Creative Shop Talk with Wendy Batten

Shop owners are all hoping to create a bit of security within our business, but this year has certainly shown us that we are not always in control.

Having multiple streams of revenue within your business will help you to get that control back! This isn't about necessarily doing more, but it's more about thinking outside the box and expanding what we are already doing well.

So let's "put it through the hopper" together and ask ourselves these four questions:

1. Does it excite me?
2. Is it something my customers will purchase?
3. Will it be profitable?
4. Does it fit under my brand umbrella?

Taking these steps into consideration when thinking about other revenue streams will hopefully spark a thought process of expansion! Join me in brainstorming the many options there are for adding extra income right now!

Grab my FREE retailer's training and workbook - Retailer's Game Plan Click here my gift to retailers to help you stay on track and be the strongest business you can be - you won't want to miss it!This podcast is sponsored by my Retailer's Inner Circle:If you're like many creative retailers I know, you've gone online for business information or support, but the info you find doesn't apply to a physical brick-and-mortar store or a creative retail shop. You're searching for help and answers because you're heart-centered first, you're worn out wearing ALL the hats, or maybe your marketing is a little messy.You love your brick and mortar store but you feel it has taken over every aspect of your life! Ready for a community custom-made for you?We'd like YOU to join our small monthly coaching group specifically made for CREATIVE RETAILERS! Join the waitlist here.

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

We know that marketing is important, right? We know that social media is a big part of our marketing plan, along with local marketing, collaborations, and paid advertising. These are all measurable plans where we can SEE how it is helping our business.

But there is something that you are already doing every day that surprisingly CAN be measured - conversational marketing. Most of you are regularly connecting with your customers through caring, passionate, and heart-centered one-on-one discussions. Whether it's at the counter or on social media, it's happening.

In this episode, I'm going to teach you how you can create a strategy around simply communicating and listening to your customers and HOW to ask the right questions.

And the best part? It's FREE, simple and it's POWERFUL.

Listen in and hear about some really cool things that have happened by implementing some of these simple strategies.

Grab my FREE retailer's training and workbook - Retailer's Game Plan Click here - my gift to retailers to help you stay on track and be the strongest business you can be - you won't want to miss it!This podcast is sponsored by my Retailer's Inner Circle:If you're like many creative retailers I know, you've gone online for business information or support, but the info you find doesn't apply to a physical brick-and-mortar store or a creative retail shop. You're searching for help and answers because you're heart-centered first, you're worn out wearing ALL the hats, or maybe your marketing is a little messy.You love your brick-and-mortar store but you feel it has taken over every aspect of your life! Ready for a community custom-made for you?We'd like YOU to join our small monthly coaching group specifically made for CREATIVE RETAILERS! Join the waitlist here.

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

I should be doing this. I should be doing that. I should be doing all the things!

So many of my retailers, along with myself, have been seriously feeling this constant sense of overwhelm and telling ourselves what we should be doing. Whether it's in business or in our personal lives, we all are wanting to be more consistent, get one more thing checked off the list, find more balance, be more present, right?

It's time to flip the script.

So if you feel like you are "shoulding" all over yourself like me, then this episode is for you! I want to share with you three main tactics and ideas on how I regroup, feel less overwhelmed, and hopefully it will help you as well!

Retailer's Spring Refresh ChallengeJoin our FREE 10-day x 10 minutes a day challenge, it's running April 12-21st, 2021. It's a simple "Spring Cleaning" of your retail business that will have you feeling like the rockstar retailer you are! Click here to Join the Challenge - you won't want to miss it!This podcast is sponsored by my Retailer's Inner Circle:If you're like many creative retailers I know, you've gone online for business information or support, but the info you find doesn't apply to a physical brick and mortar store or a creative retail shop. You're searching for help and answers because you're heart-centered first, you're worn out wearing ALL the hats, or maybe your marketing is a little messy.You love your brick and mortar store but you feel it has taken over every aspect of your life! Ready for a community custom-made for you?We'd like YOU to join our small monthly coaching group specifically made for CREATIVE RETAILERS! Join us here.

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

What happens when most of your revenue comes from one product line? What happens when something goes awry or there's a mass disruption with that particular product and your business ceases to exist?

Today we are discussing branding yourself and not the product lines that you carry. We are diving deep into some various retailer's stories and what happened to them so you can avoid not having all of your eggs in one basket!

Are you only marketing toward your highest revenue-making product line, or are you marketing toward your actual brand? Are you truly prepared in the back-end of your business when something does happen and you need to shift?

Let's talk about a multitude of top tips and resources that will allow you to still love on your favorite brands AND make those amazing sales. So put your CEO hats on and let's really take a detailed look at where your income is coming from and you're not at the mercy of someone else.

Retailer's Spring Refresh Challenge Join our FREE 10 day x 10 minutes a day challenge, it's running April 12-21st, 2021.

It's a simple "Spring Cleaning" of your retail business that will have you feeling like the rockstar retailer you are!

Click here to Join the Challenge - you won't want to miss it!

Retailer's Inner Circle: If you're like many creative retailers I know, you've gone online for business information or support, but the info you find doesn't apply to a physical brick and mortar store or a creative retail shop. You're searching for help and answers because you're heart-centered first, you're worn out wearing ALL the hats, or maybe your marketing is a little messy.

You love your brick and mortar store but you feel it has taken over every aspect of your life!

Ready for a community custom-made for you?

We'd like YOU to join our small monthly coaching group specifically made for CREATIVE RETAILERS! Join us here.

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

Who has not gotten to this situation at work: "Oh, I thought Wendy was going to do it", "Wait, I thought Susan had already taken care of it", and so on. Miscommunication causes big problems in our retail businesses, to slip through the cracks, leaving our small shop in trouble with no one to hold accountable for.

It's also true of ourselves as self-employed retail owners. Who is watching over us? Who are we accountable to? Who can we get to help support us?

In this week's episode, I share a few tips on how we can stay accountable in our retail business. In addition, I talk about how I stay accountable and how I created my own accountability group. When building up a great team and company, we as business owners, have to be the first ones to walk the walk. The moment our employees see us taking responsibility and following through with our commitments, they will be more likely to do the same. I discuss a strategy to improve effectively by having an internal support team.

Right now, more than ever before, having strong retail business skills is so important. I'm sharing several ways and areas and ideas on how you can stay on track and accountable in this episode. Who do you have in your world to help you stay accountable?

Maybe, the recent shutdowns and business disruptions have made you realize you need a stronger "backstage" as you come through this uncertain time in business. Being accountable is one of the skills I go over in my One-On-one Coaching program. We discuss your fears and struggles in business and how we can help you overcome them. Remember, ensuring that everybody in your retail business takes responsibility for each project will make accountability become the new norm in the company's culture.

So, stay on track, my friend. Find your people. Find a good community to support you. If you need any support with your retail business, you can reach out to me. You can find me at WendyBatten.com and in my Retailer's Inner Circle. I am so proud of everyone in the group. Inside we work together to stay educated, supported, and accountable - come and join us!

Our Sponsor: The Retailer's Inner Circle is open and accepting new members. We are the go-to for support, encouragement, education, and yes, accountability.

Our community is unlike others, we understand small shop life, and want to help you reclaim your confidence, clarity, profits, and joy in your retail business. Let us help you. It's a great group - leapfrog over obstacles. Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes: Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

Today we are starting a new series to bring in brand owners to chat. Today's guest Suzanne Fulford, founder and the CEO of Dixie Belle Paint Company, started her journey as an enthusiastic DIYer with a passion for cultivating and creating beautiful timeless pieces that brought new life to old, tired, and forgotten furniture.

In this week's episode, Suzanne and I talk about the future of the paint industry, its trends, and how brands work with retailers to make a win-win situation. I also talk about why we do and offer a particular product or service. Suzanne shares how she ended up founding and being the CEO of Dixie Belle Paint Company.

Sometimes we are afraid of what could possibly happen with the decisions we make for our businesses. Suzzane was terrified to jeopardize her business and the profits it was bringing to her family. Her perseverance, dedication, and determination led her to have a beautiful paint company. She shares how she did her own website, she took pictures of her product, and how her marketing team helps her give back to retailers.

You're going to love meeting Suzanne and all the tips she shares with us today.

Do you like meeting other retailers and like-minded people? Do you need more control and less overwhelm in your retail business? Let me invite you to join my monthly coaching group Retailer's Inner Circle. Want to learn what's working for OTHER creative shop owners so you are constantly seeing fresh ideas instead of being stuck? We understand creatives, paint sales, and workshops. We get that you may have been a creative first and now are running this crazy business.

The Inner Circle monthly group is a first of its kind experience combining coaching, training, and community support led by retailer and retailer coach strategist, Wendy Batten, who has years of relevant experience as an industry expert. Click here to learn more.

Our guest:

Dixie Belle Paint Company - Offers non-toxic, no VOC's, easy cleanup paint, and can be used on virtually any surface! High-quality chalk mineral paint is perfect for painting furniture/material/cabinets and much more. No waxing required. Dixie Belle Paint is owned/operated in the USA! For more information, please visit our website at www.DixieBellePaint.com.

https://dixiebellepaint.com/

https://blog.dixiebellepaint.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DixieBellePaint

https://www.pinterest.com/dixiebellepaint/_shop/

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

One question I received from a coaching client is "what's coming for retail, and how can I be ready?"

The answer is simple: Get ready! Don't be complacent, take action on the momentum you may have built in 2020. Shore up the gaps, get confident and strong in the areas you may feel that you have weak links. Be ready for what's coming. There's so much hope for retail. Let's congratulate ourselves for getting through 2020 and let's get ready for what's coming!

In this week's episode, I reveal the small yet powerful things that can help you make a big difference in 2021. We need to regroup and pay attention to what's coming forward. We want to be ready for anything that's coming our way. One thing you can do is look back over the year and identify the gaps that might have been in our business. I talk about how I take some time on my schedule every week for personal development. Often we forget the importance of the role of being the CEO of our own business. I also share why is so important to attract the right buying customers into our shop.

Another thing I believe is so important and that will help you make a difference is paying attention to what your customers need. I share some tips on how you can do this without stepping out of your boundaries. Something I made emphasis in this episode is about being memorable. We want people to remember us for what we do and for what we offer. I also share some tips on how to switch things up. That will help people think of us as a shop that is constantly evolving and growing.

There's so much hope for retail moving forward, if you need support, a community that making great progress in retail, want to learn new skills and guidance with running your retail business, our community may be just what you are looking for. Need help with inventory management, store operation, and business-related things, join my Retail Inner Circle.

If you need support with those CEO roles to help you get ready, if you need support with marketing and putting all, all-the-things together, and become that big picture planner, please reach out. You are not alone, join us.

Our Sponsor Foot Traffic Made Simple - Do you want a simple marketing plan that helps you promote your beautiful retail shop in your own way — and watch more customers walk through the door on a daily basis?

Stop hoping for foot traffic and start planning for it, with a doable fully mapped out, and clear plan to get customers in the door, the easy way - hint, it's not about more social media and doing ALL the things!

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

Many retailers are so busy running their brick-and-mortar stores and creating beautiful things, sometimes we just need a little help with marketing. Having strong retail business skills is going to be key to be successful. Marketing matters. That's exactly what I teach in my Foot Traffic Made Simple, my new mini-workshop for shop owners.

In today's episode, I'm doing a Live Coaching call with Lisa Casey from The Painted Pineapple in Moncton, New Brunswick. Lisa has a great following, she rebranded just before the pandemic closed all business - she wants to go from unknown to known by more customers. On our call, we talked about how she has done a great job at getting known in Moncton and ways she can improve. She just needed some tweaks and help and we thought we would share the breakdown and process with you. We discuss tips on nurturing and wowing your customers. We talk about asking for reviews from your customers.

Taking the first step to asking for help is the hardest. If you need help with marketing you are welcome to join me LIVE on March 15th for my Foot Traffic Made Simple mini-workshop.

I'll be covering all of this and more. We go over a five-part marketing plan so you can put an end to overwhelm. My mission is simple, I want creative shop owners to feel confident and in control of their business, grow their profits, and get back to living the lifestyle they dreamed of!

Our guest:

Lisa Casey Retail Inner Circle member and owner and CEO of http://thepaintedpineapple.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/thepaintedpineapplemoncton

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

Are you constantly asking yourself, where did the day go? Or, why time runs so fast? Believe it or not, we are bombarded by so many time wasters in our day-to-day business that we don't realize the impact it can generate in our lives. Between emails, text messages, calls, social media notifications, and even our colleagues, we're constantly battered with potential time-wasters.

Eliminating all the distractions at the office can have a positive impact on your productivity, output, and mental wellbeing. Don't get me wrong, my friends, distractions happen but we can reduce them.

In this week's episode, I talked about the three biggest time wasters that we, creative retailers, face on a daily basis and how we can avoid them. Something I hear every day is, "I just don't have any time. I'm too busy. I've just got too much to do." I shared some tips on how you can stay focus at work. I share the top three time wasters that I changed in my own personal business life and really made a big difference.

Of course, it's natural to get distracted. But it's when we recognize all those distractions and work out a plan to not let them take over the lives that can make a positive impact on us and others.

I want to remind you that if you need any support join my monthly coaching group Retailer's Inner Circle. In this group, we work together on these types of problems. We help each other. We had a challenge about the phone distraction and the conversation inside the group was just amazing. Please reach out if I can support you in any way. Click here to learn more about my Retailer's Inner Circle.

This week's talking points on the Creative Shop Talk Podcast:

• Staying focused
• Working on things that maybe don't matter
• Moving the needle forward
• Removing temptations
• Addiction to our phones
• Batching your work
• Non-revenue-generating things

Our Sponsor

Rockstar Creative Retailers and Shop Owners Group - This is THE place for creative brick and mortar store owners, booth space owners, and DIY studio owners. The who, what, and how's of running a creative retail business. Social media, workshops, time management, staffing, marketing, and more...there's so much, right? This group is loosely based on the things I teach in my monthly coaching group the Paintpreneur's Inner Circle, and teach my one on one coaching clients and retreats.

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.

Comprehending what sets us apart may seem too obvious, but many creative retailers spend time focusing on the day-to-day of their business that they forget about the big picture. This is totally understandable, but if you fail to look at what makes you stand out over your competition can make all of your marketing efforts ineffective.

The key to reaching a new customer is connecting on an emotional level. If you can speak to your customers' challenges and offer a solution, it will make it much easier for them to do business with you. And that's exactly what I want to talk about with you this week.

In this week's episode, I talked about the secret to getting your customers to choose you over your competition. We discuss whether customers choose you because of the proximity of your store, the price of your product, or simply because they are loyal to your brand. I also talk about creating that emotional connection with your customers. Why do you think it's important to share your story? Whether you have an antique shop, a paint shop, a bookstore, a chocolate shop, or whether you're selling beautifully curated gifts, everybody has competition. Everybody has a reason for them to want to go to your shop versus the shop down the street. I discuss the different ways we can share what we are doing and what our business represents.

This week's talking points on the Creative Shop Talk Podcast:

• Supporting other businesses
• How do you stand out
• What makes you different from your competitor
• How do we get customers to know of our business
• How do we get customers to trust us
• Creating emotional connections
• Sharing stories on social media
• How Front Porch Mercantile started
• What your Facebook page should convey
• Business values

Our Sponsor:

This week's episode was brought to you by my monthly coaching group Retailer's Inner Circle. Inside my exclusive inner circle, I offer support to you and your business in any way possible. Feel free to reach out at WendyBatten.com. Click here to learn more and join my Retailer's Inner Circle today.

Subscribe, Connect & Share Your Favorite Episodes

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of the Creative Shop Talk Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts or Google Podcast to subscribe to the show and leave your honest review. For more great content and helpful tips to grow your creative retail shop, visit our website. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, and don't forget to share your favorite episodes with other creative retailers.