Ep. 141 Poor Planning Polly (An Excerpt From The 2022 Savvy Shopkeeper Retreat!)

The 2022 Savvy Shopkeeper Retreat is over, and I have SO much to share with you! I’ve only been home a few days, and I’m still processing all of the magical moments from this year’s retreat at Frügthaven Farm.

One thing I am ready to share with you, though, is a recap of my presentation about retail planning. 

I was going to present on this topic regardless of if the Savvy Shopkeeper Digital Planner was ready to launch because retailers need planning help! As it turned out, the planner wasn’t quite ready yet, but I was still able to soft launch it to retreat attendees. 

Before each retreat, things seem to fall into place. It’s pretty eerie, actually—it’s like the Universe drops the perfect things in my lap to make each retreat unforgettable! This year was no different. Keep reading to learn what I mean! 

Meet Poor Planning Polly

In episode 34 of the Savvy Shopkeeper Retail Podcast, I introduced you to a few of the shopkeeper personality types. One of them was “Lack of Planning Linda,” who I’ve renamed “Poor Planning Polly.” 

Let me tell you Polly’s story. Perhaps you can relate!

As Polly is putting away her holiday merchandise at the end of December, she realizes she needs to refresh her store for the new year, but she just doesn’t have enough inventory. Polly is heading to a market in Atlanta or Dallas in January, which means her potential time is cut by an entire week. 

When February comes around, Polly sees all her retail friends posting gorgeous Valentine’s Day-themed window displays with tons of cute products. She has FOMO—her store doesn’t look nearly as put together.

In March, Polly wants to plan for the rest of the year…but she didn’t track her numbers last year. She has no idea how her store did or what products sold well. Suddenly, she’s overwhelmed.

Tax season comes in April, and Polly is panicked. She’s not prepared, so she has to file for extensions. She doesn’t have a final profit and loss statement for the previous year. Because she hasn’t kept track of inventory turn, she keeps buying inventory for slow-moving categories without realizing it. 

Polly finally gets her final profit and loss statement in May, which is NOT good. Her margins suck. Her cash flow sucks. And she’s heading into the slowest season of the year. 

June and July bring Polly down. Her sales and her spirits drop. She has no fun events planned to bring in extra foot traffic. Worst of all, Polly’s shame starts to kick in, and she spirals further. She’s posting on social media for her store, but she’s not emailing her list, collaborating, or coming up with creative ideas. 

August is when Polly’s kids head back to school, so she can’t focus on her store at all. 

Polly needs to submit her IRS prepayment in September, but she has no idea how much to pay. She hasn’t had any appointments with her CPA this year.

October comes, and all of her autumn merchandise falls flat. She didn’t bring it out early enough, and her customers are already asking for Christmas merchandise. 

When she brings out the Christmas merchandise, it sells super fast. But because she didn’t write anything down from last year, she doesn’t have some specific items that her customers wanted. The question, “do you have this item?” is always answered with, “no, sorry!”

In December, Polly’s feeling the FOMO again. Everyone is posting 12 Days of Christmas promotions, but her poor planning means that Polly has to throw hers together. It doesn’t go well! She’s working 80 hours a week, has no workshops or events on the calendar, and is feeling the exhaustion set in. 

Worst of all, January is just around the corner—and the whole cycle is about to start again. 

Can You Relate?

I know I can! Every example I gave for Poor Planning Polly was ME at some point in my years as a shopkeeper.

In the rest of the presentation, I shared more about how we can create consistency in our lives and plan well for our businesses. I was just about to announce the digital planner as the solution to Polly’s woes when something incredible happened:

Someone in the audience asked a question.

“I need to start organizing and in planning and tracking and all that. And I’m like looking for something like a big calendar or maybe something online where I can write everything out. I don’t know what.”

I wish you could see my face and hear the giggles from the audience when Brenda asked that!

How the Digital Planner Can Help You Leave Polly in the Past

Of course, the Savvy Shopkeeper Digital Planner was made to solve this exact issue for store owners. It’s a singular place to plan your days, weeks, and months with all the tailored, custom-created trackers that shopkeepers need. 

Here are some of the features you’ll find inside the planner:

• Monthly checklist of critical business tasks
• Clickable tabs at the top and side of the planner to differentiate between quarterly and monthly planning
• Daily, weekly, and monthly calendars that are already dated for you
• Sections for gratitude, top priorities, work to-dos, and personal to-dos
• CEO worksheets from the Shopkeeper’s Academy already loaded into the planner
• Guided year-end report section, so you know exactly where you stand
• Dedicated journaling pages that you can duplicate or delete based on your needs

Get Your Savvy Shopkeeper Digital Planner!

This incredible business tool starts on October 1st, 2022. While most planners begin on January 1st, shopkeepers can’t wait for January to plan! We need to plan farther in advance to avoid all of Polly’s mistakes.

If you want your own Savvy Shopkeeper Digital Planner and the built-in accountability emails, visit https://savvyshopkeeper.com/planner! It’s only available to purchase for a limited time.

Resources

• Get the Savvy Shopkeeper Digital Planner
• Samantha of Heck Studios, who helped me design this incredible planner
• Ep. 34: Why You Need to Know Your Shopkeeper Personality Type
• Ep. 138: Six Reasons I Switched From Paper to Digital Notes
• Ep. 139: Five Things Independent Retailers Aren’t Taught About Planning
• Ep. 140: A Plan(ner) is a Commitment to YOU

Timestamps

• [02:54] Meet Poor Planning Polly
• [09:58] Can You Relate?
• [14:36] How the Digital Planner Can Help You Leave Polly in the Past
• [28:06] Get Your Savvy Shopkeeper Digital Planner!