News is just breaking now that Richard Simmons has passed away at age 76.
In what must have been the early '90s, my sister and I were in Newark Airport and saw Richard. I'm guessing we must have been on a family trip and there were others with us, but I don't remember the details. I just remember Richard walking through the terminal, larger than life, in his signature spandex, with a detail of body guards in suits surrounding him.
We were in awe. Richard Simmons was a household name at the time and we admired his authenticity and boldness. He was himself, unabashedly, often appearing wherever he was--from a workout video to a talk show to Newark airport--sporting tight booty shorts, an oft-sequined tank top, and signature big curly hair crowning his pronounced forehead. He was beautiful.
Richard became a favorite of my sister's and mine from that point on, though to be fair we loved him before our encounter as well. One Christmas, not too long ago, I got my sister a Richard Simmons Chia Pet. Oh, it was delightful.
Rest in peace, prince of the prance and rump shaker extraordinaire. Thank you for showing the world what it means to be comfortable in one's own skin. You were ahead of your time and retro all at once...and we will always love you for it. You taught us not to be afraid to sparkle.
The second-ever Ask Uncle Marty™ newsletter just dropped. Please check it out here and be sure to subscribe for free so you don't miss a future issue.
In this newsletter, I shared a piece titled "Write Me" and I'd like to share it here as well...
Write Me
Ask Uncle Marty™ started out as an advice
column and, at its heart, it still is.
Many years ago (15-ish), small business
owners, primarily in my industry, started asking my opinion on things. They
wanted to know how to do certain stuff, how to handle situations, how to build
a team, hire, and fire, how to reach their target market, etc. So, I began
submitting articles to what was then MPC Today, the industry’s leading
publication that went to both independent and franchise shipping stores across
the country.
After doing this a while, I learned that I
love to write. It was strange, as I was always a math, science, music, and
theater kid in school; English and reading comprehension weren’t my strong
points. But, as an adult, something switched. I found out that I didn’t suck at
telling a story or putting thoughts to keyboard; I discovered that there was
incredible therapeutic benefit for me to be able to measuredly share my
feelings, experience, and lessons-learned with others. So, after articles I had
submitted to the magazine had been well received, I decided to give a
tongue-in-cheek advice column a try…and Ask Uncle Marty™ was born. I went Ann
Landers-style, changing names to protect the innocent and giving a mixture of
encouragement and hard truths to those who chose to send in letters to the
industry’s Uncle-in-Chief for anonymous publication.
Eventually, MPC Today changed its
name to MBC Today, reflecting a change in our industry from “mail and
parcel centers” to “mail and business centers” and the industry’s leading trade
association, AMPC (Association of Mail & Parcel Centers), transitioned into
a non-profit and changed its name to AMBC (Association of Mail & Business Centers) to
reflect that same market and language switch. Now, the industry encompasses
print, storage, and so much more—an ever-evolving and expanding collection of
services that makes working in it both exciting and challenging.
When the non-profit transition happened for
the industry association, I was, by then, running my own store and was asked to
join the founding non-profit board of directors. I was glad to do so and
eventually took over as Board Chair. When my service terms finished, I stayed
on as an advisor to the board and ex officio Director of Communication. Then,
this January, I finally stepped down from those volunteer positions completely
in order to join the AYM High Consultants team and not pose a conflict of interest as a now-vendor for the
non-profit association.
When the previous editor and producer of what
had now become MBC Today retired, I put in a bid to AMBC to take the
magazine over. They were happy to accept my offer and I’ve served as its editor
and producer for many years now, keeping that contract at the request of the
current board after stepping down from board service. The now-legacy and still
kinda popular Ask Uncle Marty™ column published in it still takes letters from
time to time, sometimes just shares unprompted thoughts, and often gets pulled
from issues—by me—in order to keep things fresh and ensure other voices are
shared equally and the magazine isn’t just me rambling on and on…and on.
My site, askunclemarty.com, contains a
lot of my writing in blog format, going back many years. Some of it is
personal, some of it is spiritual, lots of it is opinion, a fair amount of it
is ridiculous, and a good bit of it is business-related. It’s a hodgepodge and
my own therapy to write and share. And I still love a good letter to answer
publicly and anonymously from time to time. So, if you have any interest,
please use the contact form on my blog to submit questions. If they’re
appropriate (or juicy) enough, I’ll be glad to publish an answer. Please check
out my disclaimer for more information.
In the meantime, if you have any interest,
here are some essays, letters, co-written advisements, and columns I’ve done in
the past year or so (plus two from 2022 that I love). To save newsletter
length, please check out my blog’s handy archive directory for the 60-ish other
older pieces on there that aren’t being shared here.
This is my last week in Ithaca, New Yok,
the city I’ve called home and the community I’ve been a part of for many years
now. I’ve pre-signed my home closing documents, have moved the majority of my
stuff from my house, and this last week am existing on an air mattress, folding
table, and trying my best to eat my pantry and fridge clean.
I agreed to wait until after the first week of July to leave
town, as Codey and Clark, the new owners of Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, are
on their honeymoon; as part of my agreement with them upon the sale of my
business to them six months ago, I promised to storesit so they could not have
to worry about day-to-day operations while they’re spending this important week
together.
This last week, I’ve set up a workspace in the front of
Uncle Marty’s on the guest worktable that is situated between banks of private
mailboxes. Being up front, I’ve been able to see so many dear guests and loyal
clients who have stopped in to check their mail, ship packages, pick up
printing orders, buy greeting cards, or drop off used packing material for
reuse. It has been truly a blessing to see these amazing advocates for Uncle
Marty’s this week and say a proper goodbye (many did come to my retirement
party in December, but now I get some one-on-one time to let them know how much
I’ve appreciated their friendship, support, and patronage for 13ish years).
I’ve given so many hugs, shed a fair amount of bittersweet tears, and felt incredibly
content in the win-win-win sale of this business and the next chapters ahead.
Why win-win-win? It was definitely a win for me, as I needed
to head out of town in order to be closer to family in Delaware, as well as to
move on to an exciting post-retirement career in consulting and editing, both
of which have been so well received that my fellow coaches and I with our new
consulting firm (AYM High Consultants, if
you wanna check it out) can barely keep up with demand. So, the business sale
and moving on to new and exciting freelance things was definitely the right
decision for me.
It was definitely a win for Codey and Clark as well. Clark
had been my manager the last couple of years and has worked in the shop off and
on for nearly six years now. His sister Aleah started before him, brother
Callum after him, followed by mom Julie, brother-in-law Ryan, and many other
family and friends. This business had become a true family business—just, it
was their family and not mine (though I am definitely an honorary member,
loving my “work kids” as if they were niblings of my own.) In the last six
months since Codey and Clark have been the owners, they’ve broken my records
every single month and are poised to open a second location downtown next month,
with a third location for 2025 in negotiations and looking very promising.
They’re smashing it and I am so, so proud.
The third win is obviously a win for the business. With the
growth, new locations, tremendous positive feedback, new systems in
development, and possible franchising down the road, the business is doing
better and growing stronger than it ever has before. It’s definitely a
win-win-win; my heart is definitely content, overjoyed, and full of gratitude
with how it all worked out.
There were two new team members, Ben and Caleb, at Uncle
Marty’s who each started a month or two ago. They’re working out really well.
As is the Uncle Marty’s tradition, once a team member reaches the point where
we’re sure we like them, they like us, and they’ve made a difference around
here, we immortalize them on our “Team Member Wall of Fame”—which is a section
of the shop where we display portraits of all of our favorite team members,
past and present. But these aren’t normal portraits. No, they’re black and
white face-smashed-on-photocopier portraits.
The face smashing started years ago with Aleah, my very
first long-time team member. (I had a few others before her, but none worked
out.) Not only had she never used a landline, but she had also never
photocopied her face! So, I was thrilled to show her what I have always found
is a fun thing to do in any office…but made sure to set a precedent that we
keep the photocopier portrait usage to faces only. So, I first demonstrated how
to properly lay your face on the copier glass and made a copy of my mug and
then, after the glass was properly cleaned, Aleah followed suit by copying her
own face…and the Team Member Wall of Fame was born.
So, when it came time to initiate Ben and Caleb, I was so
excited to be able to do it during the week I was storesitting. They know
they’re likely the last ones to be initiated to the wall by “The One & Only
Founder Uncle Marty Himself,” a title Codey and Clark graciously gave me when I
relinquished my “Owner & Shopkeeper” title at the store sale closing. (Actually,
the title they gave me was just “Founder,” but I’ve added a little extra flare
to it since…because I’m admittedly a little extra).
What has made me just as proud as watching the new team
members flourish, trained by people I trained through a training program I and
long-time coworkers created, is watching the long-term team members that I
hired take ownership and management and charge. In fact, there are two more new
interns starting here next week and I’ve had the privilege to be introduced to
each one when they came in for a business introduction / tour before they sign
on officially. I watched Ryan, who has just become Store Manager, walking one
of the new interns, Zoltan, through introductions. One of the first things Ryan
did was bring Zoltan to the front counter where we have our mission statement
framed for all guests to see and said, “This is our mission and what we aim to honor
with each guest.”
My heart melted. I have preached and preached and preached
mission statements to our AYM High clients—many of whom have never thought
about having one—and how important it is to not only have one, but to publish
it, display it, and from-the-get-go have each team member be in line with it.
And that’s exactly what Ryan was doing, organically, because he knew that was a
cornerstone of Uncle Marty’s. I was so proud.
Ryan then told Zoltan that, “At Uncle Marty’s, we believe we
must diversify or die, so we are constantly looking for new products and
services that make sense to add on and grow with.” This is verbiage Ryan has
picked up from my own mentor, Fahim, and likely repeated by him to our team.
“Diversify or die” is something we also preach now at AYM High.
So, as I sit here in the front of Uncle Marty’s, spending my
last week getting all the takeout dishes I’ll miss from this neighborhood,
hugging all of the regulars one last time, and feeling elated, excited, and
sometimes a little weepy, I’m reflecting with profound gratitude and looking
forward with hopeful anticipation.
This has been one wonderful, wonderful last week.
…
Marty
Johnson is the Communication and Vision Coach at AYM High Consultants, a columnist, and an editor, producing the mail and
business center industry's leading magazine, MBC Today. In 2023, he sold
his popular and growing brand, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, and retired from
shopkeeper life to focus on writing and coaching. Subscribe to his Ask Uncle Marty™ newsletter and read more at askunclemarty.com; follow him on socials @askunclemarty. #AskUncleMarty
The July / August 2024 edition of MBC Today(volume 26 issue 4) just dropped. A free preview version is available on the homepage of the Association of Mail & Business Centers (ambc4me.org) and AMBC Members may access the full version in the Members Only section of the site; AMBC Members will also receive their printed copy in the mail soon!
Thank you to all who contributed to this issue of the mail and business center (MBC) industry's leading publication, keeping both independent and franchise stores across the country up to date, in the loop, and networked together. It's a privilege to produce and edit this publication, but it's because of your hard work that it has such rich content.
I'll share my Letter From the Editor below. Enjoy!
...
Dear
Readers,
Welcome to another fine edition of MBC Today.
As always, it's our hope that you learn, grow, and become
inspired by what you read in here. As Mary says in her outstanding
"Passport Photos" article, keep searching for golden nuggets to fill
your treasure chest.
I am so excited about the launch of AMBC-U, which you'll
read all about on page 16 and see some screencaps of its interface on page 17.
This online, on-demand training platform is something AMBC has been working on
for years. I had the pleasure of helping with its preparation when I served on
the AMBC board of directors and was honored to be asked to help out with some
of the training videos you'll watch on it. It's a first-in-the-industry
platform, something that has been needed for a long time, and will truly be an
asset to every store in our industry that takes the time to check it out. So,
please do!
In my new roles after selling my business and leaving the
AMBC board to represent an AMBC Trusted Supplier, AYM High Consultants, without
conflict of interest, I travel quite often and visit with store owners and
their team members across the country. We do a lot of our coaching on Zoom and
FaceTime, but the in-person store visits are what really inspire me the most.
It's so exciting to help set up new stores, do basic training, and constantly
learn tips and tricks from my fellow coaches on the AYM High team. With each
new store setup we do, I admit that I get a little homesick for my former store
and think to myself, "Well, if I had only known that when I started"
or "If I could do it all over again, I'd definitely design my layout like
this."
Our industry is ever-evolving. Our models must change
with the times. Our platforms must increasingly go online, making things easy
for guests and clients to order, pay, and interact. Our youngest team members
must be listened to so we know how best to market to, appeal to, and
accommodate generations whose spending habits, needs, desires, and choices may
be different than our own.
I've also really enjoyed our clients who have been in
business a long time, but understand their need to reach a new level and to add
fresh services, modules, profit centers, and procedures to stay relevant and
reach new heights. We've seen people go from six to seven figures through some
very basic streamlining and automation techniques, as well as new-mindset
marketing.
Whether you do it on your own, with your AMBC peers, with
a mentor or three, or if you hire a coach, somehow please keep growing. Don't
get stagnant. Keep changing. Keep improving. And keep shining!
With gratitude and care,
Marty Johnson (he/him)
Columnist | Ask Uncle Marty™ Editor & Producer | MBC Today Founder | Uncle Marty's Shipping Office Communication & Vision Coach | AYM High Consultants Co-Host | *To-Be-Announced Podcast Launching in 2024* askunclemarty.com ·
@askunclemarty · #AskUncleMarty
I
absolutely need to get TSA PreCheck. I’ve been putting it off until I get my
new address in Delaware after I officially move. It’ll happen soon, but until
then I’m still relegated to the long line of regular people at airport security
checkpoints. It’s fine. But, my goodness, TSA could truly use a consultant to
improve their systems.
What
drives me the most nuts is the total lack of communication in the lanes. It
would be so simple to put up a sign on each lane clearly stating what comes out
of bags and what stays in. One lane has you remove your bag of liquids while
the other shouts at you to keep it in your carry-on. And one lane has you take
your laptop out of its case while another has you take it out of your bag but
leave it in its case, while yet another has you keep it all in your bag.
With
no signage on each lane as to their specifications, passengers must wait until
they’re within earshot of the TSA employee who is so frustrated with saying the
same thing over and over again that they come off as very angry when they
bellow, “laptops out!” If you ask, they snap at you as if you should know. If
you don’t ask and get it wrong, they snap harder. It’s not a good system. The
TSA team members are quite obviously frustrated with the shouting system and
passengers are sucked of their joy be encountering said shouting TSA team
members, when all it would take is a simple sign at the start of each lane
outlining what should be done. This would save a ton of time too, as people
could prepare ahead of time instead of waiting for the shout to then act, when
people are backed up behind them.
And
what’s the deal with airline boarding zones? Why do the window seat people
always board last? Why does the back of the plane board last? Wouldn’t it save
a ton of time and angst if they boarded from the back to the front, and from
window to aisle?
Another
passenger I was seated next to recently explained this to me: boarding is done
by status, not logic or seat placement. Those with more miles or higher status
board first. It’s an ego thing. Those people spend more money and therefore are
treated better and get the prime choice of overhead bin space. It’s not
efficient or logical, but simply marketing.
And
I get this. I’m all about airline miles and I covet my diamond status with my
preferred hotel chain. But when it comes to boarding, truly there must be a
better way.
Simply
dedicating an overhead bin space for each seat would do it. That’s your space
and no one else can put their bag there, so it doesn’t matter what order you
board in. Then, First Class and precious clients of the airline can enjoy more
elbow room and air in the terminal, boarding last instead of first, and not
have to sit in their seats on the plane for an extra half hour while they get
whacked in the head by everyone’s backpack as they walk by to board behind
them. Makes sense, right?
So,
TSA, airlines, and the like, do yourselves and hire an efficiency consultant.
Don’t assume that the way it is is the way it has to always be. There are
simple solutions to these huge bottlenecks you’re experiencing and easy ways to
vastly improve morale.
And
to every other business out there, keep in mind that there’s often a better
way. Hire a fresh set of eyes to look at your operations, dig into your
financials, survey your clients and team members to find frustration points,
and rethink systems to improve efficiency, morale, and the bottom line.
…
Marty
Johnson is the Communication and Vision Coach at AYM High Consultants, a columnist, and an editor, producing the mail and
business center industry's leading magazine, MBC Today. In 2023, he sold
his popular and growing brand, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, and retired from
shopkeeper life to focus on writing and coaching. Subscribe to his Ask Uncle
Marty™ newsletter and read more at askunclemarty.com; follow him on socials @askunclemarty. #AskUncleMarty
I’ve been writing a bit lately about
“the bubble”—that place so many people exist in that’s closed off to so much
that is going on around them. It’s been on my mind a lot and I guess I’m just
still trying to sort out frustrations I’ve had with so many in my circles
lately, and in our society as a whole, who have let the divisiveness of our
current political and social climate creep into their lives in so many other
areas, putting up walls of opinion instead of putting out hands of friendship.
In traveling a lot lately with my new post-retirement consulting career,
I’ve found it fascinating to observe behavior and priorities in different parts
of the country. So many people are stuck in their own zone and have no idea the
richness that is out there in other zones. Because they don’t make an effort to
get out of their bubble and open themselves up to the beauty surrounding them
in the rest of the world, they close themselves off to so much abundance and
joy that they could experience if they thought about others just as much as
they thought about themselves.
I’ve been trying to get my thoughts
together on this, frustrated with difficult people I encounter and try my best
to navigate on a daily basis. Then recently, I stumbled upon Dealing with
Difficult People by Roy Lilley. I’m only into it as far as the introductory
chapters so far, but want to read more when I can. Even those first few
chapters though capture how I feel much more concisely and thoughtfully than I
could. So, I’d like to share some gems from them here, and follow them up with
some thoughts of my own…
Gems from the first few chapters of Dealing
with Difficult People by Roy Lilley:
The six most important words: I admit I made a mistake; The five most important words: You did a good job; The four most important words: What is your opinion?; The three most important words: Would you mind?; The two most important words: Thank you; The one most important words: We; The least important word: I
Nice people are not always like you. They will have different
backgrounds, educations, life experiences, and perspectives. They will be
motivated differently, think differently, and reason differently. But they
still can be nice people.
Difficult people are most often selfish and inwardly-focused. For
them, it’s all about them, so don’t let them get under your skin. The
number one rule in dealing with difficult people is to not take it
personally. This doesn’t mean you let a rude pig trample all over you, but
it does mean you don’t have to get in a bare-knuckle fight.
How we treat each other is largely a product of how we feel about
each other.
Difficult people are predictable people. They are stuck in their
ways and all you have to do is maneuver around them, using your brain and
not your emotions.
Some difficult people can be hostile, aggressive, belligerent, and
offensive—bullies and control freaks, of which there are three basic
types: the Sherman tanks, the snipers, and the exploders.
The Sherman tanks come out
charging. They are abusive, abrupt, intimidating, and overwhelming. They
attack individual behaviors and personal characteristics. They bombard
you with criticisms and arguments. They usually achieve their short-term
objectives, but at the cost of eroded friendships and lost long-term
relationships. They have a strong need to prove to others that their view
of the world is right. They have a strong sense of how others should act,
and they are not afraid to tell them about it.
The snipers prefer a more
covered approach. They put up a front of friendliness from behind which
they attack, often with pot-shots and veiled innuendos and not-so-subtle
digs. They often make others look bad in order to try to make themselves
look good. They pair their verbal missiles with covers of friendliness.
The exploders are characterized
by fits of rage-fueled attacks and tantrums that seem barely under
control. They react first in anger, followed by either blaming or
suspicion.
Often, difficult people are complainers, moaners, and groaners,
finding fault in everything. They rarely want to find a way to fix the
problems they complain about.
Difficult people can be know-alls, with an overwhelming need to be
recognized for their intellectual abilities. They can promote feelings of
anger or resentment in others. They often suffer from lack of
self-importance. They can be bullies and appear so certain that they are
right that it seems pointless to argue.
And my thoughts from before and after
reading the first bit of Roy’s book:
Difficult people are often ignorant people. They haven’t given
themselves the gift of leaving their safe zone and understanding how the
other half lives, thinks, loves, believes, perceives, worships, gives,
creates, and exists.
Difficult people are often self-righteous people. They often wear
the t-shirts and fly the flags and share the memes and post the missives
to make it clear what they believe, thinking that blasting their beliefs
to others is somehow helping others, when in fact it’s only furthering
division. They are not inclusive in their thinking or outreach.
Difficult people are often contentious people. They always want to
argue and try to prove their point, even when they know they’re wrong.
Difficult people are often defensive people, especially when, deep
down, they know they’ve made a mistake or said something they should
regret. Instead of apologizing and being humble, they double down and
over-share things that their confirmation bias tells them enforces their
position.
Difficult people are often deflective people. They blame others for
everything, living in a victim mindset. They put others down in order to
make themselves feel better.
Difficult people are often closed-minded. They don’t want to hear
what others think about a subject, already deciding in their minds that,
in order for them to be right, everyone else must be wrong.
Difficult people often don’t accept gray areas. As I tried to dig
into in my essay “Good-Neighborliness,”
gray areas are essential to living a happy and peaceable life, but
difficult people feel the need to define everything as black and white or
right and wrong.
As I write this, I’m on a flight. And,
as I often do, I’m observing people and their behaviors. Most people, per
usual, are not difficult. In a big metal tube, humans have an incredible
ability to forgo their usual personal space issues and exude kindness and
empathy to their fellow passengers. But, not all…
The man next to me, currently covered
from head to knee in a fleece blanket while his arm continuously rubs up
against my own, despite me trying to sit as tightly centered as I can in my own
seat, held up the entire plane because he didn’t prepare his carry-ons before
boarding. He waited until he got to the seat before he had to get organized,
open his suitcase, take out aforementioned fleece blanket, and then proceeded
to store his suitcase in an overhead bin behind our seat instead of the one
with room above it, guaranteeing more disruption when we de-plane and he must
go backwards in the aisle while everyone else is trying to go forward.
Difficult people come in all forms.
Most are just simply selfish and/or quite self-unaware. They usually have no
clear perception of how ignorant, self-righteous, contentious, defensive,
deflective, and closed-minded they can be.
And, you know what? That’s life.
That’s humanity. Difficult people will always exist. We can’t let them bring us
down. We can’t pander to them, encourage their bad behaviors, or feed their
nonsense. We absolutely must rise above, be as kind as we can but also not let
ourselves go down the spiral of negativity that they’ve fallen into.
One of my favorite quotes is from
Carlos Dominguez: "The only thing we can do about awful people is not be
one of them." I'll substitute two words in there to have it say, "The
best thing we can do about difficult people is not be one of
them."
…
Marty
Johnson is the Communication and Vision Coach at AYM High Consultants, a columnist, and an editor, producing the mail and
business center industry's leading magazine, MBC Today. In 2023, he sold
his popular and growing brand, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, and retired from
shopkeeper life to focus on writing and coaching. Subscribe to his Ask Uncle Marty™ newsletter and read more at askunclemarty.com; follow him on socials @askunclemarty. #AskUncleMarty
I had the great privilege this past weekend—Memorial Day
weekend—of helping out at my old business, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office. As
many of you know, I sold the business on January 1st of this year,
but have continued helping as needed here and there for the past few months
during an ownership transition period.
Since I founded the business in 2011, we’ve had a carrier
franchise store on our same city block. That store and mine opened the same
week, surprising each other, and our relationship has been…interesting…ever
since. I’ve never viewed them as competition, as their model is total different
than ours and the market is so great that we can each have ample space to do
our own thing and grow alongside each other.
The original owners of that business were sometimes okay do
deal with. They were often nice to my face, but on the back end we heard lots
of scary stories from former team members of theirs, and we also did quite a
bit of secret shopping and calling to find out that they were not kind in how
they referred to our business, often telling people who inquired over the phone
that they had to go elsewhere for the services we provided right around the
corner. It was shady, but we took it as flattery because they were so obviously
threatened by our presence. To be fair, there were six other independent shipping
stores in the area at the time and five of the six ended up shuttering within a
few years of us opening our doors—the sixth closing during the pandemic—so we
must have been doing something right to gain market share! We did our thing and
grew steadily in our lane.
That left just the carrier franchise store and us in town as
retail shipping options, aside from the FedEx Office a few miles away and a few
other non-threatening things like the Staples UPS counter and others. The
carrier franchise store in our neighborhood was sold to new owners a few years
ago and the new regime has been much more contentious and aggressive than the
previous owners. They do business entirely differently than we do and their
model is incredibly transactional while ours was always relationship-based. We
wanted people to come back again and again and tell their friends, while they seemingly
tried to get as much out of people on one visit as possible without caring if
they returned or not. I don’t want to be so negative here, but this is
something we heard over and over and over again by guests coming to our store
with horror stories of how they were mistreated, disrespected, and gouged.
The old owners of the carrier franchise store were not the
most organized or clean, but with the new owners that store looks like a bomb
went off inside. It’s complete chaos with stuff piled everywhere—total disorganization.
So, we’ve never ever thought of them as any sort of threat. Most people go
there and leave immediately, then come to us raving about how much cleaner,
neater, and kinder our store and staff are.
Under my ownership, we did our best, despite the animosity
that was returned, to be respectful and good neighbors. I ran the neighborhood
small business association for years and advocated for all businesses in our neighborhood,
theirs included, and we sent people to their business multiple times per day with
shipments that could only be processed there because of their exclusivity agreements
with the carrier for whom they were a franchise store. We tried our best to be
kind, even when they were often not; the new owners of my former business have
kept the same mindset and have done their best to be respectful, good neighbors
to that carrier franchise store as well.
All of this is to set the stage for what happened this past
weekend while I was helping out…
There’s a 30-minute loading zone in front of Uncle Marty’s Shipping
Office, which I advocated for for years at City Hall and which we were so grateful
for when it arrived. Consequently, I also advocated for a loading zone in front
of the carrier franchise store around the corner, and they also received one.
(You’re welcome, store!) It’s awesome when it works, but often it is filled up
with people parking in it for much longer than 30 minutes as people know our
city has a very small-staffed traffic enforcement department and an underfunded
and understaffed police department, so chances of getting ticketed are very
low. Nevertheless, our staff was always very aware of its importance and we
tried to set an example of only using it for loading and unloading as it is
intended and not for parking.
As our busiest weekend of the year—Cornell graduation
weekend when all of the students move out en masse—falls on Memorial Day
weekend, the loading zone is a bear. People park in it for days on end, knowing
they won’t get ticketed, and it blocks access to our business during the time
we need it the most for incoming and outgoing trucks for all of the hundreds of shipments and storage boxes we move in and out daily. This last weekend, during
that confusion, there was a white BMW SUV parked in front of our store in the loading
zone all weekend, solid. We called the police multiple times, but they never
came. Then, on Monday, the busiest day of the year when we were going
absolutely crazy, we looked out to find the carrier franchise store owner
sitting in said white BMW SUV, sleeping! Yes, sleeping! So, the new owner of my
store knocked on his window, woke him up, and asked him to please move because
it’s not a parking spot and he was blocking our business. In response, the carrier
franchise store owner barked back and told him “Don’t touch my car.” So, I went
out and told the man how incredibly gross and disrespectful it was to be parked
there, sleeping, and obviously intentionally right in front of our business to
block access. It really was disgusting.
The cops never showed up, but the man eventually moved his
car. It just completely blew us away. In a world where good-neighborliness is
so important and needed, this piece of work has chosen aggressive contentiousness
and blatant dishonesty as his modus operandi. It’s so sad—truly heartbreaking.
Because the new owner of my former business is a good soul
and shares my mentality of Michelle Obama-ing the situation, going high when
others go low, he will do his best to just let it go, keep doing his thing, and
keep growing and blooming as he’s been so good at so far. In fact, on that
Monday when the carrier franchise store owner had time to nap and play petty games
trying to block our business from operating, our store broke every record we
had—all time sales, all time customer count, and Memorial Day records all in
one. Reading reviews online from the day, Uncle Marty's got only five-star positives while they got only one-star negatives. So, I guess that just goes to show how doing business the right way, being
kind, and not letting other people’s nonsense affect you too much really is the
key to success.
I shared a quote in my weekly Wednesday Wisdom social media message today that really sums
it up, from an unknown author: “A flower does not think about competing with
the flower next to it. It just blooms.”
So, bloom, my friends. Be kind. Do good by others. Build your
neighbors up. Give them space and, even if they get in yours, take the high road. Karma is real and you want to be on its good side.
…
Marty
Johnson is the Communication and Vision Coach at AYM High Consultants, a columnist, and an editor, producing the mail and
business center industry's leading magazine, MBC Today. In 2023, he sold
his popular and growing brand, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, and retired from
shopkeeper life to focus on writing and coaching. Subscribe to his Ask Uncle Marty™ newsletter and read more at askunclemarty.com; follow him on socials @askunclemarty. #AskUncleMarty
…
This article was co-published on the AYM High Consultants
blog and on askunclemarty.com on May 29, 2024.
I named my home "Foxwood Cottage."
It's nothing fancy—a small white painted brick home just outside the Ithaca,
New York city limits in the Town of Dryden. I purchased it in 2018 so I could
live closer to my business after spending my first seven years in business
commuting an hour each way, six days a week.
Foxwood Cottage was built in 1950 and I'm quite sure the
previous owners hadn't updated or decorated it much since they purchased it in
1960. All of the interior walls were obnoxious shades of what I can only
describe as "electric pastel" blues, purples, pinks, and greens. The
flooring was worn and dated, the garage was full of junk, and there was a
mysterious red shed out back that was locked tight, which my coworkers soon
nefariously nicknamed the "murder shed," because we had no idea what
was inside it. (When we eventually broke into it, we made a big social media
deal about it, similar to when Geraldo opened Al Capone's vaults, and also
similarly with the let-down that there was nothing at all exciting inside.) The
home had a lot of potential, but needed a lot of work.
Over the years, I did what I could. But, as
many of you can relate to, funds weren't abundant because I was reinvesting
much of what I made back into my business, and, as a small business owner, time
was even less abundant. I'm also not at all handy. Yes, I can build an
intricate sculpture, crate, or display out of cardboard—blindfolded—but
anything requiring a hammer or a saw is way beyond my skillset. So, much of
what I did I had to hire out in small portions—a new roof through a contractor,
a handyperson for small jobs, and even some young and hungry team members who
did some interior painting for a few bucks and a pizza party.
If you've been following my story, you may know that I sold my business, Uncle
Marty's Shipping Office, a few months ago. My then-manager was excited to take
over ownership and I needed to move on to new and exciting opportunities in
consulting, writing, and my growing editing business. Plus, the thought of
semi-retiring at 44-years-old was very enticing (and, let me tell you, so far
it's everything I dreamed it could be!) My next chapter will be in Delaware,
closer to family whose needs for someone to be close by are increasing. So,
once the business sale was finalized, my next move was to get Foxwood Cottage
ready to list so I could make my move.
I reached out to Kelly, the Realtor® who sold
me Foxwood Cottage in 2018 and someone who has become a dear friend of mine
over the years. She has been incredibly kind and patient with me as I've taken
her on many a wild goose chase while warehouse shopping to meet the growing
storage needs of my business for the storage service we provide to our market,
land shopping with the idea of putting up storage units to expand our storage
offerings, and just a year or so ago my musings with moving into a condo. None
of that panned out, as I ended up renting warehouse space and forgoing the
condo and storage unit ideas, but nonetheless Kelly put up with all of the
many, many searches and property visits I asked her to help with.
Kelly is an absolute pro. In the five-plus
years I've known her, she's been featured on House Hunters whenever HGTV comes
to the Ithaca area and needs a rockstar Realtor®, as well as taking over her
whole real estate office and growing an incredible team under her leadership.
And, even though Foxwood Cottage is small beans in the market she now works in,
she was incredibly excited and gracious to take on my listing personally.
Kelly gave me great advice on timing,
strategy, and what to do / what not to do to get Foxwood Cottage ready to list.
She allowed me to write the copy (as a writer / editor who has obsessive
compulsive tendencies, she knew I'd prefer to do that myself...with her
guidance) and hired an incredibly talented photographer and videographer to do
professional home photos. About 20 years ago, while living in New York City and
doing visuals, display, and window design for the flagship Banana Republic
store in Rockefeller Center, I also moonlighted as a high-end apartment stager,
joining a team who would go into multi-million dollar apartments in Manhattan
and Brooklyn, pulling appropriate furniture and décor from a staging warehouse
and making the properties appealing to potential buyers. We always wanted to make
them warm, depersonalized from the belongings that were previously inside them,
and staged so that anyone could see themselves eating a meal or relaxing by the
fireplace. So, I had a good idea of what needed to be done to Foxwood Cottage
to get it ready: all personal photos came down, the table was set with wine
glasses and fancy napkins, the main TV got moved from the living room to a cozy
viewing nook in the sunroom, a gym area that I didn’t use nearly enough got
expanded and polished, beds were impeccably made with towels in the guest rooms
to allow viewers to imagine rental possibilities at Foxwood Cottage, toilet paper
was folded into a hotel-like triangle at its end, all area rugs were washed and
fluffed, the pantry and fridge were purged, fresh fruit was arranged in a bowl,
the rusty mailbox pole got a fresh coat of paint, fresh flowers and a spring wreath
graced the outside, and, of course, a tray of fresh pastries with tea napkins
awaited all of the open house guests as they entered.
The listing went active last week. And today,
less than four days on the market, Kelly presented me with seven offers; I
accepted a cash offer at 20% above listing price! All being well, we'll close
in early July and then at the end of August or early September my new townhome
in Delaware will be finished and I can move in. In the interim, I'll be
traveling, staying with family, and enjoying this new normal that I've come to
embrace over the past five months of being retail store-free.
Why share all of this with you? It's because
I want to drive home what can be possible with setting intentions, planning,
staging, and trusting an expert for the things that you don't know about. If I
hadn't seen the potential in Foxwood Cottage, made smart improvements without
overinvesting, listened to my top-notch Realtor®, and timed the sale just
right, I wouldn't have gotten so many offers. There are homes on my street that
have been on the market for months, just sitting there, not staged, overpriced,
and basically just kind of drab and unappealing. But not Foxwood Cottage.
Foxwood Cottage was ready—an attractive, thoughtful, well-timed listing years
in the making with the best team behind it.
I've been having a lot of discussions with
clients and colleagues lately about exit strategy. Many are curious about how I
sold my business and what I did to prepare. It's not something that will often
happen by accident, but something that must be constantly thought of and worked
toward. Just like with investing in a home and doing updates with the end goal
of resale top-of-mind, so too is the case with a business. Systems, team member
empowerment, lists, manuals, policies, and so much more add so much value to a
business for when the time comes to eventually sell it. And isn't that the end
goal of all of us who are or have been small business owners?
If you haven't yet, start working on your
business and not so much in your business, as we hear so often touted at
industry events. Start putting systems in place. Write things down. Make them
pretty. Make the business attractive to a potential buyer. Market with
intention. Brand with intention. Create a team that takes things off of your
plate and is trusted to take on duties to grow clients, manage systems, and
streamline processes. Trust them! Ask them to help you think about everything
through fresh ideas and perspectives. Lean on their other-generation experience
and mindsets to understand how to meet new markets and appeal to new people.
Anything
is possible if you are intentional and goal-oriented. Don't leave it to chance.
Yes, we hear about people who get very lucky when offers come in off the street
to buy them out, but if you're serious about wanting to sell your business
someday then start now with making smart choices to set it up for success. You
can do it. I promise.
…
Marty
Johnson is the Communication and Vision Coach at AYM High Consultants, a columnist, and an editor, producing the mail and
business center industry's leading magazine, MBC Today. In 2023, he sold
his popular and growing brand, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, and retired from
shopkeeper life to focus on writing and coaching. Subscribe to his Ask Uncle Marty™ newsletter and read more at askunclemarty.com; follow him on socials @askunclemarty. #AskUncleMarty
…
This article
was co-published on askunclemarty.com and on the aymhigh.com blog on May 9,
2024. It was originally written on May 1.
AYM
High Consultants coach Steve Merrick, in speaking at industry events
for many decades as a coach and motivator from the ’90s to present day, often
asks audience members, “Who’s on your bus?” It’s impactful. His coaching often
focuses on the team players who you network with, on whom you can call when
needed for different areas of expertise.
The concept of “Who’s on your bus?” comes from Jim Collins’ bestseller
business leadership book, Good
to Great, which we highly, highly recommend. In this video
clip, Jim explains the “Who’s on your bus?” concept a little more:
Recently, Fahim had an experience that reminded him starkly
about the importance of having the right people on his team…
We’ve all clicked on the wrong site from time to time, and
Fahim recently, in trying to get some artwork together for a client, followed a
Google rabbit hole onto a shady free-to-print site that accidentally downloaded
a virus to one of the Island
Ship Center (ISC) stations. Within minutes, Fahim took a picture of
the virus results and sent them to Aaron, the IT consultant who Fahim and the
ISC family have a relationship with.
Within 15 minutes, Aaron had remotely accessed the ISC
computers, removed the virus, and everything was back to normal. So much time
and energy and expense would have been wasted if Fahim didn’t have the right
person at the right time to help with the situation. Aaron was on Fahim’s bus,
and because of that a potentially disastrous situation was averted.
Your bus doesn’t only consist of your colleagues,
contractors, vendors, and external team, but in so many more ways it also
consists of your immediate team—coworkers, colleagues, and business partners. How
you treat your team, how you source, vet, and mold the right people to join
your team, and how you groom your team to take on more and more leadership
roles to take more and more off your plate is essential.
Marty recently sold his business, Uncle Marty’s
Shipping Office, to his then-manager, Clark, and Clark’s fiancé,
Codey Noel. Clark had been with Marty for five years before buying him out;
Clark’s sister, Aleah, was Marty’s first long-term team member, followed soon
after by Clark, their brother, Callum, and their mom, Julie. Family friends
also joined the team as well as Ryan, the husband of Clark’s third sibling,
Emma. Though not related to Marty by blood, together they truly made Uncle
Marty’s a family business…and the culture of the enterprise reflected that
intention.
Marty chose to not call his staff “employees,” but rather
“team members” and “coworkers” (and, often, his “work kids.”) This vernacular
was chosen on purpose to empower each coworker to feel truly like they were
part of the family business they created, and most of the growth that the
business saw over the 12 and a half years that Marty was at the helm can be
attributed to the team that guided it together. As a result, Clark felt so
invested and saw so much potential that he wanted to fully take over.
In just under five months since the business sale, Clark and
Codey Noel have broken many of Marty’s records, have a second Uncle Marty’s
location scheduled to open in June, and are even in talks with a new office
complex to open a third location in 2025! The sale was a win-win-win: win for
Marty to be able to semi-retire and focus on coaching and writing; win for
Clark and Codey Noel to take over a growing business with huge potential; and a
win for the business to have fresh, young blood taking the reins and guiding it
to significantly more growth, profit, and community involvement.
Fahim and his wife, business partner, best friend, and the
president to his vice presidency, Seema, also have done an amazing job in
selecting and sculpting a team. However, like any worthwhile endeavor, it took
time. There were a lot of very hard lessons learned along the way and some very
difficult choices that had to be made in letting the wrong people go in order
to attract and cultivate the right people. It’s an ongoing process, as it
always will be with any growing business, but right now their team is
top-notch, A-plus, dream team material. Seema and Fahim don’t call their staff
“employees” either, but rather they refer to them as the “ISC Family.” And that
simple language shift reflects in the cohesion and vestment that the ISC Family
members wear proudly on their purple sleeves.
ISC’s current manager, Jasmine, has been a godsend. She
didn’t come from the print, shipping, mail, and business center industry. Her
background is in sustainability, and the skills and perspective she brought to
ISC were invaluable. Her attitude is outstanding, her investment in the
business is superlative, and her empowerment as Chief Experience Officer (which
they chose to title her instead of the less-exciting title of “Manager”) has
made a huge impact on the business. Just as Marty’s team came from outside of
the industry, so has most of Seema and Fahim’s team.
We often coach at AYM
High to “Hire the smile and train the skills,” which is an adage
hammered into Marty by his parents, Cindy and Dub, from their nearly 20-year
stint as outstanding industry leaders and owners of a three-store chain of Pack
& Mail stores in the ‘90s and ‘00s. Attitude trumps skills any day of the
week. We’d much rather see someone who treats guests with kindness and patience
than a know-it-all with a snarky demeanor any day of the week.
Your attitude as a business owner or manager
is also of the upmost importance. What you say and what you do has to be in
sync. Authenticity, realness, and words-actions symbiosis is imperative. When
it’s not in sync, everything suffers. You absolutely must be the best example
to your team and coworkers if you want them to work, lead, and treat guests and
clients with integrity, honesty, and…above all…smiles, smiles, smiles!
Chad Gono, CEO of Regal Plastics and a LinkedIn influencer
Fahim follows, recently posted a photo with a sign that reads, “I used to think
people only switched jobs for money. Now I realize people are looking for
respect and a healthy environment!” To that, we say #Truth!
Fahim journals daily and every now and then will share his
journal entry with Marty for encouragement and inspiration. While a journal is
personal, Marty convinced Fahim to allow him to share a recent journal entry in
this article with all of you, as it’s so pertinent to the point we’re trying to
make. While not intended to be made public, we hope that the following entry
from Fahim’s journal from April 8, 2024 will be inspirational to you and give
you a little glimpse into what’s at the heart of someone who leads with
empathy, respect, collaboration, and gratitude:
“Today was the day of the solar eclipse,
an event that last took place in Buffalo / Niagara Falls 125 years ago! Similar
to that time, today’s event was eclipsed by cloudy skies. However, the event
was magnificent nonetheless. For 10 minutes, the day changed to night in front
of our eyes, the temperature dropped, and the majesty of creation was visible
for all to see, as the moon covered the sun 99.32%! And then, just as quickly
it had come, the event was over, the light returned, and ironically the sun shone
brighter than before the eclipse, since the clouds also vanished with the
passing of the moon. How symbolic was this event to our lives, I thought. For
those who try to be the sunlight for others, we get eclipsed by dark events and
forces in our lives, seeming to have lost our own light. But, if we just wait
out those moments with persistent patience, our light can actually pierce
through, and shine brighter than before, allowing us to make an even greater
impact on the lives of others. You see, we don’t lose by giving our light to
others, rather we gain even more light. Such is the law of the sun, the universe,
and the land. So, give off your light to everyone, and know that some may try
to eclipse you, only to allow you to shine brighter than before. When we swim upstream,
trying to force our muscles to work harder, we develop quicker than when we
swim with the current.” #FahimFix
(And, yes, Fahim signs many of his personal journal entries
with his own hashtag, #FahimFix.)
The seatmates on your bus need to be invited. Your
coworkers, team members, business family members, close colleagues, vendors,
and, yes, your mentors and coaches, need to be chosen with intention. Don’t
give seats to those who choose negativity, who constantly complain, and who
prefer to always be victimized and cast blame instead of rising above, taking
responsibility, helping others get through touch challenges, and becoming
better. Give seats to those whose light shines bright and not to those who
eclipse others’ lights. Invite busmates who know that clouds pass and the sun
is always behind them, no matter what.
Please, think hard about who’s on your bus, then do some
seat-shifting to put the right people in the right places. Who can you depend
on to help grow your business? Who can you call in an unexpected situation who
has the experience, knowledge, and ability to help? Who has the positive,
rise-above, meet-the-challenge-and-then-overcome-it attitude and bright light
to shine that you’ll give those special seats next to you to? Choose with
intention. And don’t be afraid to stop the bus and let someone off who’s not filling
their seat properly. Only then can the bust move forward with precision and
drive to get you to a destination better than you could have imagined.
We hope you’ll save us a seat.
…
Fahim Mojawalla is the Motivation
and Mission Lead at AYM High
Consultants. He
loves what he does and would love to show you how to make 21st century sales
and marketing easy, simply by being authentic, appreciative, respectful,
responsive, empathetic, collaborative, and all-around awesome. Along with his wife Seema, he is an effervescent
co-owner of Island Ship Center, the Spa of
Shipping. #FahimFix
…
Marty Johnson is the Communication and Vision Coach
at AYM High Consultants, a columnist, and an editor,
producing the mail and business center industry's leading magazine, MBC
Today. In 2023, he sold his popular and growing brand, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, and retired from
shopkeeper life to focus on writing and coaching. Subscribe to his free Ask
Uncle Marty™ newsletter and read more at askunclemarty.com; follow him on
socials @askunclemarty. #AskUncleMarty
