Many of us open or start our businesses without a business plan, a formal education, or any guidance or mentorship regarding running a retail business. And this isn’t a judgment of anyone—this was ME! I started my business without any plan, mentorship, or education, too. When we open, we tend to think about the basics….

The Savvy Shopkeeper community recently participated in our annual survey. I asked shopkeepers about their business models, their revenue numbers, the support they’re looking for, and their feedback on all things Savvy Shopkeeper. I learned so much from the survey results, and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned with you. Business Models 73% of…

There are three main camps that independent retailers fall into when we think about growth: those who are afraid to grow, those who are excited to grow, and those who are a mix of both.  I recently ran a poll in the Shopkeepers Lab group, along with the 2021 Savvy Shopkeeper Survey. Thanks to these…

As shopkeepers, it’s easy to get caught up in running our business. We chug along, push forward, and hustle to make it work. But that often comes at a high cost—our emotional health.  Our emotional health and our mindset are crucial to our work as shopkeepers. Without them, it’s challenging to succeed. Over the past…

As I shared in Episode 65 of the Savvy Shopkeeper Retail Podcast, we hear all sorts of myths as independent retailers. From “the customer’s always right” to “you’ll probably show a loss for your first three years in business,” these myths are repeated so frequently that we just believe them to be true!  Today, I’m…

Recently, one of my private coaching clients mentioned that she felt like she had to run her social media the way she’d been taught in a course.  As we talked about this belief, she came to realize that 1) many of her customers don’t even come from social media, so she didn’t need to focus…