November 14, 2023 • 36 mins
Facing challenges in your business? A storm of one's own making or something external? Me too. I'm opening up in this episode about my recent work life (and complete lack of balance) in an effort to make us all feel a little less alone. Sharing is indeed caring. Also, it's vital we talk about our individual as well as industry-wide challenges in a non-confrontational and positive manner – it's our key to understanding and long-term success. Come along on this journey with me as I candidly discuss industry issues, personal struggles, and finding that elusive balance.
Thank you to Lights America for sponsoring this episode of Lighting with Lisa!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome fellow lighting nerds and
friends to Lighting with Lisa,the Lighting Industries podcast,
sponsored again this week byLights America.
Thank you so much, lightsAmerica, for sponsoring the
podcast this week.
I very much appreciate it.
Everyone.
Stay tuned mid episode for somesponsored content and a little
(00:25):
promo from Lights America thateveryone, current customer or
not, can take advantage of.
So just housekeeping at the top, please, please, please, be
sure to email me, lisa atlightingwithlisacom, for
anything you would love to hearon the podcast, anything you got
(00:48):
.
Hit me up with it If you wantto, if you want to be on the
podcast as a guest, if you wantto sponsor the podcast, if you
want to suggest a topic.
Lisa at lightingwithlisacom isthe email address.
It is in the show notes.
Please, also, if you're notalready a part of the fixture
finder group or the residentiallighting industry job board both
(01:11):
are on Facebook Facebookcomlighting fixture help for the
fixture finder group andFacebookcom lighting jobs for
the job board and they're greatgroups.
The fixture finder group hassaved many of us either from in
identifying a fixture or findinga discontinued product or
(01:33):
whatever the case may be.
It's a great space solelyfocused on fixture finding, but
is kind of a valuable,invaluable tool when you're in
the showroom.
So the podcast this week is thecurrent story of my life, which,
(01:54):
it'll be relevant is beingwildly overwhelmed.
So this podcast is about thelighting industry and everything
you know, all of the challengeswe face all around in the
lighting industry.
Of course, as a lightingshowroom owner, I tend to speak
(02:16):
from that perspective.
But again, email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom, tell me
what I'm getting right, tell mewhat I'm getting wrong.
I would love, love, love, tobring it back up on the podcast
sidebar on this.
The more dialogue we have goingeven if it's just filtered
through me anonymously andbroadcast back out the more
(02:39):
dialogue we have going onbetween showrooms and
manufacturers in a supportiveway, the better we all become.
I do honestly think many, manytimes in our industry where
things start to go awry is whenwe are not like, forthcoming and
clear with one another and thenthat causes if we feel like on
(03:03):
the showroom side thatmanufacturers maybe are doing
something to harm us.
We then start to feel defensiveand then we start not wanting
to support manufacturers as muchand then things get in this
like vicious circle.
Well, you did this to me andyou did that to me and we all
just finger point at one anotherand nothing moves forward.
(03:23):
Well, the entire purpose of thelighting with Lisa brand, from
the podcast to the social mediacomponent that is, more consumer
facing, is all about industrysupport and success, like that's
what this podcast and thisplatform is here for.
I just have, over the years,have gotten so involved in the
(03:47):
day to day workings of ourindustry, like, like I said, day
to day, but then I'm about tosay big picture, but that is
what I mean.
So, like the big picture day today workings of our industry
have become more clear to meover my professional trajectory,
on the starting with theshowroom coalition to the
(04:09):
lighting showroom association towhere I am now is just a
straight up a business owner andwith a side hustle of being a
bit of a content creator andtrying to get engagement going
in our industry because that isreally valuable.
So, point being, I just pleasereach out to me.
(04:32):
Please know I will keep youanonymous.
Please know that over the yearsI have built this dividing wall
between what I do on this, whatI've the lighting with Lisa
side and my professionalshowroom side.
The two things are separatetracks and while one does
inspire the other and vice versa, they are not intertwined.
(04:56):
So please feel free to reachout to me, correct me and or, if
you feel like I've gottensomething wrong, provide
additional context, whatever thecase may be, because the more
we discuss our industry issuesin a non accusatory format, the
(05:17):
better we all become and themore we can actually learn from
each other and grow and setourselves up for success.
Here's a topic that I'm reallyinterested to know more about
that I don't know anybody that'sgoing to tell me everything is
on sale right now.
And you're like duh, lisa, it'sNovember, of course
everything's on sale.
No, no, no, everything's onsale right now.
(05:39):
This podcast is going to launchon November 14.
And one might think, okay,that's like a week and two days
before Thanksgiving.
Okay, I could see the BlackFriday sales maybe kicking off
the end of this week.
No, they're on now.
Those sales are happening nowand they all go through the
(06:00):
first week of December, all ofthe ones that I've been notified
of.
If you're a Lighting ShowAssociation member, I'm still
keeping the sale list for all ofus, and it's crazy to me how
much is on sale and for how long, and some discounts that I
haven't seen in a long time.
(06:21):
Some sales are 30% off Retail.
What?
So there's a thing there.
I don't know if it's like andagain, this is where I'm just
gonna make things up, so I'm nottrying to put like
misinformation out there, but inmy mind I'm like is there too
(06:42):
much inventory?
Are things just really soft?
Like what is the combination ofthings that is leading to these
really really extended end ofyear sales?
We brought in too much stockbecause of availability issues.
Now demand has slowed and wejust literally need to clear our
(07:05):
warehouses.
Like that's what makes the mostsense to me, but I'm just not
sure.
But I mean, y'all know I justdid a podcast on margins Sales
like this when there's not acorresponding inside discount
for showrooms can be ordistributors of any kind, I
(07:26):
guess can be impactful on themargins.
Oh, and the other thing that Ijust thought of with these sales
like how much of this is beingdriven by ecom retailers that
have had like maybe a softeningin their sales and so then
they're requesting frommanufacturers and extended
holiday sales period.
(07:47):
I just don't know.
I would love it if somebodycould email me and give me some
insight, but I promise to keepyou anonymous.
It doesn't behoove me to ratout any source I have, so it's
just really, really interesting.
So all that about the industryas a whole being the more we can
(08:07):
be communicative with oneanother and understand where
things are going for this part,this part, and that only makes
all of us stronger, more wellinformed, better engaged, able
to make better businessdecisions.
It's something to say to mystaff all the time, like, if you
(08:29):
don't give me completeinformation, I can't make a
complete decision.
I can only make a decision offof the partial information that
was provided to me, and thechances of that decision being
successful or correct are much,much lower than when I have the
full information.
Even if the full informationisn't something you want to hear
(08:50):
, like even if, or want to shareor admit, like even having that
those hard moments of sayingthat the quiet part out loud, if
you can and when you do it,leads to better, more successful
business decisions.
So, yeah, so I think any amountof top line sharing that we can
(09:12):
do amongst one another helps usall be better, helps us all
make better purchasing decisions, decisions on expenses,
decisions on whatever we may befacing in our individual
businesses.
We have a better, broader, morecomplete top line picture.
Making those smaller day to daydecisions becomes much, much
(09:33):
easier.
So email me.
So this podcast is about beingoverwhelmed.
I mentioned, I believe, in thefirst lighting with Lisa episode
, or maybe the second.
I have elected to make a changein my software, my, like my
(09:55):
business operating software.
You know the big boy, whetheryou do like a full ERP system or
point of sale system orwhatever it is, it's the thing
that drives my business everyday and like, literally powers
us.
If we don't have access to it,the world is lost.
(10:16):
We can't help our customers, wecan't order things, we can't
check inventory, like everythinggoes awry.
So I made a strategic decisionI hope to change my software and
my go live is the end.
Well, it's the very beginningof December and so we are again.
(10:41):
I said this is going to comeout November 14.
So that puts me just over twoweeks away from my go live by
the time this airs, and anyonethat's done something like this
knows just how like, quitefrankly, overwhelming it is, and
it's been a great experience.
I feel like we're in good shape.
(11:03):
We're.
We keep dotting the I is wekeep crossing the T is we keep
knocking out our to do list.
So it's not about that, it'sjust this big business
transition and it is quiteliterally keeping me up at night
, and you know as it should.
When you're making such a bigchange for your business, that
(11:26):
doesn't just impact you as theowner or manager but impacts all
of your employees and then willeventually impact all of your
customers and all of yourvendors, and you're just like
doing the best you can to makethe best decision and are like
this was very strategic.
(11:47):
It was.
I really think that making thisdecision is gonna do this, this
and this for my business andThen that's balanced against
whatever cost there are.
So I went into it with an openmind and understood the pros,
cons, benefits, risks.
All of that Made the decisionvery, very happy with.
(12:08):
This is the decision in a broadway, like actually extremely
happy with it.
But there is this like Tensenessin my core of like kind of like
grinning and bearing it to getthrough these next several weeks
(12:32):
until we're live, and then weknow Everyone knows who's done
something like this.
When you go live, you know weplan god laughs, right, so
there's gonna be just things aregonna go not quite plan, it's
just something that's gonnahappen.
There's gonna be someunexpected challenges.
You know we do.
(12:52):
We are doing everything we canto like mitigate that and try to
keep the challenges to aminimum, but it's just gonna
happen.
You know you can't make such abig transition in your business
and not have somethingunexpected happen.
It's like the unintendedconsequences right.
(13:13):
So like you're doing all ofthese things because of you know
, all this input leading you tomake this decision.
But sometimes in making thosedecisions and moving forward in
a certain way, there areunintended consequences.
Sometimes unintendedconsequences can be good,
sometimes they can be not sogood.
So, hoping most of myunintended consequences are good
(13:36):
ones, but you know there is amore than little chance that
they'll be some challenging onesthat we just didn't expect up
front.
It's gonna be an adjustmentperiod.
You know some of my staff havebeen with me for a very long
time and we've been working thesame way the entire time.
So it's just it's just gonna bea change in like we keep saying
(14:03):
on our calls and when I'mtalking to my staff.
It's like a change in musclememory and it can be really
really hard to do that whenyou've been doing something the
same way for so long and in mostways our processes, like our
Core operating procedures, arenot changing, like all of that
(14:24):
is gonna kind of just slot intothis new format.
But even just like the way thescreen looks, that you're you're
looking at all day long, theway that you input information,
it's just different.
It's not bad, it's not betteror worse in any real way.
Well, there's some betterthings.
(14:45):
I'm not gonna lie, otherwise Iwouldn't be doing it but there
it's just different and we allhave to embrace the difference.
So it's really put me in thisplace of feeling like very
overwhelmed, not because we'renot getting everything done, we
certainly are getting everythingdone.
I have my regular job to do ontop of this extra job I gave
(15:08):
myself said that's fun, buteverything I feel like is on
track and getting done.
But this sense ofOverwhelmedness is really
setting in and really impactingmy life.
I was saying to my husband likeit's almost as bad to have too
(15:32):
much to do is a as well as likehaving too little to do.
Like I have so much to do thatlike I think of something to do
and I'm like immediatelysidetracked by another task I
have to do and I do that, andthen I forgotten what the first
thing was and then In themeantime a third thing pops up
(15:52):
and then I've forgotten thefirst one again and then I sit
there.
What was that thing?
I know I needed to do it.
It's just this like Constantmind swirl, like I'm like a
tornado going up there Of allthese things I need to do, and
one thing comes and then it'llescape me by before the next one
(16:12):
comes.
It's just.
It has truly been A veryoverwhelming space to be.
So we're gonna break here andtalk about our sponsor for the
episode.
I'm gonna talk a little bitmore about this on the other end
and just some things I'm tryingto do to mitigate these
challenges.
If you've been in the situation, or expect to be in it, or just
(16:34):
having an overwhelming time ingeneral, hopefully this
resonates with you and let youknow that you're not out there
alone dealing with these things.
It happens to all of us.
So I want to take a minute nowto talk about this week's
sponsor, which is lights America.
I have to say, one of thebiggest lifesavers in my
(16:56):
business world From when we,when I became a customer of
lights America, which is severalyears ago, was there
integration with our operatingsystem?
They're integrated with mycurrent operating system.
They are integrated with myfuture operating system.
And if this will tell you onething about how significant
(17:19):
lights America has been for meand my business, when I was
thinking of making this bigchange that we're going through
right now in my business, thefirst phone call I made was to
lights America To ask what theythought about this new system.
What about the integration?
Are these features still gonnaexist for me?
Is this still gonna work for methe way I need it to?
(17:42):
And that is the biggestpositive I could say about this
plat.
You know lights America andwhat they do there Is that I
they're so core to our day today operations that I would
rather stick with a less perfectoperating system that has that
integration, then to move to abetter one and lose it.
(18:02):
So here is just some generalinformation on Lights America.
They not only support thepodcast, but the industry as a
whole.
They're the leading dataprovider.
I've mentioned before whether ornot you use the Lights America
platform for your catalogwebsite as a distributor.
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(18:26):
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There's Pro Tools, where if youhave a designer or builder, you
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(18:48):
You, on the back end, set upthe discount that that builder
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see their discounted price.
It's really amazing so thatthey can go shopping with their
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(19:08):
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They can use the Pro Tools onyour website, know their pricing
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It's really amazing.
And then, of course, the 3D andaugmented reality program.
It's just a fantastic tool.
I know there's more coming onthis.
I've been talking to thecompany that has partnered with
(19:34):
Lights America.
I know they're really workingto develop the 3D and augmented
reality tools for even morefunction going into 2024, more
manufacturers on board, moreshowroom access, and you get all
of that through Lights America.
If you're a sales agentlistening in, do please know
(19:56):
that Lights America has a freewebsite program just for you, so
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So if you want to get a littleperk from Lights America new
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Go to lightsamericacom, submityour request and remember to
(20:43):
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Lighting with Lisa.
And here's the special offerjust for listeners of the
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(21:04):
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(21:30):
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So be sure to reach out toLights America.
Tell them that lighting withLisa sent you Okay.
So back to being overwhelmed.
(21:50):
So it's just been.
It's been a journey.
I know every business owner atsome point goes through phases
like this, whether the stress issales issues, that you're
having staffing issues, thatyou're having something in your
(22:13):
warehouse inventory, yourdelivery truck got in an
accident, like there are alwaysthese moments we go through as
business owners and managers ofjust being like wildly
overwhelmed, and it really ischallenging to maintain.
Whatever positive attitude youalways try to bring to your job,
(22:37):
it can be hard to maintain thatwhen you're feeling so
overwhelmed.
That's definitely been achallenge for me.
I have never been one to have aton of patience.
I have probably negativeamounts of patience.
Right now, my fuse is very,very short.
I just need everyone to be asdirect as possible with me and
(22:59):
take up as little time aspossible, because I need to get
this cleared off so I can go onto the next thing.
In some ways, I'm becomingmaybe a scoche, frustrated with
just myself, that I can feelthat I'm not being the best
manager, the best supporter thatI always aim to be for my staff
.
It's more just like I have somuch rattling around in this
(23:21):
brain of mine that I just needto set things up and knock them
down.
I don't need to belabor anypoints any more than necessary.
It has just been one of thosetimes.
I think the message of thispodcast is to know when you're
going through it like that in abusiness sense, sometimes I
(23:45):
think it's viewed as a like oh,poor you.
There's not a lot of sympathyout there in the world.
I think the conventional sayingis it's lonely at the top.
That's not really what I mean.
It is lonely at the top in thatyou don't get a lot of like hey
, good job, it's just not athing that happens.
(24:06):
But that's part of the gig,right?
I think most of us that end upin that spot.
If you aren't comfortable withthat lonely at the top feeling,
you got to find a way and youwill pretty quick.
When you're in these positionsand doing all this, the only one
to blame for my overwhelmedstate right now is quite
(24:31):
literally myself.
It's not like I can vent to myhusband or a friend or whatever.
They're just going to be likeokay, but why are you doing this
?
Oh, because you wanted to.
All right, cool.
It can just lead to this justkind of inner turmoil and
(24:57):
frustration.
I think oftentimes that comesup as a business owner and that
it can be triggered by so manydifferent things.
It just the sensation, not justthe feeling, but just like,
quite literally, the managementtask list of things that you
(25:17):
have to do or get done in a day.
It can be triggered by anynumber of different things.
It doesn't have to beimplementing a new software
system, it can be any number ofother things, but that sensation
is the same and we've allexperienced it to some degree or
another in our professionallives.
I just want us all to identifytogether and have a little
(25:41):
kumbaya moment that none of usare alone in that.
It happens to all of us and allwe can try to do is be our best
selves through those moments.
I think what has really becomeapparent to me I just mentioned
it, but what's really becomeapparent to me is that these
moments are really challengingme personally to continue to be
(26:05):
as good a manager and as good ofa business partner as I can be,
even when I kind of just wantto tap out.
I kind of just want to workfrom home every single day so
that I can really focus on mytasks and my to-dos and getting
them done and not be distractedby this whole pesky business.
(26:26):
That's not what I mean, butit's just.
There's so much that I almostneed to be in isolation because
every extra sound isoverwhelming all of my senses
and honestly, I'm just going tocall it how I see it.
This might be much more of afemale or sensitive personality
(26:49):
trait, not to gender it, but itdefinitely could be a thing.
But I'm just being open with myexperience here.
In the event, it resonates withyou as the listener who knows I
do understand that men gothrough these same things.
My husband ran a verysuccessful business for many,
many years and I know he wentthrough things like I'm going
(27:12):
through in terms of theoverwhelming sensation,
experience, whatever.
He just addressed it from adifferent perspective than I do,
a much more macho, manlyresponse to things.
He is a product of his time.
So when he would get in thesespaces his solution was to
(27:35):
double down, work harder andtalk about somebody whose
patient's level would zip downto zero real quick.
So it's definitely somethingthat would happen to him.
It's a thing.
We all respond in differentways.
I can only really speak to myown personal experience, but I
do know from the history of thispodcast over the years and over
(27:57):
a hundred and somethingepisodes that some of the best
feedback I get is when we talkabout how these challenges of
operating a business impact usall.
But nobody ever wants to reallytalk about it because you kind
of like well, I don't want toappear weak, I don't want to
appear like I don't know whatI'm doing.
(28:17):
And if I've given you anythingto take from this episode, it's
that you're not.
Don't worry about it.
There's definitely a healthylike line there between like
sharing too much and sharing notenough, and y'all can.
Y'all can guess which side ofthe line that Lisa ends up on.
(28:37):
I'm on the oversharing side andthat's fine for me.
I've made it work.
But it's not for everybody andthere are definitely some people
that would say to me, like Lisa, roll it back a little bit and
I get it, and that is healthyfeedback for me to receive.
But I just want y'all to knowthat none of us are out there
(28:58):
alone.
We all go through these momentsof being just like wildly
overwhelmed and everythingseeming to impact every part of
our lives.
My being overwhelmed at work isis rubbing off at home, like I
just don't need one more thingto do at home.
I haven't been sleeping great,so that's a thing, and that
(29:19):
makes everything just a littlebit harder.
So, yeah, these are just thingswe go through in life and
challenges, and I think all wecan try to do is learn from them
, like learn through theexperience.
Try to keep as positive amindset and attitude as possible
.
Do little things to lift yourspirits.
(29:40):
You know I got the latest issueof furniture, lighting and
decor in my office yesterday.
It was the November 2023 issueand I, you know, I flip through
it every month and on page 10, Iopened it up and it said eight
work life integration tips and Iwent, oh, that's so handy.
I was just sitting herethinking about how, like this is
(30:04):
becoming a bit of a challengefor me keeping everything going,
and one of the tips given inthe article was never feel
guilty about self care.
I think, especially when you'rehaving these like overwhelmed
moments, that not not feelingguilty about like taking a
(30:24):
minute, probably more than aminute, half a day.
Take a weekend day, take awhole weekend to really reset
your brain, because when you getso overwhelmed and stressed and
pulled in 25 differentdirections that you can't
remember the first task beforethe second task comes along,
you're just you're not helpinganybody really and you're
(30:46):
certainly not helping yourself.
And so if you can take sometime to oneself doing things you
love, that are meaningful toyou, that recharge you and this
is different for everyone Likerecharge for me might be sitting
and reading a book, watchingsome of my favorite Bravo
reality shows, catching up onthe Bravo con content Like that
(31:09):
was me last weekend for sure.
So don't judge, whatever it is,it's going to be different for
everyone.
My friend Kirsten she gets alot of benefit out of doing some
professional development andgoing and getting some training
and things that help like resetyou to your place of positivity
(31:31):
and success, that self care,that doing something alone or
with family or friends, whatever, whatever it is.
And the other thing in thisarticle that has been like so so
important for me over thesepast few weeks is setting
boundaries Like this is so hard.
(31:51):
It will again will surprisenone of you.
As a person who can has atendency to be an overshare or
anti people pleaser, it can bevery hard for me to set
boundaries on things because,well, I just want to do
everything.
I have a tendency to buy it offmore than I can chew.
I it's just, you know, apersonality quirk of mine.
(32:12):
Now, in some ways, this is agreat thing.
It helps me be really Whateveran entrepreneur.
I was just gonna say successfulentrepreneur and then I was
like maybe that's questionable,but but it helps me with that
entrepreneurial spirit, right,like that willingness and that
that urge to always go out, domore, be more, get more whatever
(32:36):
you can Like, to have the bestpossible business, to have the
best staff, to have the best runwarehouse, to have great
inventory Like these thingsreally motivate me and get me
going every day.
It sounds it might sound sillyto somebody else, but these are
things that really bring me liketrue enjoyment in life, and it
(32:56):
can be really hard for me to saylike, look, these other things
are going on and I need to set adividing line right here and
these are the things that I'mjust not gonna be able to do
right now, whether it's a out ofwork commitment, whether it's
anything, you name it thingsthat are not like mission
(33:17):
critical, that you just need toset a boundary on.
I've been really trying to dothat as best I can and without
you know, without causing anyharm to myself or anyone else,
of course, like in my business.
But like setting that boundaryof like I can't, I just don't
have the bandwidth for thisright now.
It's gonna have to wait,because it's not like the end
(33:40):
all be all or there's time orwhatever.
So those are my things thatI've been focusing on.
So set some boundaries, do someself-care, take a weekend off.
I highly recommend that, ifyou're able, or if you're not
able to take a whole weekend,take a day off, take half a day.
Something that allows you tojust recharge.
(34:04):
I think is so important whenyou're going through these
challenging moments.
So I'm speaking from thisposition of being like
overwhelmed and too much to do.
But you know, I've certainlybeen through moments where I
felt similarly, when I've justbeen stressed about the future,
not quite knowing what decisionsto make for the business,
(34:26):
wanting to make sure my staff iswell engaged in taking care of
and supported and like what'sthe best way to go.
I'm extremely lucky that I havea great business partner that
is an amazing sounding board, sothat's been like just the best
resource for me.
(34:47):
But not everyone has that luxury.
So having these times where youcan just kind of like try to
disconnect as much as possibleso that when you re-engage
everything just seems a littlebit clearer, a little bit easier
, I find that to be just wildlyvaluable.
As a person moving through thisworld and just trying to do the
(35:10):
very best I can for my business, for the industry as a whole,
of course, most importantly, formy whole staff and my family,
that's where this all you knowreally comes from, and the
things that keep you up at nightare those concerns about the
impact on those people, and youjust really want to make sure
we're doing the best we can forall of the people in our lives
(35:32):
and making sure that they aresupported and happy.
All right, thanks so much toLights America for sponsoring
this episode.
Please go check them out,lightsamericacom.
You won't regret it, and thankyou all so much until next time,
take care.
Hello and welcome fellow lighting nerds and
friends to Lighting with Lisa,the Lighting Industries podcast,
sponsored again this week byLights America.
Thank you so much, lightsAmerica, for sponsoring the
podcast this week.
I very much appreciate it.
Everyone.
Stay tuned mid episode for somesponsored content and a little
(00:25):
promo from Lights America thateveryone, current customer or
not, can take advantage of.
So just housekeeping at the top, please, please, please, be
sure to email me, lisa atlightingwithlisacom, for
anything you would love to hearon the podcast, anything you got
(00:48):
.
Hit me up with it If you wantto, if you want to be on the
podcast as a guest, if you wantto sponsor the podcast, if you
want to suggest a topic.
Lisa at lightingwithlisacom isthe email address.
It is in the show notes.
Please, also, if you're notalready a part of the fixture
finder group or the residentiallighting industry job board both
(01:11):
are on Facebook Facebookcomlighting fixture help for the
fixture finder group andFacebookcom lighting jobs for
the job board and they're greatgroups.
The fixture finder group hassaved many of us either from in
identifying a fixture or findinga discontinued product or
(01:33):
whatever the case may be.
It's a great space solelyfocused on fixture finding, but
is kind of a valuable,invaluable tool when you're in
the showroom.
So the podcast this week is thecurrent story of my life, which,
(01:54):
it'll be relevant is beingwildly overwhelmed.
So this podcast is about thelighting industry and everything
you know, all of the challengeswe face all around in the
lighting industry.
Of course, as a lightingshowroom owner, I tend to speak
(02:16):
from that perspective.
But again, email me, lisa, atlightingwithlisacom, tell me
what I'm getting right, tell mewhat I'm getting wrong.
I would love, love, love, tobring it back up on the podcast
sidebar on this.
The more dialogue we have goingeven if it's just filtered
through me anonymously andbroadcast back out the more
(02:39):
dialogue we have going onbetween showrooms and
manufacturers in a supportiveway, the better we all become.
I do honestly think many, manytimes in our industry where
things start to go awry is whenwe are not like, forthcoming and
clear with one another and thenthat causes if we feel like on
(03:03):
the showroom side thatmanufacturers maybe are doing
something to harm us.
We then start to feel defensiveand then we start not wanting
to support manufacturers as muchand then things get in this
like vicious circle.
Well, you did this to me andyou did that to me and we all
just finger point at one anotherand nothing moves forward.
(03:23):
Well, the entire purpose of thelighting with Lisa brand, from
the podcast to the social mediacomponent that is, more consumer
facing, is all about industrysupport and success, like that's
what this podcast and thisplatform is here for.
I just have, over the years,have gotten so involved in the
(03:47):
day to day workings of ourindustry, like, like I said, day
to day, but then I'm about tosay big picture, but that is
what I mean.
So, like the big picture day today workings of our industry
have become more clear to meover my professional trajectory,
on the starting with theshowroom coalition to the
(04:09):
lighting showroom association towhere I am now is just a
straight up a business owner andwith a side hustle of being a
bit of a content creator andtrying to get engagement going
in our industry because that isreally valuable.
So, point being, I just pleasereach out to me.
(04:32):
Please know I will keep youanonymous.
Please know that over the yearsI have built this dividing wall
between what I do on this, whatI've the lighting with Lisa
side and my professionalshowroom side.
The two things are separatetracks and while one does
inspire the other and vice versa, they are not intertwined.
(04:56):
So please feel free to reachout to me, correct me and or, if
you feel like I've gottensomething wrong, provide
additional context, whatever thecase may be, because the more
we discuss our industry issuesin a non accusatory format, the
(05:17):
better we all become and themore we can actually learn from
each other and grow and setourselves up for success.
Here's a topic that I'm reallyinterested to know more about
that I don't know anybody that'sgoing to tell me everything is
on sale right now.
And you're like duh, lisa, it'sNovember, of course
everything's on sale.
No, no, no, everything's onsale right now.
(05:39):
This podcast is going to launchon November 14.
And one might think, okay,that's like a week and two days
before Thanksgiving.
Okay, I could see the BlackFriday sales maybe kicking off
the end of this week.
No, they're on now.
Those sales are happening nowand they all go through the
(06:00):
first week of December, all ofthe ones that I've been notified
of.
If you're a Lighting ShowAssociation member, I'm still
keeping the sale list for all ofus, and it's crazy to me how
much is on sale and for how long, and some discounts that I
haven't seen in a long time.
(06:21):
Some sales are 30% off Retail.
What?
So there's a thing there.
I don't know if it's like andagain, this is where I'm just
gonna make things up, so I'm nottrying to put like
misinformation out there, but inmy mind I'm like is there too
(06:42):
much inventory?
Are things just really soft?
Like what is the combination ofthings that is leading to these
really really extended end ofyear sales?
We brought in too much stockbecause of availability issues.
Now demand has slowed and wejust literally need to clear our
(07:05):
warehouses.
Like that's what makes the mostsense to me, but I'm just not
sure.
But I mean, y'all know I justdid a podcast on margins Sales
like this when there's not acorresponding inside discount
for showrooms can be ordistributors of any kind, I
(07:26):
guess can be impactful on themargins.
Oh, and the other thing that Ijust thought of with these sales
like how much of this is beingdriven by ecom retailers that
have had like maybe a softeningin their sales and so then
they're requesting frommanufacturers and extended
holiday sales period.
(07:47):
I just don't know.
I would love it if somebodycould email me and give me some
insight, but I promise to keepyou anonymous.
It doesn't behoove me to ratout any source I have, so it's
just really, really interesting.
So all that about the industryas a whole being the more we can
(08:07):
be communicative with oneanother and understand where
things are going for this part,this part, and that only makes
all of us stronger, more wellinformed, better engaged, able
to make better businessdecisions.
It's something to say to mystaff all the time, like, if you
(08:29):
don't give me completeinformation, I can't make a
complete decision.
I can only make a decision offof the partial information that
was provided to me, and thechances of that decision being
successful or correct are much,much lower than when I have the
full information.
Even if the full informationisn't something you want to hear
(08:50):
, like even if, or want to shareor admit, like even having that
those hard moments of sayingthat the quiet part out loud, if
you can and when you do it,leads to better, more successful
business decisions.
So, yeah, so I think any amountof top line sharing that we can
(09:12):
do amongst one another helps usall be better, helps us all
make better purchasing decisions, decisions on expenses,
decisions on whatever we may befacing in our individual
businesses.
We have a better, broader, morecomplete top line picture.
Making those smaller day to daydecisions becomes much, much
(09:33):
easier.
So email me.
So this podcast is about beingoverwhelmed.
I mentioned, I believe, in thefirst lighting with Lisa episode
, or maybe the second.
I have elected to make a changein my software, my, like my
(09:55):
business operating software.
You know the big boy, whetheryou do like a full ERP system or
point of sale system orwhatever it is, it's the thing
that drives my business everyday and like, literally powers
us.
If we don't have access to it,the world is lost.
(10:16):
We can't help our customers, wecan't order things, we can't
check inventory, like everythinggoes awry.
So I made a strategic decisionI hope to change my software and
my go live is the end.
Well, it's the very beginningof December and so we are again.
(10:41):
I said this is going to comeout November 14.
So that puts me just over twoweeks away from my go live by
the time this airs, and anyonethat's done something like this
knows just how like, quitefrankly, overwhelming it is, and
it's been a great experience.
I feel like we're in good shape.
(11:03):
We're.
We keep dotting the I is wekeep crossing the T is we keep
knocking out our to do list.
So it's not about that, it'sjust this big business
transition and it is quiteliterally keeping me up at night
, and you know as it should.
When you're making such a bigchange for your business, that
(11:26):
doesn't just impact you as theowner or manager but impacts all
of your employees and then willeventually impact all of your
customers and all of yourvendors, and you're just like
doing the best you can to makethe best decision and are like
this was very strategic.
(11:47):
It was.
I really think that making thisdecision is gonna do this, this
and this for my business andThen that's balanced against
whatever cost there are.
So I went into it with an openmind and understood the pros,
cons, benefits, risks.
All of that Made the decisionvery, very happy with.
(12:08):
This is the decision in a broadway, like actually extremely
happy with it.
But there is this like Tensenessin my core of like kind of like
grinning and bearing it to getthrough these next several weeks
(12:32):
until we're live, and then weknow Everyone knows who's done
something like this.
When you go live, you know weplan god laughs, right, so
there's gonna be just things aregonna go not quite plan, it's
just something that's gonnahappen.
There's gonna be someunexpected challenges.
You know we do.
(12:52):
We are doing everything we canto like mitigate that and try to
keep the challenges to aminimum, but it's just gonna
happen.
You know you can't make such abig transition in your business
and not have somethingunexpected happen.
It's like the unintendedconsequences right.
(13:13):
So like you're doing all ofthese things because of you know
, all this input leading you tomake this decision.
But sometimes in making thosedecisions and moving forward in
a certain way, there areunintended consequences.
Sometimes unintendedconsequences can be good,
sometimes they can be not sogood.
So, hoping most of myunintended consequences are good
(13:36):
ones, but you know there is amore than little chance that
they'll be some challenging onesthat we just didn't expect up
front.
It's gonna be an adjustmentperiod.
You know some of my staff havebeen with me for a very long
time and we've been working thesame way the entire time.
So it's just it's just gonna bea change in like we keep saying
(14:03):
on our calls and when I'mtalking to my staff.
It's like a change in musclememory and it can be really
really hard to do that whenyou've been doing something the
same way for so long and in mostways our processes, like our
Core operating procedures, arenot changing, like all of that
(14:24):
is gonna kind of just slot intothis new format.
But even just like the way thescreen looks, that you're you're
looking at all day long, theway that you input information,
it's just different.
It's not bad, it's not betteror worse in any real way.
Well, there's some betterthings.
(14:45):
I'm not gonna lie, otherwise Iwouldn't be doing it but there
it's just different and we allhave to embrace the difference.
So it's really put me in thisplace of feeling like very
overwhelmed, not because we'renot getting everything done, we
certainly are getting everythingdone.
I have my regular job to do ontop of this extra job I gave
(15:08):
myself said that's fun, buteverything I feel like is on
track and getting done.
But this sense ofOverwhelmedness is really
setting in and really impactingmy life.
I was saying to my husband likeit's almost as bad to have too
(15:32):
much to do is a as well as likehaving too little to do.
Like I have so much to do thatlike I think of something to do
and I'm like immediatelysidetracked by another task I
have to do and I do that, andthen I forgotten what the first
thing was and then In themeantime a third thing pops up
(15:52):
and then I've forgotten thefirst one again and then I sit
there.
What was that thing?
I know I needed to do it.
It's just this like Constantmind swirl, like I'm like a
tornado going up there Of allthese things I need to do, and
one thing comes and then it'llescape me by before the next one
(16:12):
comes.
It's just.
It has truly been A veryoverwhelming space to be.
So we're gonna break here andtalk about our sponsor for the
episode.
I'm gonna talk a little bitmore about this on the other end
and just some things I'm tryingto do to mitigate these
challenges.
If you've been in the situation, or expect to be in it, or just
(16:34):
having an overwhelming time ingeneral, hopefully this
resonates with you and let youknow that you're not out there
alone dealing with these things.
It happens to all of us.
So I want to take a minute nowto talk about this week's
sponsor, which is lights America.
I have to say, one of thebiggest lifesavers in my
(16:56):
business world From when we,when I became a customer of
lights America, which is severalyears ago, was there
integration with our operatingsystem?
They're integrated with mycurrent operating system.
They are integrated with myfuture operating system.
And if this will tell you onething about how significant
(17:19):
lights America has been for meand my business, when I was
thinking of making this bigchange that we're going through
right now in my business, thefirst phone call I made was to
lights America To ask what theythought about this new system.
What about the integration?
Are these features still gonnaexist for me?
Is this still gonna work for methe way I need it to?
(17:42):
And that is the biggestpositive I could say about this
plat.
You know lights America andwhat they do there Is that I
they're so core to our day today operations that I would
rather stick with a less perfectoperating system that has that
integration, then to move to abetter one and lose it.
(18:02):
So here is just some generalinformation on Lights America.
They not only support thepodcast, but the industry as a
whole.
They're the leading dataprovider.
I've mentioned before whether ornot you use the Lights America
platform for your catalogwebsite as a distributor.
You can still use their datafeeds, which are cleaned up
(18:26):
which are made more useful.
It's still a service you canuse, even if you don't need
their website solution.
They have exclusive tools.
With the IMAP holidays.
There's Pro Tools, where if youhave a designer or builder, you
can give them a pro account toyour website.
(18:48):
You, on the back end, set upthe discount that that builder
or designer has, so when thatbuilder logs into your company's
website they see what theretail price is and then they
see their discounted price.
It's really amazing so thatthey can go shopping with their
clients in their offices.
(19:08):
Whatever platform, whateverprocess works for them.
They can use the Pro Tools onyour website, know their pricing
, know if they're in budget.
It's really amazing.
And then, of course, the 3D andaugmented reality program.
It's just a fantastic tool.
I know there's more coming onthis.
I've been talking to thecompany that has partnered with
(19:34):
Lights America.
I know they're really workingto develop the 3D and augmented
reality tools for even morefunction going into 2024, more
manufacturers on board, moreshowroom access, and you get all
of that through Lights America.
If you're a sales agentlistening in, do please know
(19:56):
that Lights America has a freewebsite program just for you, so
make sure to give them a call.
If you're a manufacturer,you're probably already working
with Lights America, but ifyou're not, they offer free data
collection and they will giveyour data only to your sales
reps and your wholesale accountholders.
So there's no better way to getyour data prices, stock images,
(20:19):
imap, holiday information,whatever it is to your customers
than working through LightsAmerica.
So if you're not already doingit, reach out and get going.
So if you want to get a littleperk from Lights America new
customer or existing ask for afree demo.
Go to lightsamericacom, submityour request and remember to
(20:43):
tell them the I sent you Lisa.
Lighting with Lisa.
And here's the special offerjust for listeners of the
podcast.
Current Lights Americacustomers can take advantage of
a free banner ad or email blast.
Just mention the podcast andthey'll get that taken care of
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If you're a wholesaler new toLights America, you can receive
(21:04):
a 15% discount on setup fees ofpremium or data 52 services.
Data 52 services are the ones Iwas mentioning.
That is, the data feed for theentire, you know, for the entire
catalog that Lights Americaprovides.
So whether you have LightsAmerica website or a separate
website, a custom solution, aShopify website, a big commerce,
(21:30):
whatever it is.
You can use the data 52 productfeed and with this offer you
can get 15% discount on thesetup.
So it's tremendous.
So be sure to reach out toLights America.
Tell them that lighting withLisa sent you Okay.
So back to being overwhelmed.
(21:50):
So it's just been.
It's been a journey.
I know every business owner atsome point goes through phases
like this, whether the stress issales issues, that you're
having staffing issues, thatyou're having something in your
(22:13):
warehouse inventory, yourdelivery truck got in an
accident, like there are alwaysthese moments we go through as
business owners and managers ofjust being like wildly
overwhelmed, and it really ischallenging to maintain.
Whatever positive attitude youalways try to bring to your job,
(22:37):
it can be hard to maintain thatwhen you're feeling so
overwhelmed.
That's definitely been achallenge for me.
I have never been one to have aton of patience.
I have probably negativeamounts of patience.
Right now, my fuse is very,very short.
I just need everyone to be asdirect as possible with me and
(22:59):
take up as little time aspossible, because I need to get
this cleared off so I can go onto the next thing.
In some ways, I'm becomingmaybe a scoche, frustrated with
just myself, that I can feelthat I'm not being the best
manager, the best supporter thatI always aim to be for my staff
.
It's more just like I have somuch rattling around in this
(23:21):
brain of mine that I just needto set things up and knock them
down.
I don't need to belabor anypoints any more than necessary.
It has just been one of thosetimes.
I think the message of thispodcast is to know when you're
going through it like that in abusiness sense, sometimes I
(23:45):
think it's viewed as a like oh,poor you.
There's not a lot of sympathyout there in the world.
I think the conventional sayingis it's lonely at the top.
That's not really what I mean.
It is lonely at the top in thatyou don't get a lot of like hey
, good job, it's just not athing that happens.
(24:06):
But that's part of the gig,right?
I think most of us that end upin that spot.
If you aren't comfortable withthat lonely at the top feeling,
you got to find a way and youwill pretty quick.
When you're in these positionsand doing all this, the only one
to blame for my overwhelmedstate right now is quite
(24:31):
literally myself.
It's not like I can vent to myhusband or a friend or whatever.
They're just going to be likeokay, but why are you doing this
?
Oh, because you wanted to.
All right, cool.
It can just lead to this justkind of inner turmoil and
(24:57):
frustration.
I think oftentimes that comesup as a business owner and that
it can be triggered by so manydifferent things.
It just the sensation, not justthe feeling, but just like,
quite literally, the managementtask list of things that you
(25:17):
have to do or get done in a day.
It can be triggered by anynumber of different things.
It doesn't have to beimplementing a new software
system, it can be any number ofother things, but that sensation
is the same and we've allexperienced it to some degree or
another in our professionallives.
I just want us all to identifytogether and have a little
(25:41):
kumbaya moment that none of usare alone in that.
It happens to all of us and allwe can try to do is be our best
selves through those moments.
I think what has really becomeapparent to me I just mentioned
it, but what's really becomeapparent to me is that these
moments are really challengingme personally to continue to be
(26:05):
as good a manager and as good ofa business partner as I can be,
even when I kind of just wantto tap out.
I kind of just want to workfrom home every single day so
that I can really focus on mytasks and my to-dos and getting
them done and not be distractedby this whole pesky business.
(26:26):
That's not what I mean, butit's just.
There's so much that I almostneed to be in isolation because
every extra sound isoverwhelming all of my senses
and honestly, I'm just going tocall it how I see it.
This might be much more of afemale or sensitive personality
(26:49):
trait, not to gender it, but itdefinitely could be a thing.
But I'm just being open with myexperience here.
In the event, it resonates withyou as the listener who knows I
do understand that men gothrough these same things.
My husband ran a verysuccessful business for many,
many years and I know he wentthrough things like I'm going
(27:12):
through in terms of theoverwhelming sensation,
experience, whatever.
He just addressed it from adifferent perspective than I do,
a much more macho, manlyresponse to things.
He is a product of his time.
So when he would get in thesespaces his solution was to
(27:35):
double down, work harder andtalk about somebody whose
patient's level would zip downto zero real quick.
So it's definitely somethingthat would happen to him.
It's a thing.
We all respond in differentways.
I can only really speak to myown personal experience, but I
do know from the history of thispodcast over the years and over
(27:57):
a hundred and somethingepisodes that some of the best
feedback I get is when we talkabout how these challenges of
operating a business impact usall.
But nobody ever wants to reallytalk about it because you kind
of like well, I don't want toappear weak, I don't want to
appear like I don't know whatI'm doing.
(28:17):
And if I've given you anythingto take from this episode, it's
that you're not.
Don't worry about it.
There's definitely a healthylike line there between like
sharing too much and sharing notenough, and y'all can.
Y'all can guess which side ofthe line that Lisa ends up on.
(28:37):
I'm on the oversharing side andthat's fine for me.
I've made it work.
But it's not for everybody andthere are definitely some people
that would say to me, like Lisa, roll it back a little bit and
I get it, and that is healthyfeedback for me to receive.
But I just want y'all to knowthat none of us are out there
(28:58):
alone.
We all go through these momentsof being just like wildly
overwhelmed and everythingseeming to impact every part of
our lives.
My being overwhelmed at work isis rubbing off at home, like I
just don't need one more thingto do at home.
I haven't been sleeping great,so that's a thing, and that
(29:19):
makes everything just a littlebit harder.
So, yeah, these are just thingswe go through in life and
challenges, and I think all wecan try to do is learn from them
, like learn through theexperience.
Try to keep as positive amindset and attitude as possible
.
Do little things to lift yourspirits.
(29:40):
You know I got the latest issueof furniture, lighting and
decor in my office yesterday.
It was the November 2023 issueand I, you know, I flip through
it every month and on page 10, Iopened it up and it said eight
work life integration tips and Iwent, oh, that's so handy.
I was just sitting herethinking about how, like this is
(30:04):
becoming a bit of a challengefor me keeping everything going,
and one of the tips given inthe article was never feel
guilty about self care.
I think, especially when you'rehaving these like overwhelmed
moments, that not not feelingguilty about like taking a
(30:24):
minute, probably more than aminute, half a day.
Take a weekend day, take awhole weekend to really reset
your brain, because when you getso overwhelmed and stressed and
pulled in 25 differentdirections that you can't
remember the first task beforethe second task comes along,
you're just you're not helpinganybody really and you're
(30:46):
certainly not helping yourself.
And so if you can take sometime to oneself doing things you
love, that are meaningful toyou, that recharge you and this
is different for everyone Likerecharge for me might be sitting
and reading a book, watchingsome of my favorite Bravo
reality shows, catching up onthe Bravo con content Like that
(31:09):
was me last weekend for sure.
So don't judge, whatever it is,it's going to be different for
everyone.
My friend Kirsten she gets alot of benefit out of doing some
professional development andgoing and getting some training
and things that help like resetyou to your place of positivity
(31:31):
and success, that self care,that doing something alone or
with family or friends, whatever, whatever it is.
And the other thing in thisarticle that has been like so so
important for me over thesepast few weeks is setting
boundaries Like this is so hard.
(31:51):
It will again will surprisenone of you.
As a person who can has atendency to be an overshare or
anti people pleaser, it can bevery hard for me to set
boundaries on things because,well, I just want to do
everything.
I have a tendency to buy it offmore than I can chew.
I it's just, you know, apersonality quirk of mine.
(32:12):
Now, in some ways, this is agreat thing.
It helps me be really Whateveran entrepreneur.
I was just gonna say successfulentrepreneur and then I was
like maybe that's questionable,but but it helps me with that
entrepreneurial spirit, right,like that willingness and that
that urge to always go out, domore, be more, get more whatever
(32:36):
you can Like, to have the bestpossible business, to have the
best staff, to have the best runwarehouse, to have great
inventory Like these thingsreally motivate me and get me
going every day.
It sounds it might sound sillyto somebody else, but these are
things that really bring me liketrue enjoyment in life, and it
(32:56):
can be really hard for me to saylike, look, these other things
are going on and I need to set adividing line right here and
these are the things that I'mjust not gonna be able to do
right now, whether it's a out ofwork commitment, whether it's
anything, you name it thingsthat are not like mission
(33:17):
critical, that you just need toset a boundary on.
I've been really trying to dothat as best I can and without
you know, without causing anyharm to myself or anyone else,
of course, like in my business.
But like setting that boundaryof like I can't, I just don't
have the bandwidth for thisright now.
It's gonna have to wait,because it's not like the end
(33:40):
all be all or there's time orwhatever.
So those are my things thatI've been focusing on.
So set some boundaries, do someself-care, take a weekend off.
I highly recommend that, ifyou're able, or if you're not
able to take a whole weekend,take a day off, take half a day.
Something that allows you tojust recharge.
(34:04):
I think is so important whenyou're going through these
challenging moments.
So I'm speaking from thisposition of being like
overwhelmed and too much to do.
But you know, I've certainlybeen through moments where I
felt similarly, when I've justbeen stressed about the future,
not quite knowing what decisionsto make for the business,
(34:26):
wanting to make sure my staff iswell engaged in taking care of
and supported and like what'sthe best way to go.
I'm extremely lucky that I havea great business partner that
is an amazing sounding board, sothat's been like just the best
resource for me.
(34:47):
But not everyone has that luxury.
So having these times where youcan just kind of like try to
disconnect as much as possibleso that when you re-engage
everything just seems a littlebit clearer, a little bit easier
, I find that to be just wildlyvaluable.
As a person moving through thisworld and just trying to do the
(35:10):
very best I can for my business, for the industry as a whole,
of course, most importantly, formy whole staff and my family,
that's where this all you knowreally comes from, and the
things that keep you up at nightare those concerns about the
impact on those people, and youjust really want to make sure
we're doing the best we can forall of the people in our lives
(35:32):
and making sure that they aresupported and happy.
All right, thanks so much toLights America for sponsoring
this episode.
Please go check them out,lightsamericacom.
You won't regret it, and thankyou all so much until next time,
take care.
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