Creative Shop Talk with Wendy Batten

The holidays are coming. For some of you, this season is treating you well and it's amazing. But for others, the feeling of tiredness has really set in. Today I am sharing a few strategies that will help you if you feel like you’re about to hit a wall and the mental anxiety of it all is starting to set in.

A healthy business needs a healthy CEO and can't operate their business if they aren't in love with it. (Re-listen ...

Let's talk about Amazon. First - you are not Amazon. And boy that's awesome, isn't it?

In today's episode, I am going to give you some strategies and ideas that will give you a competitive advantage over Amazon.

First up - change your mindset. Think of Amazon as just another business down the road, and ask yourself "what do they do well that I can incorporate into my independent shop?"

Your competitive advan...

Amy Hart was an elementary school teacher first, then started teaching painting classes at a friend's local store in 2016. In that same store, Amy and her friend started a line of paint by number products and sold it to stores all over the country.

She created toile (pronounced "twall") which means "linen cloth" or "canvas" in French. Amy shared it at a local flea market in the Spring of 2017 and then op...

Let's discuss the 1% difference. What if we just increase everything by 1%? What if we focus on small, tiny tasks and put them into action within our business? Sometimes that's hard to implement. I know.

It's all about the percentages, though. Every percentage matters. Whether you're trying to increase your foot traffic, increase your conversion, increase or decrease your margins, cut the payroll fees, etc. One litt...

Are you keeping yourself small? Are you DIY'ing your entire business? I was.

Entrepreneurs have that mindset that we can figure it out ourselves. That's just the way we are wired. Throw in a creative spirit and drive - and well - we want to DIY it all.

But in this episode, I want to share with you how you can think a little bit differently and create a massive impact on your business!

Recently, I made the revelation that I ...

Today we are sharing strategy on adding Shopify or ecommerce to your brick and mortar with my friend and Shopify expert Susan Bradley of The Social Sales Girls! We will talk about tips and tricks on how to build an ecommerce Shopify site and find success.

Susan had her own brick-and-mortar retail business in 1990 and sold her small chain of stores in 2010. A year later, she bought a little ecommerce company called We Squeak where m...

Here's two questions I get asked all the time:

We don't have to have a million people following us in order to be successful. We just need the RIGHT people following us.

It's all about the quality of your AUDIENCE. Your people, the buyers, your customers, your community...

A replay from Episode #58 for our Encore Series this month! We are featuring some of our most popular and most downloaded podcasts for this round and you won't want to miss them! They are extremely relevant as you are planning for the holidays. It's important to level up and become that CEO right now. Enjoy!

I know…nobody wants to talk retail math and numbers. I get it. There are so many numbers we feel like we should be lo...

A replay from Episode #50 for our Encore Series this month! We are featuring some of our most popular and most downloaded podcasts for this round and you won't want to miss them! They are extremely relevant as you are planning for the holidays. It's important to level up and become that CEO right now. Enjoy!

One question I received from a coaching client is, "What's coming for retail, and how can I be ready?" Th...

A replay from Episode #48 for our Encore Series this month! We are featuring some of our most popular and most downloaded podcasts for this round and you won't want to miss them! They are extremely relevant as you are planning for the holidays. It's important to level up and become that CEO right now. Enjoy! Are you constantly asking yourself, where did the day go? Or, why time runs so fast? Believe it or not, we are bomba...

A replay from Episode #2 for our Encore Series this month! We are featuring some of our most popular and most downloaded podcasts for this round and you won't want to miss them! They are extremely relevant as you are planning for the holidays. It's important to level up and become that CEO right now. Enjoy! Before you roll your eyes at this episode title. Know that I don't mean corporate, stuffy, suited CEO….I mean hea...

Isn't it flattering and exciting when customers make a day around visiting your shop!? Doesn't it make you a little teary when people make visiting your shop a special event!? Today we're talking about how to build that business that attracts all of the customers for all the right reasons.

It's time to widen the net and become THE destination shop!

We have the opportunity to not just sell things, but truly create an...

My most requested guest - Marian Parsons is on the podcast today!

Business owner, artist, blogger, creative, author, painter, booth and market seller, podcast host, product developer, paint line owner, business mentor - and so much more. We chat about her business journey and how she has evolved and grown her beautiful business, staying creative, and so much more.

In 2008, Marian was a mom of a four-month-old and a two-year-old, ha...

Get inspired by another member of the Retailer's Inner Circle whom we are talking to today, Jane Bellante of Morning Dew Creations! It's always so helpful to hear how others manage and run their business.

In Jane's own words, her business journey is kind of crazy! (I love that though, because we are all unique in our business journey)

She started making jewelry in her early twenties, had children, went back to get her t...

In this series, I want to introduce you to some of my coaching clients inside the Retailer's Inner Circle and hear how their retail journeys evolve and how they are seeing success. We learn so much from hearing how others manage and run their business.

Enjoy hearing from Virginia Warner of Tazewell Co. Mercantile.

Believe it or not, Virginia took over her current shop from her daughter! At first her daughter was selling only lo...

In this series, I want to introduce you to some of my coaching clients inside the Retailer’s Inner Circle and hear how their retail journeys evolve. We learn so much from hearing how others manage and run their business. 

Enjoy hearing from Lee Hawn of The Lemonade Stand. 

Lee's journey began back in 2014 when she was simply flipping through a home decor magazine and saw a stunning dresser painted in milk paint. She did a littl...

In my Retailer's Inner Circle, we share our WINS every Friday. There are so many reasons for this! Wins will inspire others and they will make you realize, celebrate, and acknowledge your own achievements.

When you start feeling discouraged as you see other people's wins, Flip the Script from negative energy to positive energy! We all have those days where we think everybody else in our community is doing really well and we...

Bookkeeping. I tend to see fear come from my retailers when I mention bookkeeping because they either don't want to hand off the job to someone else, don't want to spend the money, or they have fear of HOW to simplify it. There is HUGE ROI in staying up to date with your book. Seeing your balance sheet, profit and loss statements and knowing your numbers in real time - is so crucial. Having your bills paid, being able to ad...

We are all busy, driven, passion-filled retailers. We have big visions, big dreams, and we're constantly working to achieve those goals and succeed. But, there are three things that I see happening regularly with retailers who end up losing or closing their business.

1. Complacency. Not in the sense that you don't care about your business. You've just stopped paying attention. Paying attention to your customer's nee...