Creative Retail Talks with Clint O'Rear

Lifelong Crafter, Author & Creative Industry Icon Joann Pearson Entertains and Delights Us With Her Life of Crafting Adventures.

Listen as Jo Pearson shares how she got started in the Creative Industry and about her journey as she was the creative leader for one of the largest craft retailers in the world.

SUGGESTED ACTIONS

For Suppliers and Retailers - listen to the suggestions from creative experts to help develop new products. Share new product ideas before it goes to market to get feedback and input.

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𝗝𝗢𝗔𝗡𝗡 𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡 After spending over 30 years as the Manager of Creative Services at Michaels, Jo has retired to St Louis, close to family. Jo's career has taken her all over the United States teaching, demonstrating and appearing on TV. Jo was a regular on Aleen's Creative Living TV, appeared on Good Morning America, Handmade by Design and was a Judge on TLC's "Craft Wars" starring Tori Spelling. Jo has authored numerous craft instruction books and videos and is currently selling Creepy Doll lamps and Piano Key Angels at a small boutique close to home.

You can reach Jo at [email protected]. She would love to hear from you!

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

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Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Lawrence Hoffman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Marvy Uchida, shares how Le Pen became the most recognizable product of the Marvy Uchida brand. He and Clint discuss how Marvy Uchida is now working with influencers to bring people together in the creative industry.

• Lawrence is VP Sales for Uchida. Customers are endeared to Uchida because they remember the products from many years ago and love the quality.
• How does Uchida engage with the customer?
  • Direct consumer contact - changed website platform to Spotify
  • Social media channels - Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest
  • Respond to feedback in a timely manner
• What Uchida product is the most recognizable - Le Pen, one of the original Fineline markers from over 25 years ago
  • Drew Barrymore Show reached out and said they were putting Le Pen in their online digital book because Drew loves Le Pen
  • Vanity Fair magazine - a celebrity called out Le Pen as one of their favorite items
• AFCI is trying to evolve to provide a more well-rounded experience that goes beyond just a trade show. NOTE: Since recording this interview and publishing the episode Association for Creative Industries (AFCI) and the International Art Materials Association (NAMTA) have announced their intention to merge. Read the NAMTA announcement here.
• What is the role of trade shows in the future? Still a need for people to connect in person face to face. Lawrence thinks trade shows will still be a vital piece, but thinks the purpose of the trade show will evolve.
• It doesn't cost anything to be kind!

SUGGESTED ACTIONS

• Be kind to people and build a legacy of respect.

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𝗟𝗔𝗪𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗠𝗔𝗡 got his start in the Arts & Crafts retail at the age of 12 working for Mike Dupey (Michaels), the father of Arts & Crafts Retail. He is now the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Uchida of America, providing pens, markers and tools to the makers. Oh, and he's a huge Star Wars fan.

You can contact Lawrence Hoffman at [email protected]. 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

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Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Clint talks to craft industry influencer, Alexa Westerfield, Founder of Swell Creative Media, as she reflects on her journey from the early days at DecoArt and Duncan, as well as how Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica, impacted her life in a big way.

Who has influenced Alexa's life?

• Kathy Cano Murillo - Crafty Chica
  • Has been a guiding light of positivity
• Her Mom and Grandmas
  • Being nurtured to craft as a kid
  • Exposed Alexa to creative products
  • Taught her to encourage crafting as a positive outlet

Crafting has been an outlet for people to express themselves and connect through the pandemic

What is Alexa doing now?

• Working with brands on social media strategy
  • A great place to start is to audit current strategy
  • Helping build Pinterest strategies
• Building a studio to create content

Pinterest has the biggest "simmering" rate with the longest shelf life for social media platforms

Use your brand to encourage crafting as a positive outlet

Assess your social media strategy to determine next steps to maximize connections with consumers

Consider Pinterest as a key part of your social media strategy

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𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗫𝗔 𝗪𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗟𝗗 is a multi-faceted marketer, designer, and lifelong crafter. Professionally she's worked for over 15 years with craft companies like Tulip, Aleene's, Artbin, and DecoArt as a designer and marketing strategist guiding content campaigns, influencers, and retailer relationships. In addition, she's created viral crafted content for her blog theswelldesigner.com and has produced short form video and creative content for brands like Darby Smart, Association for Creative industries, and Alt Summit. Her work has been featured on The Rachael Ray Show, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and Today.com.

To contact Alexa Westerfield you can reach her at swellcreativemedia.com or find her on Instagram at @swellcreative or LinkedIn at Alexa Westerfield.

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting (CreativeSales.biz), has worked in the Retail industry since 2000.

Learn how Clint and his team at Creative Sales Consulting connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries to build stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

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Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Kathy Cano-Murillo, author, artist and founder of the award-winning brand Crafty Chica shares her strategy for being consistent and knowing the end goal.

• Kathy's "Gospel of Glitter" - be positive and make space for a successful outcome! It's about giving and sharing - if things are going bad in your own life go do something nice for someone else.
• Persistence - know the end goal, and if you are procrastinating or don't want to do something, do it for your Future Self.
• Law of Belief: believe in what you can have for yourself and take action because you believe.
• Kathy takes a mini book at the end of each day and writes down 3 to 4 things that went right that day.
• Kathy's Planning Process for Success — she has to stay organized for Future Kathy!
• • Start in January with a Vision Board with every month mapped out
  • Prep for the coming week every Sunday night
  • • What does she need to finish this week?
  • Every night make a To Do list for the next morning
  • • This keeps her from wasting time
• Power of Visualization - Kathy has moved ideas forward by visualizing the future outcome - her book on a shelf in a bookstore, writing down what she wanted for her next hire, etc.
• Financial mindset shift - it's not about squeezing a dollar out of a dime, it's about turning $1 into a $100 - abundance mindset instead of a scarcity mindset.
• Take one idea at a time and follow through with it!
• Believe you can do it and make a plan for it!
• You don't have to reinvent yourself — evolve yourself!
• • Be proud of what you've done in the past because those things play a role in where you are right now that allows you to go to the next level.
• Kathy likes to have a meaningful purpose in everything she does - so she promotes positivity through creativity.
• You are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with, so choose those 5 people wisely.

• Make a To Do list and do it for your Future Self.
• At the end of each day, write down the things that went right for you that day.
• Have a planning process and follow through with it daily to achieve your goals.
• Continue to evolve yourself.
• Choose 5 people to spend time with who motivate and inspire you - spend the majority of your time with these people.

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𝗞𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗬 𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗢-𝗠𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗢, author, artist and founder of the award-winning brand Crafty Chica shares the magic formula of what inspires her creative journey.

To contact Kathy Cano-Murillo, you can reach her at CraftyChica.com or find her on Instagram at @craftychica.

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

______________________

Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

In Part 2, Charlie Leichtweis, founder of Experts in HOW LLC, digs into Results and Relationships in leadership (100% of both). Charlie shares the value of no longer doing what you're not getting paid for with his unique Direct Profitability Model.

• Leadership has an equal emphasis on Results and Relationships.
• • When you build the relationship you can get laser focused on results without running over people, or without being negative.
• Set goals and metrics tied to the results you want to achieve, and when things aren't going right look for root causes and solutions instead of blaming people.
• • Figure out what the barriers to success are, and engage everyone on the team to mitigate the barriers.
  • Tie compensation and bonuses to employees' contribution to achieving results.
• Communication from the top down and across functional areas is key - it's important to give people hope about what you're building and to help them understand how their role ties to the overall results.
• • An important part of the communication process is to give people a voice to share issues, concerns, and frustrations.
  • Everyone has a right to ask questions, and everyone has a right to get answers to their questions - open communication!
• Measure both leading and lagging indicators and understand the data that you need to help people get better at what they do - business intelligence.
• DPM - Direct Profitability Model
• • Product level - foundational direct cost
  • • Customer level - aggregate of products for that customer
    • Market level - aggregate of customers in that market
  • Identify fixed costs not directly attributed to the aggregation of product, customer, and market cost and understand who is directly responsible to measure and report on those costs to get to enterprise profitability.
  • • Goal is to stop doing what you're not getting paid for.
• Golf swing example - connecting the dots
• • The perfect golf swing involves multiple elements - grip, posture, club, etc. - you won't have the perfect golf swing by focusing on each one individually, you have to relate them to one another to produce a result.
  • In business you have to avoid silos and share knowledge and data across functions in the organization to produce the results you want and execute sustainable profitable growth with your customers.
• Main takeaway
• • Learning "How" is not a problem - nobody knows "How" before they start doing things.

• Understand and apply the balance of relationships and results in leadership.
• Set goals and metrics for the results you want to achieve and communicate those goals and metrics to everyone involved in achieving the results.
• When things go wrong, look for root causes and solutions instead of blaming people.
• Create open communication on your team where everyone has a voice and has the opportunity to ask questions and share issues.
• Understand your direct costs and your fixed costs - make sure someone is responsible for measuring and managing the fixed costs that aren't direct.
• Stop doing what you're not getting paid for!
• Share knowledge and data across departments and functions to produce results.

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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗦 is the founder of Experts in HOW LLC, a business consultancy focused on helping businesses learn HOW to identify, prioritize, and eliminate barriers to success. Charlie is the author of top selling books including The Power of Respect in Business and Qlikview Your Business. He is also a popular speaker, a Forbes Business Council member, and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for a number of companies.

You can reach Charlie Leichtweis at expertsinhow.com or find him on LinkedIn at Charles Leichtweis.

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

______________________

Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Charlie Leichtweis, founder of Experts in HOW LLC, shares his approach to organizational development to help leaders with the HOW to create sustainable, profitable growth - and it all starts with the people! The hallmark of trust begins with respect. Part 1

• The Power of Respect in Business
• • About Leadership
• Leadership is equal emphasis on Results and Relationships - 100% of both
• Charlie developed an approach to organizational development to help them with the HOW to create sustainable, profitable growth - and it all starts with the people!
• Emotional Scale - it's important to understand what the triggers are that move you up and down the emotional scale to move you from effectiveness to ineffectiveness
• People want to know how what they do matters to the organization
• The hallmark of trust begins with respect!
• John's Story - Listen Longer!
• • How? - Practice! - Talk to people you don't agree with and listen.
  • Think about your emotional scale as you're listening
  • You don't have to agree with the other person or make them agree with you - but it's important to understand their beliefs and find where you connect.
• All Rise - Judgement
• • It's ok to have judgements, but it becomes problematic when you become judgmental.
  • Being judgmental impacts communication and relationships, affecting others in a negative manner.
• Road Rage Story
• • When you encounter someone that is acting negatively, don't engage them and invite them into your life

• As a leader, focus equally on results and relationships
• Understand your triggers that move you up and down the emotional scale from calm (effective) to angry (ineffective)
• Learn to listen to people without interrupting or arguing — listen longer!
• Make judgements about people and situations without being judgmental

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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗦 is the founder of Experts in HOW LLC, a business consultancy focused on helping businesses learn HOW to identify, prioritize, and eliminate barriers to success. Charlie is the author of top selling books, including The Power of Respect in Business and Qlikview Your Business. He is also a popular speaker, a Forbes Business Council member, and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for a number of companies.

You can reach Charlie Leichtweis at expertsinhow.com or find him on LinkedIn at Charles Leichtweis.

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

______________________

Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40, is this amazing combination of a confident leader and a very humble servant that leads his tribe very well. Although he is in the oil products business, in this episode we talk about a lot of things that have nothing to do with oil but everything to do with how to grow your business and grow your people.

• 70% of people who go to work everyday are disengaged
• Aristotle - "Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work."
• From Ken Blanchard's class at University of San Diego in the Masters of Leadership program, Garry learned that a leaders role is to create a place where people go to work everyday where:
  • They make a contribution to something bigger than themselves
  • They learn something new
  • They are protected
  • They are set free by a compelling set of values
  • And therefore they go home happy
    • Happy people create happy families
    • Happy families create happy communities
    • Happy communities create a happy world
  • You need to love and involve your people in everything you do!
• Comparison of Al the Soul Sucking CEO with the Servant Leader
  • 𝘼𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙀𝙊/𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧
    • Has the biggest office in the building
    • Always has to be right
    • Always has all the answers
    • Leads by fear
    • Doesn't think learning is important at all
    • Is corporate royalty
    • Doesn't follow through with commitments
    • If things go wrong it's never him/her - blames someone else
    • Isn't clear about what he/she wants to achieve with the team
    • Goals are sketchy
    • Praise isn't part of his world
    • His/her ego eats his/her empathy instead of his/her empathy eating his/her ego
    • All about them and greed and what's in it for them
  • 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧
    • Loves and involves their people
    • Always in servant leadership mode
    • Expect their people to be competent
    • Thrives on learning
    • Connected with emotional intelligence
    • Their empathy eats their ego, instead of their ego eating their empathy
    • They don't make mistakes - they have learning moments
    • They reduce fear
    • Have a heart of gold and a backbone of steel
    • Champions of hope
    • Know micromanagement is not scalable
    • Do what they say they're going to do
    • They love feedback
• As part of this culture, Garry uses a new kind of talent review system for members of his tribe to "help them get an A" and have greater success:
  • At the beginning of the year, you sit down with your coach and identify the top 3-5 essential functions of your job description
  • Then, the coach (manager) describes what an "A" looks like
  • Everyone agrees to go for the "A"
  • Then, you set short term goals together
  • Finally values are reviewed and discussed
  • Then every 90 days the coach sits down with the tribe member (employee) for him/her to do a self review to grade themselves.
  • The coach asks the following questions:
    • How are you doing?
    • What is getting in your way?
    • What can I move out of the way to help you be successful?
    • How do we help you get to the next stage so at the end of the year you get an A?
    • How have you lived out our values in the past 90 days?
• This culture has helped WD-40 achieve the following:
  • Increased employee engagement from 40% to 93%
  • 98% of employees globally say they love to tell people they work for WD-40
  • 97% of employees say they know what is expected of them
  • 98% are excited about the company's future - a sign of trust!
• Garry uses the word "tribe" instead of team because of what the idea of a tribe means - a group of people that come together to protect and feed each other
• On Gratitude…
  • Book Leading with Gratitude by Chester Elton
  • Research has shown how healthy gratitude is
  • Taking time to reflect and to be in a positive, pragmatic mindset is important
  • From the Dalai Lama - "Our purpose in life is to make people happy. If you can't make them happy, at least don't hurt them."
    • Spreading gratitude helps make people happy
  • It's important to show that you are grateful for life as a gift - don't send it back unwrapped.
• Garry's 5 personal Core Values for Leadership
  • Caring - helping people step into the best version of themselves
  • Candor - no lying, no faking, no hiding
  • Mutual Trust and Respect - treating people with respect and dignity
  • Learning and Teaching - be continually curious
  • Persistence - never, ever, ever give up!
• "Learning Moments"
  • 70% of what we try fails, and failure can paralyze us
  • Take the word failure out and focus on learning
  • The definition of a Learning Moment
    • A positive or negative outcome of any situation that needs to be openly and freely shared, to benefit all people.
  • It's about getting people in a situation where they're comfortable with vulnerability so they can bring out the best of themselves.
• On quarterly pressure of a public company…
  • Playing the infinite game, not the finite game
  • Planning and executing to a 5-6 year goal
  • Must win battles are identified
  • But all in the context of doing the right thing with little focus on quarterly results
  • The long term results have been phenomenal
    • Revenue up 5x
    • Market cap up from $300 million to $3.54 billion
• On having Ken Blanchard as a mentor…
  • Taught Garry about being there to serve his people
  • An absolute champion of servant leadership
  • Leadership is not about being in charge, it's about taking care of the people in your charge
• Garry's lessons for emerging leaders
  • 3 most powerful words you'll ever say - "I don't know."
  • It's not about you, it's about those who you lead.
  • Leadership is a sacrifice, but it's a wonderful sacrifice.

SUGGESTED ACTIONS

• If you are a leader of a company or a team, study the principles that Garry shares on leadership to build a culture where your team is engaged and goes home happy.
• Don't be Al, the Soul Sucking CEO that creates a toxic environment - instead learn how to be a Servant Leader to help people succeed. As the leader it's not about you so lead based on empathy and gratitude.
• Think about implementing Garry's talent review system to help people get an A through coaching and self-assessment.
• Spread gratitude!
• For yourself and your team, don't focus on failure - turn those situations into learning moments to remove fear and build trust.
• Keep your focus on where you want to be in 5-6 years out and do the right thing each day instead of focusing on quarterly financials.

𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗢. 𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗘, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the WD-40 Company, is passionate about learning and empowering the organizational culture he has helped establish at the WD-40 Company. His vision and leadership have positively impacted the WD-40 Company in both measurable and immeasurable ways. Garry joined WD-40 Company in 1987 and rose through the company in various management positions in the company.

Garry is an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego where he teaches the principles and practices of corporate culture in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership program. In 2009, he co-authored a book with Ken Blanchard outlining his effective leadership techniques, titled Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy called "Don't Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A."

A native of Australia, Garry holds a certificate in Modern Retailing and wholesale distribution and a Master of Science in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego.

You can reach Garry Ridge at The Learning Moment (Welcome), find him on LinkedIn at Garry Ridge or follow him on Twitter at @learningmoment.

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting, has worked in the Retail industry since 2000. Clint and his team connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries for stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

For more insightful conversations with leaders in the Arts & Crafts Retail industry visit CreativeRetailTalks.com.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

______________________

Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Consumer anthropologists, Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, discuss their watershed moments and how the pandemic has changed the retail landscape for the better. Despite the rise of eCommerce, Brick & Mortar is here to stay.

• We are at a fork in the road moment for many businesses right now.
• Another fork in the road in retail was when Big Box retail entered the US retail landscape, especially for small town retailers. It required a shift in thinking.
• Stores are living organisms — constantly changing.
• You think you're in control of your business and of your life — you're not!
• The pandemic has forced all of us to rethink who we are, what we do, and how we do it. It will make all of us better in many ways.
• This is not the "new normal." It's the "now normal."
• Future of retail:

• • Once an online retailer hit's a certain plateau, it is too expensive for them to grow sales online without a brick and mortar platform.
  • Visiting a store is the "icing on the cake" for customers.
  • Buy Online Pickup In Store will be a large driver for brick and mortar.
  • Shopping is social - that will never go away.
  • People are looking for experience, and for many products they want to touch and feel things.
• How is the consumer changing?

• • Customers have always held the cards, but since COVID they hold every single card.
  • Retailers have to figure out how to engage them and keep them loyal.
  • Where consumers go will depend on what the retailer does to attract them - BOPIS, curbside pickup, and other conveniences, as well as how the store keeps them safe.

To contact Rich and Georganne, you can reach them at [email protected]. Or find them on LinkedIn at Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

Learn how Clint and his team at Creative Sales Consulting connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries to build stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

______________________

Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Everyone wants to be seen, and brands need to start taking steps to help everyone be seen by and feel included by the brand. Clint discusses inclusion in today's craft industry with Alexa Westerfield, Founder of Swell Creative Media.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• It's time to take a look at how we are serving a diverse base of consumers
• People want to be seen - we need representation of all races and walks of life
• It's not just big initiatives - it's also the little things like signage, packaging, projects where all consumers need to be represented
• Start with small steps and add to them
• Life principle from Frozen 2 - do the next right thing!
• It's a process and will take time. It will be a learn as you go process.

SUGGESTED ACTIONS

• Start taking steps to review how you are serving a diverse base of consumers
• Think about who is being represented
• • In Social Media content
  • On packaging
  • On signage

You can reach Alexa Westerfield at swellcreativemedia.com or find her on Instagram at @swellcreative or LinkedIn at Alexa Westerfield.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗫𝗔 𝗪𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗟𝗗 is a multi-faceted marketer, designer, and lifelong crafter. Professionally she's worked for over 15 years with craft companies like Tulip, Aleene's, Artbin, and DecoArt as a designer and marketing strategist guiding content campaigns, influencers, and retailer relationships. In addition, she's created viral crafted content for her blog theswelldesigner.com and has produced short form video and creative content for brands like Darby Smart, Association for Creative industries, and Alt Summit. Her work has been featured on The Rachael Ray Show, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and Today.com.

𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢'𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗥, president and owner of Creative Sales Consulting (CreativeSales.biz), has worked in the Retail industry since 2000.

Learn how Clint and his team at Creative Sales Consulting connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries to build stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

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Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Lawrence Hoffman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Marvy Uchida, cut his teeth in retail when he was 12 years old, working for Michael Dupey/MJ Designs. Lawrence and Clint discuss what it's like to work with world class retailers and manufacturers.

• Mike Dupey, was the father of Arts & Crafts Retail - one key to his success was putting a team together with the right people in the right seats on the team.
• Mike impacted many people and companies on his journey.
• Howard Hoffman, Lawrence's dad, was the chief merchant for Mike Dupey's organization. He would see anyone, because he knew he could learn something from anyone and never knew where the next big opportunity was going to come from.
• The Dupey team worked hard, but had a lot of fun also.
• Forks in the road may not always seem positive, but whatever path you're on, learn as much as you can because you never know when that knowledge will help you.
• Lawrence's faith has shaped the direction of his life.
• Major lesson from a trend fashion retailer that failed - test concepts in multiple markets on a small scale for major shifts in strategy to confirm results before rolling it out to a full chain. Crawl. Walk. Run.

To contact Lawrence Hoffman you can reach him at [email protected] or find him on LinkedIn.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, reach out to Clint O'Rear at [email protected].

Learn how Clint and his team at Creative Sales Consulting connect suppliers & retailers in the creative arts industries to build stronger relationships and strategic sales growth, in order to bring joy to consumers through artistic creative and decorative products.

______________________

Music:

"Carpe Diem" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/