The Throne Of Agony

I'll come right out and say it - I really love Sally Hogshead!  I don't hand my love out indiscriminately.  I like reading Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki, among others. As a matter of fact, Guy wrote this insight that helped polarize our thoughts about what we wanted our store to be about:  "Stop selling stuff. When Steve Jobs first started the Apple Store he did not ask the question, 'How will we grow our market share from 5 to 10 percent?'  Instead he asked, 'How do we enrich people’s lives?'  Think about your vision. If you were to examine the business model for most brands and retailers and develop a vision around it, the vision would be to “sell more stuff.” A vision based on selling stuff isn’t very inspiring..."  And WFS' founding thought principal was validated.

But along comes Sally Hogshead with her take on "fascination" and blows just about everyone else out of the water.  She does this by being a powerful woman who isn't afraid to show her vulnerable side.  You don't see much of that from the other players in the field - they're your typical, rough and ready pundits ready to roll out inspiration-speak at the drop of the hat.  Not that that's a bad thing, but to reach the thousands of female entrepreneurs in today's world, you must show that you've got actual skin in the game.  I believe that Sally does.

In regard to creativity - and I equate redefining a retail store that's been in the community for eons with creativity - Sally's got an infographic she fashioned about the process, naming the various stages.  You can find the entire post on her blog here.

I can so relate to these stages, both professionally from my experiences with the store, and from writing jobs I do on the side.  I recently wrote an article about the newest social media sensation, Pinterest, that was just published in Giftbeat Magazine (a members-only national retail industry group), and yes, I went through exactly this process.  Luckily, I completed the article without stabbing my eyes out!  The good news about this process, and what I believe Sally meant by publishing her article and graphic, is that there will be an epiphany in your creative processes and you will have the opportunity to finesse them.  Too many of us creative types get bogged down in the agony stage (and boy, can I tell you about that!), so to have encouragement is a fine thing indeed.  Thank you to Sally Hogshead, she of the uncommon moniker, who advises us all to fascinate! 

In store news this week, we have Fancy Food Truck Fridays resuming on May 11th (that's this Friday).  Along with the six food trucks coming, WFS is hosting a reception for local artist Kate Carvellas.  Kate is a fabulous assemblage artist, who says of her work: "I love the challenge of creating work that brings together the disparate and often discarded things of this world, be they images or objects, and creating a new and cohesive whole; giving them new life and meaning.  Hmmmm....sounds like a familiar process, yes?  Come join us on Friday from 5:00 pm until 9:00 pm for some great art, conversation, wine and goodies (and oh yeah....the food trucks)!  Our next wine pairing event with OddBallGrape.com will be on Saturday, May 19th - watch our announcement on Facebook and in your email (you are opted into our newsletters, right?  If not, you can find the opt-in forms on our website, on Facebook, or in the store).

Have a wonderful and productive week ahead, friends, and we'll talk next week!

Lori and Scott