Ep. 119 Where are You on Your Shopkeeper Journey? (Take the Quiz!)

For the past two years, I’ve been working on a special project for Savvy Shopkeeper. Today, I’m excited to announce that the first part of this project is ready for you: the Savvy Shopkeeper quiz! 

This project has been a labor of love, and I’m so excited to share more about it with you. Read on to learn more about the quiz, how it can help you on your shopkeeping journey, and what I’ll be releasing next as part of this project. 

How this Project Came to Be

In July of 2020, I came up with the idea of 5 shopkeeping stages. When I first drafted the stages, I was planning to share them in a blog post or podcast episode. 

But I kept pushing the episode draft to the bottom of my list. After more than a year, I looked at the outline again and realized that the stages were so much more than just a blog post or a podcast episode. They made up an entire framework—one that could help me help other shopkeepers even more! 

A business framework is a structured way of thinking about a business problem so that you can solve it. The 5 shopkeeper stages are the Savvy Shopkeeper roadmap to help you create a strong foundation so you can work less, profit more, and grow.

I could have just shared the five stages of shopkeeping with you, but that alone would not have been helpful. You would have been left wondering, “what does my stage mean?” Or “What do I do now?” or “How do I get from one stage to the next?” So I wanted to take my idea for these stages further. 

These were some of the questions I asked myself along the way….

• What ARE the five stages and how can I validate them?
• How can I help you identify which stage you’re in?
• What Savvy Shopkeeper content (podcast episodes, blog posts, or free resources) is helpful to you once you know the stage you’re currently in?
• And if you’re a part of our group memberships, how can I help you even more?

I’ll spare you any more of the background details. But I do want you to know that many hours of thinking, researching, interviewing, and validating were involved with this project.

Introducing: The Savvy Shopkeeper Quiz!

I’m thrilled to share that Phase 1 of this project is ready for you: The Savvy Shopkeeper Quiz!

This 8-question quiz will help you identify which shopkeeping stage you’re in. 

Identifying your stage in your shopkeeper journey will help you understand exactly where YOU are and what you should focus on (especially if you want to progress to the next stage). 

When you take the quiz and you get your result, we point you to 4-6 handpicked podcast episodes AND a couple of free downloadable resources. Just click the buttons to download and they’re yours! 

When you take the quiz, I recommend that you don’t overthink your responses. Answer the questions in terms of where you are now in your business to ensure the most accurate result.

On your results page, there will be a link to read about all five stages. And you can absolutely take the quiz multiple times if you’d like! But try to answer the questions based on your business as it is now, rather than where you think you should be or want to be. 

AND don’t worry if you close the browser on your results page. You’ll get an email with a link to the page so you can reference it later, too.

What Comes Next?

Phase 2 of this framework project is coming later and will be for paid group members. They will receive individual roadmaps for each stage. 

If you’re a group member now, you know there are currently 24 modules in The Shopkeepers Lab. There’s A LOT of content in the Lab and taking it all in takes time! These roadmaps will help you figure out which lessons to focus on during each stage of your journey. 

This framework acknowledges that shopkeepers wear hundreds of hats. But it also teaches you want to focus on and what to do next so you can work less, profit more, and grow along the way.

I’m so glad I listened to my intuition when I kept pushing this idea down to the bottom of my list, even if it did take two years. This is a classic example, at least for me, that entrepreneurship is a marathon and not a sprint. 

Taking the time to get to know all of you and your businesses (and my own retail business for that matter!) is what helped me create this helpful tool and everything that will follow.

Special Thanks

Before I wrap this up I have to give a special shopkeeper shoutout to some people who helped make this happen:

First and foremost, Jaimie of Jaimie Lee Creative. Jaimie is my talented copywriter and quiz whiz.

And these 6 shopkeepers who generously donated their time to be interviewed by Jaimie for this project:

• Jen of Rustic Rehabs
• Kate of Cerulean
• Cymbre of Moonstruck Gardens
• Amanda of La Petite Maison Antiques
• Lisa of Bridenbaker Designs
• Leslie of Lark & Vines
• Margaret of Off Main Gifts

Thank you so much for donating your time to help me with this project. 

Resources

• Take the Savvy Shopkeeper Quiz! 
• My copywriter, Jaimie Lee Creative
• Shopkeepers who were interviewed for this project:
  • Jen of Rustic Rehabs
  • Kate of Cerulean
  • Cymbre of Moonstruck Gardens
  • Amanda of La Petite Maison Antiques
  • Lisa of Bridenbaker Designs
  • Leslie of Lark & Vines
  • Margaret of Off Main Gifts

Timestamps

• [01:38] How this Project Came to Be
• [05:35] Introducing: The Savvy Shopkeeper Quiz!
• [07:03] What Comes Next?
• [11:32] Special Thanks