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Why Retail Business Growth Starts to Feel Heavy at Six Figures! · The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices

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  This episode of the Resilient Retail Game Plan is brought to you by
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  That's gameplan10 valid till the 14th
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  of February. If you're
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  doing well on paper but the business feels heavier than it should, growth is
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  starting to feel stressful rather than exciting, then this
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  episode is for you. Welcome to the
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  Resilient Retail Game Plan. I'm Catherine Edley and in the next few minutes
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  you're about to get powerful real world retail strategies from
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  insights shared both from my guests and myself, backed up by my
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  25 years in the retail industry. Keep listening to learn how to
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  grow a thriving, profitable product business. Let's jump in with
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  this latest episode. Today I want to talk about something I'm
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  genuinely really excited about and that's Retail by Design.
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  I am just about ready to kick off the 10th
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  cohort of my one to one program retail by
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  Design. And this year I have taken all of my
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  learnings from working with over 60 businesses across the
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  last two and a half years. And I have taken
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  all of those learnings and the work that I've done with people where it's worked
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  really well and I've made some adjustments to the program and I'm super
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  excited about that because I feel like this version reflects everything
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  that I've learned from working with product businesses over the last few years.
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  So why did I create Retail Bar Design? Well, I launched it originally
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  in 2020 because I recognized that
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  I had group programs such as Retail Sales Game
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  Plan for example, but I really enjoyed working with people in
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  a much more in depth way. I've actually worked with people as a one
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  off or as a mentor, ongoing mentor
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  since 2018, so nearly eight years now. And I
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  wanted to take that one to one support which I know is really, really important
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  for when your business gets to a certain point. And I wanted to take it
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  and put it into a program that was designed to to wrap
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  around the founder, lift them up and give them the support that they needed. So
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  that was the original thought process behind Retail by Design. All about
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  how can I best support founders and give them everything that
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  they need to succeed and to help them manage some of the stress
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  points as they grow. There is a stage where people get out
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  of that feeling of the only thing I need is more sales. Once
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  they've locked in who their customer is, what product is that they're selling,
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  they're starting to see some data, decent revenue. The idea that a lot of
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  us have is that once you get to that six figure stage or whatever it
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  might be, that it'll suddenly start to feel easier. But it
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  definitely, in my experience, talking to lots of different people over the years,
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  it doesn't feel like that it gets heavier, the sales are coming in, but
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  decisions feel riskier. Things like stock, cash flow,
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  planning all starts to live in your head. It turns into you reacting instead
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  of leading. And it's not about a motivation problem, it's a
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  structure problem. The big phrase with retail by design is what got
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  me here isn't going to be what gets me there. It's also a recognition
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  that we can self teach a lot about running a business,
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  but you will get to the point, especially for product business, where you'll identify that
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  there are things that you just don't know or you don't know what you don't
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  know. And all of this can be quite difficult because what happens is as the
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  business grows and gets more successful, everyone also assumes that you're doing
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  brilliantly. So it can be harder to find who to ask, it can
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  be harder to find who can help you see what the path is to move
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  forward. And it can be harder to find the answers that you need
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  and the support that you need. Everything that I do is extremely specialized. I only
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  work with product businesses, I only work with E commerce or bricks and
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  mortar or wholesale first businesses or people who are a mixture of
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  all three, which is more common than you might think. So retail by design it
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  is for established product businesses. They are usually at six
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  figures or beyond. They are people who have identified that they've got great
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  products, strong potential, they really understand who their customer is,
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  they are action takers. But the founder is
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  beginning to feel stretched, decision fatigued, and they want clarity
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  and calm, not more tactics. As I said, one of the biggest myths that
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  I see is people feel like once you hit a certain revenue level then all
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  of your problems will go away. But what I see instead is that you get
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  to a certain point where relying on instinct, relying on your
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  ability to wing things, relying on the fact that you're
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  probably really, really intuitive business owner and you really
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  understand what your customer wants and the products that they want, which has really helped
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  you get to the point that you're at. But now what you need to do
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  is introduce a certain amount of structure. So Retail by Design, as I
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  said, it is a essentially a one to one program at heart. It's six months
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  high touch. It's not a course, it's not diy. It
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  is ongoing support, planning, decision making, space and it
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  focuses on structure, clarity, better decisions and sustainable
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  growth.
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  So what has changed this time is that I'm also
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  incorporating into Retail by Design the services of my
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  done for you service Stock Doctor. So Stock doctor is
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  a brilliant service for you if the main thing that you have an issue with
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  is stock. If you are an independent retailer, for example, or an
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  E commerce brand and you feel like I've pretty much got everything nailed, but
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  I really don't understand stock or I really feel like I should be paying myself
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  more or I really feel like there should be more money in this business and
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  I just don't have a handle on stock. I don't feel confident about it.
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  Then Stock Doctor is for you if you are somebody
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  who thinks all of those things, but then you're also thinking, well, I'm kind of
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  at a crossroads. I really want to decide where I take the business now. I
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  feel like there are so many different parts of this business. I don't know what
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  support I need, what structure I need, what strategy I need, or you're
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  undergoing a major change, for example, opening a shop or moving
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  to a different fulfillment center or anything like that, and you really feel like you
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  need some support with that, then Retail by Design is
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  for you. So when I talk to people on calls to discuss
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  my services, I'm usually listening for if they
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  say everything's fine, but I just really would like to get my stock under
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  control that sits under Stock Doctor. If they're saying I really want to
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  understand my numbers more and I really want to look at the business as a
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  whole, then that to me says Retail by Design. But what
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  I found was that when I was doing Retail by Design previously, a lot
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  of the founders, they also had the need to understand more about their stock, to
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  have it managed for them, to have somebody sitting them down and telling them exactly
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  what was going on. And so therefore it was something that I
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  realized that having both stockdoctor and
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  Retail by Design together was a powerful combination. In fact,
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  I had some clients who did both of them at the same time, both
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  stockdoctor and Retail by Design. And it was so beneficial, it worked
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  so well in tandem that I decided to make it part of the
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  core program. One of the things that makes growth feel really
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  scary and uncertain is because the numbers feel uncertain. And
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  so having somebody taking care of your stock, which is for most
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  people the biggest expenditure that they have in their business, it felt like a no
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  brainer to work with a stock doctor and myself to
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  give the person in retail by design the benefit of two
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  experts looking at their business. So in terms of how that
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  breaks down, then the stock doctor looks at sales and stock
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  every month, keeps plans up to date, flags risks early,
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  maybe things that you might be selling out of, or things you need to buy
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  more of, or things that you're sitting on that are trapped cash that could be
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  freed up to make the business more profitable. They are experts
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  at modeling. This is something that I really can't stress enough if you are a
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  fast growth business. For example, stock doctor is able to come in and
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  model what stock you would need based on various different
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  scenarios. And they're also able to adjust
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  those each month when they update your plans based on what actually
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  happened. So all of the stock doctors that I have working with me, they all
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  have a really strong deep retail merchandising
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  background. And running different scenarios and looking at the impact
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  of growth is something that is second nature. They are able
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  to really help with that modeling, help with buying
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  decisions, help understand how to make the stock work
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  harder, how to free up their profit. And
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  the amazing thing about stockdoctor is that it 100%,
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  based on the numbers that we've run, is something that pays for itself. For
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  example, when we looked at the data behind people who had worked with
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  a stock Dr. For six months, they were seeing 10% more sales with
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  10% less stock, which for many of them, based on around a
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  50% margin, meant that they were adding around 5,000
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  pounds additional profit per 100k of revenue.
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  And that was after the cost of the program. So we
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  designed Stockdoctor and delighted to see it paying for itself and
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  making a real difference not only to the bottom line for retailers,
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  but also to their peace of mind. So it's a really, really
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  powerful program. The way that the combination of them
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  works is that you get your monthly support call with your stock
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  doctor to go over the numbers, to go over the plans,
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  and to go over any decisions that you need to make about buying, as well
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  as giving you really great insight into trading actions that you
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  can take, not adding extra things to your to do list, but all of those
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  things that you have to do anyway. This is not about adding to your to
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  do list. So you always have to do your marketing, you always have to do
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  your buying. But Stockdoctor is able to give you direction on both of
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  those things so that you are able to do them more effectively and
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  without the guesswork. And then you have a monthly strategy
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  call with myself. So Retail by Design starts with a kickoff call with
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  me. We map out the six months, what it is you want to achieve. We
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  identify the areas of the business that you want to work on. You'll then
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  also meet the stock doctor, have them do a full audit of your sales and
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  stock to understand where you're at. So you've got those two tracks of support, one
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  all about strategy and one all about stock. So you've got the two
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  together, giving you space for decision making,
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  focus, time and headspace. And then Retail by Design also
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  comes with a whole host of other benefits such as ongoing support
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  with myself via email or voice note so that you can ask me anything you
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  like in between sessions, weekly group calls where you can
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  check in, jump in, say hi to other people in the cohort,
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  ask other questions of myself or other people. And you also
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  get work with a Mindset Coach. You get three sessions across
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  six months with our fabulous mindset coach, Annabel, who is just
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  really brilliant at helping you work through any of those
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  mindset issues that come up when people are building businesses.
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  The transformation with Retail by Design As I said, I'm so excited
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  about adding in Stock Doctor as well because we already saw such great transformers information
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  founders moving from feeling really reactive to feeling much calmer.
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  They're able to make decisions more proactively and with confidence.
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  They second guess themselves less often. They have a clear plan
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  that they can trust and they feel supported in their business.
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  And now with the stock doctor element, we know that that is all taken care
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  of. So even if you're having a busy month, you've got a crazy quarter,
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  then somebody is there running those plans for you, updating you each month.
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  So it really reduces the amount of time that you as the founder have to
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  spend doing work on your numbers because they are being done for
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  you. Feeling overwhelmed, stuck in
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  reaction mode and tired of winging it. Retail by Design is my
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  six month, one to one program for six figure product founders who are
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  ready for clarity, strategy and proper support. Using my
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  signature focused framework, we turn scattered businesses into
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  calm profitable ones with hands on help to sort your
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  structure, cash flow and sales. If you're ready to feel confident
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  and in control again, head to resilient retailclub.com and click
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  on Retail by Design to book a call. So I'm
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  so excited about this new version of Retail by Design. I
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  feel like it's so powerful and I'm excited because I truly believe
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  this is what business support should look like. Really
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  structured, really supportive, really able to
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  meet you and your individual needs. Completely personalized,
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  very, very effective and very much focused on your bottom line.
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  Everything that we do is zero fluff. It is about sales strategy,
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  about structure. And we also do support you as a founder
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  through all of our email and voice notes, support our group calls, and
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  our mindset coaching as well. Retail by Design.
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  It's not for people who are first starting out. It's not really
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  for anyone who wants a quick fix. It's for people who want to have
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  time, space to work on their business over an
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  extended period of time. They don't want just
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  templates or generic answers. They want something that is super
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  tailored for them. And they don't want to be spending hours and hours and hours
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  on this program. They want to know that they can turn up to their monthly
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  meetings without needing to spend hours and hours out of
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  the day. But then everything that they are doing is going to be helping them
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  run more effectively, be more productive
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  and efficient in their business, and most importantly, feel
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  supported. Feel like they've got a team behind them.
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  They've got that support wrapping around them and that you're not
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  feeling lonely or worried or nervous. Because
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  even if numbers are growing and it feels exciting, it could be
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  scary exciting too. And it's great to know that you've got really, really
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  deep industry knowledge and expert backed support behind
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  you. Growth doesn't have to feel chaotic. You can have support and
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  structure in a way that feels aligned with you
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  as a business owner and doesn't feel restrictive. If you're nodding
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  along, listening to this and thinking this sounds like you and you want to know
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  more, then you can head over to resilient
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  retailclub.com, take a look at Retail by Design. There's more details
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  there and there's also a link to book in for a call. The
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  next step is for us to have a chat. It's very relaxed.
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  It's just an opportunity for me to find out more about where you're at in
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  your business, what you need, and if it feels like the right fit. I'll tell
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  you more about Retail by Design. No pressure, no hard
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  sell, just an opportunity to talk about what's going on for you and
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  see if we can't find you the right support to take you to the next
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  level. Thank you so much for listening. I
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  would love to hear. No, sorry. Thank
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  you so much for listening. We'll be back next week talking
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  all about how you create an award winning online store.
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  Sam.