SALENA KNIGHT
With the new year just a few weeks away, hopefully, you’re thinking about what you want from your business and what you’ll need to do to achieve that success.
In this episode, I want to share with you what I think it will take, for retail & e-commerce stores to scale in 2023.
** There are 9 strategies I use when helping retail/e-comm businesses move their stock fast so they can reinvest that money into new business. Head over to https://salenaknight.com/stock to know exactly what those 9 strategies are and how I use them.
Salena Knight 0:00
I tend to find it's like that first 12 to 18 months. This is the point where burnout tends to happen, because it is literally you doing everything. And this is the point where people either give up, they post their business on some sort of Facebook group, and they really, really hope that someone else wants to buy their dream, and they'll at least recoup some of their money. Generally, that doesn't happen. They end up with a garage full of stock, that five years later, they're still trying to get rid of. Hey there, and welcome to the bringing business to retail podcast. If you're looking to get more sales, more customers, master your marketing, and ultimately take control of your retail or E commerce business, then you're in the right place. I'm Celina Knight, a retail growth strategist and multi award winning store owner whose superpower is uncovering exactly what your business requires. To move to the next level, I'll provide you with the strategies, the tools and the insight you need to scale your store. All you need to do is take action, ready to get started. Hey there, and welcome to today's episode of the Green Business to retail podcast. It is the end of the year, pretty much the end of the year. We're wrapping up, we're reflecting. And if you've been listening for a little while, you'll know that over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to jump on a bunch of calls, some of them because my team was sick and others just because I wanted to have conversations with you guys and see what's happening in your businesses. What are the obstacles? How, how has 2022 gone for you. And what I have found is that there is a very distinct set of groups of people that have emerged from these conversations. And today I want to talk to you about where you're at in your business, and all the different levels that you could be at and what it's going to take to scale in 2023. So I want to go through the four different stages that I see of being a business owner. And the obstacles that you're going to face along with either the mindset shifts, the tools, the strategies that you need to implement at each level, like what are the the inputs that you need into your business at each level, if you want to scale. And I'm kind of guessing that you're here because you want to scale your business. And so, I mean, like anybody, my business right now is ridiculously busy. My life right now is ridiculously busy. I mean, Christmas parties, trying to get shopping done. I mean, oh my gosh, if you have to shop for teenagers, you will appreciate how difficult it is. Because even though they say they want gift cards, they just like grunt and roll their eyes when it comes to opening their presents, if all they've got is gift cards, so I really don't have to buy for an awful lot of people. I've got Lana, who's 14. I have two nephews who are also 14. And then I have a 17 year old niece, and a 19 year old niece, her from Ed and Lana, but they're pretty much the only people I have to buy for my sister, who has three of those kids. Even she can't tell me what to buy them. And my brother who has the other nephew. No, no idea. He's like, Oh, you know, whatever, just get them a gift card. But we pretty much only see each other at Christmas. And so unwrapping a gift card is not the most exciting thing. So I really try and do get the gift card, I really tried to find some little extra bits and pieces, some fun things. Sometimes it's just something cool like a packet of chocolate biscuits that I know that they love, or pens and highlighters things that they probably wouldn't buy themselves. So I try and put those into a little gift basket. But it's difficult, right? And we're busy. We're always busy. And 2023 Even though it is like what two weeks off three weeks off, feels like it is so far away. But at the same time, it feels like oh my gosh, where did 2020 to go? And what the heck did I achieve this year? And if you listened to my podcast last week, we talked about some of those things. We talked about some reflections and I talk to you about my conversations that have changed my life and my business this year. So today I thought But the next step in that conversation would be to talk to you about the different levels of leadership, we'll call them that naturally occur as you grow a business. And so I thought this was really pertinent going into 2023, to look at where you're at right now, and where you want to go, and some simple things that you can put in place to help you get there, I say simple. They're not always as simple as they seem, they sound simple on paper. But let's jump in and talk about them, shall we? So during these conversations, I will say I kind of already had this framework that I had developed. But having these conversations meant, I went back to these these frame, this frame framework, and kind of just dug into it in a bit more detail. And what I found was, there are the startups or sometimes hobby businesses. And then there are people who have been in business a few years. And you want to say a few years, it could be anything from like two to 10. I spoke to someone yesterday who had been in tenure, who had been in business 10 years, and was still in this same bracket. And they had built themselves a job. And they need strategies and knowledge to help them to grow. That kind of the startups and the hobby businesses, they need all the things. And, and we'll talk about them in a minute, the most of the people I spoke to were in this middle bracket, which were they had a job, they needed some advice, they needed some knowledge, they needed strategies. But then there was a very distinct third group. And it was probably the smallest number of people I spoke to.
Salena Knight 6:50
And what I found is that group, those are, those are the people those are the people who are listening here who are doing okay. But he could be doing better. And for the most part, the retail and E commerce, businesses that I spoke to, they had started their business, because they were really passionate about the products, or they or their customer, they saw a niche a gap. And they wanted to fill it, and they wanted to help their customers. But when you fast forward that to right now, what I saw over and over again, was it felt like they were pushing more paper. And they were doing more people managing than they ever thought that they would have to do in their business. I mean, you start a retail business thinking you're going to stand behind a counter and serve customers and you start an E commerce business thinking you're just gonna pack orders, and you don't really think about what it takes to run a business. And running a business is not those things. And so you get to this level where you're like, Oh, my God, it feels like all I do is paperwork, or people managing or putting out fires. And when you get to that point, the passion and the enthusiasm that once was the driving force, the thing that got you to get out of bed every day. It kind of dwindles away. And not to say that you've got the money and you've got your you've got the team at this level. But the the next things missing, it's like, what am I doing this for every day. Because when you're busy build a successful business from the ground up, it is easy to think that you need to be on top of every little thing. So that everything is done to your high standards. And that's because the business was generally founded off of you doing those things. I mean, after all, it's your self storage, your business. And you've put so many years in and so much effort into building a brand that customers love it. And clearly you've done a good job because you're still here. But the next, the next step, the next thing, the reason for getting out of bed every day. It feels like it's gone. And I know, that was certainly true for me. Looking back, I can see over time how my whole identity has been wrapped up in being the owner of a business. And when things were going well. I felt really successful. But if they didn't go really well, I felt like a complete failure. And your business is not you and this is something I've really had to struggle with because I love working. And I love being the face of a business. But that doesn't mean that the business should be tied to my self worth. And I know that in the beginning I A and this is this conversation is coming, as I said from having these conversations over the last couple of weeks with people who aren't at the stage that I'm at in my business. And I know that for me in the beginning, I didn't have anyone to talk to, you know, even five years into business, all of my friends still worked corporate jobs, and my amazing husband, Ed, he is always super supportive, and he works in sales. But I still don't think he quite understands the pressure that you find yourself under, as the owner of a business, especially when you have a team and you're responsible for other people's lives. And so he didn't understand it, then, to be fair, you know, decade and a half later, I don't think he still under I mean, he can empathize, but he doesn't get it, get it, because that's not something he's had to face. You know, I talked last week about how I now have this core network of people that I surround myself with, who run their own high performance, performing businesses. And they give me that advice, and that guidance, and the access and the communications and the conversations that I need. And I am always constantly learning, I'm going to conferences, and I'm keeping abreast of what's happening in the industry. And I'm doing my research and development on ways that my business can run better, and to make sure that our customer experience can continue to get better and better and better. And that's kind of my job now. But it's not where I was always at. And the truth is most successful. And I say that in air quotes, most successful retailers that I meet, and I talked to have gotten to where they are, through a combination of sheer grit and determination. Probably a crap ton of hustle, and not a lot of planning or structure. I know from experience that that email campaigns are hit and miss. And I've been inside of seven figure businesses that still don't send emails to their customers, seven figure retail and ecommerce stores that don't send emails to their customers. Nothing is automated. They don't know how to optimize conversion rates, they don't have any type of growth plan in place. And they don't feel like they can hand over tasks completely, even though they have a team of people without actually double checking everything that they do. And despite what it looks like on the outside, many retail and e commerce Store owners when I dig into it, because I asked this question on the call, what does your day look like right now? They simply wake up each morning. And they do the same thing, day in and day out. But here's the thing. It's got to be doing something, right, because they've made it this far. Right. So if you're, if you're probably thinking right now, Hmm, sounds talking about me? Yep, yep, I can see myself in that. Well, you might be making some of the same mistakes that I made along the way. And I know that, you know, back in the early days, and I'll be honest, sometimes I slip back into this phase, and I have to pull myself back out of it. And my team have very explicit instructions to you know, slap me over the back of the head if they find this happening. But this was how I used to approach my business. And that is why I struggled further for the first probably four years. And I stayed stuck for too many years. Because I wasn't willing, I didn't know that I needed to step up and be the person who took the actions that actually needed to be taken to get the results that I wanted. instead. Again, looking back and looking at into so many of you guys as businesses, I kept myself busy micromanaging, like now I look back and I really just want to slap myself on the back. I started way too many new projects that never got finished. I was constantly tweaking my website. I feel like that. That one constantly tweaking your website, if you find yourself constantly tweaking your website, that is a really good indicator that you are not stepping up and being the CEO of your business. It seems to be the fallback that you all go to
Salena Knight 14:56
when the business isn't growing. But here's the thing Ng, it's probably not the website. But I was I was micromanaging, I was constantly tweaking the website. But most importantly, it didn't actually have any goal, any end point in mind, like I didn't have I call it whatever you want a goal, the vision, the environment, and I did have a vision. But I didn't have any metrics. That's a good word. I didn't have any metrics to tell myself when I got there. And I certainly did not have any kind of plan. But again, looking back, I can see that when I made the shift. And like I said, sometimes I have to keep making the shift even now. And you can do it too. When you make that shift. Everything gets easier, and smoother, and just plain simpler. And I said last week, that you will get the, you know, the hiccups and the teething pains along the way. But when this happens, it is like the burden gets lifted off your shoulders, and you get to breathe again. And when you get to breathe again, he get to be excited about business again. And as my business has grown, because let's be honest, it's been what 15 years, this scenario has been repeated over and over and over and over again. Because every time I hit a new level, I hit a new devil, new level new devil. Often it's the same kinds of problems, the same kinds of problems in air quotes. But the bigger the decisions you need to make are bigger. And generally, larger amounts of money need to be allocated. And it's the same, it's the same, same but different, it's the same same. But on a bigger level, you start thinking in different metrics, you start thinking instead of dollars, you start thinking in terms of hundreds of dollars, and then you start thinking of 1000s of dollars, and then you start thinking of 10s of $1,000. And then you start thinking of hundreds of 1000s of dollars. And then I'm guessing you start thinking millions of dollars, I'm not at the point where I'm handing over millions of dollars to other people right now. But certainly the very high 10s are going out. And it's the same decision that I would have made 10 years ago, but instead of worrying about whether the $97 that I was paying for something, I'm now worrying if the $47,000 that I'm paying for something is going to give me a return. So new level new devil, same same but different problems. But the metrics that you're using for those questions and answers, distracted by 10 at each, at each stage pretty much. And so looking back and having these calls just recently, I know that there have been four distinct roles that I have found myself in, and that I can see over and over again, when I talk to you guys. So here's what they are. The first one is the employee. And this is, this is like where you start out. And you're doing all of the things, you you're packing orders, you're putting stickers on things, you're serving customers, you're filling up the shelves, you're doing the ordering, like doing the cleaning the toilet, you're doing all the things, hopefully, you're paying yourself a wage because you're an employee. But at this point, the business growth relies solely on the sheer willpower and hard work and the hours that you personally put in, to be honest, at this point is usually a pretty crappy job. Because you don't get paid if you're sick. You don't get paid to go on holidays. There's no 401k or superannuation or pension or whatever it's called in your country. And there's no boss to pick up the pieces when it all goes pear shaped. And so you want to get out of that, that role as soon as possible. Because I even see people being volunteers and I'm air quote lots of air quotes today because they're not paying themselves a wage, that they would have paid an employee to be in there. So you've got at this point, you've got the drive, you've got the commitment you do willing to do whatever it takes, but this is the point where I tend to find it's like that first 12 to 18 months. This is the point where burnout tends to happen. Because it is literally you doing everything. And this is the point where people either give up, they post their business on some sort of Facebook group and they really, really hope that someone else wants to buy their dream And they'll at least recoup some of their money. Generally, that doesn't happen, they end up with a garage full of stock, that five years later, they're still trying to get rid of, but you are listening to him, you still hear you're listening to this podcast. And so I would be pretty confident that if you haven't already managed to get past this stage, you're certainly in a position to move past this stage. The next, the next step up after employee is what I call the manager. And as you start to grow as your business starts to grow, doesn't matter if it's retail, or E commerce or service based business. By default, this is the role that you tend to move into, you are making a lot more decisions. But you're still actively working on the shop floor, or you're packing orders, or you're doing the marketing or you're doing something. And this is generally where most six figure businesses get to, and they stay stuck. Because they avoid making big decisions. And they don't sit down and make plans, because they quote, too busy. And they're bogged down in what is going on every single day. And as a result, they end up pretty much slipping back into being an employee. And this is the point where you've created yourself a job. And I'll be honest, a lot of people I speak to, are really happy at this stage, they're happy to get up and go to work, take a wage and be their own boss for one of a better word. And that is totally okay. But there is a group of people. And that just might be you who want more than that. And they don't want to have to be the engine, they don't want to have to drive the entire business day in and day out. And if that engine breaks down, the business just implodes. And, and I'm sure you've seen this, those businesses that just close up when the owner wants to take a holiday, or if they're sick. And I mean, to me, I think we have a coffee shop just down the road, and over Christmas of all places Christmas, that that core two week break over Christmas, they just shut the shop down to go on holidays. And it's because they didn't trust their staff to run the business without them. I mean, holy heck, how much money did they lose? Because that's what I see. I see lost sales, and really poor customer experience. Because there's nothing worse than turning up to a shop only to find out they're closed. So what do you do you go to a competitor, you may never come back as a customer. But hey, if that's you, and that's what you want? That is fine. There are lots of strategies on this podcast that you can still implement, and put them into place yourself. But I'm kind of guessing if you're listening to this podcast, you want more than that? Would that be right? So the next level up that I find is what I call the fo E O. So instead of CEO, the fo e o n on the outside, they've got what looks like a successful business. They're making money. But they're still working a lot. And they're spending most of their time doing things. They're doing all of the things. They're fighting fires. They confused, leading for managing because they're two very, very different things. They work way more than they should they work way more than they have to. Because to be honest, they don't know what to do if they're not working.
Salena Knight 23:48
And retailers at this point, often start to look for new projects. And I've got the story of Rachel and Greg, and they had a beautiful, beautiful couple. They have a gift store and a cafe in Tasmania in Australia. But then they also owned a business that made promotional items like magnets and pens. Greg also runs a photography business. What's the other one? Oh, and they were also when I first started talking to them embarking on a new venture to build holiday accommodation, because that was their main trade. Now they had a seven figure bid or they have a seven figure business. But when we dug into it, the wheels were falling off, like seriously falling off because they were alternating between doing all of the things as folios and then taking their focus away and dabbling and I say dabbling in these ridiculously large projects. Like hello building holiday accommodation, not a small job running a second business and the business, not a small job. And so they're doing this because they wanted to chase the thrill of the new, they wanted that excitement and they weren't getting that from the existing business. But the existing business was imploding in the background. And we're talking millions of dollars. So you can't really afford for millions of dollars with a business to go down the drain. This is, this is where I see so many businesses just stall. They, they might see some year on year growth. But what's missing is that passion that drive that determination that pushed the business through all of those early years. And remember, you don't need to be the engine. But somebody needs to be the visionary and someone needs to know where the business is going so that other people can implement that. But if you don't know where you're going, and how do you know when you've got there, and how does everyone know to rock the boat in the same way, what I find it here are the here are the things I hear people saying when they're at this level. So maybe if you find yourself saying some of these things, you could be stuck in folio land. And it's stuff like my team don't do what I tell them to do. Like I've shown them how to do it, and they're just not doing it my way. Or they start nitpicking on stuff that they have allocated. So you know that it's not being done my way, or adding in when they really don't need to be there. And I think I've probably spoken about this in the past where there was me, like, I'm gonna put my hand up and say, I was extremely rude. And I would hear like a being in my office. And I would hear like a really one of my favorite customers come in, and I would just go out and buy into the sale and the conversation. I mean, looking back, that is really rude. And it is really demoralizing for your team. Because you have to empower them, you have to give them ownership of the sale and have their customers and have the business that they're creating. And so I find that, that they do start nitpicking, they do start butting in where they don't need to be. Because while they say, when you ask them that they want to be able to delegate, the reality is that they actually refuse to let the team or the person that they've outsourced to be on Thomet on all tournaments. So autonomous means you look after yourself, you you know, you've finished the project, you do the things. And what I also find is they abdicate all responsibility, rather than delegating the implementation. And I see this over and over and over again, most the most common is marketing agencies and social media management. So things like ads management, social media management, marketing, in general, is they they get on the call with me and they say, and I hired a marketing agency, and they didn't get me any results. And when I dig in and say, okay, so what KPIs were they working to what, you know, what did you put in place for your goals and your stretch goals? What did you tell them the return on adspend? Is that you wanted and they come back? Well, no, I hired them, because they're specialists? Well, yeah, they're specialists at the implementation. And they may even be specialist set the strategy. But if you haven't been super clear at what you want them to achieve, then they're just doing the best they can with what they've got. So you can abdicate. So you can't abdicate responsibility. You can only delegate the implementation, someone still has to be responsible for making sure that the person that you asked to do the job, doesn't matter what job it is, someone has to be responsible for checking that job and making sure that it meets the criteria that you set. And if you haven't set the criteria, you can't whinge that people haven't done the thing that you ask them to do. And so if there's a lot of whinging going on, and a lot of complaining going on in your business, I want you to sit back and think well, hold on. Am I actually in this fo e o role where I'm not actually in control of my business, I'm being quite controlling. And like I said, I'll put my hand up. And I will say that I have been there and I find myself slipping back into that role. And I do have to keep checking myself. And this is why I give people clear instructions, like my team clear instructions. If I overstep the mark, you know, pull me up on it, because that is our natural place of safety is if we feel like we're controlling all the things, then we feel like we're in control. But that's kind of not how it works. And so, for those of you who kind of recognize the fo EO slump and realize it for what it is, you know, at this stage that What you actually need is not more work, you don't need more work. It's like like Rachel and Greg, they, they're now back in love with their store after working with us and my team and, and their team are actually super enthusiastic about what's in store for the business. And, like, they used to have post it notes posted everywhere that was like, do not do this, clean this, do this, do this do that. There's no more notes anymore. There's just harmony, and there's goals, and there's expectations, and there's KPIs. And people know what they need to work towards. When you get to this level, you know that what you need is not more work, you need more resources, that will help you move the needle exponentially. And those resources generally aren't more stuff to do. They are people, they are conversations, they are sometimes strategies, automation, things like that, it's not more stuff to do. And when you have that network of people, and like I said, I know from experience that if you are hanging around with people who have the same goals, or want the same things, bigger, better things you they push you to be better, and to think bigger, and to do more with the time that you have. And to seek out help. I know for me that asking for help was, and still is really, really hard. But actually, there's quite a lot of satisfaction in helping other people. And so I know that sometimes if I put my hand up and ask a question, somebody else gets great satisfaction in helping me conquer that, you know, that obstacle or that problem or solve it, you know, solving that problem. And so we shouldn't think about asking questions as being a burden on somebody else. Because sometimes, asking the question is actually a really good opportunity for someone to feel good about themselves. Does it make sense
Salena Knight 32:07
that that confidence that comes with being able to have conversations and ask questions without fear of judgment, that becomes the motivator for growth. And if you're in the fo e o phase, I want you to be excited about breaking out of that rut, because the other side is the CEO level. And when you get to the CEO level, that is when you truly understand leverage, you truly know what it's like to not have to do all the things. And your passion is reignited by something more than just selling products. The true CEO isn't spending their days, like messing about in Canva or or worrying about what the employees are doing. Because they know they have great managers in in the next level up who will do that stuff. And who will report back to them, the true CEO gets to dream big, like think way bigger than you thought before. And they get to drive the vision they get. And that is so much fun. And they drive the business forward. Because they're confident, they have clarity, and they're in control of their business because they know that they are not the business, the business is the business, the business is a tool for helping customers and for making money and potentially you're changing the world. And whatever way it is, the brand has impact. But it doesn't mean that you have to be the entire driving mechanism, you just have to be the destination, you have to know where you're going. And when you get to that level, you get to choose the parts of the business that you want to focus on. Because you've got the systems and the processes and the people around you who are way better at doing their job than you ever were. It's at this point where all the bits when you put them together, just exponentially grow everything. And that is when brands go on to do eight 910 figures. You've got to have the if you're watching the video and clicking my fingers together, you've got to have the hole or at least be putting the pieces in to make the hole and I say hole as in the whole thing. Not like a doughnut hole. Feel like I just lost my momentary track of thought there. Let's just recap. We've got the employee, we've got the manager, we've got the folio, and then we've got CEO. So I want you to ask yourself as we finish up 2022 Very, very soon. Where are you on, on that scale in those roles? And where do you want to be? Where do you want to Move to in 2023. Because if you want to move to the next level, I'm happy to help you. I'm happy to be there to guide you. And if you want to move kind of from the fo e o level, up to the CEO level, then you'll be really pleased to know that I have reopened to my supercharged mastermind. While I will be reopening my supercharged mastermind and currently taking applications for that. It is application process only. And every week, you're going to get access to me and my team, my expert network, the expert network, as well as tools and the resources and the conversations and the access that you need to scale. Like I said, it is by application only. And I do have a selection criteria in place to keep the the people in the group at a certain level and above. And we're not in a position like this, this program is not for people who are at that employee or even manager level it is for people who are looking to scale up. And I'm going to keep the group reasonably small, because I really want to put the effort in to see to help you to grow your business. And like I said, if it's application only, not everybody is going to be successful, unfortunately. But if that's something that you can see yourself, utilizing to grow your business, like if you are at that point where you're ready to invest in yourself, so that you can grow your business, you can find that application form over at Celina night.com, forward slash supercharge, you have to have a call with me. And so you'll book a call in you'll get some questions to answer. And then we'll have a chat. And maybe it will be the right fit. Maybe it won't. Regardless, I'm more than happy to get onto a conversation and give you a hand and help you to grow your business. Because I really want as many of you as possible to hit that CEO level because this is when business is fun. Again, this is when the challenges are there. But the challenge is, it's like back at the beginning when challenges were fun, like trying to work stuff out. That was exciting. It's just It's same same but different, you know, new level new devil, you're just working on bigger things at bigger levels quite often with bigger investments. But you got people to do the hard work for you. That's what I love. I love not having to do all of the things and just concentrating on where we're going. So if that is something that you need help with Selena knight.com, forward slash supercharge. But as we go into 2023, I really want you to just sit with where you're at in your business, which one of those roles are you doing? And are you happy with it. Because if you are happy with it, that's fine. Just find the strategies that you need. Because at those lower levels, it tends to be strategy that you need, rather than those next level resources. Just find the strategies you need and continue to get up and do what you're doing. And I'm sure it will be great. But I'm also there for the people who want to go to the next level. And so if that is you, Selina knight.com forward slash supercharge, we can have a chat, see if it's the right fit. And that's that's it for this episode. I'm just recording a few episodes before we go into Christmas about topics that are really important to me at this time of year. So I really hope you're enjoying them. And if you are, please reach out, drop me a DM, comment on one of my posts, send me an email, whatever that looks like. Because it always is heartening to know that somebody out there is listening to what I have to say. And it's making a big difference. And as always, don't forget, I would love it. If you could write me a review, feel free to snap a picture of it. And I am happy to share it on my social media, in my emails, all of the things. Alrighty, until next week, bye. So that's a wrap. I'd love to hear what insight you've gotten from this episode, and how you're going to put it into action. If you're a social kind of person, follow me at the Selena Knight. And make sure to leave a comment. And let me know. And if this episode made you think a little bit differently, or gave you some inspiration, or perhaps gave you the kick that you needed to take action. Then please take a couple of minutes to leave me a review on your platform of choice. Because the more reviews the show gets, the more independent retail and E commerce stores just like yours, that we can help to scale. And when that happens, it's a win for you. A win for your community, and a win for your customers. I'll see you on the next episode.