck, but others are about my own 33 year career earning a living off of living things, which I can tell you is a moral dilemma for anyone who truly cares about animals.

• #52 - THE CLOSEOUT & POSITIVITY
• #44 - THE OLD CAREER - THE FULL BIO
• #33 - USA VS. EUROPE
• #31 - A NEW CAREER
• #26 - THE "NEW SPIDERSHOPPE & THE FINAL MEMORY LANE
• #15 - BROWN BOXING CRIMINALS
• #10 - PSEUDO DEALERS & WEEKEND WARRIORS
• #9 - DON'T SHIP BY USPS (or give a penny to those who do!)

There are many people in this hobby right now (many who I'd call "pseudo dealers", but also the worse among the "weekend warriors") that are in it just to make money. And they don't realize there isn't much money to be made. They may like the animals. It is likely as that is how they initially got their start. But "like" and "passion" are at two ends of a spectrum. Only the truly passionate "animal people" last and they are the only ones who put animal safety, "happiness" and "enrichment" ahead of sales. Just because someone is a "serious breeder" or "big time dealer" doesn't mean that they are "real animal people". They have to have at least a casual interest and usually have a serious interest in arachnoculture, but their goal is profit and for those who are scumbags the animals are secondary to the bottom line.

Over the decades I have been told that I can be difficult to work with. I think most of my sincere, reasonable and intelligent customers would argue otherwise. But there are plenty that I have dismissed and effectively refused to sell to. To my detriment from a financial standpoint, I have always turned away any sale that made me uncomfortable. Sometimes it was my intolerance for stupidity that made be blow off the sale, but more often it was that the person didn't impress me as a serious keeper and I would rather lose a sale than jeopardize a spider (or reptile/amphibian/invert, whatever). Very few people can say that, but I know some of my closest friends, many of whom are "weekend warriors" selling at weekend reptile shows and such also consider animal welfare first and foremost and if someone doesn't strike them as a responsible owner they will refuse the sale.

Think about other retail industries. Can you imagine someone who sells cars, or cappuccinos, or stereo equipment refusing a sale? But the responsible animal seller will not sell something to anyone with the money to pay. He or she will ensure the person is qualified or has been sufficiently educated during the "sales pitch" or turn the potential customer away. It can't be about money.

Since I don't want to keep tooting my own horn I will once again bring up Kelly Swift. I'm not suggesting he is known for turning away sales, but I do know that he is a "real animal guy". Like me has been at it for decades and has a strong herpetocultural background as well as his better known presence in arachnoculture. He has had a bumpy ride. The fire that destroyed his facility and set his business back years and years would have made any "pseudo dealer" move on to something else to sell. I've already made the point that selling tarantulas is not a money making endeavor so I won't belabor that again here. But Kelly has rebuilt and keeps plugging away becomes spiders and snakes are in his blood. I'll make an example of another of my buddies. John Apple earns his living working for another industry. But he has always been a "weekend warrior". He's not looking to "get rich" or turn a big profit to buy some shiny new toy. He just eats, sleeps and breathes arachnids and loves to educate and sells what he breeds and other stuff he buys wholesale to finance his hobby. And that is why he has also done this forever.

The new breed of people who see people like me exhibiting at fancy reptile shows at NARBC and doing brisk business see dollar signs in their eyes. They are disillusioned. Significant money will not be made selling spiders. You'd have a slightly better chance with herps, but you'd be better off finding a niche selling related products than selling livestock. But these new sellers keep popping up because they think they can earn a living. You can't. Read my posts, especially the "Old Career" installment and learn exactly why. You have to approach selling animals as a passion. You will do best if you also treat it as a business and act professionally, but you can't be looking for financial gain, and you can't allow potential sales and profits to make you forget that you are selling living things not widgets. It really is not about money. 

I breed some rare high-end tarantulas. One sac can pay my collection's expenses for the year and allow me to buy shiny new toys, most of which go "BOOM". There is money to be made, but it is hard going and only the passionate about animals will be able to ride out any downswings.

One of my new co-workers has become a very close friend. He made his first million when he was 32. He was a bond salesman and now is a retired multimillionaire. He just comes in to help out at our Range and Tactical Training Center in order to keep busy. He asked me yesterday about how I earned my living for three decades in the pet industry and how profitable my "semi-retired business" is today. Questions like these are often difficult to answer because I know that much of my pet career had me in debt and living paycheck to paycheck with absolutely no benefits and living dangerously with no health insurance. It was my passion for the creatures - what I call being a "real animal man (or woman)" that kept me going. I was doing what I loved and that was more important than "getting a real job" that would have improved my quality of life. I was able to succeed, but much of this had to do with running other people's companies simultaneously such as my stint with Strictly Animals, Inc. some 25 years ago and my 2007-2012 position as General Manager for Northwest Zoological Supply. Only in the latter position did I make a respectable salary - one that is necessary to support a family. Fortunately, I've never had children and was divorced before this job so all of the money I earned allowed me the assets and lifestyle I have today. But this is the exception to the rule. Earning a decent salary is tough in the pet industry including if you are self-employed.

It really bothers me that there are people who aren't my "real animal people" that are just interested in making a buck. You can see them at any reptile show you go to. They have wild-caughts, poorly cared for specimens, sloppy business practices and often ridiculous prices. They are salesman. They probably are fairly new the hobby and might sell industrial products or something and have that slimy used car salesman approach. It troubles me that people who don't know better give this type of asshat money. But the consumer is just looking for a good deal and is focused on price, not the seller's experience level, reputation or motivation.

The really troubling aspect for a "real animal man" is putting a price on a life and taking that amount of money in return for transferring a captive creature to another person who very likely may not give it the exceptional care it had been receiving. This is the soul-crushing aspect of animal commerce that I have mentioned in earlier blog entries. This is why I've tried to retire several times over the past decade and now have retired for good. However, I'm still breeding so I will still have to worry about what kind of homes my "pampered" spiders will end up in. But since "IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY" for me and never has been I will continue to do whatever I can to educate customers so that each spider has its best chance at not only survival, but actually thriving, and I will continue to tell those who I consider unsuited to "fuck off".

Evaluating customers in this way is admittedly tough, especially with arachnid sales. When I was running NW ZOO and we would do shows and sell our baby veiled chameleons it was much more clear cut. If the potential buyer for a veiled chameleon refused to purchase our recommended lighting or supplements or revealed improper housing and seemed reluctant to accept correct husbandry practices it was easy to qualify them as an inappropriate customer and refuse sale. However, with spiders - especially sold via email and the Internet - you can only do the best you can by using questions and impressions of the person's email and then maximize the spider(s)' chance for thriving by spending time on education.

Respect and protect animals. Sell them if you choose, but remember ... it's not about the money. Help weed out those in it for the money by not giving them your business.

MJ