Own Your Store

November 26, 2008 · Comments

storefront In 2009, you will face a whole new business climate. Economic uncertainty, a lack of credit, and a lot of pre-emptive fears will shift how companies treat their employees and vendors in ways that don’t exactly favor the little guy (often times: you). This isn’t a post about social media. It’s a post about what you might be able to do in this climate, and some of it involves social media tools.

Effective immediately, become the owner of your store. This is very much the same advice Tom Peters gave a decade or more ago when he told us all to become the CEO of our career. The reason I want you to think store and store owner is because it’s a little more accurate to the climate, even if you’re within a huge corporation.

Store owners think in fairly simple terms. Is there enough money coming in? No? What can I do to get more? Am I spending too much money? How can I cut back? Stores run with a simple balance sheet mentality that helps you understand quite quickly the very basics of the business.

You can apply this to how you think about your own career, and/or to your offerings. If you’re not thinking about what you do as offerings, that might be a good first step. You might just be “an” employee, but you could envision yourself as a store owner in a larger marketplace, and that would probably help you better prepare for 2009.

How a Store Owner Thinks

Sam Walton came back from the war and bought a Ben Franklin store in Newport, Arkansas. He ran it better than a lot of other Ben Franklin owners. Here’s an example: one day, a guy came into the store saying he had an entire truckload of ladies nylons that he couldn’t return to the manufacturer, and the destination store couldn’t take them either.

Sam bought them in a heartbeat. He knew that he could sell them super cheap and get people into his store, where they’d buy other products. It worked. He started selling more than any other Ben Franklin in the area.

The story goes that franchise management for Ben Franklin didn’t like this, that they told Sam to stop it, and that Sam decided to go it his own way. He picked up a new store and called it Walton’s Five and Dime. Not too much further down the road, Sam started Wal-Mart.

What Sam did wasn’t amazing, wasn’t huge, wasn’t a genius play unto itself. He simply figured out what customers want and he gave it to them. His view: give them the best possible value for the lowest possible price. Don’t be cheap for cheap’s sake. Find the middle. He was a store owner that came up with a solution.

How Store Owners View Downturns

In this economic downturn, a store owner will do a few things. She will strengthen her existing relationships with customers. She will strengthen her relationships with suppliers, and perhaps work to understand which of her suppliers are having a tough time (so that she can find alternatives or maybe even help out). Store owners will look for new customers to handle the potential attrition a bad time might bring, so that customer numbers stay somewhat solid.

Can you see how this extends into your own business? If you’re an employee, have you started thinking about your suppliers (your company) and looked into how alternative relationships might form? Are you seeking out new ways to be useful during this time? Have you thought about which of your products might be more useful to others in the coming economic climate?

Now is the time to treat your career and/or your business as if you’re a simple store owner. Look for ways to strengthen your relationships with customers. Look for ways to manage your suppliers (employers). Look for the ways you will need to earn more, cut more, and balance your financial needs.

Does this make sense to you? How do you apply this analogy to you?

Photo credit, striatic

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  • Jess Dennis
    This reminds me of the saying "think big, act small". Learn from the mistakes of larger corporations in this economy, save before you buy and move when you're able. Think big, act small that's what will get us through this economic downturn.
  • I'm sending this to a client...good article.
  • The Web is all about communication. Communication tools are useful for establishing and enriching customer relationships. Customer relationships are where the biz comes from!

    Although the ownership analogy doesn't really work for me as I'm an owner, it might be really helpful for my staff, - they would argue that they already act like owners! In fact most are partners in our enterprise and see direct benefits from growing our biz.

    During slow times we can focus on communication with our ideal clients - past - as well as our prospects.

    Important that this communication (indeed social communication in general) should not be geared toward outgoing communication but more to listening!

    "Use your Ears" to make the next sale.

    Sales communications have moved away from broadcasting, through narrowcasting to whispering in the ear of our ideal client.

    Now it's time to use our ears. If we do it well, we'll have new products and services under development in the slow times and be ready to service clients once things speed back up.
  • There's a simple tenet of being in business that sometimes gets overlooked, especially by those of us that are in business for ourselves.

    Many of us ended up on our own because we had an idea about something we wanted to do that didn't fit into a tidy job description, or a company for that matter. So we build a business based on what we think we want to do.

    What often gets lost, however, is that businesses succeed because they do something that someone *needs*. They solve a problem. Make something easier. Make something better. Make something go away.

    I hear a lot of people (specifically in professional services/consulting) saying lately that they want to help companies with "strategy". Strategy is glamorous, lofty, brain taxing work, and it makes us all feel as though we're thinking at some mythical higher plane.

    But the reality of this climate is that execution sells. I'm going to succeed when the next one won't. Why? Because I'm willing to take on the shorter term project that's less glamorous and means getting my hands dirty. Because that's what businesses need when budgets and human resources are uncertain. They don't need some air-filled, aspirational strategic plan. They need to survive, and sometimes a down and dirty plan with no-frills execution will do. And when everyone else is using $5 words and selling a handful of designer purses, I'm going to blaze the trail by selling a thousand pairs of overstock nylons.

    Thanks for the reminder, Chris.
  • I love this way of thinking about business. It's rare to find in my line of work (illustration), but I believe more service providers would see success if they adopted it.

    It's just so simple. It goes back to the ol' lemonade stand and the innocence of being a kid who's just jazzed to see a car drive up.

    I can still picture anxiously waiting for a customer to finish off their dixie cup. Was it okay? Does it need more sugar? Are you hungry? We have cookies, too!

    The other aspect that I think hits the mark is strengthening relationships. Not only is it just rewarding personally, it shows people that you're staying put. You're not closing up shop and going home. Even if your clients don't have the budget for your services right now, who do you think they're going to think of when things turn around?

    You betcha. So keep the pitcher cold and the paper signs posted.
  • Great article. It reminds me of what my father always told me about work: learn and contribute to as many different aspects of your company as possible. Don't ever just sit within your neatly defined role.

    The more you do for your company, and the more parts you're involved in...the more instrumental, and likewise indispensable, you are.
  • I lost my "store" back in 2006 when I was made redundant from a 5 year job, ever since I have struggled to find permanent work. Maybe I'm marketing my self wrongly.

    Are there any tips to help me?
  • Its good informative blog,i will following your blog.
  • @harvatin
    This is a really great post. I worked at a store for four years and was store manager for two of them. A lot of our success was attributed to our ability to forecast the sales climate and make adjustments on a dime. However, these adjustments won't work if your staff does not understand and learn to expect quick changes.
  • As always.. something insightful to think about it in simplest form. Thx Chris ~ definitely can relate.. and your information is truly an asset. More to think about in '09 and your blog post will be highlighted. Best, Susan
  • This is very true and adopting or ignoring this mentality can make or break a bad economy. If a company can find a way to survive a bad economy, then they most likely will grow with a great economy and have the benefit of few competitors. Sometimes a whatever it takes attitude is necessary.
  • Loved this. Starting out as a solopreneur, for a long time I didn't think of myself as a "real business". The more I've been able to mentally separate myself from my business the more successful I've been. The store is a great analogy, it allows you to think in most basic terms: buyer/seller and supply/demand.
  • Brilliant post.
    I've never considered myself as a business in my own right and what I do as a product, but it is a perfect analogy, particularly in this economic climate.
    It seriously makes you re-evaluate what you do as part of your job, and what rewards you get in return.
    It also makes you reconsider the relationships you foster in the workplace.
    Cheers Chris
  • Beautifully written Chris!

    = )
  • I never knew that story about Sam Walton. Many of the giant

    corporations were created by visionaries like Sam Walton.

    Makes you wonder what Henry Ford would be thinking today.

    Do you think he would have flown the corporate Jet?

    Glenn Seymour
  • Great article. The only quibble I have is that if you are an employee, your employer is your customer, not your supplier. It's important, when using this entrepreneurial model to manage your career, to remember who is buying your product.
  • Very nicely put Chris. I am slowly becoming a fan of your blog.

    I have always believed, it is almost always all about getting your fundamentals right. Here the store example is a fundamental model. Consistency at the fundamental level is the key.
  • Very nice post, Chris!

    Indeed: 'How Store Owners View Downturns' - this goes also for employees within large organizations; i.e. strengthen your relationships with internal customers, and look for new internal customers as well.
  • This is an old story of Norman Vincent Peale - but I love it. He tells about a man who ran a fruit stand. Every year he painted everything with bright shiny white paint and kept everything looking tops. He was good to his customers and he had lots of them. Then the depression came. He didn't pay any attention to it. Kept things looking bright and spiffy and his customers kept coming. Then his son came home from business college. He told his dad.. "Hey, you can't keep this up.. we're in a depression. You need to watch your balance better.. hold back on the paint, cut down here, skimp a bit there and you will get through it. Otherwise bad, bad news!"
    The father didn't have all that business education so he figured his son must know what he was talking about. He stopped buying new paint and pretty soon.. the business started looking shabby and pretty soon ... his son was right he started feeling the effects of the depression.
  • Good analogy. Like every downturn, there are those who will be sitting pretty when things shoot back up again. Those people are the ones who took control of things during the downtime. Took control of their shop, so to speak. :-)
  • I simply shifted my mentality from "job security" to "career security." I tell myself that if I can spend 9 hours at work and even some hours at home...for work, then I can at least spend 2 hours each day on myself, or my store as you've phrased it, even if it puts me in bed well after 1am. I've been thinking a lot about personal goals as it relates to me outside of my employers walls. My social networks have brought me some great contacts. I just did my first podcast interview today with Dick Carlson, whom I met through twitter, and had an awesome 30 minute conversation with Bryan Person whom I communicate with via twitter and on both of our blogs. Social media tools make it easy for us to surround ourselves with smart, helpful people and for that I am thankful. Great tips, Chris. Thanks.
  • Hi Chris -

    For so long people have depended on their employers for 'security' - so much so that the term 'career management' (or as you reference in this post and in your interview with LuckyStartUps - running your own store)has been basically ignored. Everyone needs to think of job security as 'extinct' in this day and age and begin to manage their careers on a regular basis (just as they would their own store). Unfortunately, many people just do not know where to begin they are so used to their employer providing everything and it is devastating when the layoff notice hits.

    In my coaching practice I continually advocate being the 'owner' of your career. And as you also commented on in your interview "keep growing your network - don't just tend to it when a catastrophe hits". Your network is your pot of gold!

    Great post - Happy Thanksgiving.

    Robin Ogden
    http://www.firedupcareers.com
  • Hey Chris, Thank you for the post.

    The one thing I would like to say is that people need to be fearless. They need to ride into this crisis with their guard up and start making decisions that directly affect their business instead of worrying what the drama queens (the media) have to say.

    People just need to ask themselves "What's Important To Me Right Now." If it's sales, relationships, or whatever it is, they should 100% focus on it because that is what's going to get them through this crisis.
  • I think many of us will be working on a cash basis for a while. Stores love cash.
  • Great, Great Post with Great Comments!!! Those that are part of 20% reading this know the 80/20rule -- and are the ones gracing the halls of social media in business by doing many things in setting high standards. The web is not the only way to attend to relationships whether employer or employee. But for the sake of my conversation I will tend toward the web tool in this moment. I have one simple rule' take ownership. Whether you’re the boss or the employee, imagine being an employee and telling your employer; “today I am treating your business like my business. As if I had something to lose. As if this was my last place of employment." Umgh...

    I will use the inference "I", yet believe "we" may all be true to basic business principles as a group in the choir.

    I know that my standard operating procedure does bend because of how I feel from day to day. Affirming and tending to the business foundations may be subject to a change in “the flavor of the day” but not in giving the customer the best (business 101) in "every" other respect.

    To know a storm is coming and stand with your hands up and yell the sky is falling is such a crock. Ya just want to slap them and tell them to wake up and get to work!! ((Could be too much TV time, vicarious living, and poor modeling.)) Whenever in history we are challenged with what seems like insurmountable turmoil and change, there is the 20% or maybe 20% of that 20% who is always moving forward. The up side to this is – by using an analogy here - Remember how a fine perfume is diffused in a room. It seeks quickly a molecule at a time as it travels from a high concentration (that would be 20% of the 20%) to the areas of the lowest concentration (those that are in 80% that will be influenced the most). So influence strongly one relationship at a time by giving them what they need…

    I had a very wealthy millionaire once tell me; "Terry while my children have everything including the all the stores in their times of need they whine and put their hands out. You have been challenged with it all and always do the next thing. You even used the analogy that life’s motivations internally & chemically feel the same. Ones response differs in to active ways 1. You are running away from something or 2. Running towards something. So in the storm make sure the planes are anchored down on the aircraft carrier at sea, and you are attending to the things that will yield the greatest benefits when the storm breaks" Take the lead, nurture and be the model innovator…

    Build relationships that give and empower others whether with the products you provide or your words that set you apart. Always pay it forward while moving forward and you will create recession proof customer relationships looking for the pace setting innovations...

    The company that I am very excited to work with is "Foot Solutions". I bring it up because we tend to the foot. I believe that when one holds another’s foot and discusses a full spectrum of concerns and needs you solidify a foundation and relationship.

    So Serve & Be Blessed in all you do...
  • I would only add, make sure you understand economics and finances like a business owner, whether you are a business owner or not. Even as an individual or family, you should understand cash flow, float, growth, investment, and long term planning just like any business owner. I recommend The Knack by Norm Brodsky- a great book that lays out the economic laws of business better than any other I've read.
  • I have been working on a presentation for growing your business during a recession. This perspective is very timely. It made me think of the internal communication within an organization while I was focusing solely on the sales and outward marketing to the clients.

    As a long term business developer who has a foot in both the sales and marketing side of our marketing consulting practice, its also about remembering to appreciate the client in numerous ways. Think about whats in it for them as well as the trim, cut and track mentality about ongoing marketing.

    Wendy
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