As we head into the new year, I created a fun little insight tool for you. I call it the 5X CEO Scorecard. In less than five minutes, you'll be able to get oversight into the areas of your business that you're doing well in and the areas that you might want to give a little bit more attention to. Think of it like a mini New Year's audit for your business and you can have it for free. Grab it at selenainight.com forward slash scorecard. And in less than five minutes, you'll get more insight into your business than you have may have gotten in the whole of 2025. selenainite.com forward slash scorecard. Grab it before it's gone. Hey there and happy new year. Welcome to the Bringing Business to Retail podcast. I really hope that you had a joy-filled holiday and that you managed to spend some time with the people that make you happy. Whether you're starting 2026 off by jumping into this podcast or you're one of those fabulous people who have been with me for a while, let me say a warm welcome to the podcast where we talk all about strategies and solutions that make more money for your retail or e-commerce business.

Now, I actually had a different episode planned for today, but I had a chance encounter last week that I really wanted to share with you because I think it's extremely timely. My next door neighbor just turned 50 and to celebrate she threw a barefoot bowls party. Now, for those of you in the Northern hemisphere, you're probably thinking I recorded this months ago, but no, this was just last week. It's summer here in Australia. So the perfect weather for barefoot bowling. It was a really interesting scenario because the only people who I knew who were going to the event were my next door neighbor, the birthday girl herself, and one of my other next door neighbors, the family was going as well. So Ed and I get dressed up as you can when you're going outside bowling. And we head off to the location. Now we'd already been sent these team lists by the birthday girl. And we had very strict instructions that bowls kicked off at 5pm. So we had to arrive well beforehand, which of course meant lots of small talk with people that you have never met before.

So you might think that I'm okay with being in these uncomfortable situations because I am very, you know, I'm very joyous, I'm very jubilant, I'm very extroverted, but honestly, even I walk into a room with people I don't know and I'm like, I don't know what to say. So I don't get as excited as you may well think going into a room of people that I've never met before. We arrive at the venue and there's already about 15 people there. I think there was about 35 people going to be there in total. So we kind of, you know, we kind of wander up to them and introduce ourselves. And of course, the first question that you've got is how did you meet Lisa, who was the birthday girl? Several of these people have worked with my neighbor 15 years ago when she was a trader. And so we chit chat about that. I mentioned that in my last house, my previous next door neighbor was a short term money market trader. I'm like, at this point, I'm trying anything to find something that we can have a conversation about, like some point of reference that we can join in on, like something that we can connect. That's what I'm looking for, something that we can connect with. And so in my previous house, my next door neighbor of 20 years before he retired was a short term money market trader. And I'm like, okay, I found something. That's one of the things I try and do is always try and find something that we can connect with. And then I make a joke like I do about how clearly I surround myself with people who like to make money. So after 10 minutes or so, I look around for Ed and I wander over to see who he's talking to. And as this woman turns around, blur, no filter, Sal, I blurt out, Hey, I know you. And we all laugh because my husband had pretty much done the same thing. So it turns out that her son and my daughter went to the same primary school classes. I mean, it's such a small world. Next up, we get rounded up into our teams and we head out for the barefoot bowls competition.

I think I've played barefoot bowls once, but never in a team environment. I've played it just once with my family. So this was a lot more official. We had an umpire. He gets out the front, he rounds everybody up and he says there are six rounds and you get points based on how many of your team's balls, balls, balls, nearest to the jack, which is the little white ball that you're trying to get the closest to to win. Let me just sidebar over here and tell you that if you haven't already figured out, I am deeply competitive. However, I am not the most, well, I don't have the most accurate hand-eye coordination. I can't catch very well. I was always the last person to get picked for a sports team. And there's a reason that I go to a gym. One machine, free weights, no one else relying on me to keep the team going. Now, my husband, on the other hand, is one of those people who just naturally, painfully annoying. He just naturally picks up any sports. And so thankfully we are in separate teams. And so you can bet that we both want to beat each other's teams. And barefoot bowls, if you've never played, is supposed to be not this hugely competitive thing. It's just a nice Sunday afternoon out. You have a few drinks, you stand around, you chit chat. I mean, it's, it's meant to be like a little bit of an experience, not so much a competition. Well, that's not how you go roles. Okay. It doesn't take long. In fact, just the first round when of course my team wins and the competition begins. And I'm sure it comes as no surprise that at this point, I assume the role of super coach and I am determined to get my team to the top of that leaderboard, despite the fact I don't know how to play this game. So I am out there coaching. I've listened to the instructions that Oli Umpire gave us about how to hold the ball and how to roll the ball. And I'm walking up and the team would consult together before they had to go and where the ball needed, know, which way we were going to go. I'm giving pep talks, I'm giving little massages, all of the things. The final round comes. And of course we're winning. We have won every game at this point. We have nine points. The next closest team is at six. Oli, our umpire, decides that with just 10 minutes to go, there's not really time to play a whole new round. So he decides we need a showdown with just 10 minutes. Double or nothing, he says. And so we play. Our balls, balls, balls. I think I'm getting confused with balls, which is the little silver ones. These are the big balls. Our bowls are colored pink. So Rich on my team, he bowls first and the bowl goes straight into the gutter. Okay. Clearly the sun and the champagne are not helping my team at this point. The other team steps up and their bowls are yellow and the first bowl lands about six feet away from the jack. Now, let me also tell you, if you've not played this game before, it's not over till it's over my friends, because someone could knock your ball closer to the jack. Someone could knock the Jack completely in a different direction. I mean, at the end of the day, none of us have played before. It could just be bedlam. So the game is not over until it's over. So at this point, I have one ball in the gutter and I have the other team six feet away from the Jack. I bowl second. Let me just point out here that whilst my team was winning, and of course I put it all down to my team coaching, of course, my actual bowling, not that great. In fact, never even close to the Jack. But a great leader does not have to be an expert doer. Am I right? And so I bowl. The bowl stops about two feet away from the Jack. I am jumping up and down. I am woohooing. This is the best bowl of the day for me. We are winning. Like honestly, as long as nobody knocks the ball out the way, we have won. I am feeling confident. I'm jumping up and down. My team are jumping up and down. Although at this point, some of them are a little bit like not so invested. I am invested. The next player gets up and he's on the opposite team and his ball lands about one foot away from the Jack. I am not happy. I run to the other end of the ball in green to check to see if it's as close as it actually looks. It is. I'll spare you. The TLDR is it all goes downhill from here. We lost. But as I walked away, I knew that we won on points. We still won because even when they won that game, that team would have only had one point. And so we would have had nine points. They would have had seven points. Okay. I'm not a sore loser. I just know that sometimes I win. Okay. I'm trying to any win at this point. We're all having fun. You know, we're joking. We've shaken hands with the other team and...

As we head in for dinner, we are strictly instructed once again, let's just say Lisa is a very decisive and, and authoritative person. We are strictly instructed to sit next to someone we do not know. And that was not on our team. Okay. I end up sitting next to a lovely lady. We get to chatting. I'm gluten free. And even though I know that in a restaurant like this, they're going to be pretty okay. I always have my glute guard tablets, which are just like accidental. He'll be with accidental gluten poisoning. And I had two because I'm always prepared. And so she mentions she is also gluten free and she forgot to bring her glute card tablets. We bond over the fact that have two tablets. I share my tablet with her. The night goes on. We chit chat. We're chatting to everybody. I marvelous conversations. But as we're getting ready to go home, at this point, it's about nine o'clock and friends, I'm usually in bed by about nine thirty. So as we're getting ready to go home, I pick up my coat and we're about to leave, but Ed gets bailed up by somebody who starts chatting to them. And so I can see that this is a conversation. Ed starts to pour himself a glass of water. like, he's settled in for a little while. And so I just take a seat right next to me and I'm sitting next to a gentleman called Matt, who had been on my team. Now during the game, we hadn't really gotten a chance to chat because we were winning my friends. We would just whoop it up. So I sit down and start with the proverbial question of, Hey, how do know Lisa? That old fallback and what he's doing now. So he tells me that he's tried to retire several times. So I'm guessing if Lisa's just turned 50, Matt's somewhere between 50 and 60. Anyway, he's tried to retire several times, but he always gets pulled back in. He got pulled back in to start a venture capital firm. He got pulled back in to get a startup company funding. He got pulled back in and relocated to Asia for five years to help a company expand. I think honestly, there were so many cool projects. I can see why he didn't retire, but he says now he had a bit of a health scare and he's actually retired. And so of course I ask him, how do you feel your day now that you're finally retired? I don't know what I would do if I was retired. And he tells me, this is where the story's been going all this time. He has a shop. You know where this is going, right? I say, my God, I'm a retail and e-commerce consultant. Please tell me more about it. This is my happy place. And he says, it's a little store in a country town. sells boots and a Cobra hats for you guys in the U S think cowboy boots and Western hats. And it does around $3 million a year. So the store is about two hours from Sydney. He never goes there. I'm like, wow. $3 million a year? Like tell me more, I say. He goes, oh, well, guy clearly likes to make money. He says, my margins are 34 % EBIT. And I'm like, in my head, and you know, your girl doesn't like to do a lot of air math, right? But in my head, I'm like, okay, I think before EBIT, that's like 24 % profit. That is more than the double the average net profit for retail. And I'm air math-ing. in my head going, is this right? I'm just, and and meanwhile, he starts to tell me a story. Now remember, it's the end of the night. He's had a few champagnes, but he tells me as a trader, he knows how to make money. Well, duh, he wouldn't be getting pulled in all these new projects if he didn't know how to make money. But he also tells me he knows literally nothing about retail. And he says to me, I was talking to another guy recently. also owns a very similar business and he was saying that 2025 was one of the worst years ever. They are in debt more than they expected and they've got like virtually no profit this year. And then he chants to me and he says, I don't know what he's talking about. I can't keep restocking my shelves fast enough. like you must have great marketing. He says, we don't do any marketing. And he shakes his head and he looks at me and he goes, You know what the biggest problem people have in retail? And of course I say, well, I think I do, you know, but hey Matt, you tell me what you think it is. And Matt says, they don't think about making money. and they get way too attached to inventory. I swear, I felt like I had just found my business soulmate. Matt, I built a course on that. I tell him, I don't even think that he's listening to me at this point. You see, I like making money. have done it my whole life. It is fun. It is a game, but you can't get too attached to the outcome. I'm sitting here nodding. I'm very glad that I stopped at two glasses of champagne two hours ago so that I can remember all of this to tell you. He goes on, when I order stock, I don't want to have to pay the invoice until after I've sold the inventory. Now, sure, sometimes we get it wrong, but you know, if it stays a little bit longer than I'd like. The simple fact is as long as I sell at least 60 % in 30 days, I'm golden. I've got the money to pay the bill. I don't have a cashflow problem. We have no debt, no cashflow problem. So I said to him, well, how are you doing the ordering? Like you said you don't work in the business. He says, no, no, no. I like to keep track of the inventory. Like that's the thing I like to do. So I just look at how much of each thing has sold in the past. And then I look at what's trending in the current quarter and I never order more than I can sell before I have to pay. Matt, you deserve a freaking medal. I'm about to jump in and ask him about indent orders where you have to pay upfront because I've worked with a retailer with the exact same store as Matt, the exact same niche in a country town, similarish revenue. But one of the biggest problems that they had was having to order and pay for stock in advance. Before I can take a breath, remember, Matt, couple of champagnes in. He is ready. He's just telling his story and I am sitting there nodding. So before I can ask him about indent ordering, he says to me, now there are always going to be those orders that I have to do like months in advance. Indent orders, I say, is that what they're called? He says, well, I just refuse to give them any money. I only do it on the lines that I know that we can sell a crap ton of and we're in the top five resellers of those brands. So just went, nah, sorry, mate, not paying. This is such an Aussie conversation, isn't it? So as he pauses to finally take a sip of his champagne, I say to him, that's really lucky of you, Matt. Most brands won't do that. Most suppliers make you pay a deposit. Hmm. He says, yeah, nah, not me. So at this point, while he's shipping champagne, I'm like, I've got a breath. I've got a break. can, I can ask him some questions. So I jump in and I ask him about the e-comm side of things. Don't have e-commerce? Matt tells me he's done the math. He doesn't think it's worth the effort. He'd have to hire another person. And the main thing that he sells is boots, boots and hats. And if people want to return them, then he is going to have to pay for return shipping and sizing and all that. It's too messy, he says. Now, obviously we disagree on this. Matt, I say, if you add e-commerce to a bricks and mortar store on average, you'll increase your revenue. By 33 % he says, yeah, nah, I'm okay at this point. Yeah. He's doing $3 million. No marketing. So I am so intrigued at this point. Here is a guy with literally no experience in retail, dictating terms to suppliers, something that most seasoned retailers just won't even try to do. He has one physical store in a regional town and is bringing in just shy of $3 million with no marketing, no e-commerce. He doesn't work in the store. He doesn't manage the store. He just likes to order the inventory. He has sales targets in place. He has a team that know exactly what is expected of them and when. He has very clear reporting in place. But most importantly, he is literally doing this for fun. He has no attachment to the outcome. His margins are 150 % higher than the average store that is double and a half. This conversation is making me so happy. But of course it is at this point, Ed walks over to tell me that our Uber is three minutes away. I shake Matt's hand and I tell him what a great job he's doing. He laughs this great big belly laugh and he says, make a money, darl. That's all it is. And it's damn fun. I wanted to share this story with you because it isn't the podcast that I planned for this week, but I did think that as we bring in this new year, that it is perfectly fitting that we should all be like Matt and we should see business as just money and making money should be fun. Look, if what I've just shared you made you think, you know what, I want to be like Matt. I am ready to build my business differently. that I want to tell you that in 2026, we are opening a small number of spots to work with us one-on-one inside of the 5X Strategic Advisory Program. This is my 12 month strategic consulting program for seven figure retail and e-commerce businesses who are done guessing and are ready for strategic partnership. As a fractional strategic advisor, we'll do a deep dive across all five pillars of your business, build a custom roadmap for you, and then stay with you all year long providing strategic oversight decision support and access to specialists. If you're ready to explore what that could look like for your business in 2026, head on over to selenainite.com forward slash 5X and book a call with the team. We'll walk through where you're at, where you want to go, and we'll tell you honestly if the 5X program is what you need or not. Either way, you will definitely leave with clarity. To see if it's a right fit, speak to us over at salenaknight.com/5X. If I can just leave you with one final piece of wisdom. Sure, business can be filled with challenges. But if we didn't like this real world video game of blasting obstacles out of our way and troubleshooting ourselves out of sticky situations, we sure as heck wouldn't still be here. Am I right? Play the game, my friends, and let's make more money in 2026. 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 thesalenaknight 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.