Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. What should a music store aim to do?
2. What is the most important in running an independent music store?
3. What kind of employees do we need to successfully run a music store? 
4. Where can we find such employees?
5. How can we best work with our employees?
6. What kind of customers should we expect in an independent music store?
7. Should there be a certain demographic to aim for when running a music store?
8. How can we appeal to customers?
9. How can we best work with our customers?
10. Should we work with our community?
11. How do we work with our community? / What are the ways we can work with our community?
12. How do we best advertise?
13. How do we compete against large chain music stores?
14. Is our only option to find a special niche? Could an independent store that only sells various instruments with no focus on certain types of instruments survive?
15. Is it important to 'keep up with the times' as a music store? Or is a music store a type of business with  basic, ageless information?
16. How do we 'keep up with the times' as an independent music store?
17. How important is it to be a musician ourselves when owning and running a music store?
18. How important are music lessons to the livelihood of an independent music store?
19. What kind of people should we network with?
20. What is the one thing that a music store should absolutely never do?

Blog 12 - Third Interview Questions

1) (Essential Question) What is the best way to profit as an independent music store?
2) What should be of utmost importance in the music store operation?
3) What could be considered as a music store's appeal to customers?
4) What is the difference between a large chain music store and an independent one?
5) Continuing from Q4, which one is better?
6) Do independent music stores have a bigger responsibility to their community?
7) Can independent music stores utilize their better relationships to the community to their advantage?
8) How do we deal with independent music stores' tendencies to have higher prices than chain music stores?
9) How do we find potential employees that would be knowledgeable and suitable for the independent music store?
10) Are music classes necessary for a music store's livelihood?

Blog 6: Second Interview Questions

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?

My mentor will be Gene Iacono. He works in the Music Store, which he owns, and also in several other fields depending on the season.

2.  What five questions will ask them about their background?

• Could you give me a brief history of the Music Store?
• What prompted you to create the Music Store?
• What other occupations have you held?
• How long have you been acquainted with the music field?
• Do you believe that any of your former occupation has helped in managing the store? If so, which?

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why?

I plan to interview the owner of the Music Store I had my summer mentorship in, Gene Iacono. We have a good relationship between us, and he has extensive knowledge in music related fields and is very involved with his store. He knows a lot about how his store works and was very happy to teach the inner workings to me. I think he would be a great interviewee for my topic and could also recommend to me other people to interview.

2. You have to ask 5 questions.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?

• How did you become interested in opening a music store?
• Over my mentorship, I've learned that you have been in the music industry for a very long time. What musical occupations have you had? Do having previous experience in other music-related positions help with operating a music store? If yes, how so?