012 – Thinking about a Brick & Mortar Shop? with Smita Singh of Womenpreneur Success

Smita Singh of Womenpreneur Success

Smita Singh is a serial entrepreneur and has created and sold several successful retail and services businesses.

At one point, she was running two businesses while she had two little boys at home both under 5 years old. What’s her secret? Automated processes – which is what she now teaches other women entrepreneurs. Smita believes that one size does not fit all in business and she helps identify the holes in your system and creates a strategic plan to automate profit funnels so that you can create a realistic lifestyle business.

She hosts a Podcast called Womenpreneur: where her goal is to help women overcome mindset limitations to start or grow their business using high growth tools and strategies.

She couldn’t do any of this without the support of her husband who is her sounding board. She says she’s still a physical book kinda gal and her dream home must include a two story library.

Motivational Quotes

 

A Candle Flickering Moment

In her retail business, a customer went on a rant that left Smita wondering why. Hear what she learned from the experience and what happened with that customer. [22:38]

Business Growth Insights

As a brick and mortar shop, it’s so important to get involved within your community. [9:11]

All about sales funnels [17:20]

Success Trait

She’s not afraid of failure. Smita’s motto is sometimes you win and sometimes you learn. [22:07]

Productivity/Lifestyle Tool

Evernote – Bring your life’s work together in one digital workspace.

Google Calendar – Google Calendar is a time-management web application and mobile app.

Valuable BookFree Audio Book

The Lean StartUp by Eric Ries

Special FREE Offer from Smita

Smash Your Sales – A step by step guide to attract leads, convert to loyal customers and optimize your sales with a physical product.

Contact Links

Website

Twitter

If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
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Gift biz on wrapped episode 12.

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Hi, this Is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

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and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrapped,

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and now it's time to light it.

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Welcome to gift biz,

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unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

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and grow your business.

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And now here's your host,

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Sue Monheit.

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Hi, I'm Sue and welcome to the gift unwrapped podcast.

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Whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or

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are just getting started,

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you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

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business. And today I am so excited to have Smitta Singh

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here with us.

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Smitta is a serial entrepreneur and it has created and sold

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several successful retail and services businesses.

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At one point,

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she was running two businesses while she had two little boys

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at home,

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both under the age of five years old.

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If you can believe that what's her secret automated processes,

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which is what she now teaches to other women entrepreneurs,

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Smitta believes that one size does not fit all in business.

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And she helps identify the holes in your system and creates

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a strategic plan to automate profit funnels so that you can

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create a realistic lifestyle business and let's face it.

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That's why we all have started our own business in the

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first place.

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She hosts a podcast called Womenpreneur where her goal is to

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help women overcome mindset,

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limitations, to start or grow their business using high growth tools

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and strategies.

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She couldn't do any of this though,

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without the support of her husband,

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who is also her sounding board,

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she says she's still a physical book kind of gal.

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And her dream home must include a two-story library.

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And I have many friends Smith who would feel the exact

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same way.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much.

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So thank you for having me.

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Your podcast is amazing.

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I've been listening to it and it's really valuable for a

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lot of people out there.

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So I encourage everybody to just subscribe and keep listening to

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it. Thank you so much for that before we go on.

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Is there anything else you'd like to add to your intro?

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No, I think you've got it all.

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You know,

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I'm really passionate about helping women entrepreneurs and now it's really,

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you know,

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I'm helping people with their sales funnels and their automated funnels

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and, And it's fun as our listeners know,

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we align the conversation around the life of a motivational candle.

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The light shines on you while you share your stories and

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experiences. So Smitta,

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shall we light it up?

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Absolutely. I'm ready.

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Let's do it.

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Help us envision the color of your candle.

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So, you know,

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I'm a totally a candlelit person.

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I just love candles and I'll go and I'll buy all.

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And I think the one go-to candle,

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like if I'll walk into any gifts shop or,

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you know,

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like a nice retail store and I'm like,

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oh, candles.

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I think the one thing that I go to all the

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time is yellow.

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I love the brightness.

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It just makes me feel happy.

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For some reason it's a bright sunshiny color.

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That's right.

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That's right.

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And that's what I love to live in Houston.

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Cause we have sun most of the times I'm like,

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yes, this is it.

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Yellow is just a color of life and brightness.

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And it just gives me a lot of positivity Fabric.

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So I can hear that in your voice too.

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Thank you.

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So we're looking at your yellow candle.

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What is the motivational quote that's on that candle?

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You know,

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can I be,

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can I give you too?

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Sure. You know,

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I have so many that I really believe in.

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One of them to do with work is a Zig Ziglar

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coat and it says you don't have to be great to

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start, but you have to start to be great.

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I think a lot of times people tend to get so

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bogged down with,

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oh my gosh,

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what if this doesn't work?

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Or what if this happens?

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Or what if that happens?

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Or I don't have to resources.

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I don't know how to do it.

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I feel like,

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you know,

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get up there and do it.

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You'll figure it out or you'll find out that it didn't

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work, but at least you did it.

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So that's my first quote.

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And the other one is by Gandy and it says live

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as if you were to die tomorrow,

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learn as if to live forever.

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I love that one.

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I love that one too.

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And you know,

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both of these talk about taking action,

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just getting up and doing what in your heart you want

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to do and let all of these other ideas that are

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on the side of you,

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you know,

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trying to like crimp your style just don't even pay attention.

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Exactly. And I think that's one of the biggest mindset shifts

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that a lot of entrepreneurs really need is that get up

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and take an action.

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And you know,

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everything starts with one dream.

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You have that one thing and it can take you places.

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Totally agree.

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You know,

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you and I could have gone so many directions with this

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interview because you have so many areas of expertise and I'm

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not sure how much we'll actually hit on within the time

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allotted. But the first thing I really wanted to focus on

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with you was this whole concept of where do you put

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your business?

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Should you be home-based,

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should you be in a warehouse?

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Should you go brick and mortar?

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And particularly in this day and age,

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I think people have a little bit of cold feet to

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think about moving a business outside of the house.

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So that's where I want to focus really first.

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What are your thoughts,

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advice, or disadvantages or advantages of opening a retail shop versus

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being home-based?

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You know,

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that's a great question.

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And I really feel that I can really talk about that

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because I've it all I have done.

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Home-based I've done a brick and mortar,

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actually two brick and mortars,

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and now I'm online.

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So I'll go ahead and talk about each one of them.

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The first thing is the bottom line is it all depends

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on what your product is.

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If it's something that you are making yourself and you're selling,

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versus if you are getting from your vendors and you're going

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to have,

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you really need a store for that.

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So the first thing to decide is what is your product?

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Now, there are several different ways a product can go.

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You can have a product and go online with it,

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or you can have that product and go brick and mortar.

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Let's talk about a physical location.

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Some of the very easy advantages that you have is instant

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gratification. Everybody wants instant gratification.

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If I'm looking for a certain thing and I'm like,

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okay, I want it right now.

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Say for my son and I want a toy.

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And I've decided that today he wants to play with Legos.

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I'm like,

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okay, I'm done with all my Lego pieces.

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I don't want to wait two days for Amazon to send

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it to me.

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I'm not going to order it online.

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I wanted right away.

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So we're going to jump into a car and go to

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our nearest tire store or target or wherever it is and

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get Lego.

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Right? So the first thing is definitely instant gratification.

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You have that upper hand,

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especially if you're in a community,

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if you're close to it,

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you can just get that.

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The second thing is,

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if you're a brick and mortar and you are a small

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business, you have so much advantage.

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If you get into the community,

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if you're involved in the community,

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if you are building your home base with your community and

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they feel like you're a part of it,

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you definitely have a huge advantage there because number one,

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you'll become their go-to store.

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And number two,

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people are going to refer you to whoever comes in,

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somebody's visiting.

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They'll be like,

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oh my gosh,

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you have to go to this store.

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I still remember when we had our brick and mortar,

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we had people would drive like 45 minutes just to come

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to our store because they've heard of us.

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So, you know,

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that's one more.

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And then of course the other thing is that you see

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your ROI pretty immediately in the sense that,

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of course your OPEX and CapEx is too high,

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which, you know,

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it can be high,

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which could be if you're not planning properly,

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which could be a disadvantage.

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But if you do plan properly,

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your return investment,

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you know,

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you can see it pretty immediately.

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And of course you get a lot of exposure having a

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brick and mortar store.

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There's a lot of media attention that you can get immediately

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because a lot of the local channels,

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they're always looking for something to showcase in their Christmas list

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or their Easter baskets.

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So there's definitely lot of things that you could do to

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gain a lot of instant press In your local area.

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Before you go on,

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let's go back just for a second.

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This whole idea of involvement in the community.

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What types of things did you do to get exposure?

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You know,

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tons in the two businesses that I had that were a

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little bit different.

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So there were always,

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you know,

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you have to figure out based on the business that you

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have, but I would say get involved with your chamber of

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commerce, go to any meetups that are going on.

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You can have events in your store,

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in your brick and mortar store,

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or you could have,

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if there are community places,

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parks, you can sponsor events and you don't have to put

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in a ton of money to sponsor an event,

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just do events for kids in your store.

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You can give back,

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you can have people come into your store.

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If you have a little bit of space and talk to

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the community about maybe kids and their schools,

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if you're a candle shop,

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maybe you can have somebody come in or maybe you can

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have a class and show people how to make their own

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candles. You can give them a little something to take home.

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So it all depends on which product or which kind of

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store you have.

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But I think there are so many things you can do

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to get involved with the community and really to have a

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sense of belonging.

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If a customer can come in and say,

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you know what?

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I don't know if I'm going to buy anything today,

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but I just want to hang out in your store that

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says so much,

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right? Because you're on top of their mind.

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So when they want to buy something,

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they're going to come to you.

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Perfect. And I'm just thinking,

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you know,

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the whole trend now too,

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is to buy local,

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you know,

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for a long time.

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And we've all seen this in our areas.

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These big multi chain businesses have come in and taken up

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main street,

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you know,

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and that's been happening over the last,

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I don't know,

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20 years or so,

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but now slowly,

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we're starting to see that change.

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I, you know,

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I can tell you in my neighborhood and a lot of

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the places that I travel all over the country,

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I'm always looking at the retail environment.

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A lot of these smaller businesses are re-establishing themselves.

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And people are just totally attracted to that because they're supporting

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the local retailer.

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And to your whole point Smitta is they know you,

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you're a local face.

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You're not this big corporate store being represented in the community.

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I believe it's a huge advantage.

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Just the way retail trends are going these days.

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So these are some of the advantages.

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What would you say are some cautionary points if you're looking

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at going into retail?

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Definitely. I mean,

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I think there's like everything there's pros and cons,

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for sure.

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So, you know,

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the most important thing first of all,

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is to understand,

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which is realistic is that you have a very high operating

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expense and you have a capital expense.

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So I would definitely say,

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do your research before you get in and always know that

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at the end of the day,

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you never know what's going to happen.

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So you always have to have a backup plan.

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You know,

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Hey, if my business goes great,

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this is what's going to happen.

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And if it doesn't and this is what's going to happen,

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let me be prepared for it.

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So first thing I would say is preparation.

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The second thing I would say is be ready for those

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extra expenses that are going to creep in.

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They are going to creep in,

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you know,

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you won't even believe it there'll be something there'll be maybe

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an extra shipping that's happening,

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or maybe you need,

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you know,

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something immediately.

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And you're like,

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okay, wait,

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I can't wait.

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I've got to get this done.

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Or you have to do a big marketing campaign.

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There will be extra expenses that will creep up,

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especially if you're doing a brick and mortar.

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So keep that in mind and keep some as your emergency

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fund that you can use when you really need it.

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Good point.

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Good. I'm just going to jump in here too,

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cause I'm going to forget if I don't,

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but I remember,

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you know,

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I've never been a retail shop.

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I had a warehouse with one company,

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but I do know that city by city too,

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there are different expenses and your money gets really tight when

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you first start out because you have to,

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you know,

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several months rent,

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you know,

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all those insurance,

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all of those different types of things.

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But I never knew that after the fire code came in,

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you know,

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there's a fire's license,

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there's a business license,

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there's all these crazy little extras that you might not know

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of. So if you are looking at doing a brick and

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mortar, it would also be great for you to talk to

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someone else right in your community who has opened up recently

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or talk with your city and make sure you know exactly

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what expenses you're going to be incurred.

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Yes. And also the other thing is taxes.

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You have payroll taxes,

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you have your quarterly taxes,

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definitely get a good accountant that can keep track of stuff

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and you're paying it on time because that can really hit

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you. If you're not on it,

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you know,

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your sales tax,

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there is so much.

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And you know,

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so I think really the key to a brick and mortar

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is Cassius king.

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Your cash flow is going to either make or break you.

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So be prepared for it.

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You know,

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you get your three-year plan.

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And that's why they say a lot of small businesses fail

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in the first three years because they think that,

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okay, Hey,

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I'm doing great sales,

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but then there's so much catch up.

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You have to do,

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you have to do inventory.

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You have to do,

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you know,

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all of this stuff.

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So it's definitely get your plans and get a realistic cashflow

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path plans.

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Business plan is great.

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Business plans tend to change,

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but a cashflow plan I think,

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is super important and know that you're going to have those

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extra expenses,

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no matter how prepared you think you are,

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you will have it.

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You know,

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I mean,

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for me,

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honestly, some of the ones that really come on top of

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my mind is during Christmas time,

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you really need that product in.

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Right. And what do you do?

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You do shipping,

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you know,

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from your vendor and you say,

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okay, get it to me like in two business days and

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that's going to cost you X amount of money.

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So you really don't know what's coming.

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So be prepared for that.

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So have your emergency fund.

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Yeah. And definitely,

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you know,

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be aware that if you are a brick and mortar and

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if you don't have an online presence,

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you get effected by the local economy.

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So that's definitely one thing you should be aware of and

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be realistic about.

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For example,

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Houston, Houston is a huge oil and gas sector.

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So if oil and gas is not doing great,

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then of course locally businesses are going to get affected.

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So know your local economy and be prepared for that.

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Or I would say,

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have a plan.

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So if you are a brick and mortar store,

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maybe have an online presence that you can maintain and be

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able to do both.

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So your risks are all not on one,

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you know,

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in one plate You're talking about online presence instead of in

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terms of an ordering platform.

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I mean a true shopping cart situation online as well.

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That's right.

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I'm thinking at the very least,

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let's say you just can't pull all of that together,

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right in the beginning,

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certainly have an online presence that supports your physical location.

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If you're going to be a retail shop.

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And then in terms of what you're talking about,

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Smitta contingency planning.

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You can always add on to that,

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but at least you'll have the base established.

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Exactly. Absolutely.

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And you know what,

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the other thing is that a lot of times small businesses

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don't know how to use social media.

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You know,

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there's a lot that you could do to channel social media,

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into customers that are walking into your store and actually buying.

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So I think that's another important thing.

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Don't think that social media is just for either things online

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or, you know,

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maybe you're not able to convert it.

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It's all part of your value,

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you know,

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value proposition and how you're getting your customer into your store

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to buy it.

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So use Facebook,

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Facebook is huge,

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definitely for physical products and no matter,

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you know,

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what kind of presence you have,

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you could have a brick and mortar or an online or

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a home pays,

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definitely use social media in your sales journey to get your

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customer into your door.

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Totally agree.

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So you're walking down the path that we were talking about

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before this interview a little bit,

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and you know,

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here, you're talking about social media in terms of bringing people

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into the shop,

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possibly they would buy online.

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If you have an online platform where you can purchase product,

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but what do you do with people who are prospects,

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who either come into the shop or come to your website

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online? How do you take them down a funnel towards a

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sale? You know,

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that's a great question.

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So first thing is,

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and of course every kind of business is going to be

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different. So your online funnel would be different from your brick

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and mortar funnel.

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Let's talk about brick and mortar,

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right? You know what,

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let's actually back up and just define what a funnel even

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is just to make sure that we've got all our listeners

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with us on the same page.

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Absolutely. A funnel is nothing but the process of taking your

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customer from your hi,

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how are you doing welcome to my store too?

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Oh my gosh,

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I, you're a customer saying,

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I love this product too.

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Here's my money and I want to buy it.

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So you're basically your touch points from your first introduction that

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your customer gets to you,

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to your continuous interaction with them and to your first sale.

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And don't forget your referrals,

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your customer for life,

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because that is what is important.

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A lot of times,

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a lot of stores spend a lot of money to bring

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in new customers,

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right? Let me do a marketing blitz and let me send

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out this to get a hundred new customers.

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That's great,

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but think about your customer retention,

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that is more important because the same customer will come in

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and buy over and over again versus a new customer coming

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in. So coming back to the point.

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So your sales funnel is your process of bringing your customer

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in to getting the first sale and to keeping them as

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a lifelong customer.

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Actually, I can give you a quick couple of points that

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I think you should be aware of when you're building your

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funnel. You know,

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first thing is definitely figure out what is your value?

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What is it that you're giving to your customer?

Speaker:

Why would they want to come to you?

Speaker:

And when you think about it,

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think about honestly,

Speaker:

the easiest way to do it is like bring a poster

Speaker:

board and start making a flow chart,

Speaker:

right from your first customer interaction to how do you want

Speaker:

them to flow through the process?

Speaker:

Think about what is it that people want to come to

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you for.

Speaker:

If you have a candle business,

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what is it that makes you so different that they would

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want to come to you?

Speaker:

So first find that what is it that you're adding value?

Speaker:

And then when you're bringing the customer in,

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don't forget that this process,

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this customer funnel,

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the sales funnel is not about you.

Speaker:

It is about your customer.

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So how does that customer feel when they're walking through that

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process to say,

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if you are a candle maker and you have a brick

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and mortar,

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and first,

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how are you going to bring your customer in?

Speaker:

And then what kind of customer service are you giving that

Speaker:

person? When that customer walks in?

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Are your people saying,

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Hey, welcome to so-and-so and thank you very much.

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Or are they having a conversation with them?

Speaker:

Are they finding out if you're buying a candle,

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what is it for?

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Maybe it's for something special.

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And then when they come back next time,

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Hey, how did that go?

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So that is all part of your funnel.

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What is your customer interaction?

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When they're done with it?

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Are you doing a follow-up?

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Maybe you're sending them a newsletter.

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Are you giving them information?

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Are you giving them value in that newsletter?

Speaker:

And then once they're done,

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are they coming back?

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What are you doing for them to come back to that

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store? There's a whole blueprint that we can go through,

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but the same thing can be tweaked to online,

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right? So if you're an online e-commerce store,

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so out your touch points with your customers and know one

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basic thing that the sales funnel is not about you.

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It is only about your customer.

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So it's not about what makes my life easy.

Speaker:

It's all about what you can give to your customer.

Speaker:

It's all about your customer.

Speaker:

And it's all about making them feel so good about the

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interaction that they've had,

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that they want to come back again and they want to

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tell their friends And you know,

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and it's every person that's selling,

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you know,

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that has something of value to give.

Speaker:

They all know the best sales come from referrals.

Speaker:

It's the best thing,

Speaker:

because you have proof that your product is good.

Speaker:

So keep that customer retention,

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I think,

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is so important.

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And it's so much easier than going out and finding new

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customers less expensive.

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Well, that's Right.

Speaker:

And the 80 20 rule,

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right? Right.

Speaker:

80% of your sales come from the 20% customers.

Speaker:

Absolutely. Smitta this part of the interview could go on and

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on. We could probably sit here,

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chatting the whole day about all of this.

Speaker:

I know,

Speaker:

but we're going to swing over now to the reflection section.

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Can you tell us one natural trait that you have that

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you believe has helped you to be successful?

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Yes. I am not afraid of failure.

Speaker:

I don't take failure as a failure.

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I really think that whatever you do in your life and

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if it doesn't work out,

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there is a reason for it.

Speaker:

You're going to learn something from it.

Speaker:

And I always say,

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sometimes you win and sometimes You learn,

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oh, I like that.

Speaker:

Sometimes you win.

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And sometimes you learn,

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yes. Does something come to mind right away that you could

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share with our listeners of a time that you learned?

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Absolutely. My first actual physical store was a very high customer

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oriented, you know,

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service. And I used to have these customers that would come

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in and it was like really high touch.

Speaker:

And I remember there was one point when this person came

Speaker:

in and all he could do was just,

Speaker:

he just went on a rant.

Speaker:

And that was the first time I was on the other

Speaker:

side of like a crazy rant.

Speaker:

And I was like,

Speaker:

oh my God,

Speaker:

I was in tears.

Speaker:

Literally. I was like,

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I can't do this anymore.

Speaker:

And you know,

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what's going on?

Speaker:

And you know,

Speaker:

all of that stuff.

Speaker:

And you know,

Speaker:

I came home and,

Speaker:

and I thought about it and I was like,

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oh my gosh.

Speaker:

And I just,

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I'm a very happy person.

Speaker:

So I,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

when something negative kind of comes out,

Speaker:

I'm like,

Speaker:

I try to figure it out,

Speaker:

but I just couldn't figure this out.

Speaker:

And after two is when this person came back and he

Speaker:

came back and he apologized and I'll tell you the first

Speaker:

thing as a customer service tip,

Speaker:

when somebody says something to you,

Speaker:

don't say anything back,

Speaker:

you just hear it out and just say,

Speaker:

okay, sure.

Speaker:

After two days that guy came back and he said,

Speaker:

you know what?

Speaker:

I am so sorry that I yelled and screamed.

Speaker:

And I was just having a really bad day and a

Speaker:

small thing kind of triggered it.

Speaker:

And he's like,

Speaker:

I'm so sorry.

Speaker:

I apologize so much.

Speaker:

Tell me what I can do to fix it.

Speaker:

Oh, wow.

Speaker:

Yeah. I was like,

Speaker:

oh my God.

Speaker:

And I thought about it.

Speaker:

And I said,

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what if I,

Speaker:

I stood there and I was mean to him,

Speaker:

or I had said something back to that person that would

Speaker:

have just escalated the whole situation.

Speaker:

Sometimes you think that things are going downhill and you know,

Speaker:

what's going on.

Speaker:

But really if you just step back and take a moment,

Speaker:

you'll realize that everything is not about you and everything is

Speaker:

not a failure.

Speaker:

There's always a reason.

Speaker:

So you can't take things like that,

Speaker:

especially in business personally.

Speaker:

But listen,

Speaker:

try to understand where they're coming from,

Speaker:

because it can help you affect your business to provide a

Speaker:

better experience.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

if there's something that's falling slightly short in your business,

Speaker:

but I think your points made about just let them vent

Speaker:

whatever they need to do.

Speaker:

Don't try to be defensive or anything.

Speaker:

Just let them,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

get it out,

Speaker:

whatever it is because they're going to feel better.

Speaker:

You probably won't Be exact,

Speaker:

but no.

Speaker:

And I'm telling you,

Speaker:

I've had a retail store and it's really,

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

we see it.

Speaker:

And that was my first ever experience,

Speaker:

you know?

Speaker:

So I was taken aback.

Speaker:

I've seen many since then,

Speaker:

but it's amazing how,

Speaker:

if you just let it go,

Speaker:

how many times they'll come back and they'll apologize and they'll

Speaker:

say, oh no,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

don't worry about it.

Speaker:

And I'm so sorry.

Speaker:

And I did this and you know,

Speaker:

all of that stuff,

Speaker:

that's definitely one,

Speaker:

one tip.

Speaker:

And I know this is a little bit different,

Speaker:

but I will say if you have employees working for you,

Speaker:

and this is,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

I'm veering from the natural trait path.

Speaker:

But if you have employees working for you,

Speaker:

it is so important to train them,

Speaker:

even if they're just coming in for the summer and working

Speaker:

for you,

Speaker:

it is so,

Speaker:

so important to train them the right way because they are

Speaker:

the face of your business.

Speaker:

You mean train them not only on just products and procedures

Speaker:

of your shop,

Speaker:

but how you want them to be interacting with you.

Speaker:

Totally because that's,

Speaker:

what's going to build.

Speaker:

If they can build a relationship with your customers,

Speaker:

you can be in your store.

Speaker:

24 7.

Speaker:

The purpose of a business is to be able to have

Speaker:

the time,

Speaker:

the freedom of time and money.

Speaker:

And that's,

Speaker:

what's important to put the systems and processes in place and

Speaker:

train your employees to be that face of your business so

Speaker:

that the customers have a relationship with them.

Speaker:

And they know that they're talking to the same person when

Speaker:

they come in next time.

Speaker:

Right. And I think an employee,

Speaker:

since they don't own the business,

Speaker:

if they're put in a situation like that,

Speaker:

won't really know what to do,

Speaker:

unless you've given them direction.

Speaker:

They don't know that they have free reign to make it

Speaker:

right, or what their parameters are.

Speaker:

So really,

Speaker:

really good piece of advice that you've given us here.

Speaker:

What tool do you use regularly to help you stay productive

Speaker:

or to create balance in your life?

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

I'm very basic.

Speaker:

I love to do lists and I love the Google calendar.

Speaker:

So those are my two.

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

my Google calendar is all,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

highlighted out with different colors and my to-do list is my

Speaker:

thing. So Your to-do lists,

Speaker:

do you,

Speaker:

are they online?

Speaker:

Are they an app or do you Or ever know totally

Speaker:

Evernote and sticky notes?

Speaker:

I think those are my two big things.

Speaker:

I have sticky notes everywhere in the morning,

Speaker:

actually the night before I sit down and I write my

Speaker:

top two or three things that I need to finish for

Speaker:

sure for the next day.

Speaker:

And I put it on a sticky note and I make

Speaker:

sure I do it.

Speaker:

And then I trashed that sticky note there.

Speaker:

Yeah. There's Still,

Speaker:

there's something about that physical,

Speaker:

that kind of goes along with your books.

Speaker:

Yes. I'm telling you there's something that,

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

it just gives me pleasure.

Speaker:

I'm like,

Speaker:

yes, it's done.

Speaker:

I'm going to throw that away now.

Speaker:

Totally. I agree with You there.

Speaker:

As I'm staring at all the sticky notes I have right

Speaker:

around my computer here,

Speaker:

what book have you read lately that you think our listeners

Speaker:

could find value in?

Speaker:

You Know,

Speaker:

that's such a hard question because I read a lot.

Speaker:

I would say the one book that really I would recommend

Speaker:

everybody read is the lean startup.

Speaker:

No matter what business you in,

Speaker:

you'll have an online,

Speaker:

a home-based a brick and mortar.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

you have a product based business.

Speaker:

It does not matter.

Speaker:

You need to read the lean startup.

Speaker:

It's an amazing book that talks about the MVP,

Speaker:

the minimum viable product.

Speaker:

And I totally believe in it.

Speaker:

And I think taking action is way more important than thinking

Speaker:

about it.

Speaker:

Gift biz listeners,

Speaker:

just as you're listening to the podcast today,

Speaker:

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

Speaker:

I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to

Speaker:

get a free audio book,

Speaker:

just like Smith is recommending for free.

Speaker:

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

Speaker:

book.com and make a selection that's gift biz book.

Speaker:

That com okay.

Speaker:

My favorite section of the interview,

Speaker:

the dare to dream question,

Speaker:

are you ready?

Speaker:

I'm ready.

Speaker:

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

Speaker:

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

Speaker:

This is your dream or goal of almost unreachable height that

Speaker:

you'd wish to obtain.

Speaker:

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

Speaker:

What is inside?

Speaker:

First Of all.

Speaker:

So thank you so much for the gift.

Speaker:

Cause I love gifts,

Speaker:

Parson. You know,

Speaker:

sometimes my husband,

Speaker:

he is not,

Speaker:

he cannot keep a surprise and he's like,

Speaker:

wait, I don't know.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

if I should get her this,

Speaker:

should I tell her,

Speaker:

would she like it?

Speaker:

I'm like,

Speaker:

just don't tell me,

Speaker:

just do not tell me,

Speaker:

just give it to me on that day because no matter

Speaker:

what it is,

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

So I'm a totally gift person.

Speaker:

So thank you for that.

Speaker:

And you know,

Speaker:

this may be really hard to get,

Speaker:

but I want time.

Speaker:

If I can get time,

Speaker:

my kids are growing up too fast at one time to

Speaker:

spend with them.

Speaker:

I want time to spend with my family.

Speaker:

I just,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

time to travel the world.

Speaker:

That's one of the things that I also would love to

Speaker:

help people with is help women.

Speaker:

Entrepreneurs is gain more time because I think that's so important.

Speaker:

So since unfortunately time is finite,

Speaker:

you've got to figure out how to make time to be

Speaker:

able to do what you want to do.

Speaker:

What's the most valuable to you?

Speaker:

Gives us all some thought I think yes,

Speaker:

Absolutely. To ponder.

Speaker:

So yes.

Speaker:

How can our listeners get in touch with you?

Speaker:

They can go to www dot woman,

Speaker:

preneur success.com

Speaker:

or listen to me on my podcast.

Speaker:

It's women preneurs strategies for success.

Speaker:

I am also on Twitter.

Speaker:

It's the Smith to sing.

Speaker:

So, you know,

Speaker:

I'm at the Smith S sing I'm on LinkedIn submitter sing

Speaker:

and yeah,

Speaker:

just shoot me an email it's mid to@womanpreneurssuccess.com.

Speaker:

Fabulous. And I would also suggest that all of you go

Speaker:

and check out Speedos podcast.

Speaker:

You can tell the type of quality of information that she's

Speaker:

sharing just by what she's talked about today.

Speaker:

So I think you can definitely get quite a bit out

Speaker:

of it.

Speaker:

So please do that.

Speaker:

Thank you,

Speaker:

sir. And then I believe just as we gave you a

Speaker:

gift, you have something to offer our listeners.

Speaker:

I do.

Speaker:

Let's see.

Speaker:

I love gifts.

Speaker:

I'm here to give.

Speaker:

So I am from,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

people would have heard,

Speaker:

I am,

Speaker:

went from a brick and mortar now online,

Speaker:

and I know a lot of frustrations and limitations that people

Speaker:

can have when they have a physical product that they're trying

Speaker:

to sell.

Speaker:

So my gift today for all of you gift biz listeners

Speaker:

is a free step-by-step guide to build a profitable sales funnel,

Speaker:

especially for a physical product.

Speaker:

So if you have a physical product and you want to

Speaker:

build a sales funnel based on your product and your value,

Speaker:

get it at www.womenpreneursuccess.com/gift

Speaker:

bears. It's an amazing,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

little ebook that you can find and you can,

Speaker:

and it has actionable tips.

Speaker:

I'm all about action.

Speaker:

So I have to put actionable tips in there so which

Speaker:

you can use right away.

Speaker:

Wait to see that myself.

Speaker:

So gift biz listeners,

Speaker:

if you enjoyed the show,

Speaker:

be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating and

Speaker:

review. You can see Smith,

Speaker:

the show notes page,

Speaker:

including all the links she's referenced today and check out other

Speaker:

episodes at gift biz,

Speaker:

unwrapped.com, including that re download,

Speaker:

building a profitable sales funnel.

Speaker:

Make sure to check that out and thank you so much

Speaker:

for that.

Speaker:

Absolutely. Thank you so much,

Speaker:

Sue for having me Well,

Speaker:

thank you for the valuable gift of sharing your journey and

Speaker:

insights with us today and may your candle burn bright,

Speaker:

Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

Speaker:

Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

Speaker:

in life.

Speaker:

It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com

Speaker:

slash tools.

Speaker:

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

Speaker:

next episode.

Speaker:

Would you like to be on the show or do you

Speaker:

know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?

Speaker:

If so,

Speaker:

we'd love to hear from you.

Speaker:

All you need to do is submit a form for consideration.

Speaker:

You can access the form@giftbizonwrapped.com

Speaker:

forward slash guest that's gift biz unwrapped.com

Speaker:

forward slash G U E S T today's show is sponsored

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by the ribbon print company,

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looking for a new income source for your gift business.

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Customization is more popular now than ever granted product from your

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