Wait… What?

I doubt anyone here is in the toy business… I don’t think you're building brick and mortar stores. What the hell does “Toys Waz Us” have to do with Indie Hackers?

Hear me out…

First, let’s look at why Toys R Us went down. Amazon is part of it, but it’s not the complete picture. If you didn’t already, check out this article from CNN. 

Did you read it? Of course you didn’t. No worries. I’ll sum it up for you:

The internet didn’t kill ‘em. Debt did.

Toys R Us was already in trouble back in 2005. Due to their heavy debt they couldn't update their stores. They didn’t have money to invest in the shopping experience. 

Debt immobilized them. They kept lumbering along until the weight got to be too much.

So what does this have to do with us? Well fellow Indie Hackers… Debt doesn’t just kill big businesses… It kills small ones too.

…And yeah, I know most companies have debt. Organizations like Apple take out loans because, when the money’s cheap, it makes sense to do so. Before you type out an indignant response, keep in mind you’re not Apple.

This should probably be common sense but… 

DON’T FINANCE YOUR BUSINESS USING YOUR CREDIT CARDS!!!

For that matter, think LONG and HARD before you go get a small business loan. I wouldn’t do it.

Story time… I used to co-own a small business with a family member. I’ve mentioned this before on the forums. She took tens of thousands of dollars out that she shouldn’t have. I was an idiot, didn’t do proper book work, and didn’t notice it for SIX FREAKING YEARS…

…Anyway, the business was always broke. I kept buying company stuff with my credit cards since the bank account was empty.

You can probably guess how this ends. I ended up having to declare personal bankruptcy. It’s one of the things I’m most ashamed of in my life. I made a promise that I’d pay money back. I didn’t. That still keeps me awake at night and I’m not proud of it.

Here’s the thing… As the years wore on my debt got worse. I made increasingly desperate decisions. I took customers that I knew were a bad fit because I needed to pay the bills.

Desperate people make desperate decisions. Desperate decisions almost always end up biting you in the butt. Throwing more money at a business that's failing (for whatever reason) is rarely the solution.

The best gift you can give your business is financial stability... Both with your personal finances and your company finances. Don't quit your job or tap your savings unless you have a cushion in case things don't work out. 

In other words... Don’t let your hustle become a Toys R Us kid…