Even before Halloween had come and gone many stores were full of Christmas decorations. Tune your radio to the right station and you can already hear constant Christmas carols. Recently, I overheard a child say, “Mom, it seems sad to go right from Halloween to Christmas. It’s like ‘gimme candy, now gimme toys’ with no being thankful in between.” You know what they say, “Out of the mouths of babes.”
As small business retailers it’s hard. The holidays are a huge selling season so moving the merchandise out early is good for business. It’s important to take time to be thankful though. Getting caught up in the rush of sell, sell, sell can be bad for your health, hard on your employees and have a negative effect on the overall success of your small business.
Taking the time to be thankful and to appreciate the successes of the previous year can be positive on so many levels. First of all, this is a great way to revisit your process map. Looking back at what has gone well can be a great reward for all the time and effort you and your employees put into mapping your processes and making improvements. You may notice some areas that still need some attention, and that’s okay, we have a post with some suggestions to help you out.
Pausing to be thankful can really re-energize you and your employees. It gives you a chance to take a breath before you dive in to the frenzy of the holiday season. Taking a moment to thank each employee for their contributions over the past year can put them in the right mood for tackling the challenges of the busy weeks ahead. Everyone likes to feel appreciated. Letting them know that you recognize their hard work, before you ask them to work harder (and often longer) during your busy times, is a great idea.
Reviewing things now can set you up for success come January. If you wait until after the holidays are over to start planning for 2015 you’re going to start off the new year already behind. Performing reviews and creating a laundry list of plans you’d like to implement next year allows you to hit the ground running. If you’ve been following our series on technology for your small business, you probably have a number of ideas. Start prioritizing your list so that you can decide now which items you’d like to implement first.
Being thankful is a great way to destress. Worrying about what you don’t have, or what still needs to be done only ratchets up your stress level. Focusing on the things you have and the items that you’ve been able to check off your To Do list creates a sense of calm and improves your overall outlook. Destressing is great for your health. You’ll have lower blood pressure, fewer stress headaches and be able to sleep better at night.
We want to take a moment to say how thankful we are for you - our customers. We appreciate your support and your feedback that allows us to continue to improve Stockpile. If we made your list of things to be thankful for, then we’d be pretty happy about that as well. We hope that Stockpile makes your life easier and allows you to focus on other aspects of your business because you know that your inventory issues are expertly managed. If you haven’t tried Stockpile yet, you can start using it today. You’ll be thankful that you did!
