My former partner gave me some sage advice.
What it boils down to is “small but strong”.
Lean.
Let me explain.
I’ve been tinkering around at Andrew’s Ties using the same approach the past two months and I’m very pleased with the results. When I first took over Andrew’s Ties, we had a staff of 4. Not wanting to rock the boat, I kept the same head count. Shortly thereafter, one staff got married and decided to relocate.
My initial reaction was to find a replacement. I spent time interviewing and recruiting. I allocated time towards evaluating the overall performance of each staff, created a new commission plan, a lunch compensation incentive, as well as, individually recognizing the star performers. To measure how we were doing, I implemented customer service and sales metrics to evaluate our store performance.
Three months into it, another staff abruptly left the company to pursue other interest. I let another go due to poor performance. And so the cycle of having to hire and train began. That’s pretty normal in any retail business.
The second hiring cycle ended up exhausting a lot more of my time than expected.
If your company is highly profitable and has lots of cash to spend, then this whole issue is not as important. However, as we’ve seen companies can go from profit s to losses pretty quickly because of a bad economy, product cycle transition or some other bad fortune. When that happens being lean is always a good idea.
What I learned was during times of uncertainty or when things are moving very fast, it helps to be lean to take advantage of sudden market correction. In a slow retail economy like the one we are experiencing right now, that is an advantage to have.
I hope this helps those of you facing similar situations. If you know of other alternatives, please share them below.
You can follow me on Twitter here. Foursquare here. Linked here.
In a recent exchange with Ario Tamat (@barijoe), I was seeking a solution for a friend that needed to wire transfer money from Vietnam to Indonesia fast.
Below is an excerpt of the email that @barijoe replied to my tweet. He does a good job of describing what worked for him. Your situation may be different.
Nevertheless, I think it's useful to share this information, in case, you or someone you know comes across this in the future.
Because of my job, I have a contract, work permit etc and a Vietcombank bank account from the office.
I then brought my work contract etc to Commonwealth Bank, where I opened a VND account. They asked for contract, temporary resident card, passport to open the account. Any time I want to transfer money to my Commonwealth Bank account in Jakarta, I withdraw the money from Vietcombank (keeping the receipts/ATM slips), and bring it to the teller and fill out a deposit form and a remittance form. The receipts/ATM slips are to prove that I withdrew money from my Vietcombank account (sometimes they photocopy my ATM card as well), following my work contract of which they have a copy, and I am allowed to transfer as much as my salary every month. I usually use AUD as the remittance currency as USD is a bit tricky in Vietnam... and by the end of the day, the money is received in my Jakarta account. That's pretty much it. I've researched alternatives through HSBC, ANZ, Citibank etc, and the Commonwealth Bank is the most consumer-friendly (i.e, don't need USD 2000 just to open the account). For one-off transactions, though, it's a bit tricky. There are several forms you need to sign and basically you can't send over USD 5000 if I'm not mistaken, but services like Western Union usually can help you.
I hope this helps those of you facing similar situations. If you know of other alternatives, please share them below.
You can follow me on Twitter here. Foursquare here. LinkedIn here. Google+ here.
A friend of mine Thomas Wanshoff (@thomaswanhoff) is urgently seeking a blood donor dog in Vientiane, Laos.
If your dog can be a blood donor and you or family/ friends live in Vientiane, Nong Khai/Udon Thani or Khong Kaeng, please contact Thomas Wanshoof or KKU Animal Hospital urgently. We need a blood donor dog ASAP.
Please help spread the word! Take a few seconds to recommend friends that you think might be the one or know someone for Thomas.
Connect with Thomas on Google+ here.
(cc) Creative Commons
Woot! I just got early access to @rapportive. Strangely I feel like I won the NERD lottery.
Go to gplus.to to make short URL for Google+
You can follow me on Twitter here. Foursquare here. LinkedIn here. Google+ here.
ANDREW’S TIES brand name was established in 1991 from an idea of Cravattificio Zadi S.r.l, a family-run business which, thanks to the combination of ideas, enthusiasm and passion for “Made in Italy” products, revolutionized the tie market with an outstanding quality/price ratio. Andrew’s Ties registered great success in just a few years, becoming the Italian market leader in the production of ties and accessories. The brand soon became popular abroad for its unique style, the ongoing research and competitive prices confirm the leadership of what is known as “Italian Style” in the world.
We're proud to be named to Forbes™ magazine's ‘The Finest Ties’. The accessories found in every Andrew’s Ties shop provide the sartorial details that push a man from forgettable to timeless.
Andrew’s Ties Vietnam, located in Diamond Department Store in Saigon, is a fashion specialty retailer founded on a simple idea: offer each customer the best possible service, quality, value and selection. We're looking for exceptional salespeople to provide outstanding customer service, develop strong customer relationships and build individual sales volume.
From attentive salespeople to meticulous tailors and innovative merchants, our teams are comprised of talented people who work hard to delight the customer. When you join an Andrew’s Ties Store, you are welcomed into a family dedicated to creating memorable and rewarding shopping experiences for our customers.
Andrew’s Ties currently has two sales openings. The ideal candidate is motivated, enjoys working one-on-one with customers and thrives in a commissioned sales environment. If you share our love for the customers we serve, the merchandise we sell and the work we do, this is a place for you to build a rewarding career.
Responsibilities
- Set and achieve personal sales goals while supporting the goals of the team
- Greet customers in a timely, professional and engaging manner
- Understand and communicate the latest fashion trends in the industry with specific knowledge on new designer and current runway collections
- Provide honest and confident feedback to customers regarding merchandise style and fit
- Build lasting relationships with customers by contacting them to follow up on purchases, suggest new merchandise and invite them to upcoming events
- Consistently seek new fashion and product knowledge to act as an expert for the customer
- Work as a team player to ensure each customer receives the best service possible
- Perform daily department maintenance tasks including stock work, re-merchandising, display, price markdowns, and light cleaning
Qualifications
- Proven ability to set and achieve sales goals
- Competitive drive and entrepreneurial confidence to succeed in a commission-based environment
- Demonstrated ability to develop relationships with customers and coworkers
- Knowledgeable and enthusiastic about high-end, designer fashion
- Ability to positively and proactively handle customer concerns and prioritize multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment
- Ability to quickly learn new procedures and processes
- Strong organizational and follow-through skills
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- High level of ownership, accountability and initiative
- Bilingual Vietnamese with English or Korean speakers highly desired.
As an Andrew’s Ties employee, we offer a competitive compensation plan, a generous merchandise discount, and profit sharing plan and much more.
If you’d like to be considered, please contact us via email dylan @ andrewsties dot vn or share your LinkedIn profile here and use the “cover letter” to provide links to your web presence plus a way to reach you. We can’t promise to respond to every inquiry, but you can be sure that if the links you share show off your contributions, we will get in touch.
By the way, we are not prudes. We expect your web presence to represent who you are, not who you think an employer wishes you were, so don’t waste a lot of time sanitizing your web presence before sending us there. It will just confuse your friends.
We are an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a diverse environment.
The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. No visa sponsorship is available for this position.
You can follow me on Twitter here. Foursquare here. LinkedIn here.
Photo Credit: Max Murta
Photo Credit: Max Murta
(cc) Creative Commons
This is a story about two men that went into the army.
Both men were married with children. Both men died in combat.
One wife cried a lot. The other wife couldn't shed a single tear.
The one that cried remarried a short time later. The one that could not cry never remarried but instead took care of her children unto the day she passed on.
(CC) Hugh MacLeod www.gapingvoid.com
“The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.” –Anonymous
I love these days before the New Year. It gives me time to not only reflect on the past year but feel inspired to take even more action in 2011.
There are many things I’m sure we all would like to accomplish or wish we had accomplished already. Looking back on 2010, I made my share of investment mistakes. I’ve learned from prior experience that sometimes the better part of valor in any situation is to move on.
In basketball, you train and position yourself to anticipate where the ball is going to bounce off the rim while blocking your opponent out. Even with the inside position, you are guaranteed the rebound. If you’re on the outside looking in, you fight like hell to grab the board even if it means getting scraped up in the process. You hustle and work your ass off because you want it more.
In track and field, the last 160-something meters is where you run right through your personal wall. Even when your legs feel like jelly, you keep on. We make that hideous face in order to power ourselves through the finish line; you don’t stop at the line. You lean into it.
No matter what, all we can do is the best we can, and just keep getting out of bed every morning and going about our daily business.
So what's your big plans for 2011?
If you would like to keep in touch, please follow here.
UPDATE February 16, 2011: Ultrasurf or bestfreevpn.com can be used to access Facebook in Vietnam (www.ultrareach.com). It's less annoying than Hot Spot Shield.
First, you went on Twitter to ask other people if they could access Facebook in Hanoi or Da Nang. Maybe it’s partially blocked or ISP-specific?
Secondly, you paced back and forth in your flat trying to remember your old MySpace or Friendster password.
So then your deepest fear starts to settle in. You know that “oh shit” moment when you can no longer get your kicks stalking your ex-whatever or scroll through the Newsfeed for the umpteenth time today.
Then you got serious right? You try accessing through a proxy, like OpenDNS or this one. You gotta get your daily Facebook fix. It’s your guilty pleasure that you do while you’re at work pretending to be working on something more urgent. I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg thanks you a billion for making him filthy rich.
By the way, Friendfeed is also blocked right now. I haven’t heard anyone talk about that yet. Earlier this week, Skype’s service was seriously interrupted.
Here’s an idea. We can use this downtime and put our energies to work collaborating on an country-wide, mobile-SMS-web app that serves as an early warning, emergency-notification system like when a natural disaster occurs here in Vietnam and we really do need something to get the word out about needed medical supplies and clean water. You know, shit that really matters.
Do something good people. It’ll be okay. Rock on.
If this is not enough Dylan for you, you can connect with me here.
Related Post:
How to bypass Vietnam's Block of Facebook/ Friendfeed
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