Pandemic: Strength Builder or Bedtime Story?

This month I read a book on everyone’s favorite topic: the pandemic. Stronger Through Adversity by Joseph A. Michelli tapped into the lessons that over 140 leaders around the US and world learned and applied during the pandemic. Some of these leaders were new to the business they were leading when the pandemic started, some had been in leadership of a business for years before the pandemic started, some of the leaders work with new companies, and some of the leaders work with companies that have been around for decades. We’ll tap into the thing I found most interesting and the question we really have to answer about the pandemic second, and first I want to talk about a couple of the lessons the book shared.

Some of the key insights shared in the book were:
“Only the truth sounds like the truth.” (Michelli)
-“Transparency, honesty, kindness, good stewardship, even humor, work in business at all times.” John Gerzema
-The digital format that everyone switched to enabled leaders to “drop in” more consistently and easily to meetings and groups, not for the purpose of pushing or directing, but to be visible and to be available to help and assist in any way they could to make things easier for their/that team.
-Things like culture, mission, vision and purpose helped leaders and teams stay focused during the heart of the pandemic and helped motivate them and help keep them from burnout when things began to even out too.
-One of the greatest treasures of the pandemic was the proliferation of simple, honest, human connection.

So the interesting part about the book was how much of what was shared I felt I had already heard. Why is this interesting? Because it speaks to how willingly leaders were speaking out throughout the pandemic doing the best they could to be visible and vocal. So more than anything most of the book felt like a review of all that happened and how leaders led during the first year of the pandemic. In some ways I appreciated that there wasn’t anything really new because it meant that consistently, across the board, this is how leaders were leading and what we saw and heard then was exactly how it looks in review.

Which brings us to the issue and question, something that has been a concern I have and something many companies and employees have struggled with since everyone started trying to figure out what life would look as we navigate this stage of the pandemic and what comes next: is what happened during the pandemic just something we tuck into our playbooks for the next crisis and we pack it away until then, or will we use what we learned to improve the present as well as prepare for the future crises that will happen? If we think it’s just to be used for the next crisis, why is “everyone wins” OK only during a pandemic or similar crisis? Yes, I know that for some companies the pandemic has just moved things along several years and brought them to a point of progress they were working towards anyway, and they’re working to keep the progress and innovations that have been made during the pandemic as a permanent aspect of their company. But what about the rest of the companies and leaders who want to put everything about the pandemic on a shelf and return to life as it was before the pandemic? I think some will get away with it, but I keep coming back to the point of how successfully things did run and work for so many people. It wasn’t perfect, but I think that has to do with the implementation/preparation time (nothing) as much as anything else. I don’t think this is a chapter we write and call good, I think we should integrate as much as we can from what worked during the pandemic into our lives and businesses going forward.

What did you learn from the pandemic and are you applying those lessons to your business going forward, why or why not?

Follow the Instructions for Success

Are you trying too hard to achieve success? I absolutely believe in hard work, that some things take time (you can’t become a surgeon in 2 weeks), and even that some tasks are complicated and have layers and processes (like some recipes for example), but why have we allowed ourselves to get sucked into the “more is better” and “more is the only way” way of living? Why do we sometimes rush through our options without really giving them a chance to work? And we must not follow the really simple instructions we’re given because clearly they’re too simple and therefore can’t be effective or right, right?

So for example let’s say that you want to run in a 5k for a breast cancer or Autism fundraiser in a months’ time, and someone with experience told you the best way to prepare for that would be to run/jog for 3-6 miles 5 times a week and walk a mile or two the other two days. And how many people as a result of hearing that very simple advice would say that the advice was too simple and go out and get a running coach to learn how to improve their form or take a course on running 5k’s to know what they’re facing or only eat high protein meals because they heard that was good for runners or do other workouts every day to build muscle or something else and not focus on the advice of running 5 days and walking 2 each week? Obviously I’m not a running coach or expert in 5K’s, but I think you get the idea of how quickly we can latch onto all the things that might be helpful while managing to not follow the advice or instruction that we were given in the first place.

The same is true for your success. Sometimes we go out of our ways to overcomplicate things that aren’t needing to be over complicated. Like joining every social network and trying to build a solid brand presence on each and every one of them in just 30 minutes a day instead of spending that 30 minutes really investing in one or maybe two social networks we see the most value or promise in. Or spending a lot of time each day learning about marketing but implementing what you learn and making sure that you are actually marketing and not just learning. Or trying to make the fanciest homemade bread while not being able to make a simple roll. Or trying out 7 different weight loss programs (one for each day of the week) hoping that something sticks and the weight starts dropping off. Or believing the only way to be successful at work is if you take on every project, show up extra early, stay extra late and micromanage every employee or team member.

What if we were to take a step back this week and not only do our best to lower our stress levels, but also follow the advice of those with experience as it is given to us? How much more difficult would it be to just follow that advice? I think it would be a lot easier and we’d see results faster and easier if we trusted the system that has worked for so many people before us. I know, the biggest excuses used here are that ‘everyone is different’ and ‘everyone needs a customized plan’ and ‘everyone is special.’ And while that may be true, in most cases we have the best chance for success if we start out the way the success journey was intended to start. Do it the way the journey outlines for a week or two or more depending on what it is and the overall projected investment of time, and see how it goes. Sometimes it’s only when you follow the outlined guidance that you can really understand why things are done a certain way and why they work the way they do for so many. So do yourself a favor this week and just follow the instructions. Let your creativity and leadership abilities take a back seat and follow along as suggested, and see the impact it has on your success.

Let’s Be Good Neighbors

Something that has changed dramatically for so many people over the last 200 years is the proximity in which we all live. Yes, some people have always lived in cities like London (UK) or Luxor (Egypt) or St. Augustine (US) or Delhi (India) or Seoul (South Korea) or Osaka (Japan) or Rome (Italy) or Jerusalem, but with the number of people having grown over the centuries, of course we’re all living closer together because there’s less space for all of us to share. Which means that it’s more necessary than ever to be conscious of the kind of neighbor you are. So in honor of National Good Neighbor Day coming up this last week of September, I thought today I’d share a whole bunch of different ideas about how you (and your kids) can be a good neighbor whether you live in an apartment building 20 stories tall, a neighborhood of single family houses with back yards, a couple of miles from your closest neighbor, or somewhere in between some of those.

Be considerate:
-just because you’re a night person or morning person, doesn’t mean that your neighbors are. Be considerate of your comings and goings based on the time of day, how loud you play the TV or music, when you use the lawn mower or power tools, or how loud your parties get (or do other activities that could irritate neighbors), especially if you live in an apartment building (you’d be surprised how thin some walls are).
-for shared spaces and places where lots of people live together, think about how you park your car and if you’re blocking another neighbor’s drive, or if you’re on the street longer than is allowed, or if you take up two spaces in the parking lot. Think about if your kids leave bikes everywhere or in places to trip over.

Be tidy:
-take out the garbage every garbage day, don’t leave it to pile up (and smell up) for a week or two and then have 4 cans or dozens of bags cluttering up the neighborhood the night before. In between garbage days, do your best to keep the garbage away from critters (in secure sheds, with a rock on the lid, with extra sturdy lids), because whether they’re squirrels or bears, they’ll be interested in your trash.
-if you’ve got a yard do your best to keep the plants and grass tidy so that you don’t have the “ugly” “run down” house in the neighborhood. Show that you’ve got pride in where you live. And if you can’t afford to hire companies to do the work or can’t do the work yourself, it’s a great opportunity to hire some of the local kids, giving them a little spending money and helping keep them out of trouble.
-as a dog owner it’s important to not only be responsible for keeping them safe where you live, but also in picking up after them so that you keep your land and any community spaces you visit together as clean as possible. If your dog has an unbreakable habit of always using a particular neighbor’s yard to do their business every day, consider leaving them a bag of grass seed each year to make up for any destroyed grass.

Be part of the community:
-check on seniors who have long driveways and offer to shovel them if you get snow, and check on them after big storms like hurricanes and tornadoes.
-contribute to and take part in school bake sales, youth group fundraising events and the local food pantry whether it’s with goods, services or a donation.
-wave at the people you recognize or see regularly throughout your travels locally. Even if you don’t become best friends with them, being social and friendly builds a healthier and safer community, because you know that people are paying attention to what’s going on, just like you are.
-attend and if possible host gatherings with people you live near. Block parties used to be a big thing years ago, and with the pandemic they have come back into focus because it gives people the ability to be together but outside where many people feel better about being together. And while this summer’s picnic season is just about over, there’s always a grill out for football season or you can wait until next year and plan something for June or July before it gets too warm, depending on where you live.
-I’m also a big believer in celebrating holidays together, whether it’s a Christmas tree in the window, a simple string or two of lights outside, a pumpkin on the porch, a flag hung by the front door or colorful Easter eggs hung from the trees, just to spread a little cheer from your family to others who pass by.

So are you a good neighbor, and what lessons have the best neighbors you’ve lived near taught you?

Learning from Failures and Mistakes in Business

One of the hardest parts of business and leadership is learning to accept and grow through failure and mistakes. As much as so many people would like to be perfect, people aren’t perfect and neither are businesses. Sometimes it’s an innocent mistake and something completely unexpected, other times basically you stick your foot in it and what was a small, fixable problem becomes something much bigger. If we assume that most people and companies are basically out to do good, and aren’t trying to be this year’s version of Enron or whatever ‘big bad’ you want to reference, can we come to a place where everyone is a lot less stressed and a lot happier about the whole buying and selling process? Yes, I think we can do better about handling our failures and mistakes.

One of the places I think peace about failures and mistakes starts is with honesty. In your marketing you can make an effort to not only show that your company is run by humans, you can also share some of the challenges you’re working on and how you’re working to improve what you offer so that you’re addressing some of the issues that people have had or some of the things that they wish you offered. You can also be conscious of presenting your company and brand and creating your marketing to not set a false expectation of perfection. Adding a simple line like “While we make every effort to make each transaction a great one, sometimes it doesn’t meet our expectations or yours…” to your refunds/terms page(s) is one way to indicate that you recognize that sometimes things go wrong and you’re prepared to work with your customers to make things better. And third, don’t waste your time lying about a failure or mistake if you know that errors were truly made (or results/claims were absolutely fabricated because you were trying to get ahead). Instead, claim responsibility and demonstrate that you’re committed to being the best you can be as a business and for your customers.

Then there are two questions that come up in regards to failures and mistakes are important to consider. The first question is: “could this failure/mistake/issue have been avoided?” The answer to that question is “sometimes.” Sometimes there are things that you just didn’t do right or didn’t take care of even though you knew it was an issue. But other times it’s a total fluke and there wasn’t anything that could have been done beforehand to avoid the failure/mistake/issue. The second question is: “could I/we have communicated better about this failure/mistake/issue?” And the answer is “99% of the time yes.” I get it, it’s hard to respond at your best when someone’s breathing down your neck or has a really big issue with something they expected to be one thing or another. Which brings us to the key about both of these questions, and that’s if you’re going to use what happened as a learning experience so that you can improve in the future and avoid the failure/mistake/issue developing into such an epic situation.

Finally is a very difficult topic that I talked a bit about in one of my recent newsletters: when is it time to call it quits? Failures, mistakes and issues will happen, but usually they’re small and can be overcome and addressed in ways that not only allow you to keep that customer going forward, but avoid that situation with other customers in the future. Yes, you will be discouraged, but don’t let those little situations destroy what is a solid business with great products/services, a great team and makes a positive impact 90% or more of the time, choose to fix the situations and move on. But sometimes there are just too many issues and situations and too much has gone wrong and it’s better to be done and not try and fix it all. Fortunately this is usually very specific to a person, product or service, and not the whole business, and you can simply let them/it go and move forward applying what you’ve learned. But if you are seeing a ton of red flags, there is no time to waste, you have to tackle those failures, problems, issues and mistakes before they do get to the point of no return and you do have to close your business.

What lessons have you learned in your business about failure, mistakes, and being a better leader and business recently?

Beyond Planning for Unexpected Success Delays

I was watching one of those home flipping DIY shows the other day, it always amazes me how many different shows like that there are! If you haven’t seen them or aren’t familiar with the flipping concept, basically someone buys a cheap, run down house, fixes it up and resells it, hoping to make a big profit. If you are good with home repair, smart with money, and in touch with the real estate market often it does work out with at least some profit, and sometimes quite a good profit. Why? Because you’ve been smart about buying a house in a developing area or one where there’s activity in the market, you know what work has to be done to add significant value to the house and how to get the most bang for your buck, and you get from bought to sold as quick as possible.

But as anyone who has watched at least a handful of home reno shows will tell you, there’s always something that comes up. Sometimes it’s something relatively inexpensive like repairing an AC, but usually it’s something that can get really pricey like foundation issues or termites or the septic or the roof needing to be fully replaced. You always hope that you catch all the big issues going into the project and have budgeted accordingly, but sometimes you can’t tell how extensive the issues are until you’ve torn down some walls or done further investigations.

So as I was watching this particular show the one thing that stood out to me wasn’t the issues that popped up, but the reaction to them, something that occurs surprisingly often in these shows. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the upset reaction that people who have done home reno for a while have over the fact that issues have cropped up in the project. I honestly don’t think they’re playing it up for the camera, because you see it on just about every show I’ve watched with a whole variety of different hosts/contractors and I really don’t think they can write that into every script without it looking fake or a gimmick.

I’m not planning to enter the flipping world, but anyone who is a planner when it comes to anything that has to do with finances knows that there’s the allotted budget that you are committed to staying within based on the plan that’s been written up, and then smart planners add a contingency budget on top of that/separate from the fixed budget for issues. Of course you would rather say that you were right on budget and didn’t have to tap into the contingency, but as we know, issues happen. Which brings us to my confusion: if these people all have a contingency budget, why are they so surprised that an issue popped up and they have to tap into the resources they set aside for exactly that reason?

No one likes delays or problems, but they’re often part of our success journeys, which is why it pays to really do your research to be aware of all issues that could crop up on your particular success journey as well as set aside resources in case one happens (or several!). So the next time one pops up in your life you’ve got a choice to make: are you going to be upset that you have to tap into the resources that you set aside for exactly that purpose, or are you going to be thankful that you’ve got the resources ready to support you through this particular bump in the road and work to get moving forward and back on track as soon as you can?

Life Lessons from Squirrels

We’ve arrived at that very special time of year: when squirrels bury acorns everywhere and promptly forget where they are. I’m quite confident on the latter being an absolute fact because of the number of baby oak trees that grow each year, far more than could result from just luck and being able to survive the winter each year. Squirrels are some of the busiest creatures out there this time of year. I know that lots of animals are feeling the change of seasons and many are following the ingrained nature to pack on the pounds and prepare for the leaner winter months but squirrels take it to another level. As a kid I know I was fascinated watching them as well as trying to find as many of my own acorns, and there are some good life lessons we can learn from them too.

First, be prepared. While they don’t exactly go about it the best way or necessarily have the brain cells to benefit from all their preparations, squirrels are masters at getting prepared. We don’t have to go as overboard on being prepared as they do (in other words we don’t all need to be “preppers”), and we certainly should keep better notes so that we can maximize our preparations, but time and again life is smoother and easier when we’re prepared than when we’re trying to play catchup. It’s a great lesson and discussion topic the next time your kids are behind on a project at school or you’re avoiding one at work.

Second, take advantage of what’s available to you. Squirrels are open to eating other things, but they’re not stupid enough to miss out on the incredible bounty that falls from the trees in the autumn. It may not be your favorite thing to do, it may not be your favorite thing to eat, it may not be your favorite way to spend the time, but if there’s a huge opportunity in front of you we have to do a better job of not talking ourselves out of tapping into them.

Finally, some seasons are busier than others. Yes, you see squirrels scampering around during the other seasons of the year, but in autumn they are so much busier with their gathering and burial activities. So if you’re blessed with an abundance in one area of your life don’t be afraid to be busy with it, don’t choose to be frustrated that you have this opportunity in your life, and remember that seasons do change and what may be an incredibly busy season now will change again in the future. Push through the busy season of opportunity so that you can reap the rewards on the other side, hopefully better than the squirrels do. What lessons do you learn from the autumn changes?

Lessons in Leadership: Queen Elizabeth II

Last week the world lost a treasured leader: Queen Elizabeth II. For 70 years she ruled over the UK and other parts of the world that are tied to the UK. I’ve shared about her in other writings before because as a leader she’s been on my radar for as long as I’ve been thinking and talking about leadership, plus, as a woman it was such an honor to have her on the world stage being who she was for as many years as she did. So, like so many other people I am thankful for her many years of leadership, inspiration and service, and thought we’d take this month’s leadership blog post to take a look at some of the reasons why she was such a great leader and what her leadership can teach us.

As a leader she was incredible because, as so many people have commented, of her enduring presence (it seemed like she was always there and would always be there). She was incredible because she led well for 70 years. She was incredible because her leadership wasn’t perfect yet she was always respected to the day she died. She was incredible as a leader because she was consistently present and active as a leader from working with big world leaders to “common” citizens. She was incredible because she thrived even as a woman. She was an incredible leader because of her relationship with her late husband Phillip. She was an incredible leader because she loved learning. She was an incredible leader because she had a good sense of humor, a kind smile, and love for her family. She was incredible as a leader because she navigated so many different kinds of changes and challenges by and large successfully. She was an incredible leader because was 110% committed to the vow she took and people she led as Queen.

One of the things that’s so fascinating about her leadership is that it’s all connected. Her enduring presence is tied to how long she ruled and her continued commitment throughout her leadership. Her incredible tenure for a leader is tied to her being a woman, which is tied to her personable nature. Her success at navigating challenges is tied to her willingness to learn and to the years she ruled. Her successful leadership with people of all backgrounds is tied to her love of family, relationship with her husband, kind smile and active presence.

The Queen was someone we can look at who showed us that it’s possible to be human and be a good leader and be able to balance it all relatively well throughout our lives. I know that she was under far more pressure and far more scrutiny most of us will ever have the opportunity to try to navigate or have to face as leaders, but if she can do all she did for 70 years, I think we have a duty to step up and be the best leaders we can be for the 10, 20 or even 50 years that we may have the opportunity to be responsible for. If we’re able to lead with a measure of her strength, courage, backbone, kindness, commitment, and humanity I think we’ll do her legacy proud and inspire the next generation of leaders like she did. What lessons in leadership did you learn from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth?

Plan Less

One of the biggest casualties of the pandemic is the absolute inability to plan for the future to the degree that we used to. We used to have 5 and 10 year plans for our businesses and our lives, and now we can barely go a few weeks or months if we’re lucky before something has to shift. This week a rather scary idea was introduced to me, and that’s the idea of planning less. Is it a very scary idea considering how most of us appreciate being able to know the general direction of where our lives are headed or what the future holds? Yes, absolutely, but given the uncertainty in many aspects of our lives and the rapid change that is part of the world we live in, shouldn’t we have backed away from long-term planning a long time ago?

The organizer in me absolutely cringes at this idea, but at the same time I’m equally tired and frustrated of things being cancelled, postponed and changed that I’m open to it. This isn’t a suggestion to skip holidays and birthdays or to not plan for them, or to not have dreams of and for the future that you’re working towards. All of those things should remain important parts of our lives. However I am suggesting that we not be so focused on or committed to detailing our our lives and success journeys to such a degree as we used to. In fact, many of us could really benefit from not being so focused on the detailed plans we created before we started our success journey, and instead were more open to learning, growing, exploring and acting as we went along.

So how do we find the balance between planning and the lack thereof? As we always have we start with goals and knowing where we want to end up. Then we do the research we usually would do to understand some of the options we have for getting there. Next would be the first change: a tentative plan for how we’re going to get from where we are to where we’re hoping to end up, instead of a committed outline. The biggest changes are next: first would be to only plan specific actions for the next day to month depending on what you’re working on and how likely your goal is to be impacted by changes in the world and life. And second, adding more research and continuing to gather information as you move towards your goal, instead of assuming you’ve gathered all the information before you started. The final point is the hard one, and that’s being flexible for changes and delays, as well as the increased possibility that you won’t accomplish success if you’re working on a success journey that you believe will take years, or that success will look very different from what you believe it would be when you started.

So this week I encourage you to give it a trial run: by being a little more flexible in your life and planning, and requiring definitive plans and commitments a little less. And you can’t forget the opportunity that arises when your success journey change or is delayed: you’ve got the opportunity to work on other things that are on your to-do list, or to have a moment of peace to reflect on where you’re at and what needs to be done still today. How has your planning capabilities changed over the past few years?

Thanks for the Memories

Do you believe in ghosts? I know, that question really belongs in October in discussions about Halloween, and it’s still early in September. But I ask the question on this day that we honor Grandparents as well as those who died on 9/11. I ask this question as we as a world give thanks for the very long and respected life of Queen Elizabeth II who passed away on Thursday. Some of the people who study the field of ghosts and the afterlife say that sometimes what is experienced is a memory being replayed over and over in a spot, for example when people see Civil War soldiers or parts of battles from the Civil War, and others say that some people stick around in some way after death because of their memories of a place or person. While I’ve never seen a ghost or had that type of experience personally, I know the power that memories have, so it’s not hard for me to believe a memory could impact someone so strongly that part of them just can’t (or chooses not to) be done with this world.

One of the hardest things about loss is the fact that you no longer have the opportunity to make any more memories with that person. There will be no more baking together, no game day arguments, no more digging in the dirt, no more building sand castles, no more church services or small groups, no more holiday meals around a big table, no more marathon phone sessions, no more vacations, and no more of the thousand little things that you don’t remember but were all part of what you loved about that person and were part of your relationship together. Which is why it’s so important to make the memories you can while the people you love are still alive.

But I don’t want us to make memories with the focus of “this might be the last time I see this person so this has to be perfect,” because that’s a rather depressing and negative way of living your life, not to mention the incredibly high pressure it places on you to get everything right all the time. I know it can be hard to not think that way, especially after the blender ride our lives have gone on since 2020 and how many people have died that we didn’t expect to lose so soon, regardless of how much we recognize that each day is a gift and tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Instead I think we should just be thankful for each opportunity to be together and celebrate the fact that we’re here to make another memory.

As difficult as it is to lose someone you love, even someone who was blessed to live as long as Queen Elizabeth did, sometimes you have to make a choice between how strongly you’ll let the grief of loss consume you and if your sole focus is on the loss and what no longer is, and if you’ll let that grief be tempered by thankfulness for all the time you did have with them and all they were able to do throughout their lifetime. It doesn’t dry all the tears but it does make your heart feel a bit better when you are told story after story of how incredible this person was, the special memories others have of them and the lasting impact that their life will have on the world, in addition to the memories you have of them and your times together. We won’t all have the impact that the Queen did or the ability to leave such a visible and tangible legacy, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t leave a legacy behind that not only we’re proud of, but can support and be a comfort to those who love us after we die.

And maybe, just maybe, the best way we can honor those who go on to the next life before we do is to live our lives fully. To build relationships, to make new memories, to do things that remind us of the people we loved and have lost and honor them too, to find new opportunities, to build our own legacy that can speak for us and impact others in the world long after we’re gone.

Planning for the 2022 Holiday Season

Is it too soon to be thinking about Black Friday and Hanukkah (8 days of gifts is no joke) and Christmas? If you’re a business owner it’s absolutely not too soon to be thinking about and planning for the holiday season, and depending on your business I’d say it’s almost too late to be really diving into it based on the current economic situation. The good news is that most of us can still maximize the last 4 months of 2022, especially when it comes to the marketing we do for our businesses. As we get started on these very special months I thought today we’d talk about just a few things that I’m seeing in the business world that you might want to consider for the holidays this year.

First, don’t be afraid to go classic. Tap into the foods, ways of celebrating, and stories that people have loved for generations. Bring these to life in different ways in your business to give them that taste of nostalgia and help them reconnect with times when they were happier or had special family members in their lives. Also, bring back some of the classics from your business that people have loved and maybe you haven’t carried or provided recently.

Second, don’t be afraid to keep it simple. Of course we all love more and going big, but often it’s those simple moments of the holiday season that really stick with us and fulfill us in ways that nothing else does. So maybe instead of doing or bringing in “more” the answer this holiday season is to pick a couple of things to offer or focus on and offer them in high quality and with impeccable service. The biggest caviat here is that you have to be able to provide those products or services throughout the whole season, so if there’s going to be a fulfillment issue, that’s probably not something you want to focus on offering.

Third, don’t neglect the clearance offerings. Recently there have been quite a few studies done about the high quality products that have been in high demand, which is fantastic for the holiday season outlook. But there are a ton of people who haven’t recovered from the economic rollercoaster of the past few years and want to celebrate the holidays but don’t have the resources to put into celebrating them as they have in past years. So don’t be afraid to incorporate clearance merchandise into your offerings for the holiday season. You don’t have to put the word “clearance” anywhere in your marketing, “unique finds” is one way that you can label these products to appeal to those who are wanting to find unique products for people but not spend a ton of money.

Finally, there are two areas to really invest your dollars even if you’re not planning or able to spend a lot this holiday season as a business: in your marketing and your customer service. First, take full advantage of customizing your marketing for the holidays that your customers and subscribers celebrate, something that takes more creative brain power than it does dollar bills usually. Second, make sure that you’ve got enough people on your customer service team that you’ll always have enough people to properly serve your customers, make sure your business is tidy and updated online and in your retail spaces, and that your team has time for holiday celebrations too.

Of course, it goes without saying that I am a big believe in incorporating the holidays into our marketing and offerings because they’re an easy way to connect emotionally with customers and potential customers as well as with your team. What have you done in your business in the past for the holiday season?