If you’ve achieved all the success you can handle, I challenge you to take one more step.
11-27-2017 -- It is easy to become complacent with your success. Doing the same thing year after year that produces the results you expect is a glorious thing, and we should all be as blessed. The question I ask of you today is what determines that you are as successful as you can become? How do you measure it? If your measurement is solely on your own merit and you feel confident that you are doing your best, then your perception may be that you have nothing left to learn. Or do you?
Learning all of life’s lessons takes more than a lifetime. Working every day to become better than you were the day before requires a discovery mindset. If you approach your day and thus your life without this, you are doing yourself and your business a disservice. Why do people stop learning? Too busy, maybe a bit lazy or just apathetic towards learning new things. There is also another, and frankly more dangerous reason. You think you know all you need to know and no one else’s experience can provide you a benefit. This last one is usually tied to a couple of issues: people who are very prideful and those who are insecure. If either of the last two reasons fit you, then I would humbly ask you to reevaluate your motives, let down the walls and find someone you trust to help you grow and learn. You will be glad you did.
If you are thinking about your next step to learning, think no more. When it comes to the Mobile Electronics industry, there are many great opportunities. You could join Facebook groups dedicated to a topic that peaks your interest. You could invite your vendors to visit your store for a training event. Maybe attend a local distributor event that offers some training prospects. Take a few minutes out of your day to read some great business articles, like those you will find in Mobile Electronics magazine. You could also take a few days away from your store to attend a KnowledgeFest event. If you have not been to KnowledgeFest or not attended in the past seven years, there is a lot that can be learned to benefit your store and you personally. You may be thinking, “KnowledgeFest? How am I going learn anything from others in our industry?”
I hear this at every KnowledgeFest event. The same story from many who were eventually proved to be wrong. Retailers that said they had nothing left to learn. Their stores run perfectly and regardless of the topic, they were the expert. This is one of the top reasons retailers choose not to attend an event that teaches them to be better. When I speak to retailers sharing their experience after participating in a KnowledgeFest event, the testimonies are much different.
For example, I spoke to a retailer from Southern California after our most recent event in Dallas. He said that a retailer friend of his guilted him into attending in 2016. He left the event with a renewed passion for our industry and his business. In 2017 he made a greater investment by bringing his staff with him and even closing his store to do it. He now encourages others to do the same. One dealer in the Texas market left the event and completely redesigned his store. He said he had been doing it all wrong for years. His business is experiencing growth that he never thought was attainable. I could go on telling you testimonials of retailers who are doing well and attribute much of it to what they have learned at a KnowledgeFest event.
MEA recently announced that KnowledgeFest will be coming to the West Coast, more specifically, Long Beach, in February of 2018. The challenge in this market will be getting local retailers to realize the value and to attend the event. Vendors have shared with me that the Southern California market is not one to turn out for education and training.
Southern California is a very mature market. Our best estimate puts nearly 750 retail locations within 300 miles of Long Beach. With those numbers, one would expect that any event in the area could draw a crowd.
So here is my challenge to the Southern California retailers. Take the time out of your store on February 23-25, 2018 to discover what other great retailers across North America have found; that what they learn at KnowledgeFest is invaluable to their future success in our industry. Not just for the education and vendor training, but also for the great networking and idea sharing that is part of every event.
If I am wrong about this, I challenge you to prove me wrong. With that said, feel free to contact me, or any retailer you know that has taken valuable time away from their store to grow their business to the next level. Take five minutes now and go to KnowledgeFest.org to review some of the great education topics for the Long Beach event, then register. I hope to see you there!
To register for KnowledgeFest Long Beach, go to http://register.kfest.me/.
