Woman successful hiking climbing silhouette in mountains, motivation and inspiration in beautiful sunset and ocean. Female hiker with arms up outstretched on mountain top looking at beautiful night sunset inspirational landscape.

4 Ways to Define Personal Success

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

March 28, 2016

Are you successful? Hopefully, you’re running a successful operation and you come to work every day with a smile on your face. But defining true personal success is often difficult.

You could be running a massively successful operation, while your personal life is crumbling all around you. Or, just the opposite may be true. Your personal life may be nothing but endless joy, and at the same time, you can barely keep the front door of your store open.

Life, both professional and personal, seems to be an endless balancing act. You often feel like a juggler, trying to keep a dozen balls in the air. It might work for a while, but it doesn’t work all the time. Read more →

Scale-iStock_000012653805_1024

The Pareto Principle and Your Store

/1 Comment/in , , , , /by

March 21, 2016

Marketers have long relied on the Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule, which states that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers.

The theory is tempered by the fact that museums rely less on a local customer base than conventional retail locations do; many of us draw a lot of revenue from tourists, including international or out-of-region visitors. Our biggest spenders may only be in town once. But even if the top-20 spending group doesn’t always comprise the same individuals, if you analyze visitorship and spending, you will find that customers in that 20% have a lot in common. Read more →

Marketing word cloud concept on white background

I Hate Marketing

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

 

March 14, 2016

I’m not ashamed to admit it, but I hate marketing. On the surface, marketing sounds like it should be fun.  You know, coming up with fun slogans or filling balloons with helium and tying them to the front door, or maybe creating a cool sign with some flashy graphics.  You know, marketing… like they do on Madison Avenue.

When you’re doing marketing you get to tap into your inner Mad Men.  Of course, after you try it, you begin to understand why Don Draper drank a little too much. Read more →

Business People Corporate Walking Travel Office Concept

5 Ways to Increase Foot Traffic

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

March 7, 2016

Have you ever noticed how many people walk by your store and don’t come in? Does it bother you? Of course it does. No one who has ever managed a retail operation is comfortable with traffic that passes them by. It’s like having a party and no one comes. For stores that are contained within a museum or an institution, it’s easy to feel like you’re doing something wrong if your numbers don’t reflect a sizable portion of the general admissions.

Increasing your foot traffic is one of the primary ways of maximizing profitability for your store. Profitability begins with feet through the door. So let’s look at five ways that you can increase your foot traffic, without breaking the bank. Read more →

iStock_000050683130_Double-Interview

The Hot Seat

/0 Comments/in , , /by

February 29, 2016

For any potential employee, the hiring process can be long, slow, frustrating, and somewhat painful. On the other hand, the person doing the hiring needs to be methodical and strategic. Unfortunately, there’s no simple way of ensuring that the hiring process is both effective and fair – much less painless.

Over the years, I’ve been hired and have hired dozens of people and frankly, neither side of the process is particularly fun. I’m fairly certain that sometimes the person doing the hiring is more uncomfortable than the person hoping to be hired. The hot seat is often hot for both sides of the equation.

Read more →

Vintage Typewriter With Phrase "A long time ago..." Typed in Blue Paper

Storytelling

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

February 22, 2016

It’s been said that you should write about what you know.  Occasionally, I have been accused that I don’t know what I am talking about, but in truth all of us are experts in some way or another.  If you do your job well, you’re probably an expert.  If you’ve been doing what you do for a while and have developed good methods to do what you do, you’re an expert.  This can be writing, managing people, cleaning, budgeting, working with customers, curating items for your store, and on and on. Read more →

128-generalmuseum-1024

Life on the Floor

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

February 15, 2016

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to visit the great Musical Instrument Museum on the outskirts of Phoenix. This is a fabulous museum and well worth your time if you happen to be visiting Phoenix. For me it was a total surprise. One of the other museum stores I visited recommended that I see it and I’m so glad they did. I expected a modest venue with a small collection of musical instruments. Instead, I got to enjoy a mega museum with musical instruments from around the world and throughout the decades. All of the displays are interactive, with music provided to each patron though headsets as they wander around the museum. Read more →

several donuts on a white background

Social Media Explained

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

February 8, 2016

A while back, I came across an image that went viral that explained social media using donuts. Naturally, the use of donuts caught my attention since donuts are at the top of my nutritional tree… and social media seemed kind of important, too.

As it turns out, the social media explanation, ala donuts, has been knocking around the Internet since 2013. It’s a simple, yet effective way to visualize the social media food chain. It’s easy to see why it caught the imagination of anyone who is trying to figure out a way to take advantage of all that social media has to offer – especially for businesses. I guess that’s why I keep a copy of these nine definitions pinned to the bulletin board near my desk.

Read more →

Flat design illustration of cloud computing. Hands holding various computer and communication devices connecting to the cloud

8 Apps To Make Your Day Better

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

With both Apple and Google each offering more than 1.5 million apps a piece, chances are you might have missed one or two that could come in handy.  A smartphone in your pocket is an amazing tool, made even more powerful when equipped with the right apps.  Better yet, most of the basic apps are free. While most apps offer Pro or expanded versions for a price, the free versions usually give you everything you need.  So, the investment in most apps is in taking the time to learn how to use them. 

Whether you work with an iPad, iPhone, or with an Android/Google platform (or some combination), you’ll find most of these apps are available no matter which operating system you prefer. The apps on this list might make your day-to-day life easier (or more complicated, depending on your technological prowess).

Read more →

iStock_000064579269_Idea-1024

10 Ideas You Should Steal

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by

January 25, 2016

In 1970, the King of the counterculture, Abbie Hoffman, wrote, Steal This Book. It was a guide to survival in time of change. It’s now 2016 and times are a changing. It’s time to steal some ideas.

Every industry has unique ways of doing business. Many of these ideas translate well to the retail business. So here are a few ideas that you can steal to help your store survive in the ever-changing world of noprofit retail. Read more →