Pareto Principle

There was something weighing on me today as I ran around doing various tasks at the new store. Then I figured it out. It's the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule:

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. Business management thinker Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy went to 20% of the population. It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., "80% of your sales comes from 20% of your clients."

In the case of the new store, we're down to the last 20% of work that needs done, but the percentage of effort seem drastically out of proportion. Things like carpet and paint are giant changes that can be done quickly. Now, however, we've got little things that seem to take forever, like spending half a day installing shelves or putting up posters. This is a good thing really, it means we're almost ready to open.

Today was mostly paying bills and balancing the check register, but here are a few things that got done:

• Wireless Internet configured. It took a while with tech support in India until I realized I could plug into the router and do it myself.
• Glass Shelves. Cleaned and installed in the new fixtures.
• Miniature racks set up for slatwall.

There are also contractors at the store checking and replacing lighting ballasts and bulbs. Tomorrow they'll continue with the lighting and also fix a leaky toilet.


My electrician will be in later this week to work on phone jacks. Our phone system is comprised of bare wires attached with alligator clips all the way to the router. There's also some electrical outlets to be put in.

Another group of guys will finish up with the slatwall installation.


Here are some photos from the new toy section: