1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:01,050 Hi there. 2 00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:06,620 You're listening to gift biz on rap episode 130 All along. 3 00:00:06,620 --> 00:00:09,140 I had really wanted to do something on my own. 4 00:00:09,230 --> 00:00:12,710 Hi, this is John Entrepreneur on fire, 5 00:00:12,710 --> 00:00:15,170 and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped, 6 00:00:15,230 --> 00:00:18,260 and now it's time to light it up. 7 00:00:18,980 --> 00:00:21,290 Well, hello and thank you for joining me on the show 8 00:00:21,290 --> 00:00:23,960 today. If you're eight gifter Baker, 9 00:00:24,110 --> 00:00:25,730 crafter or maker, 10 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,850 and you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or 11 00:00:28,850 --> 00:00:32,630 are just getting started here is where you will find insight 12 00:00:32,630 --> 00:00:35,660 and advice to develop and grow your business. 13 00:00:36,050 --> 00:00:38,690 And if you want even more gift is motivation. 14 00:00:39,050 --> 00:00:41,930 I'd like to invite you to join our private Facebook group 15 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:43,760 called gift screens, 16 00:00:44,180 --> 00:00:45,950 pursuing your dreams should be fun, 17 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:47,600 exciting, rewarding, 18 00:00:48,140 --> 00:00:50,030 not stressful and scary. 19 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:51,770 When you joined the breeze, 20 00:00:51,890 --> 00:00:54,380 it's like sitting in the park with friends who bring you 21 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,730 all the support and the answers that they're looking for. 22 00:00:59,270 --> 00:01:02,570 You'll have access to a group of amazing creators along with 23 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,890 tools and resources that can catapult your business growth and a 24 00:01:06,890 --> 00:01:07,490 heads up. 25 00:01:07,490 --> 00:01:08,990 If you're listening right now, 26 00:01:09,050 --> 00:01:11,960 as this episode is released or shortly thereafter, 27 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,030 you'll want to get over into that group. 28 00:01:14,030 --> 00:01:19,250 So I have several special opportunities happening there right now have 29 00:01:19,250 --> 00:01:21,290 to be part of the group to participate. 30 00:01:21,650 --> 00:01:26,180 I'm talking about three opportunities to affect your business this year. 31 00:01:26,270 --> 00:01:28,610 So don't delay to join the group, 32 00:01:28,790 --> 00:01:29,990 go over to gift biz, 33 00:01:29,990 --> 00:01:33,410 breeze.com. I look forward to seeing you over there, 34 00:01:33,620 --> 00:01:34,370 but for now, 35 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,130 let's get onto the show today. 36 00:01:37,130 --> 00:01:40,760 I have the pleasure of introducing you to Bruce Erickson of 37 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,910 summer classes in March of 2016, 38 00:01:43,940 --> 00:01:48,080 Bruce opened his summer classics home store in downtown Highland park, 39 00:01:48,650 --> 00:01:51,770 Illinois. Bruce chose summer classics because he has known the owner 40 00:01:51,770 --> 00:01:54,680 for over 20 years and has always admired his vision for 41 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,500 the company and the industry as a whole. 42 00:01:57,500 --> 00:02:00,800 Bruce has been in the furniture industry for over 35 years 43 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,890 in both retail and wholesale sides of the business, 44 00:02:04,130 --> 00:02:06,530 but he wanted in with this retail chain, 45 00:02:06,950 --> 00:02:07,820 summer classics, 46 00:02:07,850 --> 00:02:11,780 outdoor furniture stands out it's timeless yet fashionable style. 47 00:02:12,230 --> 00:02:16,640 Their designers are inspired to create sophisticated products by combining traditional 48 00:02:16,730 --> 00:02:22,160 craftsmanship, with innovative usage of diverse materials in a disposable culture. 49 00:02:22,310 --> 00:02:27,500 This makes summer classics furniture purchase the generation reus. 50 00:02:27,500 --> 00:02:28,310 Welcome to the show. 51 00:02:28,730 --> 00:02:29,030 Thank you, 52 00:02:29,030 --> 00:02:30,200 sir. You know, 53 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,540 I started out in a little bit of a different way, 54 00:02:32,540 --> 00:02:35,720 and that is by having you share a little bit about 55 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,200 who you are through your description of a motivational candle. 56 00:02:39,410 --> 00:02:42,710 So if you were to create a candle that represents you, 57 00:02:42,740 --> 00:02:44,780 what color would it be and what would be the quote 58 00:02:44,780 --> 00:02:45,380 on your candle? 59 00:02:45,950 --> 00:02:48,920 So the candle color is going to be blue. 60 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,260 It's always been my favorite color. 61 00:02:51,500 --> 00:02:52,670 I have a lot of blue things, 62 00:02:52,670 --> 00:02:53,390 blue cars, 63 00:02:53,390 --> 00:02:54,710 blue clothes and everything. 64 00:02:54,710 --> 00:02:56,270 So it's always been my favorite color. 65 00:02:56,540 --> 00:02:58,790 It also just happens to be one of our best selling 66 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,600 here in summer classics and with Gabby. 67 00:03:01,900 --> 00:03:04,630 So it's a color that I've always grown up with wearing 68 00:03:04,690 --> 00:03:06,190 and driving as a car. 69 00:03:06,430 --> 00:03:09,430 And then as far as quotes on that candle, 70 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:11,110 when we opened the store, 71 00:03:11,170 --> 00:03:13,960 I had a good friend that gave me a plaque for 72 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:14,830 my office, 73 00:03:15,070 --> 00:03:17,230 and it was a quote from Walt Disney and it says, 74 00:03:17,260 --> 00:03:19,750 all of your dreams can come true if you have the 75 00:03:19,750 --> 00:03:21,250 courage to pursue them. 76 00:03:21,580 --> 00:03:22,540 I really liked that. 77 00:03:22,630 --> 00:03:26,200 And I think that says a lot about entrepreneurs in general 78 00:03:26,500 --> 00:03:29,980 and about business people in general and trying to make them 79 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,560 go after their dreams go after the things that they want 80 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:32,860 to do. 81 00:03:32,860 --> 00:03:34,540 So that's what we're trying to do here. 82 00:03:35,130 --> 00:03:38,310 The quote surprises me a little bit because you are such 83 00:03:38,340 --> 00:03:39,750 an altogether guy. 84 00:03:39,750 --> 00:03:40,290 I mean, 85 00:03:40,290 --> 00:03:41,970 I know you through the chamber, 86 00:03:42,090 --> 00:03:43,950 right? You're so professional. 87 00:03:43,950 --> 00:03:45,060 You're so poised. 88 00:03:45,060 --> 00:03:47,100 Have you ever had to call on courage yourself? 89 00:03:47,670 --> 00:03:48,120 Oh yeah, 90 00:03:48,150 --> 00:03:51,390 absolutely. And people show it and do it in different ways. 91 00:03:51,450 --> 00:03:55,200 And I think from opening the store back in my other 92 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:56,130 jobs that I've done, 93 00:03:56,130 --> 00:03:59,280 I've been a sales rep for a company like summer classics 94 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,650 and a couple other outdoor lines in the past and indoor 95 00:04:01,650 --> 00:04:04,440 lines. And I think it's always things that you have to 96 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:06,840 draw on and courage would definitely be one of them. 97 00:04:07,410 --> 00:04:10,860 Do you feel you get more courageous over time as you've 98 00:04:10,860 --> 00:04:13,860 been successful and start to rack up some things that have 99 00:04:13,860 --> 00:04:14,490 gone well, 100 00:04:14,490 --> 00:04:16,290 and clearly you got a little bit more confidence, 101 00:04:16,290 --> 00:04:18,450 but you think it gets easier to be courageous as you 102 00:04:18,450 --> 00:04:20,070 get more advanced in your career. 103 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:21,930 Older is another word too. 104 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:27,270 Yeah, definitely. 105 00:04:27,270 --> 00:04:30,300 I think you learn from your mistakes and if you haven't 106 00:04:30,300 --> 00:04:32,370 failed, you're never going to succeed. 107 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:36,090 So there's very few successful people in business or in life 108 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:37,980 that haven't had a failure along the way. 109 00:04:37,980 --> 00:04:40,500 And so you got to realize that at some point something 110 00:04:40,500 --> 00:04:41,820 that you try something you do, 111 00:04:41,910 --> 00:04:43,590 it's just not going to work the way you want it 112 00:04:43,590 --> 00:04:46,170 to. And so you move on to different things. 113 00:04:47,130 --> 00:04:49,140 We're really interested in getting you on the show, 114 00:04:49,140 --> 00:04:54,000 Bruce, because you are running a successful retail shop and it's 115 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,490 new. And I think a lot of people right now I've 116 00:04:56,490 --> 00:05:00,240 had conversations like this with my listeners that they're shying away 117 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:00,870 from retail, 118 00:05:00,870 --> 00:05:03,990 because it seems like it's too scary now with all the 119 00:05:03,990 --> 00:05:05,160 online shopping. 120 00:05:05,430 --> 00:05:08,190 So I'm going to be interested in talking a little bit 121 00:05:08,190 --> 00:05:10,020 about that in terms of what you're seeing, 122 00:05:10,020 --> 00:05:11,190 why you took that chance, 123 00:05:11,190 --> 00:05:11,820 et cetera. 124 00:05:11,850 --> 00:05:13,320 But before we do that, 125 00:05:13,410 --> 00:05:15,930 give us a little bit of your backstory and how you 126 00:05:15,930 --> 00:05:17,850 got into the furniture business in the first place. 127 00:05:18,450 --> 00:05:20,610 Well, just coming out of high school, 128 00:05:20,610 --> 00:05:23,430 I started working in a retail store back in Des Moines, 129 00:05:23,430 --> 00:05:27,180 Iowa, and it was a ski store or ski shop. 130 00:05:27,180 --> 00:05:30,330 And then we had camping and so forth and I really 131 00:05:30,330 --> 00:05:33,240 kind of get the retail bug at that point so much 132 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,730 so that when I first went into college, 133 00:05:35,730 --> 00:05:38,520 I wanted to be a dentist and went through that first 134 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,070 year and was working for this guy in the ski shop. 135 00:05:41,070 --> 00:05:41,310 And like, 136 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,100 I really would rather do this and spend seven years or 137 00:05:44,100 --> 00:05:45,780 eight years going through dental school. 138 00:05:45,780 --> 00:05:49,050 So I took a year off college and worked for him 139 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,160 and then went back to school and got my education in 140 00:05:53,190 --> 00:05:54,150 retail management. 141 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:55,950 So I had totally switched gears. 142 00:05:56,220 --> 00:06:00,020 So I was with him for six years and a competitor 143 00:06:00,020 --> 00:06:02,300 in the town that I was in and DeWine ran an 144 00:06:02,300 --> 00:06:03,680 ad for a manager. 145 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,140 And I was kind of looking to move on this other 146 00:06:06,140 --> 00:06:09,680 store, had multiple locations through Iowa and Wisconsin. 147 00:06:09,950 --> 00:06:13,070 I applied for their job and the guy called me back 148 00:06:13,070 --> 00:06:13,760 right away. 149 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:14,180 And he said, 150 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,580 I know you I've been in and I've shopped you. 151 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:17,870 I'd love to talk to you. 152 00:06:18,110 --> 00:06:20,600 And that store did ski business in the winter. 153 00:06:20,630 --> 00:06:22,610 And they did patio business in the summer. 154 00:06:22,940 --> 00:06:26,240 And that's how I got into the patio furniture business and 155 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,360 started managing a couple of their stores and then became one 156 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,120 of their buyers and was with them for about seven years. 157 00:06:32,330 --> 00:06:34,970 Then I had an opportunity with one of our reps that 158 00:06:35,030 --> 00:06:40,670 called on us to do repping through Wisconsin and Illinois for 159 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:42,260 a company called Winston furniture, 160 00:06:42,260 --> 00:06:44,030 which at that time was a huge line. 161 00:06:44,030 --> 00:06:46,340 It still is around and does very well still. 162 00:06:46,340 --> 00:06:49,130 But at that time it was the dominant force in patio 163 00:06:49,130 --> 00:06:51,500 furniture. And we also, 164 00:06:51,500 --> 00:06:54,710 at that time picked up a small little startup company called 165 00:06:54,710 --> 00:06:55,610 summer classics. 166 00:06:55,910 --> 00:06:59,240 And that's when I first met BW white from summer classics. 167 00:06:59,450 --> 00:07:03,620 And from that point on really enjoyed working with him and 168 00:07:03,620 --> 00:07:04,790 with that company. 169 00:07:05,060 --> 00:07:09,020 And then after about 10 years of repping kids were still 170 00:07:09,020 --> 00:07:11,150 small, a lot of time on the road, 171 00:07:11,420 --> 00:07:13,850 starting to look at different things. 172 00:07:13,910 --> 00:07:18,110 And so I went back onto the retail side so that 173 00:07:18,110 --> 00:07:20,180 I didn't have to travel as much and could be home 174 00:07:20,180 --> 00:07:23,870 with my kids and see their baseball games and volleyball games 175 00:07:23,870 --> 00:07:24,740 and all that kind of stuff. 176 00:07:24,980 --> 00:07:30,350 And spent 17 years with a local retailer selling outdoor furniture. 177 00:07:30,380 --> 00:07:32,840 And they also did ski equipment and clothing. 178 00:07:33,110 --> 00:07:35,360 So that wasn't summer classics at the time then? 179 00:07:35,660 --> 00:07:36,410 No. Okay. 180 00:07:36,620 --> 00:07:39,140 So that was Williams here in Highland park. 181 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:40,190 Oh, Williams. 182 00:07:40,190 --> 00:07:43,010 A very prestigious and well-known Store for sure. 183 00:07:43,370 --> 00:07:45,170 Yeah. And they'd been around for a long, 184 00:07:45,170 --> 00:07:45,710 long time. 185 00:07:45,860 --> 00:07:47,600 And before that as a rep, 186 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,580 I knew Mark Williams. 187 00:07:49,580 --> 00:07:51,830 And so when I started thinking about getting back onto the 188 00:07:51,830 --> 00:07:52,670 retail side, 189 00:07:52,670 --> 00:07:55,550 made a call to him and we had three or four 190 00:07:55,550 --> 00:07:57,710 meetings and met with his wife and everything, 191 00:07:57,740 --> 00:08:01,280 and ended up working with them for about 17 years and 192 00:08:01,370 --> 00:08:02,210 just all along. 193 00:08:02,210 --> 00:08:05,480 I had really wanted to do something on my own and 194 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,110 the time just came and saw the opportunity with summer classics 195 00:08:09,110 --> 00:08:11,930 went back and talked to Butte white again from summer classics 196 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:12,230 and said, 197 00:08:12,230 --> 00:08:13,850 tell me about your retail stores. 198 00:08:13,850 --> 00:08:15,230 Tell me about your retail business. 199 00:08:15,230 --> 00:08:18,890 Cause summer classics over the last 10 years has opened now 200 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:20,690 14 retail locations. 201 00:08:20,930 --> 00:08:24,800 And some of those are corporate owned and some are what 202 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:26,150 they call licensee stores, 203 00:08:26,150 --> 00:08:28,370 which is kind of like a franchise without all the hoops 204 00:08:28,370 --> 00:08:29,120 of a franchise. 205 00:08:29,420 --> 00:08:32,930 So we had a nice conversation and it just kind of 206 00:08:32,930 --> 00:08:33,680 went from there. 207 00:08:33,740 --> 00:08:35,240 And few months after that, 208 00:08:35,270 --> 00:08:38,840 I left Williams and still had some reservations as far as 209 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:40,010 the retail side, 210 00:08:40,100 --> 00:08:41,630 opening my own store and everything. 211 00:08:41,630 --> 00:08:43,820 But I had Talked to a couple of other people about 212 00:08:43,850 --> 00:08:46,640 maybe getting back Into repping and that was another option, 213 00:08:46,850 --> 00:08:48,830 but retail is what I want to do. 214 00:08:49,130 --> 00:08:53,150 And so about six months after leaving Williams opened summer classics. 215 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,190 So you talk about the fact that you wanted to leave 216 00:08:56,190 --> 00:08:58,320 Rapping and did you have a certain territory, 217 00:08:58,320 --> 00:08:59,970 a portion of the country don't tell me you had the 218 00:08:59,970 --> 00:09:00,540 whole country. 219 00:09:01,460 --> 00:09:03,950 We had Illinois and Wisconsin. 220 00:09:05,030 --> 00:09:07,730 And we did a few things into Minnesota, 221 00:09:07,730 --> 00:09:10,670 some accessory lines and a few things over into Missouri, 222 00:09:10,670 --> 00:09:12,050 again with some accessory lines. 223 00:09:12,050 --> 00:09:14,810 But the main lines that we had were Illinois and Wisconsin. 224 00:09:15,710 --> 00:09:18,650 So through the Midwest and through the snow and all of 225 00:09:18,650 --> 00:09:21,230 that, I've been there to bruise, 226 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:21,890 you know, 227 00:09:21,890 --> 00:09:22,670 that story. 228 00:09:22,820 --> 00:09:25,340 So it's really great that you had seen both sides of 229 00:09:25,340 --> 00:09:29,240 the business and you decided that you wanted to go back 230 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,370 to retail because you could stay home, 231 00:09:31,370 --> 00:09:32,210 but let's face it. 232 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:34,370 Retail hours are heavy too. 233 00:09:34,370 --> 00:09:34,820 I mean, 234 00:09:34,850 --> 00:09:36,380 why did you choose that route? 235 00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:39,410 Knowing retail has its own restrictions. 236 00:09:39,410 --> 00:09:41,390 I guess You're home every night. 237 00:09:41,420 --> 00:09:42,200 That's the big thing. 238 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,330 When I was repping on the road, 239 00:09:44,330 --> 00:09:45,260 usually three, 240 00:09:45,260 --> 00:09:46,400 four nights a week, 241 00:09:46,490 --> 00:09:48,260 especially during the busy time of the year. 242 00:09:48,500 --> 00:09:50,150 And in the winter months, 243 00:09:50,150 --> 00:09:52,040 it's still would be gone a night or two a week. 244 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:54,080 So just felt like I was missing out on a lot. 245 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:56,720 So I thought going back to retail where I could be 246 00:09:56,750 --> 00:09:59,660 close to home and be home at night and have some 247 00:09:59,660 --> 00:10:03,500 flexibility as far as being able to jump away and see 248 00:10:03,500 --> 00:10:06,690 a volleyball game or something like that was something that interested 249 00:10:06,830 --> 00:10:07,520 me at that time. 250 00:10:07,890 --> 00:10:11,660 So let's take this in a direction that our listeners are 251 00:10:11,660 --> 00:10:12,920 going to be able to relate to. 252 00:10:13,130 --> 00:10:16,340 Let's take it as if you were talking to somebody who 253 00:10:16,340 --> 00:10:18,710 is considering opening up their own shop. 254 00:10:18,950 --> 00:10:21,410 So they might not have the experience that you do. 255 00:10:21,620 --> 00:10:25,730 They also might be creating something all by themselves, 256 00:10:25,730 --> 00:10:29,720 your taking summer classics and opening a store here. 257 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:30,590 I'll be it. 258 00:10:30,740 --> 00:10:31,670 It's still yours. 259 00:10:31,670 --> 00:10:32,870 So you have all the responsibility, 260 00:10:32,870 --> 00:10:34,370 but there's the product and all of that. 261 00:10:34,670 --> 00:10:37,760 What types of things did you do when you started, 262 00:10:37,790 --> 00:10:40,760 like when you were preparing to open the shop and what 263 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,070 types of advice would you have for someone who's in a 264 00:10:43,070 --> 00:10:44,000 similar situation, 265 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,380 but opening something for themselves? 266 00:10:45,890 --> 00:10:46,790 Sure. Well, 267 00:10:46,940 --> 00:10:51,530 initially I sat down with the principals of summer classics there, 268 00:10:51,530 --> 00:10:52,190 BW white, 269 00:10:52,190 --> 00:10:55,520 who owns the company and then their vice-president and their sales 270 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:56,510 manager at the time. 271 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,150 And just talk to them about the whole concept. 272 00:10:59,420 --> 00:11:01,910 And then the week after I talked to him, 273 00:11:01,970 --> 00:11:04,610 I had already planned a vacation with my wife, 274 00:11:04,610 --> 00:11:06,260 or just a week off with my wife. 275 00:11:06,290 --> 00:11:08,450 We weren't really planning anything in particular. 276 00:11:08,660 --> 00:11:10,670 So I came back from that meeting and I said to 277 00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:11,000 her, I said, 278 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:12,020 do you want to take a trip? 279 00:11:12,170 --> 00:11:12,500 And she goes, 280 00:11:12,500 --> 00:11:13,250 yeah, where are we going? 281 00:11:13,250 --> 00:11:13,610 I said, 282 00:11:13,670 --> 00:11:16,340 let's go and tour some of the summer classic stores. 283 00:11:16,610 --> 00:11:18,500 So we took a trip out to Columbus, 284 00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:22,100 Ohio, and Nashville and Louisville and St. 285 00:11:22,100 --> 00:11:24,020 Louis to see some of their stores. 286 00:11:24,020 --> 00:11:25,790 So we just did a week long road trip. 287 00:11:26,030 --> 00:11:28,070 And so those four stores, 288 00:11:28,070 --> 00:11:31,400 it was interesting because there was two licensees stores and two 289 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:32,300 corporate stores. 290 00:11:32,300 --> 00:11:35,270 So he got to see a mix there and also got 291 00:11:35,270 --> 00:11:37,280 to see a mix in size of stores. 292 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:39,260 So I wanted to see what it would take to do 293 00:11:39,260 --> 00:11:41,420 it and what kind of locations it should be looking for 294 00:11:41,450 --> 00:11:42,140 and so forth. 295 00:11:42,290 --> 00:11:43,490 And also the people, 296 00:11:43,580 --> 00:11:45,950 how many people would need to run it and so forth. 297 00:11:46,190 --> 00:11:48,110 And it was a great week. 298 00:11:48,140 --> 00:11:50,120 We met some terrific people, 299 00:11:50,150 --> 00:11:52,820 got a really good feel of the company. 300 00:11:52,820 --> 00:11:53,030 As a, 301 00:11:53,890 --> 00:11:55,990 I remember walking away from Nashville, 302 00:11:55,990 --> 00:11:58,180 which is an awesome little store. 303 00:11:58,180 --> 00:12:02,110 It's only about 3000 square feet with a little outside display, 304 00:12:02,350 --> 00:12:06,310 but they are right in this part of Nashville that has 305 00:12:06,340 --> 00:12:09,040 some great restaurants and coffee shops and things like that. 306 00:12:09,070 --> 00:12:12,220 And they get like 200 to 300 people through the store 307 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:12,760 a day. 308 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:17,020 So it's a rock and little store and to see them 309 00:12:17,020 --> 00:12:19,390 and talk to them and we walked away from there and 310 00:12:19,390 --> 00:12:19,780 I said, 311 00:12:19,990 --> 00:12:22,330 these people have definitely drank the Kool-Aid. 312 00:12:22,540 --> 00:12:24,340 So we knew coming away from that, 313 00:12:24,340 --> 00:12:26,710 that this would be something that we could bring back to 314 00:12:26,710 --> 00:12:28,390 Chicago and work in Chicago. 315 00:12:28,660 --> 00:12:31,930 And then also we went to other stores and through my 316 00:12:31,930 --> 00:12:32,770 retail years, 317 00:12:32,890 --> 00:12:35,590 I've been on different boards and so forth with the outdoor 318 00:12:35,590 --> 00:12:38,020 industry. And so I kind of got to know a lot 319 00:12:38,020 --> 00:12:38,590 of the people. 320 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:41,140 We went to other stores here in the area, 321 00:12:41,140 --> 00:12:44,440 we went out to like Northwest metal craft and Viking ski 322 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:46,840 shop and different places just to kind of see what they 323 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:48,730 do and how they do it and talk to them. 324 00:12:48,970 --> 00:12:50,470 And then as we're going around, 325 00:12:50,470 --> 00:12:50,980 like in St. 326 00:12:50,980 --> 00:12:53,200 Louis went to some other stores that I knew down there, 327 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:54,880 just to see again, 328 00:12:54,970 --> 00:12:56,500 what they do and how they do it. 329 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:00,660 You Were doing that to really validate the idea exactly. 330 00:13:00,930 --> 00:13:03,510 To confirm to yourself that this is what you wanted to 331 00:13:03,510 --> 00:13:06,390 do. And then capturing all the pieces of information. 332 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:07,140 You just talked about, 333 00:13:07,140 --> 00:13:08,460 like how many people should be in the store. 334 00:13:08,460 --> 00:13:09,900 What should the size store be? 335 00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:11,790 Probably display ideas, 336 00:13:11,940 --> 00:13:13,740 Advertising everything I, 337 00:13:13,770 --> 00:13:14,640 everything. Okay. 338 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:20,280 So within a brand like summer classics is every location throughout 339 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:23,100 the country attracting the same type of a customer, 340 00:13:23,130 --> 00:13:25,110 or are they different by location too? 341 00:13:25,410 --> 00:13:27,030 Pretty much the same customer. 342 00:13:27,210 --> 00:13:30,390 And it's one of the things that summer classics also tries 343 00:13:30,390 --> 00:13:33,060 to do as far as the look of the store is 344 00:13:33,090 --> 00:13:36,960 if you walk into our store or you walk into Louisville, 345 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,420 Kentucky, you're going to get a similar feel. 346 00:13:39,450 --> 00:13:39,840 I mean, 347 00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:41,430 each store is different on their own, 348 00:13:41,430 --> 00:13:43,620 but in terms of a lot of the merchandising and things 349 00:13:43,620 --> 00:13:44,130 like that, 350 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:45,480 it's the same kind of feel. 351 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,110 And it definitely draws the same type of customer now. 352 00:13:49,110 --> 00:13:50,820 And in our area where we are, 353 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,690 we have a little higher end clientele than maybe what Nashville 354 00:13:54,690 --> 00:13:58,860 does, but still what we're selling is the same thing. 355 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:01,620 Okay. And I just want to make the point there that 356 00:14:01,620 --> 00:14:04,380 in addition to the types of things that you are looking 357 00:14:04,380 --> 00:14:05,430 at and considering, 358 00:14:05,430 --> 00:14:08,010 which is what somebody should also be doing, 359 00:14:08,010 --> 00:14:10,320 if they're looking at opening their own place, 360 00:14:10,470 --> 00:14:14,310 go to a competitor and see what else is already out 361 00:14:14,310 --> 00:14:15,600 there, how things are working. 362 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:17,460 I like the overview that you gave us, 363 00:14:17,460 --> 00:14:19,620 Bruce, just all the different types of things you're looking at 364 00:14:19,830 --> 00:14:23,940 different for someone who's starting out by themselves versus you though, 365 00:14:23,970 --> 00:14:27,420 you also will need to define what is the style that 366 00:14:27,420 --> 00:14:29,130 you want to represent in your shop? 367 00:14:29,340 --> 00:14:31,420 Is it very clean and crisp? 368 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:33,420 Is it more friendly and country? 369 00:14:33,420 --> 00:14:36,480 Like, what is the style sounds like you already had that 370 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,850 all set as you entered into summer classes. 371 00:14:39,900 --> 00:14:40,440 We did. 372 00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:43,470 Yeah. And one of the things that you see as you 373 00:14:43,470 --> 00:14:44,820 go around to different stores, 374 00:14:44,820 --> 00:14:48,060 whether it's the summer classics or other successful stores, 375 00:14:48,090 --> 00:14:51,030 is they make it an environment that you want to shop 376 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,530 and you want it to be a friendly environment, 377 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:55,730 welcoming environment, 378 00:14:55,730 --> 00:14:57,560 but just you walk in and you like, 379 00:14:57,770 --> 00:14:59,450 there's things that you want to look at when you come 380 00:14:59,450 --> 00:15:00,020 into the store. 381 00:15:00,290 --> 00:15:02,750 And that's one of the things that we try to do 382 00:15:02,930 --> 00:15:04,910 on a daily basis is make it a little bit different 383 00:15:04,910 --> 00:15:06,410 every time a customer comes in the store. 384 00:15:06,410 --> 00:15:09,320 So it's not just the same old packaged store. 385 00:15:09,590 --> 00:15:10,850 So it's always a little bit different. 386 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:13,100 So how often do you switch up the floor? 387 00:15:13,550 --> 00:15:15,530 Well, we do two major switches. 388 00:15:15,530 --> 00:15:19,580 We do one in February when we condense down our indoor 389 00:15:19,580 --> 00:15:22,160 furniture and bring out the outdoor furniture. 390 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,980 And then we do another one in September, 391 00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:25,760 mid September, 392 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:26,750 first part of October, 393 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,780 where we bring in the indoor furniture for the fall. 394 00:15:30,020 --> 00:15:31,970 Those are the two major switches. 395 00:15:32,270 --> 00:15:36,650 And then during the year we do at least two other, 396 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:37,670 I won't say major, 397 00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:39,740 but rearranging and freshening up. 398 00:15:39,830 --> 00:15:41,540 But then on a weekly basis, 399 00:15:41,540 --> 00:15:44,090 we get different things in on a weekly basis that from 400 00:15:44,090 --> 00:15:47,270 accessories to even maybe some new styles that are out or 401 00:15:47,390 --> 00:15:49,820 things that maybe we're just waiting to come in that want 402 00:15:49,820 --> 00:15:51,170 to freshen up the store with. 403 00:15:51,390 --> 00:15:53,300 So it's constantly changing. 404 00:15:53,810 --> 00:15:54,950 And how many square feet do you have? 405 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:56,420 We have just under 7,000. 406 00:15:56,660 --> 00:15:58,970 Okay. So it's pretty big size store. 407 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:00,100 Sure is. 408 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:01,510 So one other thing, 409 00:16:01,540 --> 00:16:03,220 just while we're still talking about, 410 00:16:03,220 --> 00:16:07,120 as you're analyzing and you're looking at then other summer classic 411 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,600 stores and then also stores that are in the same industry 412 00:16:10,630 --> 00:16:12,100 in the local area, 413 00:16:12,250 --> 00:16:14,620 I'm sure you didn't want to just repeat what was already 414 00:16:14,620 --> 00:16:16,630 out there because we wanted to make sure that your store 415 00:16:16,630 --> 00:16:18,580 looked unique and different. 416 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:20,980 Absolutely. What was your thinking along that end? 417 00:16:22,270 --> 00:16:27,040 Well, we spent some time with summer classics merchandising team and 418 00:16:27,070 --> 00:16:29,050 the people that buy all their accessories, 419 00:16:29,050 --> 00:16:31,300 buy all their things for their stores, 420 00:16:31,390 --> 00:16:32,110 just to, 421 00:16:32,140 --> 00:16:34,000 we sent them pictures of the location. 422 00:16:34,210 --> 00:16:35,920 They actually made a trip out, 423 00:16:35,950 --> 00:16:38,170 took a look at it to see what it looked like. 424 00:16:38,230 --> 00:16:40,840 And then we sat down with them and said, 425 00:16:40,990 --> 00:16:42,730 this is what we were thinking. 426 00:16:42,730 --> 00:16:43,510 What do you think? 427 00:16:43,510 --> 00:16:46,330 And we all kind of got our ideas together and said, 428 00:16:46,390 --> 00:16:48,250 let's do this as far as colors, 429 00:16:48,250 --> 00:16:48,790 let's do this. 430 00:16:48,790 --> 00:16:49,780 As far as paint, 431 00:16:49,870 --> 00:16:51,280 floors, everything. 432 00:16:51,490 --> 00:16:55,330 And then we went to Atlanta with them in January before 433 00:16:55,330 --> 00:16:57,280 we opened to a gift show. 434 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:00,490 And if you've never been to Atlanta, 435 00:17:00,580 --> 00:17:01,570 if any of your people, 436 00:17:01,570 --> 00:17:02,740 if you've never been to Atlanta, 437 00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:06,160 it's a crazy market Is nuts. 438 00:17:06,190 --> 00:17:07,360 I've exhibited there. 439 00:17:07,390 --> 00:17:08,200 It's huge. 440 00:17:08,260 --> 00:17:09,130 How many floors is it? 441 00:17:10,060 --> 00:17:13,450 Well, there's three buildings and they're all about 20 stories tall 442 00:17:13,660 --> 00:17:15,100 and it's all showrooms. 443 00:17:15,310 --> 00:17:16,450 It's all showrooms. 444 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:18,700 Yeah. And then there's temporary space and everything. 445 00:17:18,700 --> 00:17:21,820 So there are literally hundreds of people that you can look 446 00:17:21,820 --> 00:17:25,000 at, but it's nice going through with them because we could 447 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:25,960 be a little more focused. 448 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,620 So we could go into twenty-five showrooms instead of a hundred. 449 00:17:29,830 --> 00:17:31,900 So we kind of got an idea as far as the 450 00:17:31,900 --> 00:17:34,870 look that we wanted and everything and went through with them 451 00:17:34,870 --> 00:17:36,850 and just started bringing stuff in. 452 00:17:37,030 --> 00:17:39,190 And then with the summer classic side, 453 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,830 we kind of broke away from some of the things that 454 00:17:41,830 --> 00:17:44,710 they do to make it a little more specific for our 455 00:17:44,710 --> 00:17:47,290 market. So it was colors that were a little bit different. 456 00:17:47,290 --> 00:17:48,790 Some of the styles that we knew would, 457 00:17:49,470 --> 00:17:51,330 whereas the summer classics, 458 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:52,650 corporate stores, 459 00:17:52,770 --> 00:17:56,730 you will see the same groupings pretty much in each individual 460 00:17:56,730 --> 00:17:59,910 store and colored the same in each individual store. 461 00:18:00,180 --> 00:18:01,800 But we wanted it to be a little bit different. 462 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,380 We wanted it to be specific for our location and what 463 00:18:04,380 --> 00:18:06,000 we knew could sell in our location. 464 00:18:06,300 --> 00:18:07,230 And how did you know, 465 00:18:07,620 --> 00:18:10,350 just from being in that business for 17 years, 466 00:18:11,090 --> 00:18:12,320 The industry knowledge, 467 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:14,390 and then what about your customer? 468 00:18:14,390 --> 00:18:17,510 Were there any focus groups or something like that now you're 469 00:18:17,510 --> 00:18:18,440 also from the area. 470 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:20,270 So you have a better feel for it and probably what 471 00:18:20,270 --> 00:18:21,020 to look for, 472 00:18:21,230 --> 00:18:25,040 but if someone isn't really sure about their customer, 473 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:28,400 any suggestions on how to find out that information before you 474 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,820 purchase everything or design your whole store only to find that 475 00:18:31,820 --> 00:18:32,600 it's not a connection. 476 00:18:33,170 --> 00:18:34,280 Well, I think you can, 477 00:18:34,310 --> 00:18:36,320 again, go to local competitors, 478 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:37,550 look and see what they're doing. 479 00:18:37,730 --> 00:18:40,310 As far as customers go reach out to people, 480 00:18:40,310 --> 00:18:40,700 you know, 481 00:18:40,700 --> 00:18:41,900 reach out to friends, 482 00:18:41,900 --> 00:18:44,120 reach out to colleagues in the industry, 483 00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:44,900 as far as, 484 00:18:44,990 --> 00:18:48,020 especially ones that might be local just to see what kind 485 00:18:48,020 --> 00:18:50,390 of ideas they have and things that they like, 486 00:18:50,390 --> 00:18:53,180 places that they like to shop that I think would certainly 487 00:18:53,180 --> 00:18:54,260 help people to do that too. 488 00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:56,270 What I like about what you're just saying is it's, 489 00:18:56,390 --> 00:18:57,860 doesn't have to be really hard. 490 00:18:57,890 --> 00:18:59,960 You just have to go with the right mindset of what 491 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:00,740 you're looking for. 492 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:04,820 Absolutely. You're looking to understand what the market likes and accepts, 493 00:19:05,060 --> 00:19:06,050 not what you like, 494 00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:08,930 which is a common error. 495 00:19:08,930 --> 00:19:09,980 Someone will, 496 00:19:10,100 --> 00:19:10,790 in my case, 497 00:19:10,790 --> 00:19:13,370 I would be painting my whole shop yellow because I love 498 00:19:13,370 --> 00:19:16,160 yellow. What if that's not the right thing for a market? 499 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:16,820 So really, 500 00:19:16,820 --> 00:19:18,770 and this is directed at gift biz listeners. 501 00:19:18,890 --> 00:19:20,360 Make sure if you're in this situation, 502 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:23,270 you're really looking at what is going to attract your customer, 503 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,130 not necessarily what you love. 504 00:19:25,490 --> 00:19:25,790 All right. 505 00:19:25,790 --> 00:19:27,440 So the shops all ready to go now, 506 00:19:27,590 --> 00:19:31,910 how do you start dealing with a grand opening and staffing 507 00:19:31,910 --> 00:19:34,130 up? What is your advice there for somebody new? 508 00:19:34,790 --> 00:19:37,790 Well, I was fortunate in that there were some people that 509 00:19:37,790 --> 00:19:41,660 I had worked with over the past 15 years that were 510 00:19:41,660 --> 00:19:44,330 also interested in coming with me and working with me. 511 00:19:44,550 --> 00:19:46,910 Then there were some other people that I knew just from 512 00:19:46,970 --> 00:19:48,380 designers and so forth, 513 00:19:48,380 --> 00:19:50,630 that wanted to be a part of it. 514 00:19:50,900 --> 00:19:53,480 So from a staffing standpoint, 515 00:19:53,750 --> 00:19:54,920 I was very fortunate. 516 00:19:55,130 --> 00:19:57,320 I didn't have to run a bunch of ads and interview 517 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:58,040 a bunch of people. 518 00:19:58,190 --> 00:19:58,490 I can, 519 00:19:58,490 --> 00:20:00,710 I knew who was going to be coming with me and 520 00:20:00,710 --> 00:20:03,560 who was not going to be coming with me from almost 521 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:04,310 the very beginning. 522 00:20:04,580 --> 00:20:08,000 So the staffing part for me was really easy. 523 00:20:08,300 --> 00:20:11,240 And I was very fortunate to get a lot of experience 524 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,400 to come along with me that worked out well. 525 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,010 But as far as the grand opening side of it, 526 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,000 again, I go back to the summer classics team and we 527 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,360 had weekly meetings that are weekly phone calls. 528 00:20:23,420 --> 00:20:26,240 That would take us all the way through things we had 529 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:30,170 from signing the lease to the colors in the building and 530 00:20:30,170 --> 00:20:32,900 the paint and the floors and all that all laid out. 531 00:20:32,900 --> 00:20:35,570 And then we just put it on spreadsheets and went through 532 00:20:35,570 --> 00:20:36,800 on a weekly basis to check, 533 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:37,700 to see where we were. 534 00:20:37,700 --> 00:20:40,130 And then it was like Brian computers and all that kind 535 00:20:40,130 --> 00:20:40,550 of stuff. 536 00:20:40,820 --> 00:20:42,470 Then the grand opening event, 537 00:20:42,590 --> 00:20:44,210 I have to credit my wife on that. 538 00:20:44,210 --> 00:20:45,830 She's a great party planner. 539 00:20:46,100 --> 00:20:48,520 And she put a lot of the things together for the 540 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:53,620 grand opening and from entertainment to well entertainment. 541 00:20:53,620 --> 00:20:55,690 We ended up changing kind of at the last minute, 542 00:20:55,690 --> 00:20:58,480 cause BW white from summer classics offered up one of their 543 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:00,880 guys in Birmingham to fly up, 544 00:21:00,970 --> 00:21:03,310 to sing at our grand opening. 545 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:04,600 The guy is awesome. 546 00:21:04,630 --> 00:21:07,240 He sat there for three hours and sang all through the 547 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,370 night and he's got an amazing voice. 548 00:21:09,370 --> 00:21:09,640 In fact, 549 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:10,810 we've told him he has to go on, 550 00:21:10,870 --> 00:21:13,330 America's got talent or something like that or the voice. 551 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:14,500 So he's really, 552 00:21:14,500 --> 00:21:14,950 really good, 553 00:21:15,310 --> 00:21:18,580 but she put together all the gift packages and stuff for 554 00:21:18,580 --> 00:21:20,680 everybody that showed up and it was a fun night. 555 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:21,730 We probably had 200, 556 00:21:21,730 --> 00:21:24,040 250 people that night throughout the evening. 557 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:25,330 And it was a good party. 558 00:21:25,740 --> 00:21:28,050 It was a good party. 559 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:29,250 You are right. 560 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,160 And the other thing that I think was so great. 561 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:33,630 So kudos to your wife. 562 00:21:33,630 --> 00:21:34,710 I didn't know who planned it. 563 00:21:34,710 --> 00:21:36,090 I thought you had a professional planner, 564 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:38,730 but you involved people from the community, 565 00:21:38,730 --> 00:21:42,120 which was wonderful in terms of the appetizers and all of 566 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,630 that. But the thing that was so obvious to me, 567 00:21:45,660 --> 00:21:46,020 I mean, 568 00:21:46,050 --> 00:21:50,160 your store is very upscale and very nice and very polished. 569 00:21:50,340 --> 00:21:52,500 And the event was the same way. 570 00:21:52,650 --> 00:21:54,990 It was totally in line with your brand. 571 00:21:55,110 --> 00:21:56,910 So as a grand opening, 572 00:21:56,940 --> 00:21:58,440 this is the first opportunity. 573 00:21:58,560 --> 00:21:59,760 Give biz listeners again, 574 00:21:59,850 --> 00:22:01,740 to present yourself to the public. 575 00:22:01,740 --> 00:22:04,680 So you want to make sure that the connection is clean 576 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:06,450 in terms of what your messaging is, 577 00:22:06,540 --> 00:22:07,650 who you're representing, 578 00:22:07,650 --> 00:22:09,450 who your customer is and Bruce, 579 00:22:09,450 --> 00:22:10,380 you guys landed it. 580 00:22:10,380 --> 00:22:11,610 It was fabulous. 581 00:22:11,670 --> 00:22:13,260 And I have to say, 582 00:22:13,380 --> 00:22:16,350 I loved the candle that was in the goodie bags. 583 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:22,170 And especially because they had your initials SC and my middle 584 00:22:22,170 --> 00:22:23,280 name is Christine. 585 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:24,840 So SC was like, 586 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:26,880 this is why I'm saying you named them for me. 587 00:22:26,940 --> 00:22:28,320 I'm just going with that. 588 00:22:29,010 --> 00:22:31,830 That's good that people say, 589 00:22:31,830 --> 00:22:32,610 it's Santa Claus. 590 00:22:32,790 --> 00:22:33,750 Oh, there you go. 591 00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:35,100 But we'll go with Sue. 592 00:22:35,250 --> 00:22:39,510 Yeah. I can be second to him to Santa Claus. 593 00:22:39,510 --> 00:22:40,230 That works for me. 594 00:22:41,010 --> 00:22:41,490 That was fun. 595 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:42,900 Yeah. It was great. 596 00:22:42,930 --> 00:22:43,860 Really, really great. 597 00:22:44,130 --> 00:22:46,650 Where did something go wrong there? 598 00:22:46,950 --> 00:22:51,540 What cautionary tale or something with the grand opening in specific, 599 00:22:51,570 --> 00:22:53,370 would you caution people about, 600 00:22:53,940 --> 00:22:57,390 Well, I think there's just from the whole opening thing from 601 00:22:57,390 --> 00:22:58,140 the very beginning, 602 00:22:58,140 --> 00:22:59,370 the planning of it, 603 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:00,870 there's different things along the way, 604 00:23:00,870 --> 00:23:02,130 that challenges, 605 00:23:02,490 --> 00:23:03,900 I think first of all, 606 00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:06,840 as a new business from a personal side, 607 00:23:06,930 --> 00:23:07,770 never had a problem. 608 00:23:07,770 --> 00:23:08,430 Getting it alone, 609 00:23:08,430 --> 00:23:10,770 never had a problem going to the bank and getting money 610 00:23:10,770 --> 00:23:12,750 I would need for a home or anything like that. 611 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:13,830 But as a new business, 612 00:23:13,830 --> 00:23:15,960 they look at you a lot different unless you put all 613 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:17,520 your personal assets on the line, 614 00:23:17,790 --> 00:23:18,630 like everything, 615 00:23:19,230 --> 00:23:21,510 well, like if you want to mortgage your house or put 616 00:23:21,510 --> 00:23:23,280 another mortgage on your house or something like that, 617 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,740 or do personal guarantees and things like that. 618 00:23:25,950 --> 00:23:28,410 And that got a little scary for a little while. 619 00:23:28,410 --> 00:23:28,710 I was like, 620 00:23:28,710 --> 00:23:29,280 wait a minute, 621 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:29,610 hold on. 622 00:23:29,610 --> 00:23:30,330 I don't want that. 623 00:23:30,330 --> 00:23:31,680 I want as my business, 624 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,830 this Is the difference between being an employee and an Owner. 625 00:23:35,100 --> 00:23:35,610 It is, 626 00:23:35,820 --> 00:23:38,580 and I've never been one to carry a lot of credit 627 00:23:38,580 --> 00:23:41,730 cards. And one of the banks or my bank that I 628 00:23:41,730 --> 00:23:42,840 was dealing with at the time, 629 00:23:42,930 --> 00:23:43,290 they said, 630 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:44,400 just go get a credit card. 631 00:23:44,580 --> 00:23:46,250 That's your line of credit right away. 632 00:23:46,250 --> 00:23:46,550 And I'm like, 633 00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:47,840 really? I said, 634 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,510 you guys can't just do something unless you jumped through all 635 00:23:50,510 --> 00:23:51,200 kinds of hoops. 636 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:51,710 And again, 637 00:23:51,710 --> 00:23:53,360 put a lot of personal things on the line. 638 00:23:53,570 --> 00:23:55,640 It's hard to get that money up front. 639 00:23:55,850 --> 00:23:59,360 So like going to Atlanta and buying accessories, 640 00:23:59,570 --> 00:24:01,550 a lot of people don't want to give you credit right 641 00:24:01,550 --> 00:24:03,020 away because you haven't been in business. 642 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:04,340 You don't have a store yet. 643 00:24:04,580 --> 00:24:06,320 So you're buying it on a credit card. 644 00:24:06,530 --> 00:24:09,080 So that was a little bit different nerve wracking. 645 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:10,790 I'm sure they're wracking. 646 00:24:10,820 --> 00:24:11,780 Yeah, exactly. 647 00:24:11,990 --> 00:24:14,330 But that ended up being fine. 648 00:24:14,330 --> 00:24:15,470 And that was the way to do it, 649 00:24:15,470 --> 00:24:16,310 to get it open. 650 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,510 And fortunately we were successful and those things all get paid 651 00:24:20,510 --> 00:24:21,110 off as you go. 652 00:24:21,260 --> 00:24:22,220 So that was one thing. 653 00:24:22,220 --> 00:24:24,170 And then setting up for us, 654 00:24:24,170 --> 00:24:26,930 we do deliveries and we sell furniture. 655 00:24:26,930 --> 00:24:29,330 So it's got to get delivered to a home. 656 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:34,100 That's been probably one of our biggest challenges and jumping into 657 00:24:34,100 --> 00:24:35,240 it. We thought it'd be easy. 658 00:24:35,450 --> 00:24:38,150 We didn't want to have our own delivery team just from 659 00:24:38,150 --> 00:24:41,840 a warehousing and delivery team expense and so forth. 660 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,530 And some of the other summer classic stores use local what 661 00:24:45,530 --> 00:24:47,540 they call white glove delivery companies. 662 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:49,070 And so that's what we checked into. 663 00:24:49,070 --> 00:24:51,050 And we thought we found somebody that was really good. 664 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:53,540 And they did a lot of deliveries for some of the 665 00:24:53,540 --> 00:24:54,740 big guys around town, 666 00:24:54,740 --> 00:24:56,300 the Creighton barrels and so forth. 667 00:24:56,630 --> 00:24:57,080 And so we thought, 668 00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:58,460 well, this guy could be good. 669 00:24:58,790 --> 00:25:00,830 Well, we found out that once you get rolling and then 670 00:25:00,830 --> 00:25:04,160 you start getting busy and may and June that they don't 671 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:05,720 have the capacity to keep up. 672 00:25:05,990 --> 00:25:07,970 And then it was just scramble mode. 673 00:25:08,090 --> 00:25:10,850 And it was myself and Mark, 674 00:25:10,850 --> 00:25:13,940 who's my operations manager going and renting a truck and doing 675 00:25:13,940 --> 00:25:18,460 deliveries. That's not something I planned for No wear every hat 676 00:25:18,460 --> 00:25:19,870 though, if it's your business, 677 00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:20,950 if you need to jump in, 678 00:25:20,950 --> 00:25:24,340 it's gotta be you Separate class access and award that they 679 00:25:24,340 --> 00:25:26,890 give out every month called whatever it takes. 680 00:25:27,010 --> 00:25:30,490 And that first summer was a lot of whatever it takes 681 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:31,330 to get it done. 682 00:25:31,570 --> 00:25:34,360 So finding the right delivery service to work with one that 683 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:37,480 had the capacity and one that your customers were happy with, 684 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:38,740 when that we were happy with, 685 00:25:38,740 --> 00:25:40,060 when that treated the product, 686 00:25:40,060 --> 00:25:41,710 like it should be treated when it's delivered, 687 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,740 was a lot of searching and went through a lot of 688 00:25:44,890 --> 00:25:45,790 different avenues. 689 00:25:45,790 --> 00:25:46,480 But finally, 690 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:47,080 we've settled in, 691 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,120 on a couple of different ones that we use right now. 692 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,060 So finding those kinds of things that was tough at first, 693 00:25:52,740 --> 00:25:55,390 I mean outsourcing for all different types of services, 694 00:25:55,540 --> 00:25:57,790 some people who are listening do do deliveries. 695 00:25:57,820 --> 00:26:01,270 If there are florists or gift baskets or something like that, 696 00:26:01,270 --> 00:26:03,790 maybe not as big and bulky as yours are, 697 00:26:03,910 --> 00:26:06,640 but all different types of services that you outsource. 698 00:26:06,700 --> 00:26:10,270 I think your story brings to point that you might not 699 00:26:10,390 --> 00:26:13,270 get the right person at first and that's not a failure. 700 00:26:13,270 --> 00:26:15,640 I think it's kind of a process to get to who 701 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:16,450 you are outside. 702 00:26:16,450 --> 00:26:18,460 Suppliers are going to be who are in sync with your 703 00:26:18,460 --> 00:26:20,740 business, but then when you find them, 704 00:26:20,770 --> 00:26:22,360 boy, do you want to treat them well? 705 00:26:22,750 --> 00:26:23,650 Yes, absolutely. 706 00:26:23,650 --> 00:26:26,620 Right. You want them to be loyal and dedicated and stay 707 00:26:26,620 --> 00:26:29,560 because you don't want to have to replace that once you 708 00:26:29,570 --> 00:26:29,950 find it. 709 00:26:30,130 --> 00:26:32,020 Well, you want them to be part of your team. 710 00:26:32,140 --> 00:26:35,410 You want them to convey the type of message that you're 711 00:26:35,410 --> 00:26:39,130 delivering in the store to the outside part of the business 712 00:26:39,130 --> 00:26:39,550 as well. 713 00:26:39,550 --> 00:26:41,740 So you want them to be just like a regular team 714 00:26:41,740 --> 00:26:42,370 member for you. 715 00:26:42,730 --> 00:26:43,120 Oh good. 716 00:26:43,500 --> 00:26:45,690 Because they're really An extension of your brand, 717 00:26:45,780 --> 00:26:46,500 for sure. 718 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:47,580 They definitely are. 719 00:26:47,850 --> 00:26:51,420 So moving On to a little bit of a different area 720 00:26:51,420 --> 00:26:53,640 of business that is now you're open. 721 00:26:53,940 --> 00:26:58,080 How are you continuing to attract new customers into the store? 722 00:26:58,610 --> 00:27:02,870 So we do a lot of different types of advertising and 723 00:27:02,900 --> 00:27:06,980 we do some of your traditional newspaper and magazine and things 724 00:27:06,980 --> 00:27:07,490 like that. 725 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,850 We've put a lot this last year into TV, 726 00:27:10,910 --> 00:27:12,950 which has been very good for us actually. 727 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,020 And mostly cable. 728 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,670 And then we do a lot of direct mail and then 729 00:27:19,670 --> 00:27:21,320 we do email blasts, 730 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:27,020 but then we also do Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and 731 00:27:27,110 --> 00:27:28,970 all the social media ones. 732 00:27:28,970 --> 00:27:31,730 So we have a pretty big presence on those sites. 733 00:27:32,180 --> 00:27:33,110 So you're everywhere. 734 00:27:33,110 --> 00:27:34,730 You're in everything we are. 735 00:27:34,850 --> 00:27:37,640 Yeah. Including traditional media. 736 00:27:37,670 --> 00:27:40,790 I was reading an article just the other day about social 737 00:27:40,790 --> 00:27:45,680 media is the bright and shiny new object that everyone's gravitating 738 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:47,660 to. It's not whether you're going to be on social media 739 00:27:47,660 --> 00:27:49,520 to which platforms are you going to use? 740 00:27:49,550 --> 00:27:51,230 It seems like it's just an obvious, 741 00:27:51,230 --> 00:27:53,420 which in some cases I would say yes, 742 00:27:53,570 --> 00:27:57,920 but you're pointing out that it's not necessarily to the exclusion 743 00:27:57,980 --> 00:28:00,350 of some of the other traditional types of media. 744 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:01,940 Right. I mean, 745 00:28:02,090 --> 00:28:04,220 I'm still one of those guys that reads the paper every 746 00:28:04,220 --> 00:28:07,640 day. And so they have a newspaper ad once in a 747 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:08,840 while. I don't think hurts. 748 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:10,820 I don't think it's something that I want to do on 749 00:28:10,820 --> 00:28:11,870 a weekly basis. 750 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:13,070 But for me, 751 00:28:13,100 --> 00:28:15,500 it seems to have drawn in some of our business. 752 00:28:15,500 --> 00:28:18,140 We do usually a coupon or something like that with it 753 00:28:18,140 --> 00:28:19,790 that we can monitor that business. 754 00:28:20,030 --> 00:28:22,730 We do the same thing like on our Facebook and everything 755 00:28:22,730 --> 00:28:25,400 else that we do is we almost everything else that we 756 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,430 do has some type of thing that they click on or 757 00:28:28,430 --> 00:28:29,780 they cut out or whatever, 758 00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:31,070 bring into the store and say, 759 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,430 Hey, I saw your coupon for 20% off or whatever the 760 00:28:34,430 --> 00:28:35,600 price or whatever the thing is, 761 00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:37,910 How you can track it back. 762 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:38,690 So, you know, 763 00:28:38,690 --> 00:28:42,560 what's working and what's not exactly in terms of the messaging 764 00:28:42,590 --> 00:28:43,760 on your promotions. 765 00:28:44,090 --> 00:28:46,970 Are they always priced discounts or specials, 766 00:28:46,970 --> 00:28:48,380 or how do you approach that? 767 00:28:48,950 --> 00:28:51,380 So we do a fair amount of promotions, 768 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,260 especially in the patio side of the business. 769 00:28:54,260 --> 00:28:56,750 We don't do quite as much on the indoor side, 770 00:28:57,020 --> 00:28:58,160 but on the patio side, 771 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,830 we do a fair amount of promotions through the spring and 772 00:29:00,830 --> 00:29:01,640 into the summer. 773 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,940 But at the same time with like we do some Chicago 774 00:29:04,940 --> 00:29:07,010 magazine and modern luxury. 775 00:29:07,310 --> 00:29:11,900 And with those they're more image ads or not sales or 776 00:29:11,900 --> 00:29:12,470 anything like that. 777 00:29:12,470 --> 00:29:14,330 Sometimes we'll put a coupon on it just to, 778 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,690 again, track to see if it's coming from Chicago magazine or 779 00:29:17,690 --> 00:29:18,440 modern luxury. 780 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:19,580 But other than that, 781 00:29:19,730 --> 00:29:20,990 you get to have a little mix. 782 00:29:20,990 --> 00:29:23,390 I think of some of the sales side of it. 783 00:29:23,420 --> 00:29:24,770 And some of the image side of it, 784 00:29:24,830 --> 00:29:26,900 just to keep you out there in front of people. 785 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:27,980 Do you say that? 786 00:29:27,980 --> 00:29:30,860 Because I think a lot of people think that to attract 787 00:29:30,860 --> 00:29:33,230 people, you always have to be discounting your product. 788 00:29:33,290 --> 00:29:34,910 And if you do that, 789 00:29:34,910 --> 00:29:37,640 I actually just had a conversation about that with my assistant 790 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:38,240 the other day, 791 00:29:38,420 --> 00:29:41,090 you train people not to shop with you, 792 00:29:41,650 --> 00:29:42,640 you have something on sale, 793 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,040 right? So you have to be really careful not to set 794 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,370 that kind of an idea in your customer's mind. 795 00:29:48,370 --> 00:29:48,580 I mean, 796 00:29:48,580 --> 00:29:51,160 if you have certain products or promotions, 797 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:52,390 as you're talking about Bruce, 798 00:29:52,390 --> 00:29:53,080 then yeah. 799 00:29:53,110 --> 00:29:56,170 Maybe a discount or you're combining things together to reduce a 800 00:29:56,170 --> 00:29:57,580 price. Cause it makes sense. 801 00:29:57,610 --> 00:29:59,050 But not just to, 802 00:29:59,080 --> 00:29:59,770 like I was saying, 803 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:01,720 train a customer that yeah. 804 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:02,440 They were going to have sales. 805 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:03,520 So I'm just going to wait until next week. 806 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:04,720 Maybe it'll be on sale. 807 00:30:05,620 --> 00:30:07,750 Okay. So you're doing TV direct mail, 808 00:30:07,750 --> 00:30:08,920 which is where I come from. 809 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:10,990 That was my whole corporate life emailing. 810 00:30:10,990 --> 00:30:12,490 Let's talk a little bit about that. 811 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:16,780 Even though people hear all the time you email is like 812 00:30:16,780 --> 00:30:20,590 the one thing you absolutely own when you have your customers, 813 00:30:20,590 --> 00:30:21,850 emails, prospects, 814 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,090 emails, you're always able to reach out to them, 815 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:26,110 even social media. 816 00:30:26,110 --> 00:30:29,440 You're not because if Facebook just hides to change the way 817 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:30,460 they run their platform, 818 00:30:30,550 --> 00:30:31,270 yet again, 819 00:30:31,300 --> 00:30:35,170 you don't get to know who all your thousands of followers 820 00:30:35,170 --> 00:30:37,840 and people who like your page are the only way you're 821 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:41,230 able to approach them is through that medium or Facebook ads, 822 00:30:41,230 --> 00:30:41,830 which is them, 823 00:30:42,010 --> 00:30:43,570 but emails are yours. 824 00:30:43,750 --> 00:30:48,430 So how are you attracting and growing your email list? 825 00:30:48,690 --> 00:30:50,160 We do it in a couple of ways. 826 00:30:50,190 --> 00:30:52,620 One is if they are in the store, 827 00:30:52,710 --> 00:30:55,470 we have different things throughout the year that if they purchase 828 00:30:55,470 --> 00:30:57,450 something, we almost always get their email so that we can 829 00:30:57,450 --> 00:30:59,610 stay in contact as far as the delivery and things like 830 00:30:59,610 --> 00:31:01,620 that. We'll have giveaways. 831 00:31:01,710 --> 00:31:04,080 We just finished up one for the Gabby side of the 832 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,470 business, where we are giving away my Gabby gift certificate worth 833 00:31:07,470 --> 00:31:09,190 $500. So you come in, 834 00:31:09,220 --> 00:31:11,820 you sign up and we capture your email. 835 00:31:11,820 --> 00:31:12,360 At that point, 836 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:13,710 we do the same thing in the summer. 837 00:31:13,710 --> 00:31:15,660 We do some kind of summer classics giveaway. 838 00:31:15,990 --> 00:31:17,550 We do a backyard makeover. 839 00:31:17,550 --> 00:31:18,870 That's a $10,000. 840 00:31:18,870 --> 00:31:21,180 Make-over Winning that next summer, 841 00:31:21,510 --> 00:31:21,900 by the way, 842 00:31:21,900 --> 00:31:22,970 I'm just letting you know right now. 843 00:31:23,580 --> 00:31:24,870 We'll keep that between us right now, 844 00:31:24,900 --> 00:31:25,500 nobody else. 845 00:31:25,740 --> 00:31:28,320 But that's another way that we capture them. 846 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,590 And then we do have an email signup list here in 847 00:31:31,590 --> 00:31:32,010 the store. 848 00:31:32,010 --> 00:31:33,690 So if people want to be part of it, 849 00:31:33,690 --> 00:31:34,710 they can sign up for it. 850 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,100 In some of our catalogs are handouts that we give out 851 00:31:38,100 --> 00:31:39,990 has a website that you can go to and you click 852 00:31:39,990 --> 00:31:42,210 on that and you enter your information and we'll capture it 853 00:31:42,210 --> 00:31:43,860 there. If they go on our website, 854 00:31:43,890 --> 00:31:44,790 we have again, 855 00:31:44,790 --> 00:31:47,700 another place that you can log in and put in your 856 00:31:47,700 --> 00:31:48,330 email address. 857 00:31:48,330 --> 00:31:49,320 And so we capture it there. 858 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,290 So we try to do it mostly through those means Everywhere 859 00:31:52,290 --> 00:31:52,690 you can, 860 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:53,160 you try to do it. 861 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,800 And how often do you communicate through your email list? 862 00:31:56,370 --> 00:31:57,690 Probably about once a week. 863 00:31:57,780 --> 00:32:00,300 So sometimes it's once every two weeks, 864 00:32:00,300 --> 00:32:02,880 but depending on what's going on and so forth, 865 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,350 it's usually about once a week. 866 00:32:04,620 --> 00:32:07,020 So I try not to do it any more than that. 867 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:11,640 Sometimes we'll divide them out between our normal retail customer and 868 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:12,900 our design business. 869 00:32:13,110 --> 00:32:15,570 So sometimes people might be on both lists and they get 870 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:16,470 double blasted. 871 00:32:16,470 --> 00:32:17,460 But for the most part, 872 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:19,350 it's just once a week or a little less. 873 00:32:19,710 --> 00:32:22,650 And so you are a single location, 874 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:24,870 I'll be at you're part of a bigger entity. 875 00:32:25,020 --> 00:32:29,940 Do you have somebody within your own individual team who works 876 00:32:29,940 --> 00:32:31,320 with all of your promotions? 877 00:32:31,980 --> 00:32:33,300 Not here at the store? 878 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,750 No, I do that through summer classics and it's one of 879 00:32:36,750 --> 00:32:39,920 the things that actually kind of sold me on it was 880 00:32:39,980 --> 00:32:41,540 they have a great marketing team. 881 00:32:41,690 --> 00:32:44,840 So I pay them a very small amount of money per 882 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,020 hour to work at promotions that are geared more towards our 883 00:32:48,020 --> 00:32:50,600 location, but they're a great team of people. 884 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,180 And so I usually just tag onto what they're doing as 885 00:32:53,180 --> 00:32:54,110 a corporate store. 886 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:56,780 And then we add a few of ours along the way. 887 00:32:57,510 --> 00:32:58,790 Lucky you. 888 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,320 Yeah. And that's a big time saver and a big money 889 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:04,070 saver for me. 890 00:33:04,070 --> 00:33:06,800 So that again was one of the enticements of doing the 891 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:07,610 summer classic story. 892 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,010 Sure. Plus you also then have the expertise and the experience 893 00:33:12,010 --> 00:33:12,880 of all the stores, 894 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:14,260 anyone who's participating, 895 00:33:14,500 --> 00:33:17,740 then you're kind of edging your bets about what's going to 896 00:33:17,740 --> 00:33:20,380 work because people have already done these types of promotions before 897 00:33:20,550 --> 00:33:23,530 you have a little bit more intelligence of what's going to 898 00:33:23,530 --> 00:33:24,580 work and what's not. 899 00:33:24,940 --> 00:33:25,840 Yeah. In fact, 900 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,060 now we're doing some IP targeting, 901 00:33:28,270 --> 00:33:31,030 which basically is big brother watching. 902 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,630 And so when you go into a certain area, 903 00:33:34,630 --> 00:33:36,520 a certain area around our store, 904 00:33:36,550 --> 00:33:38,680 there might be an ad that pops up on your phone. 905 00:33:38,980 --> 00:33:40,510 If you come into our store, 906 00:33:40,660 --> 00:33:43,390 there might be an ad that pops our coupon that pops 907 00:33:43,390 --> 00:33:44,230 up on your phone. 908 00:33:44,410 --> 00:33:48,220 And we're doing that now because two of the other stores 909 00:33:48,310 --> 00:33:51,070 tested that over the summer and had great success with it. 910 00:33:51,070 --> 00:33:53,320 So there's some that I could have it set, 911 00:33:53,350 --> 00:33:55,360 not from the company that we're using, 912 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:56,530 but some of the companies, 913 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:58,810 you can have it designed so that if they walk into 914 00:33:58,810 --> 00:33:59,500 your competitor, 915 00:33:59,500 --> 00:34:02,020 one of your ads pops up no way. 916 00:34:02,050 --> 00:34:04,210 Yeah. Ours is not that way. 917 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,370 So we're not quite that big brother-ish, 918 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,590 but it's a whole new form of advertising. 919 00:34:08,590 --> 00:34:10,780 That's working really well for a lot of people. 920 00:34:10,810 --> 00:34:12,730 And it just kind of keeps you out there in front 921 00:34:12,730 --> 00:34:12,880 of you. 922 00:34:13,510 --> 00:34:15,280 Yeah. That is very cool. 923 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,470 Some people freak out a little bit about that type of 924 00:34:17,470 --> 00:34:21,010 thing. The messenger bots are now showing up to a lot. 925 00:34:21,310 --> 00:34:22,900 So it's interesting. 926 00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:23,740 It keeps changing. 927 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,410 And along the lines of that, 928 00:34:26,410 --> 00:34:27,670 let's talk about change. 929 00:34:27,850 --> 00:34:32,140 What do you think of the whole retail world these days 930 00:34:32,140 --> 00:34:33,820 compared to 20 years ago? 931 00:34:34,420 --> 00:34:36,310 I think you have to find your niche. 932 00:34:36,370 --> 00:34:36,700 I mean, 933 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:40,270 20 years ago you could open a storefront and most people 934 00:34:40,270 --> 00:34:41,590 were pretty successful with it. 935 00:34:41,830 --> 00:34:43,150 But now with internet, 936 00:34:43,180 --> 00:34:45,910 there are some products that will just be sold on the 937 00:34:45,910 --> 00:34:49,660 internet and be very hard to compete with there's other products, 938 00:34:49,690 --> 00:34:52,810 which I think we have in the furniture side of the 939 00:34:52,810 --> 00:34:56,200 business that are very difficult for a lot of people to 940 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:57,580 pull the trigger on the internet. 941 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,310 Most people like to sit in their furniture before they buy 942 00:35:00,310 --> 00:35:02,770 it. There's companies that are making it more easy on the 943 00:35:02,770 --> 00:35:05,320 internet to do that as far as their returns and things 944 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:05,770 like that. 945 00:35:05,770 --> 00:35:09,130 But I think a lot of our clientele still feels like 946 00:35:09,130 --> 00:35:09,820 they need to come in, 947 00:35:09,850 --> 00:35:10,900 sit on the furniture, 948 00:35:11,020 --> 00:35:14,470 pick the fabrics that they want and customize it to their 949 00:35:14,470 --> 00:35:17,590 tastes. You can't get that on the internet yet. 950 00:35:17,860 --> 00:35:18,940 But I think the other thing, 951 00:35:18,940 --> 00:35:20,500 and I mentioned it a little bit earlier. 952 00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:23,980 We want the place to be an experience to shop in. 953 00:35:24,250 --> 00:35:26,200 So when you walk in the front door, 954 00:35:26,350 --> 00:35:28,990 it's something that is different than other places that you've been 955 00:35:29,290 --> 00:35:31,150 even different than other furniture stores. 956 00:35:31,420 --> 00:35:34,300 And if you keep that mind in front of you, 957 00:35:34,300 --> 00:35:36,880 I think you can be successful in retail as far as 958 00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:38,310 that environment, 959 00:35:38,310 --> 00:35:40,680 something that people want to keep coming back to and seeing 960 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:41,520 what's new and different. 961 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:42,290 Yeah. Yeah. 962 00:35:42,290 --> 00:35:43,580 The in store experience, 963 00:35:43,580 --> 00:35:45,710 I think that's where you win The book. 964 00:35:45,710 --> 00:35:47,360 I read just this last spring, 965 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,980 it's called shops that pop and it's a great little resource 966 00:35:51,980 --> 00:35:54,860 book and it's an easy read and it focuses on a, 967 00:35:54,870 --> 00:35:55,610 probably about a half, 968 00:35:55,610 --> 00:35:57,440 a dozen businesses throughout the country. 969 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,620 And there is a pet store in the East coast someplace, 970 00:36:00,620 --> 00:36:03,530 and there's a bakery and different things that they focus on 971 00:36:03,530 --> 00:36:05,060 and what makes them successful. 972 00:36:05,210 --> 00:36:07,940 The main thing that it comes down to is making the 973 00:36:07,940 --> 00:36:11,870 experience enjoyable for the customer and also having a good team, 974 00:36:11,900 --> 00:36:12,710 good team of people. 975 00:36:12,740 --> 00:36:14,480 So that keeps them coming back. 976 00:36:14,870 --> 00:36:17,330 Yeah, because if your team, 977 00:36:17,420 --> 00:36:19,130 we talked about this on a show, 978 00:36:19,130 --> 00:36:22,460 a couple of episodes back that a very fine line with 979 00:36:22,490 --> 00:36:23,390 your team. 980 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:25,820 And I'm just talking about when a customer comes into the 981 00:36:25,820 --> 00:36:29,000 store because you can't ignore them, 982 00:36:29,030 --> 00:36:31,430 but you can't be on top of them every step of 983 00:36:31,430 --> 00:36:31,730 the way, 984 00:36:31,730 --> 00:36:33,050 either. Exactly. 985 00:36:33,110 --> 00:36:34,970 Right. You have to be intuitive. 986 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,180 And how do you direct people on how to do that? 987 00:36:38,180 --> 00:36:39,620 Now you already had your team. 988 00:36:39,630 --> 00:36:41,870 So you probably knew already how they were going to work. 989 00:36:42,500 --> 00:36:45,230 But I think it's different with every guest. 990 00:36:45,530 --> 00:36:48,170 Everybody has a little different personality and a different need, 991 00:36:48,170 --> 00:36:51,200 and even been through a bunch of seminars that talks about 992 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:55,100 the millennials compared to the wide Gen-Z and everything like that 993 00:36:55,100 --> 00:36:56,990 and how they deal differently in a store. 994 00:36:57,290 --> 00:36:59,480 And I think he just got to have a feel for 995 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,730 what the customer wants and how they want to be handled. 996 00:37:01,730 --> 00:37:04,790 And I think you can read that a good salesperson can 997 00:37:04,790 --> 00:37:05,990 read that pretty quickly. 998 00:37:06,170 --> 00:37:08,510 So you're not the person that's going to hover over them 999 00:37:08,510 --> 00:37:09,680 if they don't want to be hovered, 1000 00:37:09,980 --> 00:37:12,650 but you also have those people that do want to know 1001 00:37:12,710 --> 00:37:15,830 everything about the product and every little thing. 1002 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:17,000 I think it's just, 1003 00:37:17,060 --> 00:37:20,090 you have to have good people that can read the customer 1004 00:37:20,090 --> 00:37:22,760 as they come through the door and decide how they need 1005 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:24,380 to be treated and how they need to be helped, 1006 00:37:24,380 --> 00:37:28,100 but being friendly and being courteous to all is important to 1007 00:37:28,430 --> 00:37:30,050 everybody. Yeah. 1008 00:37:30,170 --> 00:37:31,430 I totally agree with you there. 1009 00:37:31,790 --> 00:37:34,250 So you've had a lot of experience in the field, 1010 00:37:34,250 --> 00:37:36,650 obviously, but things keep changing. 1011 00:37:36,890 --> 00:37:39,170 What do you do to stay current with the industry? 1012 00:37:39,170 --> 00:37:44,360 Now, Our industry does have a really good social kind of 1013 00:37:44,420 --> 00:37:46,070 interaction with different ones. 1014 00:37:46,070 --> 00:37:48,950 They have different meetings around the country at different times of 1015 00:37:48,950 --> 00:37:49,970 the year that you can go to. 1016 00:37:49,970 --> 00:37:52,070 And I think staying on top of that and being in 1017 00:37:52,070 --> 00:37:54,380 tune to what's happening throughout the country, 1018 00:37:54,380 --> 00:37:56,720 even though you want to localize it and bring it to 1019 00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:57,560 your location, 1020 00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:58,700 but find out trends, 1021 00:37:58,700 --> 00:38:01,490 you find out what works advertising for different people, 1022 00:38:01,490 --> 00:38:02,930 by going to some of those meetings. 1023 00:38:02,930 --> 00:38:06,320 And we had both Mark my operations manager and I attended 1024 00:38:06,350 --> 00:38:08,840 one out in Scottsdale last year. 1025 00:38:09,170 --> 00:38:10,820 And there was just a lot to pull from that. 1026 00:38:10,850 --> 00:38:13,940 And there's a lot of meetings that talked about advertising and 1027 00:38:13,940 --> 00:38:17,060 talked about ownerships of stores and how that transitions through the 1028 00:38:17,060 --> 00:38:21,320 generations. And some things didn't play into what we were looking 1029 00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:25,460 for, but the time away from it at lunches and dinners 1030 00:38:25,460 --> 00:38:27,920 with other retailers really paid off, 1031 00:38:27,950 --> 00:38:30,170 you learn what's happening out there and you learn what's hot. 1032 00:38:30,980 --> 00:38:33,860 Yeah. And you build connections with peers in the industry who 1033 00:38:33,860 --> 00:38:35,440 aren't direct competitors too. 1034 00:38:35,830 --> 00:38:39,520 Yeah. How about kind of a final topic as we start 1035 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:40,510 winding down here? 1036 00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:42,970 What about community interaction? 1037 00:38:43,410 --> 00:38:44,490 I think it's really important. 1038 00:38:44,610 --> 00:38:46,920 We have a great chamber of commerce here, 1039 00:38:46,980 --> 00:38:51,630 and I think that being involved with that has helped us 1040 00:38:51,660 --> 00:38:55,470 not only just in meeting new people and seeing new ideas 1041 00:38:55,530 --> 00:38:55,980 out there, 1042 00:38:55,980 --> 00:38:57,180 getting new ideas out there, 1043 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,400 but from some of the things that I do, 1044 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:00,510 I've changed my, 1045 00:39:00,570 --> 00:39:04,410 it people I've changed my bank just based on the relationship 1046 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:05,730 that I've found in the chamber. 1047 00:39:05,730 --> 00:39:08,370 So I think being tied into that and getting to know 1048 00:39:08,460 --> 00:39:10,260 the people around the area is good. 1049 00:39:10,500 --> 00:39:14,430 Downtown Highland park has its own little group of people and 1050 00:39:14,580 --> 00:39:16,920 it's good to kind of walk up and down the street 1051 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:19,470 and see them and talk to them and know a little 1052 00:39:19,470 --> 00:39:21,270 bit about what's going on in their business. 1053 00:39:21,270 --> 00:39:24,750 And I think involving yourself in the local businesses is good, 1054 00:39:24,870 --> 00:39:26,850 but then reaching out to the local community, 1055 00:39:26,940 --> 00:39:29,160 whether it's through charity events, 1056 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:29,880 things like that, 1057 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:31,140 I think is important as well, 1058 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:32,610 be active in the community, 1059 00:39:32,910 --> 00:39:35,520 Even though you own your own location, 1060 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:37,740 you're still part of a bigger group. 1061 00:39:37,980 --> 00:39:42,360 And I think it is really important to individualize your location, 1062 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:43,050 who you are, 1063 00:39:43,050 --> 00:39:45,930 that you're the owner employees and be part of the community. 1064 00:39:45,930 --> 00:39:46,860 And you certainly do that. 1065 00:39:46,890 --> 00:39:48,930 And you show up at the events too, 1066 00:39:48,930 --> 00:39:50,430 Bruce, you know, 1067 00:39:50,430 --> 00:39:51,900 you don't always send an employee. 1068 00:39:51,900 --> 00:39:53,310 You're the one who's coming out, 1069 00:39:53,310 --> 00:39:54,630 which is really cool. 1070 00:39:54,630 --> 00:39:57,090 You set a wonderful example for everybody there. 1071 00:39:57,510 --> 00:39:57,930 Thank you. 1072 00:39:58,260 --> 00:39:58,650 All right. 1073 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,230 Advice for someone who's starting out, 1074 00:40:01,230 --> 00:40:05,070 someone who maybe they are working out of their house right 1075 00:40:05,070 --> 00:40:07,890 now, but they are a people person and they're thinking, 1076 00:40:07,890 --> 00:40:08,970 yeah, you know, 1077 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:11,490 maybe I ought to look at this brick and mortar type 1078 00:40:11,490 --> 00:40:15,390 idea. What advice would you give them as they're thinking through 1079 00:40:15,390 --> 00:40:15,960 the decision? 1080 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:17,490 Cause it isn't right for everybody. 1081 00:40:17,490 --> 00:40:18,120 We know that. 1082 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:20,730 What would be your advice if you were sitting across the 1083 00:40:20,730 --> 00:40:21,480 table from them, 1084 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:22,260 what would you say, 1085 00:40:23,250 --> 00:40:26,460 Look at who your customer is and can you take that 1086 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,710 what you're doing right now and bring it into a store. 1087 00:40:28,950 --> 00:40:31,980 And then as far as locations and things like that, 1088 00:40:32,010 --> 00:40:33,660 what's going to make you successful. 1089 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:36,570 Do you need the walk by traffic or are people gonna 1090 00:40:36,570 --> 00:40:37,560 come find you? 1091 00:40:37,830 --> 00:40:39,450 And so things like that. 1092 00:40:39,450 --> 00:40:40,380 And like I mentioned before, 1093 00:40:40,380 --> 00:40:42,630 go out and talk to other stores, 1094 00:40:42,660 --> 00:40:43,770 shop other stores, 1095 00:40:43,950 --> 00:40:46,680 see if you can take your concept and bring it out 1096 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:48,510 to your own retail location, 1097 00:40:48,810 --> 00:40:49,950 don't be afraid to do it. 1098 00:40:50,250 --> 00:40:50,580 I think, 1099 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:51,570 like I said before, 1100 00:40:51,660 --> 00:40:52,770 a lot of people fail, 1101 00:40:52,890 --> 00:40:55,620 but pick yourself back up and you start all over again. 1102 00:40:55,620 --> 00:40:56,310 So like I said, 1103 00:40:56,340 --> 00:40:57,750 talk to people in the community, 1104 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:02,460 get ideas from them and look at other cities that might 1105 00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:05,640 have things like you're currently offering and see if they have 1106 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:07,320 a brick and mortar and how it works for them. 1107 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,560 So just do as much research as you can do Great 1108 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,090 advice because I think a lot of people, 1109 00:41:12,090 --> 00:41:14,070 when they start thinking the first thing they think of as, 1110 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:16,110 Oh, let me go look and see what locations are and 1111 00:41:16,110 --> 00:41:19,350 how much it's going to cost versus doing more of that 1112 00:41:19,350 --> 00:41:20,850 market analysis. 1113 00:41:20,850 --> 00:41:21,990 Like your describing. 1114 00:41:22,170 --> 00:41:24,870 Yeah. So I think that is a key to success. 1115 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:26,910 I have a theory about retail. 1116 00:41:26,910 --> 00:41:27,930 Tell me what you think about this. 1117 00:41:27,930 --> 00:41:30,060 Bruce everyone's gravitating online. 1118 00:41:30,060 --> 00:41:30,920 It's convenient. 1119 00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:31,800 It's easy. 1120 00:41:32,010 --> 00:41:35,150 Pretty soon the are going to be dropping our product probably 1121 00:41:35,150 --> 00:41:36,380 right through the front door. 1122 00:41:36,380 --> 00:41:39,020 Well, and I hear Amazon's looking at being able to open 1123 00:41:39,020 --> 00:41:40,700 your door and place products right inside, 1124 00:41:40,700 --> 00:41:42,410 which is a little crazy, 1125 00:41:42,590 --> 00:41:44,570 but everything seems to be cyclical. 1126 00:41:44,570 --> 00:41:48,560 And I kind of have a feeling that although online is 1127 00:41:48,590 --> 00:41:51,830 the bright and exciting thing right now that it's going to 1128 00:41:51,830 --> 00:41:52,550 come back, 1129 00:41:52,580 --> 00:41:55,460 it's going to circle back online will always be there obviously, 1130 00:41:55,460 --> 00:41:57,170 but it's going to circle back to people, 1131 00:41:57,170 --> 00:42:01,220 wanting to come back in and have that personal interaction right 1132 00:42:01,220 --> 00:42:03,140 now. I think people are worried about it, 1133 00:42:03,140 --> 00:42:05,570 but I don't think retail ever is going to be gone 1134 00:42:05,630 --> 00:42:07,810 forever. I would totally agree. 1135 00:42:07,810 --> 00:42:10,240 I think some of the big box people are going to 1136 00:42:10,240 --> 00:42:13,120 have some difficulties in less state change, 1137 00:42:13,150 --> 00:42:14,680 what they do inside the stores. 1138 00:42:14,950 --> 00:42:19,150 We've all been into different stores where it difficult to shop. 1139 00:42:19,390 --> 00:42:23,020 They load it with stuff that close outs and clearance items, 1140 00:42:23,050 --> 00:42:25,660 and you can hardly make your way through the Isles. 1141 00:42:25,900 --> 00:42:30,910 And there's very few trained salespeople there and it's just not 1142 00:42:30,910 --> 00:42:33,250 a fun place to shop until they change that. 1143 00:42:33,310 --> 00:42:34,870 I think they're going to have some problems. 1144 00:42:34,990 --> 00:42:38,800 I think that's what plays into the smaller retail stores like 1145 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:41,620 us and other people that if you give that person that 1146 00:42:41,620 --> 00:42:42,790 personal experience, 1147 00:42:42,850 --> 00:42:45,100 you can compete against the internet people. 1148 00:42:45,460 --> 00:42:47,470 I agree 100%. 1149 00:42:47,770 --> 00:42:48,610 Okay. So Bruce, 1150 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:49,390 at this point, 1151 00:42:49,450 --> 00:42:52,000 I would like to offer you a virtual gift. 1152 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:56,470 It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future. 1153 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,980 So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable 1154 00:42:59,980 --> 00:43:01,900 Heights that you would wish to obtain. 1155 00:43:02,140 --> 00:43:06,190 Please accept this gift on behalf of me and my listeners 1156 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:10,300 and let us know what's inside your box In the box 1157 00:43:10,330 --> 00:43:12,010 would be another location. 1158 00:43:12,370 --> 00:43:15,670 Really. We're looking right now, 1159 00:43:15,700 --> 00:43:18,220 pretty seriously at something Western suburbs. 1160 00:43:18,250 --> 00:43:19,930 I don't know the timeframe on it yet, 1161 00:43:20,140 --> 00:43:23,200 but we actually draw a lot of people in from some 1162 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,170 of the Western verbs and we've went out and checked to 1163 00:43:26,170 --> 00:43:28,570 see what's available out there as far as locations. 1164 00:43:28,750 --> 00:43:32,290 So we have some feelers out there right now and just 1165 00:43:32,620 --> 00:43:34,480 see if everything can come together to do it. 1166 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:36,010 But that's what we would love to do. 1167 00:43:36,340 --> 00:43:39,190 So you can not respond to me, 1168 00:43:39,220 --> 00:43:40,660 but I'm thinking Barrington, 1169 00:43:41,890 --> 00:43:42,850 put it out there. 1170 00:43:44,050 --> 00:43:45,340 I'm just putting it out there. 1171 00:43:45,340 --> 00:43:46,480 I have no idea. 1172 00:43:47,380 --> 00:43:48,070 I'll tell you, 1173 00:43:48,070 --> 00:43:48,970 there is a guy. 1174 00:43:48,970 --> 00:43:52,750 I know that he's the vice president of leasing down at 1175 00:43:52,750 --> 00:43:54,820 the merchandise Mart and he and I have become very good 1176 00:43:54,820 --> 00:43:58,120 friends and he lives in Barrington and commutes every day into 1177 00:43:58,120 --> 00:43:58,960 the merchandise Mart. 1178 00:43:59,170 --> 00:43:59,530 And he said, 1179 00:43:59,590 --> 00:44:01,030 you gotta have a store in Barrington. 1180 00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:01,810 So it's funny. 1181 00:44:01,810 --> 00:44:02,380 You had mentioned that. 1182 00:44:02,950 --> 00:44:04,300 Yeah, I totally see it. 1183 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:05,620 I mean, 1184 00:44:05,620 --> 00:44:06,400 that's a neat area. 1185 00:44:06,490 --> 00:44:07,750 There's other ones like St. 1186 00:44:07,750 --> 00:44:10,930 Charles and Hinsdale and Naperville and those areas that we're kind 1187 00:44:10,930 --> 00:44:11,380 of looking for. 1188 00:44:11,590 --> 00:44:15,370 It'll be exciting to know when it can be announced. 1189 00:44:16,450 --> 00:44:17,290 We'll let you know. 1190 00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:17,830 All right. 1191 00:44:17,830 --> 00:44:21,700 So Bruce great information that you've given us if our listeners, 1192 00:44:21,700 --> 00:44:24,190 because not all of them are obviously in the area. 1193 00:44:24,190 --> 00:44:24,490 In fact, 1194 00:44:24,490 --> 00:44:27,040 the majority of our listeners aren't there worldwide. 1195 00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:29,110 If they want to just take a peek at what you've 1196 00:44:29,110 --> 00:44:30,160 got going on, 1197 00:44:30,310 --> 00:44:33,930 what would the best place for them to go website Facebook 1198 00:44:33,930 --> 00:44:35,960 page? Where would you send them There? 1199 00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:38,930 One, the website shows everything that we do. 1200 00:44:39,050 --> 00:44:44,840 so@summerclassics.com, you can see what summer classics as a whole is 1201 00:44:44,900 --> 00:44:46,280 from product and everything. 1202 00:44:46,310 --> 00:44:49,040 And then there's a link into the store locations there. 1203 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:50,960 And you can see our store on that as well. 1204 00:44:51,140 --> 00:44:53,120 So that gives you a kind of a peak into the 1205 00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:55,550 store itself and then Facebook, 1206 00:44:55,580 --> 00:44:58,040 Twitter, any of those work out real well. 1207 00:44:58,400 --> 00:44:59,570 Wonderful. Well, 1208 00:44:59,810 --> 00:45:00,380 I really, 1209 00:45:00,380 --> 00:45:02,270 really appreciate you spending the time with us, 1210 00:45:02,270 --> 00:45:03,080 your insight, 1211 00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:06,560 because you've had so much experience both from the wholesale side 1212 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:07,520 and then retail, 1213 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,910 and then being in retail for a while and choosing to 1214 00:45:10,910 --> 00:45:11,660 go back. 1215 00:45:12,050 --> 00:45:13,100 It's really interesting. 1216 00:45:13,100 --> 00:45:15,050 I don't often meet people who do, 1217 00:45:15,230 --> 00:45:17,900 but you have a great thing going and you, 1218 00:45:17,900 --> 00:45:19,040 as I'd said before, 1219 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:21,800 are a perfect fit to be the owner of this very 1220 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:23,660 classy chain store. 1221 00:45:23,660 --> 00:45:25,160 I'm not even sure what to call it in terms of 1222 00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:25,850 summer classics, 1223 00:45:25,850 --> 00:45:27,470 because it's just such a total fit. 1224 00:45:27,470 --> 00:45:30,350 So I'm going to be interested and excited to see how 1225 00:45:30,380 --> 00:45:33,260 things progress and your second location. 1226 00:45:33,260 --> 00:45:34,100 Although I'm staying here, 1227 00:45:34,100 --> 00:45:35,960 cause this is way closer to home for me. 1228 00:45:36,860 --> 00:45:40,040 Just don't ever give up on those S see candles. 1229 00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:41,240 That's all I have to say. 1230 00:45:42,530 --> 00:45:43,070 All right, 1231 00:45:43,070 --> 00:45:44,420 well, much success to you. 1232 00:45:44,420 --> 00:45:47,480 I obviously know I'll be seeing you around and may your 1233 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:53,810 candle always Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company, 1234 00:45:54,530 --> 00:45:57,140 looking for a new income source for your gift business. 1235 00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:01,640 Customization is more popular now than ever brand your products with 1236 00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:03,740 your logo or print a happy birthday, 1237 00:46:03,740 --> 00:46:05,540 Jessica Gribbon to add to a gift, 1238 00:46:05,570 --> 00:46:06,380 right at checkout, 1239 00:46:07,010 --> 00:46:10,070 it's all done right in your shop or across studio incentive. 1240 00:46:10,730 --> 00:46:13,160 Check out the ribbon print company.com 1241 00:46:13,250 --> 00:46:14,330 for more information. 1242 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,800 Do you know that you should be out networking, 1243 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,670 but you just can't get yourself to do it because it's 1244 00:46:22,790 --> 00:46:26,780 scary. 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