A couple of distracted travel trips ago, I decided that for the sake of being more in charge of my workday I would open the store at MIDDAY!. I run a small business, (a very small business), just me and the occasional assistant. It has been larger but I have been working on making it smaller with a higher turnover for some time. To do this, I have of course needed to make more efficient use of the time I spend at work. The problem with a retail shop front is the customers just roll in when ever they feel like it. This makes it difficult to concentrate on anything you might be doing other than attending to their every need.
Having thought carefully about all the alternatives such as employing an assistant etc, I decided to just change the hours and force customers to come in over a shorter period of time. This gives me a few extra hours in the morning to get work done without interruption or whip out to run some errands without the concern of missing business because the ‘back in 10 minutes’ sign was up.
Distraction travel gave me the time to clearly think through the options and for that matter, come up with the idea in the first place.
Without the clarity of thought an extended, relaxed stay in one place offered I would have potentially acted like the sheep that so many business sometimes are. And like them, I would have just kept on thinking I had to open from 9am until 5pm, when MIDDAY to 5pm works just fine!
I pasted up my new hours on the front door, on the website, Google listing, Facebook page, changed the phone messages and told every customer I spoke to. Sure I have missed a few I suppose.The neighbours have told me some stories of a few folk who clearly had the s@*ts (were highly irritated) when they read the sign on the door and have stormed off (only to arrive back again later in the day). This is all two years ago and not only am I free in the mornings if I need to be I get more work done, have less stress and frankly enjoy being in business more. If I’m in the shop before midday, I tend to leave the door unlocked so if a random customer does turn up, I can take the opportunity to serve them.
Don’t act like a business sheep.
There is no law stating when you must open your store. I am probably the only retail store in the town I live in of 300,000 people, that opens these hours. Its a hell of lot more organised than the small store that has the “back in 10 minutes” sign out for half an hour or just isn’t there. I open at midday on the dot (or earlier and explain to whomever comes in that my normal hours are from midday) and I never leave before 5pm. If I need to visit a doctor or get my hair cut its done in the morning. If I want to go for a ride on my bike with a mate who doesn’t work during the week I can (in the morning).
There is a freedom to this idea that came from a freedom of thought enabled by taking time out of my business to think ‘on’ my business. A clarity of thought I simply do not have while working ‘in’ my business.
Five weeks may seem like a long time to be away from your business but you and your business will almost certainly be better off if you do it. Coming soon is a quick blog on how I close my business for weeks at a time without loosing any customers.
