Dear zimrx,

Grizzly Wulff pretty much summed things up with his quote, "If you want to make a million dollars in the fly fishing business start with two million dollars."

A good friend of mine bought a fly shop from another good friend of mine. He bought at the height of the fly fishing run in the late 1990's. He is a great guy and a personable man but sometimes he still struggles during times of bad weather and fishing conditions. A 6 month drought or 6 months of high water is tough to overcome.

Still, he offers tying lessons, and fishing lessons, and guiding services and he makes due. One thing he has become really strong at is internet sales and marketing. Another thing he does is that he is a very shrewd buyer and seller. He stocks up on close-outs and is the last to discount them. That is common business sense that is sadly lacking in many fly shop owners. You can't just hang out a shingle and say, "Let's talk feeshin'."

As far as your second circumstance, if I had sufficient money to be retired I'd stay retired. Working cuts into the whole reason people retire.

I realize some people are just highly competitive and just have to keep going, but starting from scratch and competing in a business that is highly dependent on discretionary income is a sure-fire way to reduce your nest egg unless your nest-egg is so large that winning and losing makes no difference.

Best Wishes,
Avalon