Your Entrepreneurial Journey – How To Stay On It

The entrepreneurial journey always kicks off with a boost of positive energy and excitement but the journey is a complicated one. For indie retailers, the vision of having their very own business can be downright magical, offering uplifting products and services, and creating a welcoming environment to deliver an amazing customer experience.

There are millions of people out there right now daydreaming about becoming their own bosses. They’re eager to call the shots, make the big decisions, and live in the glory of entrepreneurial freedom. And some of you have taken the leap and gone for it – you’ve accepted the legacy gifted to you by your family or you’ve opened your store!

This is the first step toward business success, but it’s only the beginning. The hard part’s just ahead. To “enjoy the ride” I’m going to share 5 lessons, beliefs, mindsets, and perspectives store owners have used to keep their dream alive and their doors open

How These Lessons Will Help You

The lessons may help you see aspects of your management style that may be holding you back, keeping you stuck doing things in a way that does not serve you, or the business, and/or actively creating difficulties. For example:

You are holding onto inventory you bought a year ago “hoping it will sell”. You don’t put it on sale because you will lose money. NEWS FLASH – you are losing money everyday that product sits on the shelf collecting dust. You are holding onto a paper profit vs cash in the bank.

To the extent this is happening in your store, you are creating a strain on your cash flow, especially in the early weeks, months years of your business.

The bottom line is “Inventory Turn is HOW you make money in retail”. Everything else that happens in the store contributes to this, beautiful displays, swanky marketing, engaging sales staff, store expansion, new websites, etc results in a customer coming into your store, finding something they like, and buying it = Inventory Turn.

[fill in here – bridge the old pattern] Staying in that holding pattern keeps you stuck and frustrated. One could learn from these lessons that no one is a perfect buyer. If you bought something and it is not selling after 60, 90, 120 days, sell it for what you can get and go buy something that will sell – faster!

I invite you to look at your current circumstance and see if these lessons can help you continue to keep your doors open with a bit more ease and enjoyment.

The 5 Lessons Successful Indie Retailers

Here are the lessons.

LESSON 1 – Be Willing To Move In A Different Direction

“What have I learned over the years? One thing is being patient even with myself.  As I told my kids life is full of mistakes, so carry a big eraser. You just can’t be afraid to make those mistakes. I think it paralyzes you when you’re afraid to make a mistake. So when I’ve made a mistake, I learn from it and move in another direction. I plan things out, but I am not afraid to veer from the plan. 

You start, one thing follows the other and you find it’s not as difficult or overwhelming as it would have been when I was new to the business”.

What are you so afraid of [in your business] that is keeping you from taking the next step? Where do you need to show yourself more patience?

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE

A few years ago this retailer veered from her plan, her traditional business concept and sold skateboards in her women’s boutique! Supporting her son’s passion led to a six-figure increase in profitable sales, and added novelty to her business for two years! 

Talk about moving in a different direction!

LESSON 2 – Invest In Personal Development

This veteran retailer feels this mindset shift would have helped her navigate the “sea of change” on her 18-year entrepreneurial journey had she known and practiced it early in her career. 

“For me, it is personal development, I would have invested a lot sooner, leaned in a lot harder, and prioritized it. Building my own personal confidence, and self-worth, and gaining clarity around understanding myself. 

Obviously, investing in working with you was game-changing. One of the most pivotal points in the success of my store was my recognizing that I needed your service.  Not only the service you provide, but having someone on the same page with me; having the energy, the right mindset, and the right skill set. And you did everything I did not like doing or focusing on. You have sight for and see things that I don’t see. You were just like the right person to have in my corner on the business side.

When I invested in myself, by signing up to do one on one coaching with a personal development coach was the pinnacle of finding myself. I’ve learned many things to support myself and my evolution since 2017, a couple of key things were 1. Using language – my words to serve me and 2. Stop people pleasing and lead. Leading includes accountability for everyone involved and putting my staff in a position to succeed.

I believe had I learned these things earlier if I began investing in myself in 2005 instead of in 2017, it would have made such a difference. I would’ve made different decisions, experienced more certainty, peace of mind and, and learned much faster”.

Now, ask yourself what skill(s) would you like to develop. How will you evolve? How will it help you grow your business –  achieve the external results you desire?

LESSON 3 – Get Help!

“When I opened my store, I was doing it all on my own! I didn’t have a lot of mentors – I just didn’t have a lot of mutual party mentors. It would have saved me literally hundreds of thousands of dollars if I had knowledgeable people that were interested in my success on my side. I don’t have parents I don’t have sisters and brothers. I had nothing so I was doing it all on my own. It was very scary but I think I’ve made up for it”.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE

That is why I never let go of you guys. I remember when I began working with you. My husband said this was supposed to be temporary. I was like are you crazy? There is no way I am letting these guys go. I finally have someone on my side. People that understand my business and who help me succeed!

You’ve been awesome otherwise I would have fired you a long time ago 🙂

LESSON 4 – Don’t Step Over Dollars To Pick Up Dimes

In other words, don’t get lost in the weeds, the small details of running the store. Keep your eye on the big picture.

“To focus more on the big picture and look a little bit more long-term on a regular basis. Not to worry so much about the small things or apparent “set-backs”. “

How does this apply in the day-to-day running of a retail store(s)?

“I was just thinking about I don’t want to stress out about like, little things like merchandise returns. After being in business for so long, now I really understand customer acquisition costs are so much higher than the cost of retaining customers.  

That’s one of the one of the biggest things I looked at, what does it cost to really get a customer in the door? Am I doing things that are actually preventing my customers from being here? Because I’m so concerned about the instant margin gratification?

There are many examples, cashing out of goods faster, even at lower margins, rewarding staff with performance bonuses, rewarding customers using a loyalty program, etc.

I would focus on the overall margin from a position of generosity. I would definitely manage my business and its profitability, but if I deem taking a bit less margin in specific situations that would create an opportunity for improvement, and to be able to reinvest that money is probably the biggest thing I learned had I known it early in my retail ownership days I feel I could have made a bigger impact faster”.

How is this showing up in your business, behavior? How can you create win-win scenarios and be more generous with your customers?

LESSON 5 – You Can’t Compensate For Poor Leadership

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

When I asked a veteran retailer of 20+ years “What do you know now from a leadership, mindset, or perspective that you wished you knew early in your career owning a store?” He said:

“It was that – leadership. I knew that I did not know how to lead.

I did not know how to communicate with the team. I owed a surf shop. I had a bunch of surfer dudes on my staff.  It wasn’t until I made a metaphor about surfing that I started to get through to my staff.

That led up to the best thing I ever could have done. I made these reports. I asked each employee to write down what their job duties were. What they thought their job duties each day, each week, each month, okay. Then I had them write down for me what I, the owner does each day, each week, and month. Then I wrote down what I believe they did each day, etc, and what I actually did each day, etc. Then we would meet. And we would see the discrepancy, and lack of information each had about the other. It was great. We would come to an agreement of duties and responsibilities. I signed it; the staff member signed it”.

What are your leadership strengths? What are your leadership weaknesses? Do you love your team? Does your store culture rock?

As an indie retailer, running a small business can be one of the most challenging and most rewarding things you can take on. Failure is a natural part of the process of owning a business, but it hasn’t stopped entrepreneurs in the past, and you shouldn’t let it get in your way. In fact, entrepreneurs who previously failed are twice as likely to succeed compared to first-time entrepreneurs.

Elevating your mindset and skillset, believing in yourself, and looking at these tough times as learning experiences will keep you on your entrepreneurial journey.

Do I need it? Free Inventory Evaluation

Whether your business has been open for one year or ten years, the savvy indie retailer is always looking for ways to improve, make progress, and grow their business. 

It does not matter where you are in your journey of entrepreneurship if all of this is new to you and you would like to have an objective Inventory Evaluation to:

• Have outside eyes to see the potential in the business.
• Determine if there are any obstacles to manifesting that potential, or any red flags that require immediate attention, or what additional resources may be needed to help the owner build the value they desire. 
• Having outside eyes confirms the right steps are being taken.

Click here to schedule a strategy call with me. 

To your Improvement, Progress, and Growth!

Audrey