Decide to be Remarkable

Yet again, one of my favorite blogs has popped up with some wisdom we can all benefit from. Chris Guillebeau sees life from a fresh perspective, demonstrated in a recent post titled “Decide to be Remarkable,” where he puts forth good advice that can be applied (with adjustments) to retail ownership.

So, with you independents in mind, here’s my adaptation:

1. Stop making excuses. Okay. So you didn’t order the right stuff in January because you were exhausted from Christmas. You blew it in marketing last quarter because you were too worried about the downtrend in sales. Your summer window display ideas are still on the drawing board because you’re just not inspired. Well, get over it. Doesn’t matter why things didn’t work or didn’t get done. What matters is that you stop looking over your shoulder, stop beating yourself up, and start looking forward.

2. Take responsibility. This is the opposite of giving excuses. Take responsibility for your own success, and take responsibility for the success of projects you work on. When something goes wrong (it usually does), take responsibility for that too. (Every word of this one came from Chris. It was too perfect to tweak.)

3. Start questioning rules and expectations. This doesn’t mean “Get in your vendors’ faces;” it means ask why they require what they do. Minimums in dozens instead of half dozens? The latter would give them double the real estate and your customers twice the selection. They want you to display the entire line in one location? Explain that putting invitations in your invitations section will turn product faster than if it’s stuck in the middle of the store with boxed notes. By asking a few questions, you learn a little while creating new solutions that win for both of you.

4. Find work that you love and do it well. Figure out which part of running your store you love most. Odds are, it’s also what you do best-—and is probably something you rarely do now. Refocus on it, then assign or hire employees to cover the rest (of course, that means del-e-gate, which you should be doing already).

5. Begin living your own life. Leave work when the door locks. Go home. Eat dinner seated. Learn to disengage from your store and re-engage with your spouse, kids, friends, neighbors, houseplants, etc. If it’s been a long time, they might ask for ID…in which case, engaging a therapist might also be a good idea.

6. Take it up a level. Figure out what’s already working well and exponentially add to it. You’ve been landing a few good corporate clients? Actively market directly to three times that many right now, during the slow summer season. Feel like you’ve been fair to your employees? Work out a deal with a nearby massage therapist to come in one day to give foot rubs to each of them with no advance warning. Pretty sure your best customers know you appreciate them? Send your top 100 a handwritten thank you note, just because (do 20 per night for a week and you’re there). Be the person that exceeds what everyone around you expects.

And the last bit of advice?

Beware of Excellence

Yeah. That would really be a bummer to get used to, huh?

Now, go get ‘em, kid.