Indie Retail Rituals: 3 Things to Add to Your Calendar Right Now

Welcome back, retail besties! We’re kicking off season six by sharing three retail rituals you’ll want to add to your calendar ASAP.

Tune in to hear:

• Why rituals are better than tasks
• The three dates we want you to get on your GCal
• How to prioritize data, strategy, AND self-care

 
Want exact agendas & extra motivation to complete the rituals? 🪐 Join The Here & Now 🧭

 
🕸 feelgoodretail.com
📱 @feelgoodretail
✉️ hiii@feelgoodretail.com

Transcript

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Welcome to Retail For the Rest of Us, a podcast for indie retailers,

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makers and shop owners who wanna do business differently. I'm

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your host, Janine Mulone, retail expert, small business cheerleader,

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and the founder of Feel Good Retail. On this show, you'll hear

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insights, strategies, and ideas on how to sustain and scale your

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shop without sacrificing your sanity. Each week, you'll hear from

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me and the occasional guest expert in what I hope feels more like a voice

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note from your retail BFF than a business podcast.

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Additional goodies and support can be found in our show notes and at feelgoodretail.com.

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Now let's get into the show.

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Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Retail for the Rest of Us. I'm your

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host, Janine Mulone, and this is season six of the podcast.

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I know. Can you believe it? I personally don't feel a day over season two

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because I am just now speaking into a real microphone

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instead of a pair of Apple wired headphones that I've had since, like,

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2010. So if you notice a certain

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flare, a little NPR soothing vibe to my voice,

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that's why. It's because I feel like Frasier Crane sitting behind this

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microphone staring at my huge screen in front of me with

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notes. That being said, I usually ignore the notes as I'm sure you can tell.

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It's a real off the cuff vibe here, but I

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am excited to be back. And I hope that the last few months have offered

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you an opportunity to rest, review, restore.

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I wanted to bring the podcast back now because we are literally closing the

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door, financially speaking, on last year. This is coming out

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right around the good old tax day, so I'm sure you need a boost. I

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certainly do. And I just think

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it's really time to look forward and to look

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to the next eight months of the year, what we wanna create, what we wanna

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bring to life, what we wanna sell, what goals we're hoping to

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achieve. As Feel Good Retail has evolved,

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what I have become passionate about

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is helping entrepreneurs feel like the back

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of house, their systems, their operations, their strategy,

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feels as aligned and exciting as the things

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that happen front of house, on the sales floor, on their

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favorite social media channels, in their community.

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And that means that the first few months of the

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year is often spent kind of recalibrating, reviewing,

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and starting to project into the new year. So I'm feeling

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excited to fully turn my face towards the sun and look at

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the rest of 2024 together. That being

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said, I know because I've heard from a few of you

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that it feels like a really scary time to be an indie retail

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owner. I know that being on Instagram, you've seen

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many of your favorite shops closing, institutions, small

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businesses that you thought were really innovative and exciting,

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and businesses owned by your friends, and that

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is really scary. As someone who has been through her

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share of closures as well in her career and more

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recently, I know how scary and

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painful and hard those kind of transitions are.

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And I hope that this podcast can

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serve as both a respite and a

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place where you can feel really good and feel really excited to hear about

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people who are doing really amazing things and maybe take some

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tips away for yourself, as well as a place that we can

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be realistic about the reality of running a business.

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This is why I'm so passionate about business operations,

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about strategy, because closures,

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although they happen for many, many, many reasons,

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I think that we can often see things coming down the

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pipeline a little bit more clearly when we understand

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the back end of our businesses better. I don't want any

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of you to be shocked by a

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transition or an evolution or a downsizing or closing

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in your business. I want you to be able to be as

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comfortable as the CEO and strategist behind your business as

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you are as the creative director or the visionary. Because the last

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thing I want for you is for you to feel disempowered or out of control

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in your business. And listen, that's not to say that shit doesn't

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happen and things don't just hit the fan sometimes. Trust

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me. Someday, I will buy you all a drink and tell you all about the

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times that has happened to me. But regardless of the circumstance,

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I do want you to feel like you're capable of making empowered and

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strategic decisions. And the first thing that that requires

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is being able to engage with the business itself.

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That was a huge motivator for me creating the Here and Now, which is our

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monthly membership that serves indie retailers looking to uncover

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the secrets, skills, and cycles needed to build their sustainable

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shop. Inside, you get access to our

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resource library, seasonal strategic workshops, monthly

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almanacs, and some extra surprises that will help you

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shift the focus away from just the linear growth hamster wheel

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and lean more into the slow, steady, and seasonal approach

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to retail to make sure you have all of your bases covered and that you

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feel really confident as a strategic superstar.

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I want indie retailers to feel

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as comfortable with analytics, with strategy, with operations

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as they do with creativity, visioning new

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products, working with customers. Frankly, I think there's

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plenty of marketing advice out there, but not enough

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content around helping business owners identify what

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strategies will work best to achieve their unique goals.

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And what that leads to is overwhelm, burnout,

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exhaustion, confusion, disempowerment, and,

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frankly, it leads to a lot of businesses looking exactly the

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same. And that's not why I love indie retail. I

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love indie retail because of the variety, the diversity, the,

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like, wacky unique concepts that people bring to life that really

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just work and that make us feel more

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connected to them. Because if every indie retailer keeps looking

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the same, it's gonna feel just like shopping at big box stores.

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So the Here and Now is our seasonal membership you

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can join. You can learn more at feelgoodretail.com/join. It's

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$28 a month, and you can learn more, of course, on the website.

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I really wanted to create something accessible. We've been having so much fun in there

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so far in Q1, and there's lots to dive into if you join

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today. That being said, I did wanna share

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something that comes from the resource library that I've built inside of the Here and

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Now, because I think it will ground us into this new season

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and give you a step forward if you're feeling like, "you're right. I

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do need to be more strategic. I do need to prioritize spending

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time in the back end of the business. I do need to make time

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to serve my role as CEO of this business." And

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listen. I know CEO is, like, such a blah term. Especially

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when you're a solo business owner. It's like, "okay, let me just change

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my hat here and, like, put on a tie." But it's

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really critical to be both an operator inside of

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your business and a strategic leader. Those are two different tasks,

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making the plan and executing the plan. So with

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that in mind, I wanted to share an excerpt from a resource inside of

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the Here and Now called Retail Rituals aka 3 things to add to

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your calendar right now no matter the season. Because seasons come and

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go, but some things never change. Like Jeff Bezos acting

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and looking, frankly, like a cartoon villain. By incorporating

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these three recurring rituals into your calendar, we've got you

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covered for the month. You'll review the past, plan for the

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future, and take time to make sure that you are well resourced enough to

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keep moving forward in life and business. What totals

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to a few hours of work a month is gonna give you a 360 view

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of your shop and will work wonders in soothing your nerves. But why

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rituals and not just tasks or meetings? Well, because first of

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all, tasks and meetings sound boring as hell. Nobody wants more meetings,

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and I certainly don't need to add another thing to my to do list. When

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you have a meeting set with yourself or a priority just for

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you, how often does it get pushed back to the bottom of your to

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do list? My guess, pretty frequently. Rituals, however,

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become deeper, better, more vibrant, and

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more powerful through repetition. They also have

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a clear agenda and a desired outcome. So what

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are the 3 dates we're adding to your Gcal right now? A

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data date, a strategy session, and your

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shopkeeper self care. First is your date with your data.

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All you need is 30 to 60 minutes at least one

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time a month, and your goals are to check-in on the health of

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your shop, build familiarity with your analytics, and pivot your plan

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where necessary. What you'll need is a simple data doc - you

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can find our template inside of the Here and Now - your sales software, and

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your past data and/or benchmarks. Getting comfortable with

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the quantitative side of your business is critical as an entrepreneur. Retail is

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after all a numbers game. Sales, sell through,

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inventory markup, conversion, retention, it's a lot of

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math. And I know that can be scary for many of you, so I like

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to keep it simple and make it consistent with data dates.

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First, set the mood. Get in your softest clothes, light a

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candle, get a fun bev. The more intimidating

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this is to you, the cozier and more comfortable you should be. Close all of

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your tabs and put your phone on do not disturb. Pull up your

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sales software and record your stats. Inside the Here and Now, you'll find

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a list of KPIs that you could track, including my non-negotiables,

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and you can use previous sessions and your past averages as a

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benchmark for success. Ritual number two is

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a strategy session. You'll need about 60 to 90 minutes, and I

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recommend doing this at least once a quarter, but ideally once a

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month. Your goals are to make a plan to support your sales goals,

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review what's working well and what needs improvement, and craft a strategy.

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What you'll need is your sales goal, your datasheet,

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and a notebook or a blank doc. Becoming more strategic

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is a superpower. It will save you time, money, and lots of

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headaches. So much effort is wasted by making decisions as they

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come. Crafting a strategy can help focus your attention. Think of

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like a magnifying glass in the sun. By creating a plan, you

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give yourself permission to experiment, test what works, and make progress

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and improvements over time. Plus, when you centralize your decision

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making, you free up a hell of a lot of space in your brain.

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Inside the Here and Now, you'll find an exact agenda,

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opening, first half, second half, and closing for how to run

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your own successful strategy session.

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And last but very much not least is your shopkeeper

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self-care. Yes. I literally want you to schedule

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this and make it nonnegotiable for yourself at least

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once a month with the goal being to give you an opportunity

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for rest, create space between you and the business, and

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support you doing your best work. All you'll need is

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yourself and time away from the shop, because small business ownership

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can feel like a never ending grind. Sure. We love it. But

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damn, it can be hard to figure out where your business ends and where you

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begin. You deserve a break. And if you need the extra

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motivation, know that the better you take care of yourself, the better running your

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shop will feel. And don't worry. Your to-do list will be right where you left

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it when you're done. I personally suggest making

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a menu of things to help you unwind that fall

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into 15 minute practices, 30 minute practices, or

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an hour plus practices so that you can fit in this kind of self care

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whenever you need a break and also schedule bigger moments of

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rest and rejuvenation into your business.So

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what's that? A couple hours a month to feel totally on top of your

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shit at work? Sounds good to me. And if you want

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even more instruction, including our templates, our

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KPIs, the agenda for a strategy session, all of that

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lives inside of the Here and Now, and we would love to have you join

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us. Until next time, thank you for being

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here. Thank you for being in business. Cheers to season

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six, and cheers to feeling good.

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Thanks for listening to Retail for the Rest of Us. Find additional

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information and resources related to this episode in the show notes or on our

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website, feelgoodretail.com. This show was lovingly produced and

[00:13:13]:
edited by Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio. If you

[00:13:17]:
enjoyed this episode, please take a minute to text it to your business bestie,

[00:13:20]:
share it on social media, and leave us a reading or review. It really

[00:13:24]:
helps the show grow organically, and we love making new friends. Thank

[00:13:28]:
you for being here. Thank you for being in business, and cheers to feeling

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good.