What Does Sustainable Growth Mean To You?

Because you can't do everything all at once, despite the urge.

In this episode, we cover:

• Balancing our priorities and mono-tasking
• What "sustainable growth" means in your own words
• Redefining business planning 
• Finding inspiration in natural cycles 

✨ Get our free 2023 Holiday Planner here ✨



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Welcome to Retail for the Rest of Us, a podcast for indie retailers, makers, and shop owners who want to do business differently. I'm your host, Janine Malone, retail expert, small business cheerleader, and the founder of Feel Good Retail. On this show, you'll hear insights, strategies, and ideas on how to sustain and scale your shop without sacrificing your sanity. Each week, you'll hear from me and the occasional guest expert in what I hope feels more like voice note from your retail BFF than a business podcast. Additional goodies and support can be, found in our show notes and at feelgoodretail.com. Now let's get into the show. Music. Hey everyone, welcome back to Retail For The Rest Of Us. I'm your host Janine Malone, and today I want to talk about doing business differently by planning for business differently. This is kind of a nuanced topic and something that I've really been toying with. So we'll touch on this idea many times between now and the end of the 2023 podcast season, which will be around mid-November, as well as into 2024. Because what I am really interested in right now is helping you sustainably grow, plan for, execute and operate your business. And I don't think there's a lot of resource out there for folks on truly how to like manage their time, how to remember all the tasks that they need to do from the most granular. Inside of their business to really the most visionary and expansive outside of their business. And I think for small business owners, for indie retailers, from my own experience and from conversations I've had with a lot of you, it seems like we're all in that place. There's no shortage of ideas, right? There's not a lack of tactics and strategies and things we want to try and experiment with. But the overwhelm of getting it all done and finding time to make it happen, and remembering and storing our ideas or checking back in to see if things are working, that part is the brain scrambler. At least for me, it is these days. Ironically, planning for this podcast season and planning for the projects that are coming through the end of the year and into 2024, for me, I sort of went through this like dark night of the soul this week trying to figure out a way to give myself a long lead time. And really allow myself to work at a pace that felt sustainable and felt supportive to me, and battling the part of my brain that is so entangled and marinated in hustle culture. In procrastination, in ADHD, in whatever we want to scapegoat for this problem, that trying to allow myself to work at a more sustainable pace feels like I'm going to war with myself. The irony did not escape me or did not like escape past unnoticed because I was also planning for a series of episodes about how to work more sustainably, how to save yourself time, how to think about running your business in a way that is detached from capitalism in practical ways and also in value-aligned ways where we are not running ourselves ragged, we are not running ourselves into the ground, we are not depleting ourselves and our businesses and our employees and our vendors of resources to make money and make product and kind of do business at all costs. And yet, as a human woman living in this world, the reality of doing that is hard. So I'm coming to this conversation and this season and this episode like imperfect, let's say, because everything that we talk about in the coming weeks, I'm actively struggling with and working against too. But these are kind of the ways that I'm thinking about business and the direction that I want Feel Good Retail to go to be able to support you. So before we get too far into some inspirations for ways to do business differently, I want to tell you about some things that are going on. And one of those things is that the Holiday Resource Guide, this year's 2023 edition, is back. If you go to feelgoodretail.com slash holiday, you will get this special little resource. We're going to talk a lot more about it in the coming weeks, because I know mid-September, maybe you're not fully in holiday go mode yet. So. I don't want to petrify anyone or like, ring the fire alarm because we're not there yet. But if the holidays are on your mind, and you're starting to kind of gather inspiration, get ideas, really start to plan for that, that resource is live and available to you. If you are new to this podcast, or new to Feel Good Retail, You Welcome! Hello! That was a big preamble to get to this greeting. Ever since Feel Good Retail started at the holiday season, I try to put out our most robust, hand-holding, do-it-yourself, have an amazing feel-good holiday season resource every single year. And I went back this year and looked at 2020, 2021, 2022, and those are actually all still available. So I've linked them inside of this year's resource if you want to dive deeper. But I really wanted to like pare back this year. And not give you something that felt really overwhelming or like there was too much to do or that maybe you would do week one and then abandon the other five weeks because I think in the past, they've been six week guides. And this is really more of like a vibe check for October, November and December, how you can think about making sales, how you can think about taking care of yourself and how you can really integrate and work with the fall and early winter season that in the natural world, as we'll talk about today, is in hibernation. And in the retail world. I don't know what the opposite of hibernation is. It's over-caffeinated. So how we can kind of balance that and really what our focus can be for this season and trying to give you permission to push things to 2024 that aren't your focus right now and get things done that are gonna feel really supportive and really help you. Get through this season feeling amazing. So again, that's available feelgoodretail.com slash holiday, it will be up for the rest of the year. And we'll talk like I said, a little bit more about it in the coming weeks when the holidays doesn't feel like so far away still. Because right now as I record this, it's like 85 degrees. And the idea of Christmas is. Far flung memory for me. And one other thing I just wanted to start talking about because I'm excited about it and nervous and like the accountability of sharing more about it I think is good and also scary. But I am working on something really exciting for 2024. Name not fully determined yet, but the vibe is like a retailer's quarterly planner, almanac of sorts, a way for you to check in with, run, operate your business at a really high level, but one that feels beautiful and rejuvenating and sustainable and where you can kind of like outsource some of your thinking, right? Like it's kind of your high level indie operation 101 guide. I'm super excited to create it. I'm like kind of in the process of finalizing the outline and really some of the inspiration for winter. And I just wanted to tell you about it because I'm bad at keeping secrets. If you're listening to this podcast, you probably know that. And. Because I think it will kind of put into context some of the things that we're going to be talking about from now until I leave you for your holiday manifestation period, which is like from Black Friday to Christmas, you know, I don't usually put up podcast episodes then because y'all are are busy and you probably don't need to hear me talking about. Retail, you need to be listening to like your number one pump up jam. So all of that being said. Boy, was she saying it, I wanted to explore some of the ways I am thinking about planning for my business outside of a traditional q1 q2 q3 q4 slash business as usual, every day is the same linear grind, because it's something that I do inside my business, I create these kind of touch points. And it's also a place where I think we are able to seriously divest from this idea of hustle culture, from this commitment to doing everything all of the time, because that just doesn't work in practice, especially when you're a sensitive, creative entrepreneur who needs periods of growth and creativity and action. It also needs periods of rest and rejuvenation and kind of getting re-inspired and reinvigorated. And normal business doesn't really make space for that. You have kind of like your weekly tasks, your monthly tasks, your quarterly tasks. You're working the same hours every day. And that's not too dissimilar from retail because if you have a brick and mortar store, you know that that consistency is really critical. But. In terms of planning for a season or planning for a year, I think that we can take inspiration from places outside of corporate business and integrate them in a way that feels really exciting to us and really revolutionary to us. And also, let's us like ask different questions about why we run our business, how we want to feel in our business, what our ultimate goal is by. Taking the entrepreneurial journey. Because, sure, I'm sure money has to do with it. Their businesses, money always has to do with it. But I find that so many retailers and product. Based businesses and makers, they're not in it for the the payday, right? Like odds are, very few of you are thinking like, I want to sell this business for six to seven figures. And if you are like, hell yeah, more power to you. I fucking love that. Those are the kinds of one on one projects I really love to work on. But in that process, I think it's also really important to get ourselves to a place where we feel like we can sustain running our business and sustain the growth trajectory that we're on. Because that is really what's going to offer us fulfillment, offer us the ability to really live out the mission or purpose or vision of your life that your business is a part of. Let's not even say that that's the only thing you're dreaming about is what happens in your business. I am certain. As Erin and I talked about on my interview with her, Erin Miles of Brave Daughters, it's kind of empowering to not only think about your own business goals, but to think about what you want out of life, right? As I've been thinking about this, I wanted to ask all of you, everyone on our newsletter, what does sustainable growth mean to you? And the answers that I got really got me thinking. If you'll allow me, I want to read some of the answers. So the question again, what does sustainable growth mean to you? That it can be managed without straining resources over time. These resources include mental capacity, knowing my personal triggers, understanding the capabilities of my existing team, and the business self-funding itself. Growing steadily while still maintaining the ability to rest and regulate my nervous system and live my life. Growing the business without necessarily adding to my to-do list. Growth that can be managed without collapsing. Making the money I need without burning myself out. Step-by-step growth based on reinvesting revenue back into the company and gradually increasing sales. Growing in a pace that can be achieved over time without the burnout of wanting to do everything right now. It means being able to grow my business in a way that can be maintained and is realistic. Long-term growth that is likely slow. Working smarter, not harder. Also, fuck VCs. I love, whoever said that. Growing my business in a way that I can still keep up with all of the things I need to do and not burn out. Not sacrificing my core values as a small business to be able to make money. It means starting a business from a grounded place by considering time, energy, and desired income. Over time, you keep that going, increase your audience, sales, and income with your values and intentions still driving the car. So it sounds like we're all on the same page. Sustainable growth is about the ability to. Pace yourself, the ability to respect yourself and respect your resources, avoiding burnout, which is a huge one. One I am constantly working on myself. It means intentionality, that there are moments of growth and also moments of rest and reflection. And it means that you're really taking a considered approach to how you operate your business. And to me, just making a to-do list and jumping in the driver's seat every week. Is not necessarily considered. Because in the same survey, I heard from many of you that you were not checking in and reviewing or setting goals and strategy regularly. That you were having a hard time setting aside time to really think about the business and where you want it to go and what comes next. Because the business gets in the way sometimes, especially if you are a solo entrepreneur or have a small team. It can feel like you're wearing a million hats and. Multitasking is kind of the only way to make that happen. And even if you do have a little bit more spaciousness, I found that like monotasking and deep focus is actually like a really uncomfortable place for me because it's so unfamiliar. And maybe you feel that too. Maybe we can work on that together. But in order to do business differently, we have to look outside of business advice to find a meaning-making system or some kind of inspiration to create a flow. To do things differently. Because you can't do everything all at once, despite the urge, despite the fact that it feels necessary. You might be able to do that for a little while, sure. But as we go into the holiday seasons, maybe you can think back to a holiday season in the past or a period of time in your business that maybe you got an outcome that on the outside looked really good. Like maybe you had amazing sales, or you opened a new location, or you had a big launch or something like that, some kind of big collaboration, whatever that success looked like. But on the inside, you know, I can never do that again. I could hit the goal, but I'd have to go at about it a different way. Because I don't think I would survive it if I had to go through that another time. And so that's where my head's been at is how can we use nature, the lunar phases, the menstrual phases, the natural seasons all around us to allow ourselves and give ourselves permission to have deep focus on what is critical at this moment in time and trust that in the longer view, we will be taking care of everything in due time. I wonder sometimes if. Like the anxiety of like, I'm going to forget to do that, or the day that I focus on that is never going to come is what makes us think that a long, long, long to do list full of 15 to 30 minute quick tasks is more productive or more successful than giving ourselves a creative retreat to really think about the upcoming year of your business, or setting aside a few hours every month to really create meaningful goals and strategies that you can look back at and assess, did that work or did it not? How can I make it better? That to me is something that's more cyclical, that's more spiraling, as opposed to just linear growth. And to me, in those answers that I was just reading to you about sustainable growth, that's what we're looking for. We're looking for a slow, beautiful spiral to the top, not that kind of like hockey stick growth that, you know, venture capitalists or big business publications are always romanticizing. Because. Oftentimes, A, those businesses are not run by a small team. And B, the reason that the entrepreneurs at the top are not experiencing extraordinary burnout is because more often than not, they have the resource to hire probably more people than they need, honestly, and in many cases, exploit them, exploit their time, exploit their value, exploit their creativity. And that's That's not what we're about. So we got to find a different way. We got to carve our own path. We'd whack our way through the jungle here and find a solution together that feels rejuvenating, that feels inspiring, that feels permission-giving and restful and bountiful and beautiful. And I think that that starts with the idea of identifying what is of the utmost importance right now. And so let's walk through a quick example. I know I said I wouldn't go too, too far into the holidays today, but forgive me, it's on my mind. And it does happen to be a pretty perfect example because in our business, Q4, the holidays, October, November, and December are. Relatively rinse and repeat. We have key dates that we need to get out there. We have goals that we're able to set and are typically pretty reliable. We know that the customers are out there, that people are buying gifts, that it's like the most consumer friendly quarter of the year, you know, people are going to be out buying gifts and shopping and placing their orders, etc. And so with this kind of idea, with this kind of like methodology that we've been talking about, it's quite simple. So simple, in fact, you might feel like Janine, why are we even talking about this? What we know about Q4 is that it is about sales. It is about making the customers feel super excited, super supported in their gift buying, in their shipping, making sure we have things stocked, and that our shelves look beautiful. And that's just about it. And so. If we were doing everything all of the time, we might feel the pressure to add a website redevelopment project on our plates, or start hosting a bunch of free community events, or start developing a new product. And while I'm saying that, you know, thinking about it being the holidays, like that would be crazy, right? Like that is not the time to do it. There's other times in the year that it makes way more sense to be working on those internal projects because they aren't really going to be affecting the goal of direct sales in less than 60 days, like really four weeks. And so why can't we apply that thinking to the rest of the year and identify sort of what the cycle of our sales calendar is and what it can look like when we have those peaks where it's all about being in the business, making sure things are stocked, products are amazing, customers are being supported, supplies are ordered. And then there are other times, usually opposite those busy times, that we're able to do the other things. And I think giving ourselves permission. To lean into those ebbs and flows is how we build a feel-good business. Because let's be honest, like I said, this is the time of year, it's physically grueling, the holiday season, right? You're staying late, you're bringing Ikea bags full of boxes to USPS, you're answering the same questions over and over again, it seems like. You are breaking down and popping up, you are going to markets, you're sending emails, you're posting on Instagram, like there is so much physical demand on retailers at this time of year. So how we can counterbalance that is by not adding. Additional mental load to our plates and giving ourselves tools like just a note in your phone that's called parking lot or ideas for next year, or like, get out of my head, you know, where we're putting all of the things that come up and that we think, oh, okay, like, I want to work on that, but I recognize that now is not the time. And when I decide that there is a time for business development, for growth strategy, for product development, I will have all of these beautiful notes to reassess when my mind is more focused on that project. And that's just one subtle way that we can kind of lean into the time that is now. Because again, recording this at the moment in time that I am, it is the end of summer, right? And, you know, I guess we technically have a handful of weeks left, and I am praying that they will be sunny and beautiful. But there is that kind of feeling of like, I want to get as much of summer in now, because some of those things just aren't going to make sense to do in the winter. It's not going to be making sense to grill. It's not going to make sense to spend a day going to the beach. It's not going to make sense to experiment with making my own wine slushies, which I'm actively doing right now. There is wine slushy waiting for me after I finish recording. And so how can we allow ourselves to be seasonal and cyclical beings inside of our business as well? How can we treat ourselves with that same compassion and gentleness and that same wholeness that is nature because we're a part of that. We're entrepreneurs, we're business owners, but we're nature too. I think leaning into that is going to add a lot of richness and beauty and sustainability to our, businesses because I want us to be around for a long time. I want nature to be around for a long time. And that's where I'll leave you today. We're just getting started with this concept, with this idea, and we have plenty of time to experiment and explore and untangle together. So if you're picking up what I'm putting down, I hope you stick around. I also hope you go to feelgoodretail.com slash holiday and grab our holiday guide for this year. The time is now. And in the meantime, thank you for being here. Thank you for being in business. Cheers to feeling good. Thanks for listening to Retail for the Rest of Us. Find additional information and resources related to this episode in the show notes or on our website, feelgoodretail.com. This show was lovingly produced and edited by Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a minute to text it to your business bestie, share it on social media and leave us a rating or review. It really helps the show grow organically and we love making new friends. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being in business and cheers to feeling good. Music.