Here are three more suggestions to inspire your mid-year check-in:

Create greater efficiency. If you are feeling so mired in the day-to-day operations of your business that there is no time for goal-setting (let alone course-correcting), now is the time to create greater efficiency. Review the daily, weekly and/or monthly tasks that are holding you back and consider ridding yourself of unnecessary duties and streamline others with technology or changes in process. Creating greater efficiencies will open up space in your schedule to begin setting goals, innovating and growing your business.

Make sure changes are real and not superficial. If you plan to make course corrections, make sure the changes you make are real and transformative. Oftentimes as business owners we resist transformative change for fear of alienating core customers. Trust that your best customers will come along with you as you improve your products, customer experience or technology.

Consult with others outside your normal circle. If you and your business are feeling stuck, try venturing out from your inner circle of advisors and seek the advice of outside sources. Consider joining a professional organization where you can meet and speak with a whole new group of professionals. Try speaking with those outside of your industry to gain council and insight.

If you’ve posted a job opening lately you’ve likely been flooded by more resumes, applications and eager candidates than in years past. So, how do you effectively wade through all the resumes, culling out those that are not ideal? Here are some tips to keep in mind while reading through that stack.

Attention to detail – Look for resumes that are in a proper, coherent format. With all the resume templates out there, it’s not hard for an eager, diligent individual to find a well-organized template appropriate for the job for which they are applying. Make sure the resume does not have spelling or major grammatical errors. Resumes free of obvious errors show an applicant that has attention to detail and cares about making a good first impression, both good qualities in an employee.

A path of advancement – Read each resume with an eye toward whether the individual has experienced a path of advancement in their lives and career. This type of candidate is more likely to approach their job with a desire to learn and grow. Look for advancing job titles, even if it seems there’s been some job hopping with varied companies. Try not to hold it against the candidate if they have moved to different companies (if it appears it has been in the name of advancing a career). You can ask for further details during the interview process. Remember that in this day and age it’s less likely for motivated individuals to stay with just one company.

Interesting backgrounds – Look for candidates with varied backgrounds, career paths, interests and hobbies that not only show some depth of character, but may bring some interesting capabilities and perspectives to your staff. Take inventory of your team and consider which candidates could add a new perspective to better your business and move them to the next step in your hiring process.

Other important items to look for are a well thought out cover letter that really sells you on why they want to join your retail team. Considering these tips should help you whittle down that stack of resumes to a smaller group of really great candidates.

Do you ever think about what will happen to your business when you are either ready to retire or not able to work any more? If you do, you're certainly ahead of the curve.

A recent study by the World Retail Congress reported that only 17 percent of retailers have a succession plan, defined as a plan for someone to step in to your role in the event that you’re not able to work. Keeping up with the every day demands of growing a business is enough to fill each day, however it’s something worth thinking about and planning for now. Recent events in my family have got me thinking hard about this issue.

Here are my top tips for planning for a successor:

Keep your eyes open for potential successors
Whether it’s a family member that you want to pass your business on to or someone that you have hired, keep your eyes peeled for family or staff members that could take the helm in your absence. Discuss with them your desire to develop them to lead your business and gauge their willingness and desire.

Keep it simple
From what I’ve been reading, most experts agree that the best way to train a successor is by experience. Letting them experience the day-to-day operations, contemplate the big picture decisions and observe all that it takes to own and run a business is the best training program. Keep it simple and just bring them in closer to you and in time they will hopefully be able to run your business just as you would.

Keep it fluid
You may know when you plan to retire, but it’s unlikely that you know with certainty if there will be any event in your life, such as an ailing spouse or parent, that may preclude you from working your full schedule. Keep your succession plan fluid so that it can take effect at any time. Have your potential successors – whether short or long-term – ready to step in should life events change your ability to work.

Consider planning your succession now for the benefit of your family and your business.

Recently I was looking back over some of the great comments you’ve written on my blog and came across a comment requesting more about employee motivation. So, here are three tips you can start using today to pump up your team’s excitement and motivation this year.

1. Energize each day
We all know this but it serves as a good reminder especially following the holidays that, as business owners, we all create the environment and energy that flows through our workplace each day. So whatever energy you bring to work is what your employees will adopt. Do what you need to, whether it be exercise, meditation, or a latte to bring your natural spirit of motivation and excitement to work. Your employees will be inspired and be more excited to be at work, which will affect how they treat your customers as well.

2. Know what motivates each person
See each employee as an individual and remember that different things motivate different people. You do not always have to reward with money. Learn what each wants to be when they grow up – even if they are 63, ask what motivates them, learn what their interests are, and what they’re saving their money for. Knowing this information can help you motivate each person individually. For example, one employee may be motivated by getting to attend a tradeshow or taking a training course, whereas another might prefer receiving merchandise or a gift card as a bonus. Taking a personal interest in your employees will build their loyalty to you and your customers.

3. Be a good communicator
Communication is key to building a motivated, cohesive team. Remember to communicate even the most basic things about your store like the story of how you got started and what your vision is for your store. Share everything from store-wide goals to individual sales goals and praise positive results often. Give recognition when earned by sharing successes with the entire team and even posting congratulations on social media and in-store.

What have you found effective in motivating your team?

Now that I’m finally getting back in to blogging regularly after taking an unintentional hiatus, I seem to have learned a couple lessons. We’ve been experiencing some major growth at Pinnacle Publishing and I’ve had too much on my plate… unfortunately my blogging seemed to simply slide off. Knowing how important blogging is to me and my business, I’ve finally been able to put a plan in place to make sure I’m blogging regularly. We all have areas of our business and personal lives that fall by the wayside when other areas get busy. For you, this is especially true during the holiday season. Well now is a good time to start thinking about what’s fallen off your plate recently, either with your store or personally.

Let’s resolve this New Year to focus on what’s important in building our businesses and the lives we seek to have by managing time more effectively. The first lesson I’ve learned recently is that usually seemingly insurmountable tasks or projects take much less time than I fear they might and usually much less time than I’ve spent dreading diving in to them. So now I’m doing better at just diving into a project rather than spending time and energy dreading it.

The second lesson is to find a way that works for you to tackle those projects that seem to always get pushed aside. I heard a great suggestion recently that I’ve been testing and seems to be working for me. I cut out all distractions such as the phone and email and spend 50 minutes focusing on one project. I even set a timer so that I don’t short change myself. When the timer goes off, I take a 20 minute break from that project, whether to take a walk, return phone calls or read email. Then I repeat the cycle of 50 minutes on with a 20 minute break until I’ve blown through my task list. I’ve been amazed at what I can accomplish in just 50 minutes, especially when I know the clock is ticking. What have you found as a good time management tactic that works for you?

I received the following email from a retailer today:

I came across your blog through Google. My wife and I are considering opening a gift shop in Chandler, AZ. Do you have a rule of thumb for projecting necessary sales per square foot?
Thanks!
John

Here was my response:

I'm glad you reached out to me! I don't have a "rule of thumb" for projecting sales. Sales are super variable based on products sold and location. However, I would advise you to meet with other retailers in the area you are considering opening your store (non-competing ones, of course) to get a sense of how things are going. Plus, depending on the location you might scope out the center (strip center or mall) on several visits during different times of day to monitor traffic.

At the end of the day, I believe sales are a direct function of your marketing efforts. Even in this economy there are success stories.

We received a post on our forum yesterday from someone who is opening her first retail location, and she was asking for advice about what to do with her walls.

My suggestion is to paint them! It's amazing how a can of $30 paint can liven an entire store and help to create an ambience that's attractive and inviting to customers. Plus you can tie the walls into your branding effort by using a color that is in your logo or on your store bags.

Here are a few fun examples of how color really works on store walls.

By nature, I'm a very competitive person… but I think it's because I find it so rewarding to win. So naturally, I love participating in contests.

Back when I worked for the chain store Gantos, we were paid a base salary plus commission. In addition, our store manager loved to have contests. She would create different teams (day team versus the night team, or a mix of new and seasoned sales people) and the whole team was very motivated by the commission that we were paid for each item sold. It was amazing to see how competitive and driven the team became when a monthly contest was added to the mix (even if the contest reward was only $50 per person).

This just reaffirms that great sales people love recognition (some even more than money—or at least just as much!), so remember to recognize your sales team regularly.

Here are a few ideas:

1. A handwritten note or certificate for the person with the top monthly sales.

2. An individual or team contest with a prize (the prize doesn't have to be big).

3. A pay program that offers commission to reward your employees each time they make a sale. You'll find it will incentivize them to sell more as well.

4. Verbal recognition for a team member at a staff meeting who made a big sale, had a great month, or went above and beyond for a customer.

The other day I was chatting with one of the very successful retail store owners on our advisory board, Patti Harbin of In-Courage, and I asked her about some of the strategies she uses to keep her business growing.

One new direction she started taking several years ago was to set up a booth at a local show (open to the public) that draws more than 30,000 people from a wide radius in Texas. At the show she sold thousands in products and was able to build her brand in the community. For months after, new customers stopped by the store and told her they shopped at her booth and wanted to check out her store.

Although the show is a lot of work, she reports it's definitely worth it.

Here are a few tips if you think a show may be right for you:

1. Patti told me she researched the show and attended it the year before she set up her first booth. While there, she asked the other vendors for tips and if they would recommend the show.

2. The first year, Patti stocked her booth with products that were supposed to go in her stores. She says, "That was a big mistake, so now I order separately for my booth and my stores." It left her empty in the store for some time until the replacement inventory arrived and that lowered her store sales.

3. Make sure you have enough staff. Since the show that Patti does has a big volume of attendees, it requires five to six employees at all times to keep the lines moving, re-merchandise once products sell out and answer questions.

4. Talk to show management and ask loads of questions (how many people do you anticipate, how long has the show been running, what products sell best, who are your top vendors, how do they market the show, etc.). In the second year, Patti asked the show management if she could become a sponsor and hand out bags imprinted with her store name and website. Now "everyone walks the show with an In-Courage bag and that also helps to build brand awareness."

What's great about doing shows is that it enables you to promote your store while bringing in extra revenue. It's like getting paid to market your store!

As you've probably heard by now, Amazon purchased Zappos.com for approximately $850 million. I read a copy of the email that the CEO, Tony Hsieh, sent to his staff informing them of the acquisition in the Wall Street Journal last week. It was so well-written and inspiring that I've been thinking about it ever since.

Here are three core business principles I was reminded of when reading his letter:

1. Consistent communication is critical (especially during uncertain times)—it's very important to communicate to the team where your company is headed and how it's going to get there. By doing this you reassure them that there is a plan in place and a goal for measuring success.

2. An inspirational message goes a long way in motivating the team—the letter is so upbeat and positive that as I read it I became convinced that the merger is a huge opportunity for Zappos. Frequent, inspiring messages through staff meetings motivate a team to top performance.

3. Establishing core values and promoting them to the team gives everyone a foundation upon which to make decisions—Even as a small business owner you can create a list of three to five core values, the values upon which the attitude and character of your organization are based. After you post them on the wall, the team (including yourself) can use them as a guideline in all aspects of running the business.

Below is an excerpt from the letter…

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009
From: Tony Hsieh (CEO – Zappos.com)
To: All Zappos Employees
Subject: Zappos and Amazon

Please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. (My apologies for the occasional use of formal-sounding language, as parts of it are written in a particular way for legal reasons.)

Today is a big day in Zappos history.

This morning, our board approved and we signed what’s known as a “definitive agreement”, in which all of the existing shareholders and investors of Zappos (there are over 100) will be exchanging their Zappos stock for Amazon stock. Once the exchange is done, Amazon will become the only shareholder of Zappos stock.

Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say "Amazon acquires Zappos" or "Zappos sells to Amazon". While those headlines are technically correct, they don't really properly convey the spirit of the transaction. (I personally would prefer the headline “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…”)

For the complete letter, please check out the Zappos blog.