If These Heels Could Talk

NPR reported economist Alan Cole’s concept of Skimpflation - the idea that consumers are receiving less value for their dollar because businesses are reducing quality of goods and services while maintaining prices. So instead of pricing going up (inflation), quality is being reduced.

We can see this all around us in longer wait times, fewer goods on shelves, lower quality packaging, and smaller quantities. For most large businesses, it’s far simpler to reduce the amount of rice in a box by 8% than it is to increase the price of the box by 8%. 

But small reductions in quality for a brand are like moths to a sweater. Small hole after small hole after small hole and eventually the sweater disintegrates. If you’re Amazon or 3M or Walmart and you have a bazillion sweaters, you will survive. If you’re a small business, it’s likely that you wouldn’t.

Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea discuss Skimpflation and the opportunities it creates for small businesses to message their story of quality to their customers and clients. 

Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea discuss the 100th episode of If These Heels Could Talk, where we’ve been, and what we’re planning for the future of the podcast. 

They say that practice makes perfect. But what if practice is scary and perfect isn’t needed? Does that mean you don’t need to practice?

In business, we plan for lots of things that never happen. And lots of things that do. We buy insurance against fire and data loss, theft and tornados. We might even put disaster plans on paper. But when do we train our staff in the plan? When do we practice?

Anxiety is partially about not feeling prepared. What do we do in the event of a fire? Terrible weather? Or even a human-driven disaster like an active shooter?

There are some simple things you can do to reduce the stress for your staff and yourself and increase the safety of everyone. Listen in as JoyGenea tells the story of being a visitor in a hospital ICU during an intense Active Shooter (ALICE) Training. And as Michelle and JoyGenea discuss the importance of preparedness. Even reluctant preparedness. 

To access local Active Shooter Training, visit https://www.alicetraining.com/our-program/alice-training/

Hiring is hard. And it’s harder when fewer people apply for an open position. 

When it was an ‘employer’s market,’ tons of people would apply for job openings. Employers had their pick. Those employers in upward trending industries or with great reputations or with fantastic benefits packages tend to have less trouble, but none of those factors are easily maneuvered or controlled. 

Today, hiring is very, very hard. Because attracting applicants is very, very hard. People are leaving the job market. Not everyone, but enough so that we feel it. We feel it at our favorite restaurants and retail stores with slightly longer lines and slightly longer waits. We feel it when we’re hiring when 3 people apply for a position that, two years ago, 15 people would have applied for. 

Everywhere, Human Resources and Marketing departments are racking their brains, trying to figure out how to fill open positions. How to advertise their job listings in new places or with new parameters. But they’re missing something.

Listen in as JoyGenea and Michelle talk about rethinking hiring, from the job title to the job description to the ‘ideal candidate.’

It’s like a break-up. Someone is going to want it and someone else isn’t. 

As a small business owner, when you have to fire an employee, you know it’s going to be emotional and difficult. Even if the emotion is anger. But how do you handle it when someone decides to leave?

Employment is a relationship. It can feel transactional and distant or it can feel emotionally intense, but it’s still a relationship. And all relationships require both parties to consent to continue the relationship. As employers, we earn our employees’ trust and loyalty through our leadership. Employees earn an employer’s trust and loyalty through job performance and their contributions to the team. Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea talk about what it feels like to get ‘dumped’ by an employee. And, more importantly, what to do to re-engage the rest of the team in the transition.

Swag or promotional products, can be an excellent way to extend your networking and help build your small business. But, like any other advertising options, swag needs to be executed correctly. Every real estate and insurance agent in your area will give away a calendar, or a pen, or a can cozy. The bank and law firms will also have pens. The law firm ones might be slightly nicer. Coffee cups, hats, and whatever is on trend for the year (pop sockets and fidget spinners have been popular recently) will be at every trade show, conference, and parade. Not to mention the all popular charity 5K t-shirt. 

And some of these get worn or used. You can often see a 5K t-shirt in action while someone is mowing their lawn or painting. But when is the last time you saw a promotional product on someone’s desk at work? When was the last time someone said, “You should see this amazing thing I got from XYZ company.”

The power of promotional products isn’t always in the universal appeal. Sometimes the power is in the unique. Or the remarkable. Or the creative. None of which automatically mean expensive. But all of which mean time, effort, and thought given. 

Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea discuss the power of swag and what it can do for your business’s reputation.

You’ve networked. You’ve been introduced. Lots of people know who you are and that you’re in business. 

While networking is an ongoing activity, part of the process is nurturing relationships for the long-term. But how?

Frankly, the same way you would nurture any relationship. Show up. Be present. Be interested and engaged. Enthusiastically cheer on the other business’s success and be supportive in more challenging times. Listen to what is important to the other business owner and then act on it in conjunction with them. Look for opportunities to work together on special projects or promotions.

JoyGenea and Michelle discuss nurturing relationships in their business lives, including the most important step - choosing which relationship to nurture. 

Oh, look. You stumbled over a consequence. 

Consequences of our choices and other’s choices are all around us in business and leadership. And sometimes, like children, we stamp our feet and proclaim it’s just not fair. But outcomes of our decisions are rarely all one bad or all good. In fact, we typically don’t know all the consequences of our actions.

Natural consequences are the ones that just happen - drink to excess, get a hangover. Imposed consequences are things like getting grounded, getting ‘written up’, or getting arrested. An authority develops a system of corrective action intended to incentivize desirable behavior. Say you’re always late for work. Your coworkers may gossip about you behind your back, resent your behavior as disrespectful, or act in a way that feels disrespectful to you. Natural consequences. Your boss may start disciplining you or fire you. Imposed consequences.

Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea apply this to various situations in their life and pose one question: Which one is more likely to change behavior?

What we tell ourselves about a situation is a powerful thing. Business not growing? It’s easy to say it’s because of the market. Or because of circumstances. Or because of the weather. But what do you do when you’re watching someone else thrive with the same circumstances?

When JoyGenea and Michelle met, they quickly joined forces as office mates. And Michelle’s business started to achieve some of the things that JoyGenea had wanted for her business. Michelle thought JoyGenea had decided to keep her business small. JoyGenea didn’t realize that the small decisions she made every day made sure her business stayed on it’s course, even while she set goals for the kind of growth she was seeing in Michelle’s business.

Three years later, JoyGenea and Michelle discuss this dynamic for the first time. Listen in.

We’re probably all familiar with the idea of a workout buddy - someone to make sure we show up to our workouts and complete them all the way through. This is an accountability partner, and we need them in our businesses. Why? Because being accountable only to ourselves in the short term means procrastinating on the really important and difficult things in the long term. 

People who like to workout don’t need a workout buddy. Business owners all have things we enjoy and things we don’t. Sometimes it’s reviews. Sometimes it’s budgets. Sometimes it’s strategic planning, or posting to social media, or getting those website edits done. 

Romantic partners make lousy professional accountability partners. Business coaches, therapists, counselors, and professional executive groups make amazing accountability partners. Why? Because the relationship has clarity of purpose and goals. 

Listen in as JoyGenea and Michelle discuss what qualities make for a successful accountability partnership, including their own abilities to hear what others are saying.