Archive for the ‘negativity’ Category

Forward motion….

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Going forward

Going forward

So we’re sliding into February, but most of us are still gingerly feeling our way into the New Year, apprehensive about what it’s going to bring. The good news is scant, there’s job cuts, price rises on just about everything, and the weather is miserable and damp, nothing exciting to really put a spring in your step.

If your New Year’s resolutions have already taken a bit of a beating, how about looking forward into 2011 and putting some forward motion into it.
What’s forward motion? Well, It’s basically movement towards something – the something is up to you. Towards a goal, or an opportunity or a decision, the movement is the important part. This year looks like the big toughie for retail, so faced with a choice of staying where we are and doing what we’ve always done, we just have to keep moving forward. Choose forward motion !

Of course, forward motion might not always be the best choice, obviously you’re going to make a few duff decisions along the way, but at least you’ll be making them. In our frantically paced world with so much information readily available, it’s still hard to get all the information we need to make a secure decision, so we agonise over the details. In reality our gut decisions are usually the right ones, but they’re hard to justify.

The more choices we have the harder it is to make a decision. So I’m advocating that it’s better to make the best possible decision you can with the information you have available, comfortable in the knowledge that if you’ve stuffed it up this time, you can choose something else next time.

When in doubt… choose forward motion !

There’s so much information available, that ultimately it just becomes a personal choice of what to focus on. Why focus on the negatives, which are often exaggerated, instead of the positives?
There are two main reasons. Firstly, we tend to focus on the sensational and the dangerous. One sensational anecdote about a store robbery or completely outrageous customer, outweighs a year’s worth of “I went to work and it was pretty much the same as usual.”

Secondly, choosing to focus on the negatives gives everyone else an excuse not to pursue big dreams and goals either.
There are plenty of people who’ll feed your fears and worries, but really, often they’re talking more about themselves and their lives than what’s good for you…. Psychologists call this a process of projecting, ie they project their fears onto you, but the double whammy is that this keeps you in your place and ultimately reaffirms their view again because you didn’t move on either !

If you’re looking for an excuse not to do something, you really don’t have to look far. Playing it safe is not usually a mockable choice - Everyone understands it.
But all things considered, good things can come from bad experiences too, in fact that’s often where we learn the most.

So, if you’re still prevaricating and pontificating on why you can’t change anything in 2011, just consider the following success stories

• Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace while living in a small house with his wife and thirteen children. Yes, that’s thirteen children !

• Walt Disney was a failed, bankrupt, small-time advertisement man before he came up with Mickey and friends.

• J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter whilst on the dole. Her first book was rejected by twelve publishers.

• e.e. cumming’s first book of poetry was rejected by fifteen publishers. He self-published it, and well, you know the rest…

• Abraham Lincoln lost multiple jobs, went bankrupt, and failed in numerous bids for public office before being sworn in as the 16th President of the United States.

• Mary Anne Evans living in truly sexist times, had to change her pen name to George Eliot, whereupon she became one of the most beloved English novelists of all time.

Dissatisfaction with something, such as your shop or your accountant for example isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Dissatisfaction can be a force for change.

Dissatisfaction results “from contemplating what falls short of our wishes or expectations” The funny thing here is that we’ve all got these wishes or expectations but we don’t usually acknowledge them, maybe we’re not even aware of them.

So, my next question, to keep the forward motion, well, in motion really, is :

What are you working on?

Hopefully, you’re working on something that’s big, that’s going to take you to the next level, that gets you excited, so excited that you can’t wait to tell everyone about it.

No matter what your work is, no matter what you do, there’s a way to create a project that has you buzzing with excitement about it, where something big, fun and new that might make a difference is just around the corner….

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Posted in Challenge, Change, Knowledge, Positive mental attitude, Strategy, Uncategorized, game, goals, learning, negativity, recession, retailers, screw it up | No Comments »

The definition of insanity…

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Einstein said it best !

Einstein said it best !

I believe it was Einstein who came up with this oft repeated quote although i’ve seen it attributed to others too. Basically, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result !

How often in life do we do this ? I don’t have enough fingers and toes to even begin to count the number of times i’ve fallen foul of this truism.

If you find yourself negotiating with your staff, bemoaning your sales figures, despairing at the market, or putting the same advert in the same magazine month upon month(without testing it) then you’ve surely strayed down this route.

The clever thing to do (apparently) is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and have a look at what you could do differently?

Implement a personal development meeting with each of your staff ?

Try a new sales avenue - take the product to the customer rather than waiting for them to come to you ?

Look at all the businesses that are surviving and thriving in our current economy?

Teach yourself the basic rules for PR so you can be the story instead of the advertising supporting the story ?

If any of these would be doing something differently to how you normally do it, then they’re worth a try.

What else could you come up with thats totally different to how you normally do things ?

Heck, if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it, but if you find yourself going home to your spouse or long suffering partner and complaining about the same things more than once a week, then its probably time for a change, before you drive yourself, or maybe them, quietly insane.

It might even be fun to do something differently. What five things in your store or the running of your store drive you crazy ?

Have a quick brainstorm with anyone who’ll listen about what you could do about them, don’t rely on partners and staff, involve the milkman, people down the pub, your hairdresser, anyone who might have a different view point to you -after all your way hasn’t been working so well, so maybe its time for a new approach ?

What have you got to lose ?

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Posted in Independent retailers, Knowledge, einstein, negativity, pr | No Comments »

Who’s the bogie man?

Friday, April 24th, 2009

bogieman-01-fatmanpress-nm1In the 1950s, Congressman George A. Dondero denounced modern art as a communist plot.

Every day, we hear ideas that some people are annoyed with or more likely, afraid of. And in the face of fear, people lose eloquence and start calling things names, usually names that don’t make a lot of sense.

There is a danger in labelling things, because once you give it a label, its like the wait is over. For instance if an ill patient is told that they’re about to die, chances are they will, there have been innumerable cases where members of the family have forbidden the doctors to relay the news in this way, and guess what the person lived on for several more years.

Of course, that’s illness, but I’m interested in the labelling of the “recession”

Its all in the mindset, your psychology, because sure as eggs is eggs stuff will happen, but its not the cards you’re dealt, its what you do with them ! In my local town there are now about 6 empty stores, but this week one of my favourite shops opened a new store – in a better location, and its been packed all week ! Why, because for the last three years they’ve been quietly getting on with it, building a network, building a mailing list of satisfied customers, not deviating from their USP, trying, refining and getting ready for the next step.

Did they let the “recession” stop them? The answer is a clear No !

Nothing is a communist plot any more, but there’s never a shortage of bogie men available to us, to make us afraid, steal our dreams so we can’t sleep and generally make the world a scary place.

Beware of the bogie men – they’re on your TV, they’re in the newspapers and they could be all around you !

Be careful who you listen to – make sure they’re not a bogie man !

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Posted in Bad news, PMA, Positive mental attitude, Questions to ask, negativity, recession | No Comments »

Words create our world !

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Don't go on a rant fest - Get peeved instead !

Don't go on a rant fest - Get peeved instead !

Words are powerful, they enable us to describe our world, how we see it and what we’re looking at, without words we couldn’t have a shared experience. Just think, instead of this word recession we could be calling it a woobleding, or a shizkayump. Would we feel different if we had to read about a wobble in the woobleding each morning, or a shift in the shizkayump? I think we just might

We are lucky in the UK that we have such a rich language, with many layers of description and finesse. But we must be careful because the words we use shape our world…. Literally. We should be careful lest we conform to Lily Tomlin’s view that “man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain!”

So, taking the process right back to the start, it all begins with thinking. We don’t feel then think. We think then allocate sensations to the thought process, which we then call feelings. So if you consistently tell yourself that you’re tired – you’ll start yawning and you’ll feel tired.

So the key is to stand guard on your vocabulary, I got thinking about this after a recent post on the Springfair trading talk blog. The post was about these tough times we’re in, and while I’m no Ostrich, I think there’s a danger in assigning labels. For instance the word tough, implies difficult, aggressive and unfavourable conditions.

I prefer the term “challenging” which implies something altogether more thought provoking and with some positive connotations. The dictionary describes a challenge as:
1. Calling for full use of one’s abilities or resources in a difficult but stimulating effort:
2. Absorbing; intriguing:

I believe that we would feel different about our situation if faced with a challenging time, rather than a tough time. A challenging time is one where you start to really use your head, you get creative. You look for inspiration. You are thrown down a challenge, whilst you merely suffer a tough time ! Tough implies that its bigger than you, harder than you and you’d best cower away, while challenge implies ingenuity, spirit and smart thinking…

You could argue that this is just semantics, and in a way it is, but words really do create our world – I’ll prove it to you….

Next time you’re really really mad about something, don’t have a rant fest, call in the perspective police and when asked what’s up – say “ I’m really really peeved ! ” You see, even the word is funny, it’s impossible to say this word and still be mad, you have to stop and smile.

When someone asks you how you are today, don’t give our usual British dumb answer of “I’m ok” or “I’m good” or “It hasn’t happened yet” or “still here” “hanging in” or any of that dumbness that’s just a waste of good vowels.

Try (for one day) answering “I’m absolutely brilliant! “ “Fabulous” “Wicked, top of the world – marvellous, magic, any variation of this that suits you in particular…. And tell me you don’t feel better…..! Watch your vocabulary it can literally dictate what kind of a day you’re going to have – words create our world – make sure yours is a fun and zingy one

In fact, here’s my challenge to you today, come up with 10 zingy words that make you smile when you say them, and make sure you use them in conversation with customers…. Try it, go on, it’ll be fun !

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Posted in Challenge, Indepedent retailer, Positive mental attitude, negativity, recession | No Comments »

How to right royally screw it up…

Monday, April 6th, 2009

How to right royally screw it up...!

How to right royally screw it up...!

I’m a pretty positive person, I’ve worked out my ideas based on the, you’re here, I’m here, we might as well have some fun philosophy of life, and so my posts are usually positive because I really do believe that we always have a choice and there’s always something you can do – rather than sit and stew ! (rhymes are free)

So while you’re practically promised lots of positivity from me in my posts and information about how to succeed in business, I thought, just for one post, I’d venture over to the dark side….. with some brilliant ideas about how to really make life difficult for ourselves, create some problems and generally just balls it up big time!
So, here’s the caveat, obviously I don’t want you to follow this advice (lawsuits need not apply) but these gentle (ish) reminders might help us enjoy some of the common ways that we can fail…. Prepare yourself, this might hurt …….!

Hiding in fear

We’ve all been subjected to the media’s attempts to scare the bejesus out of us, and its wholly natural to feel unsure about where business is going over the next few months. Fear is the natural response to this and halting all plans and hunkering down to sit it out…. As if its all magically going to get back to “business as normal” One of the fastest ways to shoot yourself in the foot is to stop your marketing, networking and PR efforts. If you don’t do this stuff, your competition will – and you’ll be watching their brilliant efforts and feeling bad.

Not exceeding your customers expectations

Of course you’re down about business being slow. So the best thing to do is to make sure you don’t exert any extra impetus or energy to go above and beyond what your customers expect from you. After all, don’t they know there’s a recession on and we’re barely coping? If we only do the bare minimum then the customers will give us very little future business and we’ll have lots of free time for moaning, griping and complaining which will be satisfying because we knew we were right about the customers not caring anyway.

Don’t use your existing client base

Do you want a really fast and easy way to screw it all up this year? Then pay attention because this is it ! Keep hitting your head against the wall with expensive advertising to attract new customers and avoid the cost-efficient existing customers who’ve already bought from you, to whom you can cross-sell and possibly upsell. Of course, your current customers probably appreciate and need what you have to offer, but it’s so much more invigorating, putting the effort in with those mysterious other people, “the extended market” who may never buy from you. It’s a battle of wills and that’s so much more fun than a zinging x report !

Its all about me

Of course its all about you - Doh? When it comes to networking, it’s the best policy to just keep thinking about what you can get out of each one of your contacts. Don’t bother to be helpful or useful. Why should you produce fact sheets or how to guides for your customers, don’t they realise that you had to learn all this stuff the hard way, and they should too dammit !

Develop a Reputation for Irrelevance and Inefficiency

Sharp but true, each of us is a brand, just as our shops and businesses are brands, we’re the brand ambassadors – ok we don’t have Kate Moss’s clothes, or Uma Therman’s watch, but we’re brand ambassadors all the same. Some of us are quality brands that customers appreciate and buy from and others are the “Trotters Independent traders” of brands that should be avoided. To really efficiently avoid success this year we should work hard on letting our brand identities get trashed in our customers and prospective customers eyes.

We could make some promises that we can’t keep, not do what we say we’ll do, be downright argumentative, and generally maintain a bad attitude – oooh for good measure we could read the paper in the shop – that’ll show them that we just don’t care !

Make sure your staff know how annoying the customers can be

Customers, they come in when you’ve just got a cup of tea, or they want to buy something when you’ve just finished the display – and it took hours to get just right ! The nerve of them, asking questions, wanting different sizes, while your staff just want to get on with the jobs on their to do list for the day and get them ticked off, then they can have a good gossip behind the counter about what they’re having for tea or what their friend said to their other friend, or come out with useful phrases like “everything we have is out on the shopfloor” which as we all know is a winner !

Oooh, We’ve just got started, there are sooooo many ways to right royally screw it up this year. In fact, I’ve quite enjoyed writing this, I might do another one, its like therapy, but cheaper !

But I’m a balanced kind of girl, so let’s acknowledge that there are just as many opportunities for success, if you want them. It really is a glass half full, or half empty situation…. Not getting that ? – Try squinting because the situation really does depend on how you see it. So let’s stay positive, motivated and be helpful to your customers and beyond…

In the words of the great Bob Marley – “Everything is going to be alright” He also said “My feet is my only carriage, so I’ve got to push on through” So I get the feeling he would have agreed with my post ! Yeah !

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Posted in Independent retailers, Retailing in a recession, negativity, recession, screw it up | 2 Comments »