This year I celebrate my 27th year as a music retailer, and I believe it’s fair to say a lot of unexpected events have happened in that time period. The fallout and aftermath from unexpected events, whether they are good or bad, can wreak havoc on your business. How we deal with and digest those events becomes almost as important as the events themselves. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the way we react to unexpected situations and the way they affect us.
My business is located outside of the Washington, D.C. area, and the government affects us akin to the way weather affects a farmer. When the government spends, new jobs and consumer spending follow. However, when the government cuts programs and spending, the opposite is true. Clearly, every retailer was affected by the national recession of 2008, but what we really didn’t expect in our region was the double dip in the recovery. That was caused by the government’s budget sequestration in 2013. Having a business located outside of Washington, D.C. is generally considered “recession proof,” but this time the cause and the effect was the opposite of our norm. So what’s the trickle down you ask?
When major government jobs are lost, there is less regional spending. Therefore, tax dollars are muted and schools are affected. School music programs get squeezed, and parents also cut back on personal spending because money overall has tightened. How do you deal with an unexpected event like that?
• The first (and most important) strategy a business should embrace is to operate in as lean a manner as possible.
Few businesses are ever properly prepared for major unexpected events, so frugal is your friend, and fancy is for fools. One lesson an unexpected event will surely teach you:
What you have prepared for will be easily enjoyed, but what you haven’t prepared for will haunt you for a long time.
Dave Ramsey’s book, EntreLeadership, addresses this topic with practical solutions that could benefit any business owner.
• The second strategy is to stay as inventive as possible.
This might seem counterintuitive, but when you find yourself on the wrong side of the abacus because of unforeseen events, this might be the best opportunity you have to embrace your inner- creativity. How do the sayings go? “When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose,” or “When you have nothing, you have everything to gain.”
I always find when I am challenged, I have a tendency to make sure I find more personal, quiet time to permit myself the space and time to think. I review scenarios in my head , always retracing my steps, reminding myself of how I got to wherever I am; I consider my successes as well as my failures.
• The third strategy is always to be in alignment with your core values.
So what happens when an unexpected event positively affects your business? The demand of the positive event is every bit as intense as a negative event, and although this scenario is most likely more enjoyable than the negative event, it can be just as disruptive and just as demanding.
Take the example of a competitor going out of business. Recently I was in discussion with the folks from Blues Angel Music in Florida, and Jim DeStafney expressed that his business was benefiting from two other store closings in his area. One closing was coordinated between Jim’s business and the closing business: Blues Angel made the difficult decision to change their retail model and expand into the piano business.
Jim and Nan DeStafney decided to take on the gargantuan challenge of redefining their core retail philosophy, but not their core business values. It is the alignment with their core value of excellence that will enable them to tolerate the demand of change in their business model. As the saying goes, “form follows function.”
In closing, recently I had the pleasure of an in-depth conversation with Zach Phillips, NAMM’s director of Professional Development regarding a NAMM Idea Center session. We discussed several aspects of best practices and session topics for the January NAMM show. In our conversation, certain words were recurrent – words such as integrity, authenticity, mission, but the one that jumped out to me the most was intention. If your intention is clear and in alignment with your core values, and you are resourceful, the only hurdle left to face is the unexpected. Always keep in mind the Universal principal: the only reality is change.
And let’s be honest, we are never really completely prepared, but you never know when the phone will ring with news that will positively affect your business, and the chaos of that event is an enjoyable situation to have. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
Menzie Pittman is the owner and director of education at Contemporary Music Center in Virginia (CMC). Following a performance and teaching career spanning more than 32 years, he founded CMC in 1989 and continues to perform, teach, and oversee daily operations. He has 50 years of musical experience as a drummer and drum instructor. Menzie is a frequent speaker at NAMM’s Idea Center, and a freelance writer for MMR’s “Small Business Matters” column. He served on NAMM’s Board of Directors from 2012 through 2015 and currently oversees the curriculum for CMC’s performance venue @4410. In 2016 NAMM awarded Contemporary Music Center the “Dealer of the Year” award, the “Music Matters” award, and the “Best Sales and Promotion” award.
