Re-engineering bad habits

Eric Herrenkohl's email came at a perfect time. It reminded me of George Rich's lecture from back in my Anthropology days when he said that every action has a process leading up to it. Take smoking for example. We smoke when we are in a bar. Or stressed. Or drinking. Or when we have too much down time on our hands. We don't ever stop smoking because there are too many external stepping stones that lead to it. However, if we change the order of things (the processes that lead to the action) we find that the outcome is different. It's logical. If I don't go to a bar, I don't smoke. If I keep myself busy, I don't smoke. The challenge is managing the processes that create negative output.

Eric's article sent a similar message and concluded with, "Pay attention to the setting, situation, and environments in which you thrive and spend more time there. Re-engineer the circumstances that play into weakness. You have to consciously set yourself up to succeed."

We know ourselves best and need to take control of our lives. Step one is identifying the output that needs to change and backtracking the process. Then comes the re-engineering. We can't just bandage the festering wound. We need to kill the infection too.

Recession?

In reading a copy of USA Today during a recent trip to El Paso, TX, I came across a "USA Today Snapshot" that saluted consumers. Apparently they took a poll of 200 small-business owners with annual revenues of $10M or less, asking them how they managed to weather the recession. 46% said they "took actions such as having enough cash, reducing staff benefits, etc." and 54% said "(their) customers remained loyal". I am bothered by this blurb as it doesn't really say that anyone changed their way of doing things. I understand this stat to showcase business owners who either did day-to-day things less or more, OR they sat on their asses waiting for their loyal customers to keep them afloat.

Wrong answer.

When I owned a business in Aptos we not only weathered the storm, we raced ahead of it. But we never relaxed on this fact because we knew that celebrating our fortune would only slow us down and allow the storm to catch us. So what specifically did we/I do?

1. I demamded nothing short of excellence from my staff.
2. I set measurable expectations and goals for all staffers while explaining the relevance of the standards.
3. We hosted free events that brought folks into the store. Goal being to set the stage for future shopping.
4. I never allowed myself to cut corners - no matter how much easier things could get. I understood this to be a slippery slope.
5. I never felt the need to compete with lower prices. We bore down the hatches, stuck to our guns, and did what we do best without compromise. We took the high road 100% of the time and made our customers feel special.

The human component of small businesses is integral to success. If we are passionate about our job, we'll genuinely pull folks into our store. Consumers rarely get treated as human beings - so if we can manage to do that too we'll win them as customers for life. We needn't battle to do this. It should come naturally or else we're trying to drive a passion that doesn't exist.

But never, never did we sit around and wait for folks to come in. That's just plain ridiculous.

Rita's Birthday Gift

For Rita’s birthday I got a handful of small gifts together. But I also wanted to give her a big gift, so I got her something that we both could enjoy. Two tickets to a San Jose Sharks game. Lower level (section 101), row 3, seats 5 and 6. If you are familiar with the HP Pavilion, aka the Shark Tank, you’ll know that these seats are directly behind the Sharks’ bench. The experience of sitting here was amazing, but I’ll never do it again. Simply put, you can’t watch the game in these seats. We had a blast but we both ended up with a kink in our neck as we had to watch all the action on the jumbo tron dangling directly above us. Fun experience if you’re not really into watching the game – which is exactly what the couple beside us was not there to do. They fought the whole time. More than the Sharks’ thug Shelly. Go figure.

One Million Dollars

All year long the elusive $1M number has been looming. Honestly I never thought that we’d pull it off but it gave me a nice, solid, high-bar goal to shoot for. After we did more than $100k in July I rethought the possibility and knew that if we did it we’d just barely do it. Our strong beginning of December inspired me to let everyone in on how close we were to the unachievable. The amount needed to surpass the goal meant that we needed to grow this month by more than 30%. A pretty lofty goal even though 20% growth has been rather standard this year.

Nonetheless, the staff rallied behind it and we kept chipping away at the total – usually in big chunks at a time. As of the end of day on Christmas Eve it was evident that we’d do it. No more “if”, it was “when” we were wondering about. The day after Christmas is usually riddled with returns, and this year was no different. We still, however, managed to have a strong sales day as well. But not strong enough. At 4:00, two hours before closing, it started to rain. The cars in the parking lot had been thinning out anyhow and this sudden weather basically made any sort of traffic in the complex nonexistent. Rita and I decided to go to lunch (usual lunch time in 2009). When we returned, the staff was acting funny. They just kind of stared at me as I walked in the door. I was completely sure that they hadn’t done any business in our absence but something was up. As it ends up, they did have a customer whose sale brought us to within $25 of the million dollar mark. The staff wasn’t going to let the day end without hitting our goal so they quickly made a few purchases to put us over the top. When I heard this I nearly broke down. It was damn heartwarming.

In celebration I quickly ran across to Safeway and bought a bottle of Vueve Cliquot champagne. We corked it and shared a toast around the register. We took a few photos (and an inadvertent video) to commemorate the day and we all went home proud. Especially me. And honestly it wasn’t just the sales mark that I was proud of. I truly think I was more proud of those final $25 in sales that the staff made happen. What a way to go out. Thanks guys.

Michelle's Going Away Party

2009 was wrapping up and I had given my staff and customers “notice” of my departure. Shortly thereafter, staffer Michelle also gave her notice (albeit, in a very roundabout way). Nonetheless, she had done a great job as a staffer and, I feel, grew a lot as a person in the short time we knew her. I wanted to collectively celebrate this next chapter in her life. I’d just dropped more than $500 on our holiday dinner at Bittersweet Bistro in Aptos and simply couldn’t afford doing anything like that again. I’d been wanting to host some sort of gathering at my house for the last year or so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to do so. We made it a pot luck and all staffers were there minus Cara and Jon. They really missed out on a good time.

In preparation, Rita and I stashed all my yard sale stuff, etc. into the spare room. In doing so we made that room rather inaccessible but prettied up the main living room area. We set up two tables so that everyone is around a square rather than a rectangle. Much more conducive to a social environment. Spaghetti with homemade sauce was on the menu and I knew a handful of folks would want wine with that. I planned to open the bottle that Brooks had given us (WA wine) as well as the bottle from Salinas that Jon’s wife Kelli (Jon made it perfectly clear that he had nothing to do with the gift) gave to me. I thought that maybe we could open the Magnum from my going away party at Matanzas Creek Winery but was very concerned about its quality. It was a 2000 merlot and had been traveling with me since I left the job in 2003. It had endured Sacramento summers (in the sun) to the point that the cork was trying to pop out. Plus it had leaked repeatedly over the past 7 years. Years went by when it was not stored on its side and at one point I think it even spent time in the fridge. I knew I didn’t want to lug it to North Carolina so I figured it was high time I open it and, if nothing else, pour it down the drain.

I decanted it using an empty gallon apple juice jug that was sitting on top of my recyclables. I shook it up to aerate it and gave it a taste. Not what I expected. In fact, quite nice. I shook it again then poured it back into the original bottle. It got better as the night progressed. So did everyone’s mood. All in all it was a nice sending off. Folks seemed pleased with the food and company. Afterwards I wished that I had done similar dinners all along.

Papa Smurf Post-Sale

Thanks to John Orehek, the owner of German Motorwerks in Pacific Grove, for these photos. He's already given Papa Smurf a taste of the life he'd been missing with me.

Note my license plate rim that John, as of this photo, kept on the van. You don't see too many of those around!

Shed a small tear for Papa Smurf!

Jumbo & Papa Smurf

The month before I moved to Aptos I had a yard sale during which Rita and I attracted folks with homemade healthy muffins. Whether folks bought the twenty-five cent book or the $50 piece of furniture we asked them if they’d like a muffin with that. Nearly everyone said yes – and at the end of the day we had sold more than fifty dollars worth of low-sugar blueberry muffins along with $600 or so worth of “one man’s trash”. That day I also sold my first piece of art. It was a piece from my art therapy collection and depicted three black circles filled in with yellow. Simple but pretty cool. The fellow who bought it, John Strahan, was also an artist. A photographer. When he asked me how much the piece was, I said I didn’t know. He told me that artists should never underestimate their artwork and should stand firmly behind its “value”. He said that if one’s art speaks to someone else, nearly any price is a steal. John paid $100 for my piece then returned later to give me one of his shots. A black and white scene from a part of under-construction midtown Sacramento. He asked that I hang it in my new home, which I did, and it’s been there ever since.

The proceeds from that sale burnt through my pocket and that night I bought a replacement VW Vanagon for $1000. My first Vanagon, a 1985 acquired from an enthusiast in Auburn (I think?) died as I drove home from the 2007 running of the Silver State 50-Miler. It was cruising along nicely until Donner Pass when it started sputtering. The dashboard gauges didn’t provide any indication that it was on the fritz so when it stopped accelerating and suddenly overheated I was very surprised. The van, named Jumbo (say, “Yum-bo”) by Rita was breathing hard and the prognosis wasn’t good. The moment turned into many hours and an eventual rescue by Rita. Yes, she drove all the way from Sacramento to Donner Pass to scoop up her stranded boyfriend. And the next day did it again as we attempted to retrieve Jumbo who seemed content to sit on the side of the road with a “don’t tow me” note in the window. We eventually did have to tow it. Initially using Rita’s AAA free 50 mile tow which got it to Roseville. Then I had to pay to tow it a second time which cost me exactly the same amount of money I had won two days prior while killing time, pre-race, in Reno, NV. When all was said and done I sold it for half of what I paid for it ($500) to a butch Midtown couple who planned to make it biodiesel. Cool. Two years later I started receiving collection notices for unpaid parking tickets. Seemed that the ladies neglected to register the vehicle in their name and parked it illegally for a fair span of time. I cleared it up but still think this was very lame of them. Biodiesel or not.

My replacement Vanagon looked ridiculous. The kid who had it apparently decided that the stock blue/grey color wasn’t for him so he spray painted directly over it with, in my opinion, a rather hideous shade of blue. Like a smurf. To liven things up he gave it an eyeballed black racing stripe. From a distance it looked like it had possibly scraped up against something and accidentally got that mark. Though externally it was an aesthetic mess, internally it was in pretty good shape per my new Mechanic at Black Rock Auto in Sacramento. The owner of Black Rock could have raked me and I would have let him. I knew how old Vanagons aged and expected to pay upwards of $500 or so to work out some of the kinks. But he insisted that it looked “pretty good” and a coolant flush and oil change would square it away. Sure, over the next two years I needed some additional service on it. Some done at Black Rock Auto and some at the Old Volks Home in Soquel, CA (near Santa Cruz). But hey, such is normal with Vanagons. That ugly van was the best vehicular investment I’ve ever made. And yes, it too had a name. Rita christened this one “Papa Smurf” for obvious reasons.

Besides being the greatest business vehicle in that he hauled loads of stuff countless times for my store, Papa Smurf had his name in lights for a spell. Per usual, Fleet Feet Sports Aptos was constantly being hit up by local advertising agencies to take part in shopping center ads, newspaper coupons, etc. Since I never was convinced that print ads drew business in our store, I always told the reps in advance that they needn’t waste their time on me. In the meantime I had made mention in a few of my email newsletters that if ever any of my customers saw my beater blue van (Papa Smurf) in the parking lot, it meant I was in the store and happy to help them get fit, even if it was outside of business hours. A few took me up on this. The most memorable being an 11:30 pm fitting of a customer leaving town the next day who remembered what my newsletter said. I was happy to help…but I digress. Anyhow, the shopping center’s advertising agency received my typical response – but when the actual ad was published it inadvertently featured Fleet Feet. Or, at least it featured what had become a local symbol of Fleet Feet. Papa Smurf. The Rancho Del Mar shopping center had taken a beautiful photo of their newly constructed concrete sign, situated on the parking island between Fleet Feet Sports and the Aptos Coffee Roasting Company. The sign was prominent in the photo, but so was my van. Many customers came in my store and mentioned that they’d seen my hooptie in print. Advertising without advertising. That’s cool. Papa Smurf represented Fleet Feet Sports in Aptos. But not everyone was a fan.

Twice Papa took one on the chin for being who he was. He didn’t care how he looked. He just plugged away and got me from A to Z without issue. I never washed him and he didn’t mind. I never locked him and he kept thieves at bay. He enjoyed working for the sake of working. Just like his owner. A few times customers would comment on his lack of visual appeal. Within his earshot they exclaimed that I needed a nicer car. In fact, it went something like this – “Wow Tom, your van really has seen better days. You really oughtta get yourself a new ride.” I hushed them then and I hush them still. That van was motivated to do good and had character. We should all be able to describe ourselves in such a way. Unfortunately, some non-believers felt stronger than others.

Papa Smurf was violated one night. A night I choose to refrain from gathering all the gory details. The end result was a shattered back window and an apple-sized rock sitting on the blue shag within. I assumed that the vandalism was a one-time incident resulting from drunk knuckleheads drinking too much at the nearby shady bar poorly named The Mediterranean. But a month later when I noticed more of the same rocks alongside the van, all scarred with blue paint, I knew that someone was out to bring harm upon Papa Smurf. Evil doers for sure. Papa held off this second attack pretty well. The shots to the driver window only chipped the glass, and the door dents were unnoticeable. The side mirror, however, wasn’t as lucky and shattered within its casing. I assume that the 7 years of bad luck that come with breaking a mirror will be directed to the rock throwers rather than to the car owner. It’s only logical.

When I took the job offer in North Carolina to work for the Specialty Retail Development Company (SRDC) within Fleet Feet, Inc., I had to quickly figure out Papa’s future. I brought him to the Van Café (formerly Volk’s Café) in Santa Cruz and worked with Peter. Peter said he’d like to take my money, but this .old ’85 simply wasn’t worth fixing. In fact, he was surprised how well it had done under the circumstances. He agreed that I had a “good one”, but also advised me to unload it rather than drive it cross country when I moved. I was bummed but not surprised. I appreciated his honesty wholeheartedly and was bummed I wouldn’t have a chance to work more with Peter and the Van Café. On my way home I got Papa smogged. He passed. Then two days later he started sputtering on the freeway. I u-turned and managed to barely drive him home solely in third gear. I parked him in front of my house, placed an ad on Craigslist, and sold him for my asking price to the first fellow who looked at him – John Orehek of German Motorwerks in the Monterey Bay area. A few days later John sent me a few photos of an upgraded Papa. New bumper, new window, and apparently some new guts to keep him happy on the freeway again. I only regret that I forgot to take off my license plate rim noting my finishing of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. But what the hell, Papa still has a piece of me just like I will always carry with me a piece of him.

The cool thing also was that since I had Jumbo I’d been using its middle seat as a “couch” in my apartment. When I sold Papa, I sold him with Jumbo’s middle seat. That John is a lucky guy to have such good juju in a VW Van, and vice versa.

Me and Ryan Hall

While at the Asics Gold Conference in the Summer of 2009 I had a chance to meet American distance superstar (and Asics-sponsored athlete) Ryan Hall. Asics was kind enough to take photos of all attendees with Ryan while also sending us home with a large autographed poster of him in action. Pretty cool. Ryan was a pretty easy guy to talk to and managed the long line of running nerds commendably. I laugh every time I see this photo. The cameraman was like 30 feet away and I expected the pic to frame our whole bodies. This close up shot reminds me of a high school prom picture. Silly.

Pre-Fleet Feet Aptos

This pic is from the vantage point at Seacliff State Beach where I wished the SRDC/Fleet Feet purchase in Aptos would go through. Though we had taken all the necessary steps to grease the wheels of the transaction, we were still worried that my predecessor might change her mind at the last minute. When I visited this point in Aptos, I knew in my bones that we’d get it. I knew that this view would soon be my view. And so it was for a whopping two years.

The Griffen Family 2006

The last time the entire Griffen family was together was early winter 2006. These pics are from the photo shoot in big sister Lisa’s basement in Rochester, NY.