Salena Knight  0:01  

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 Selena 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.

Salena Knight  0:47  

Hey there, and welcome to the bringing business to retail podcast. So the holiday season has officially left the building, and I hope that you are able to take a little bit of time off hang out with your friends, with your family. Maybe you opened some gifts. Hopefully you got the things that you wanted. I know that you have been in the trenches, wrapping orders, running campaigns and maybe answering a few too many. Is this still in stock questions, and now it's this strange, sometimes quiet and let's be honest, kind of exhausting time of the year. I call this the holiday hangover. But don't worry, if you are feeling like that, you are not alone. Today, I want to talk to you about three ways to reset your business and yourself, because the truth is, you need a plan to recover just as much as you need a plan to thrive during the holiday chaos. So grab your coffee, or, Hey, if you've got some leftover egg dog, no judgment here, grab your beverage. Put those earbuds in, and let's dive in. Alright, the first thing that you can do in this time is audit and adjust your inventory. So

Salena Knight  2:05  

let's start with I'm going to call it the elephant in the room, which is

Salena Knight  2:09  

your shelves, whether they are digital, whether they are physical, I want you to take a deep breath and look at what's left and get strategic. And here is how you're going to do that. Look at what's sold like crazy and double down on ordering more of that for next year. Maybe you might keep it as a signature item, or maybe you need to get that stock out of the building if it was seasonal. So look at what didn't budge. No shame. This is your opportunity to bundle, to discount, to use those sales to get that stock gone if you don't need it on your shelves, remember, every item tells a story, and the more that you listen, the better your decisions will be next time around, next holiday season, we want To maximize those profits. Alrighty. Step two, check your financial pulse. Now, okay, I said it the F word yes, finances. And I know that it is not the sexiest topic, but it is one of the most important right now for most of you who are listening, because this is the peak season and you have worked really hard to bring in that revenue, so let's make sure it is working for you. Here's a really quick exercise that you can do, write down your total revenue from the holiday season and then subtract your expenses, everything from inventory to ads to shipping costs to wages, and look at what's left and decide how much are you going to save for a rainy day. Now, maybe you've already done this. Maybe you already budget that 6% of your revenue goes into rainy day, or 12% goes back into reinvestment. But I want you to look at how much are you going to reinvest in your business in 2025 this does not have to be complicated, not over Christmas. You can get well deep into it in January, but even if you are writing it down on the back of a napkin, you're going to be already ahead of most people who don't do this. In fact, too many people will wait till the middle of next year, when it's quiet, and then realize that they haven't thought about their revenue and they haven't looked at what were they going to invest in? Were they going to invest in themselves? Were they going to invest in a new ad strategy or a new product line, or maybe a collaboration? Think about the F word, and the F word is, finances, all right. Step three is to reset, reset your mindset. This one is for you, not just your business, because let's be honest, if you're anything like me and the people that I'm working with, you are running on adrenaline and caffeine and maybe a little bit. Of holiday magic, but burnout is not a badge of honor. It is a sign that you need to a breather and that you need to take a step back. So here's my challenge for you, take one day completely off. No emails, no says, spreadsheets, no looking at DMS, no looking at your POS no looking at the back end of your website, no thinking about your store. Go for a walk, binge watch your favorite show, or just sleep in and reflect on what has worked this season, and this is important. What are you proud of? Write it down. Celebrate it. You deserve to be acknowledged for how far you have come this year. Now I know, for me, I've talked about how I joined a mastermind this year, and one of the first things that Jasmine did was give us space to write. Now I'm not saying I'm a journaling convert, but what I have realized is the quiet and the space can bring you clarity. It can bring you the answers, and it can bring you ideas. When your brain is not full, that is when the magic happens. It's why all the best ideas come when you're in the shower or you're walking the dog or you're driving and you can't take notes. Here's a little side tip. If you are driving and listening to this podcast and you think you know what I want to take a note, if you have an iPhone, then you can tell Siri to take a note. And I do this all the time. When I'm driving and I'm listening to a podcast, I will literally say, Siri, take a note. Look at and I'll look at the timestamp. That's how I do it. Look at 12 minutes 31 of Sal's podcast about post holiday recovery. You might just make a note that says, Siri, take a note. Sal said, I'm allowed to take a day off. You choose you. You do you. But I know for me that when I'm in those situations and I can't take notes, that is when the magic happens, and that is when I use my devices to be able to make sure that I can come back and use my learnings to be able to grow. So listen, recovering from the holiday season is just as important as thriving during it. And your business is not a sprint, it is a marathon, and the time that you spend recalibrating now is what is going to set you up for an even stronger 2025 so my friends, this is it. This is the end of 2024 grab that leftover eggnog, or hey, champagne, if you are celebrating, take a deep breath and remember you have got this. Alrighty. Thank you so much for being here with me. Whether this is your first episode, or you have been with me for the whole year, or many years before that, I am deeply grateful for the time that we spend together. I am looking forward to talking to you guys, in 2025 it's gonna be a brand new year. I will be a year older. It is my birthday coming up, and by the time the next episode goes live, I will be closer to 50 than I am to 40. Have a fantastic new year. Remember, rest and reflect and recalibrate, and I will see you in 2025 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.