Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone is lounging and loving the time off no matter what part of the country you are in! I would like say that I am thankful for many many things today including the opportunity this site has given me to meet so many amazing and wonderful people over the past couple of years…I am blessed! Ken’s daughter is right on point. We should always remember to look at what we have rather than what we do not. This is something that can be difficult at times but so necessary. Count  our blessings! I am counting mine today and feeling quite blessed!! Enjoy your day!!! -Julia

Being Grateful

This weeks article is dedicated to my 6 year old and my Wife and Partner Margo.  Today, Elizabeth taught me something about business.

Usually, this time of year means one thing in our business – Trying to collect the past due invoices from my customers.   It is no secret that business has been difficult and a by product of this is that your aging(the time it takes customers to pay) moves out.   This is a source of great frustration and angst to me as I do not have the flexibility to tell my vendors that I need more time to pay.   I have heard many creative excuses, and some down right whoppers. A trend however that is most distressing is  some retailers are saying “well, we have only sold X % of your product, so I am going to send you X % of your invoice”.  Wait!   Since when did I agree to a consignment agreement?   It does not matter – the flat reality of this economy  is that the balance of power has shifted to the retailer(the ones that are left).   As one retailer told me “We have to bend over for our customers – now you have to do the same”!   This same retailer told me “If we need to make a choice between putting food on my table or putting food on your table, you know which one I am going to chose”!   Well – how about we figure out a way so we both can eat?   Has the world of retail become so narcissistic that there is no longer any compromise?  Hey – Christmas is approaching for both of us!   I paid the factory for these shoes back in July!   Now what? 

After a particularly frustrating conversation with a retailer one afternoon, I went downstairs to make coffee.   Margo was working on the “Tree of Thanks” with my daughters.   I told her about my recent conversation and vented.   My rant was really spoiling the mood of creativity and I was reminded to keep business in the office.   I looked at Elizabeth’s tree and went upstairs.    Margo came upstairs a few minutes later and told me I need to re-think my thought process.   Maybe I should be grateful that I have customers.   Are they customers if they don’t pay us for the shoes I countered?   Perhaps I should show more appreciation, less frustration and more understanding.   Why not elevate my gratitude to a different level?   Stop personalizing this perceived slight she said!

At that point, Elizabeth came into the office and showed me her now completed tree.   I read what she is grateful for.   Maybe it was her age, or perhaps it was purity in her heart, but what she was grateful for surprised me.   Moreover, it softened me.   Maybe I should think in terms of what I do have, instead of being frustrated in what I don’t have.  

Elizabeth is grateful for what she has – not what she wants.

After Thanksgiving, I will re-call my past due people – this time, with a different attitude.      

Ken Proctor
Front Man
Twig Footwear, LLC
Ken@twigfootwear.com
www.twigfootwear.com
832-748-1865