Grow your retail business and blitz your competition by learning business strategies from outside the retail industry. Whether your just thinking about opening a boutique, or if you already have a successful retail store, Salena Knight will introduce you to business strategies not normally found in the retail environment.
Bringing Business to Retail
Bringing Business To Retail - What It's All About
Bringing business to retail podcast episode zero. Welcome to the bringing business to retail podcast on Selena night.com. Stay ahead of the competition by opening your doors to business experts so you can learn, grow and be inspired. Passionate about bringing business strategies to independent retailers. Please welcome your host, Selena night. Hi there and welcome to the bringing business to retail podcast. This episode is just a short one so that you can get to know me, Selena night and what this podcast is all about. Before we start, you can always visit me on my site, Selena night.com. That's S-A-L-E-N-A-K-N-I-G-H-T.com. Now, podcasts are relatively new. And I truly think that my business growth would have been quicker if I had access to all this free information. I did some research interviewing a bunch of retailers. And what I found after all these years in retail was that so many business owners have never actually experienced the business in air quotes world. Surely having a business meant that you were in the business world, right? Well, I kind of found that that was wrong. These retailers were getting caught up in the day to day running of their business. And if they had time to be learning, their focus was on their niche. What was trending? What new products are coming out? What legislation do I have to comply with? How do I keep up with social media? Of all the people I interviewed, only a handful were actively learning outside of that general retail niche. When I hired a great business coach, a whole new world opened up to me. There were general business principles that I wasn't utilising every day. But on top of that, I was introduced to a range of people who were outside my industry, who were providing insights to the world of entrepreneurship. I didn't want to have just a job that I had to turn up to every day. I wanted a business that helped people and had a sense of community and where you would be happy, even excited about walking in the door. And that's what I built with the flower child stores. And that's what I want you to have to. But what can you expect from this podcast? Every Wednesday, I'll be bringing inspiring people to the podcast from a range of industries and professions. They'll share their stories with you, their favourite tools for business, and what makes them go 'wow' when they walk into a store. They'll give you advice, systems, tools that you can put into practice in your retail business. And you'll be able to find all of this information in the show notes, which will be at selenenight.com/the episode number. Subscribe to the Bringing Business to Retail podcast. Why? Well, once you've subscribed, the latest episodes will be downloaded to your device as soon as they're released. And this means that whether you're in the car travelling to work, cooking dinner, folding washing, or you're out for a run, you'll have the latest episode at your fingertips. But I bet you're thinking, who is this woman? What about me, Selena Knight? Well, I've always had a passion for customer experience, even if I didn't know it at the time. I started my work life as a horticulturist and arborist, managing and improving the environment. I worked my way out from planting trees to managing teams of people and contracts. And I continued to rise through the industry, loving the people I dealt with, but so frustrated with the system. It's the age old cry of the entrepreneur, right? I could always see a more efficient way of doing things, of streamlining processes, but the wheels of corporate government turn ever so slowly. And when you want to instigate change, you're seen as a troublemaker, wanting to disturb the status quo. Is this ringing any bells here? I had a few little businesses that I ran on the side, property development, I worked as a buyer's agent, and I had a gazillion ideas for businesses where I could just see that there was a niche there that needed to be filled. Fast forward many years, and after having my daughter, I returned to work only to be even more jaded about this corporate life. I was thinking the same thing that many of you were probably thinking, is this all? Why do I do this? There's got to be more. So I left. Six months after returning to work, I packed it in. My daughter wasn't even one. In fact, we celebrated her first birthday painting our first shop. I didn't know anything about owning a retail store, but I did have a degree in business. And just on a side note, I'm not sure how much of that degree I've actually put into practice on a daily basis. But that was the beginning of my new life. I hustled my butt off to make it work. I put in long hours learning as I went. And I started to see that I went about this retail thing all wrong. I did because I loved the products and I loved helping people. It was so easy to focus on the relation of the emails that you were getting thanking you for changing someone's life. But I was forgetting that this was a business. I was in the shop one Saturday. And it hit me that cliche. If you do nothing different today, you can't expect change tomorrow. I knew I had to grow. I had to learn I had to be inspired. And this embarked me on the journey that I'm still on today. I spent tens of thousands of dollars working with some of the top coaches in Australia. And on top of that, I devoured as much information as I could along with training programs and personal development courses. I love learning. And I hope you do too. Don't forget to jump on over to my website, selenornight.com and check out all of the goodness that I'm sharing. If you're new to podcasts, please make sure you share them with your friends. And I'd be so grateful if you could leave me review on iTunes or Stitcher. This helps other people find me, especially in these early days. Leaving a review means more people can be learning, growing and being inspired. And if you don't know how to leave a review, I've got a step by step guide over at selenornight.com/review. Just a reminder, this podcast will be coming out every Wednesday. If there's a topic or person you'd love to hear about, make sure you leave me a comment on the blog, selenornight.com/blog. And I'll try my best to get that information. I'm super excited about what's coming up. And I hope you'll be too. I can't wait for you to meet my first guest on the next episode. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]