Monetization

I am fortunate to have a great partner and friend like Jerod Lazan.
We usually talk everyday and even though we live in different parts of the country, it feels like he is my next door neighbor. Recently, we had a discussion about being open on the 4th of July. Even though I am a believer in being opened as much as possible in retail, I think holidays are reserved for friends and family and that includes for employees as well. Jerod always encourages people to have balance in their life, so when he was opened on 4th of July it even took me by surprise. I guess it bothered him in the end to be open, even though he made some money and had a brush with fame that day. Here’s his
blog:

Does every moment of our lived have to monetized? This certainly doesn’t apply to me…no way. I have a balanced approach to my personal and professional life. Work is work and play is play. Well I guess the reality that I’m in the imbalanced camp occurred to me when I decided to open on July 4th . In our 18 years of retail this day was always a barbecue with family and friends day. Lots of fun…portabella mushrooms, asparagus, eggplant on the grill, stuffed peppers with goat cheese…slow baked in the oven and for the main course barbecued salmon and marinated london broil. Finish this off with Sangria. The day is a celebration of all those we love and the freedoms we certainly have been born into! (sorry about the sidetracking )

When is excessive…too excessive? A little background about my motivation for opening on the 4th. It seemed the day before that there was more than normal traffic coming into the store with many very focused shoppers. We like clients that ask alot of questions. The more questions they ask, the more we are able to share our extensive knowledge of all things furniture and the more a relationship develops. The opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with clients is the best thing we can ask for, because that means trust is developing, but this is a latter article.

Anyway, at the last minute I thought maybe 4th of July we will have traffic and some sales, (which during the summer months every little bit helps when its time to pay rent and payroll). Well, 4th of July did produce some sales and since all our staff had the day off, there was just my partner and my mom to help out. My Mom was happy because Hugh Laurie from “House”, came in and she was all excited about that.
So there you have it, we worked at the store for $1500.00 in sales, my Mom saw a favorite celebrity and we didn’t have our traditional barbecue.

Was one day going to make a difference in our business? Would those people have come back another day? Will I have regrets years from now that I wasn’t with people I love to be around? Does everything have to be painted with a veneer of dollars or is there times that even when things are tough, we still have to maintain a healthy balance between our business obligations and our personal obligations?

I guess each one us will have a different approach to this but most important is that we are happy and comfortable with the decisions we make and remember to be sensitive to the wishes of our loved ones when we make them.

Enjoy the video

http://www.yourfurniturelink.com/
http://www.migandtig.com/index.php
http://www.mortisetenon.com/