PPB October 2016

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franchisee, the corporate office
launched a pilot safety program to
a small group of corporate stores,
which just rolled out to all of the
shops on July 1. They are now
putting together a recognition
piece for the non-store
corporate employees.
What do you enjoy
most about yourwork?
When I’m working with a
buyer and we exceed their
expectations. When they
accomplish a goal, achieve
a benchmark … when they
are successful.
What advice would
you give to an industry
newcomer?
To do this industry well, you
have to be in it for a while and
ask questions and get your
suppliers to teach you all of their
processes, such as how they
imprint. Every product has its
own challenges and advantages
and methods of decoration.
Learn as much as you can.
Education is huge. Make really
good friends in the industry
because they can help you a
lot. Don’t be afraid of making
mistakes. Just make sure that
you learn from them. Figure out
what you did wrong and put
in a process to make sure you
don’t repeat the same mistake
again. There are so many ways
you can drop the ball in this
industry. When it happens, the
best thing you can do is own it.
I find that nine times out of 10,
suppliers really want to help
you get out of a bad situation.
They’re here to help you, not to
penalize you. But at the end of
the day, the buck stops with the
distributor. You should only hold
suppliers accountable for what
they’re truly accountable for. Our
customers make mistakes, we
make mistakes and our suppliers
make mistakes. That’s life. It’s
not about avoiding the mistakes,
because they’re going to happen.
So deal with it with integrity and
learn from it. Put something in
your process that will be a check
and a balance to try to keep that
thing from happening again.
Somebody once told me that the
first year you’re in this business,
you’re going to say, “Oh my gosh,
why did I get into this business?”
The second year you’re going to
say, “Ok, I think I’m starting to
figure this out.” The third year
you’ll say, “Ok, now I’m glad I got
into this business.”
Julie Richie is associate editor
for PPBmagazine.
Our customers
make mistakes,
we make
mistakes and
our suppliers
make mistakes.
That’s life. It’s not
about avoiding
the mistakes,
because they’re
going to happen.
So deal with it
with integrity and
learn from it.
Ti a Wa l ke r,MAS
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88 | OCTOBER 2016 |
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