2020 Lessons Learned | Thermometers Update | Best Rack Mount Kit | Change Your Thoughts | News to Start Your Day
Happy Thursday!
(October 22nd is National Make a Dog’s Day! So go treat your furry, four-legged canine friend to a special treat or buy them a new toy!)
As most businesses probably are this time of year, we are looking forward to 2021 and starting to make plans. What do we want to focus on? Where can we improve? Where do we want to be at the end of 2021? It has been an unusual year for us all, so this year’s planning discussions feel quite a bit different than they have in the past.
Besides the obvious market disruption that COVID was and is for nearly every business, some things that were different for us this year have been our product mix, marketing methods we’ve tried, and how we communicate with our customers (like this email). When we began selling safety supplies in March, we did it to serve a need, to attempt to be profitable through a yet-to-be defined season, and if I’m being honest maybe a little bit because we were bored. We had no idea adding a new and vastly different product line would change our business so much.
When Craig and I started selling pre-owned networking equipment out of our garage in the earliest days, it was in an environment where customers were plentiful. The business really thrived in those days because of Craig’s ability to BUY well. The selling part was easy. When the CK webstore took off and we were selling more accessories, customers just came to us. At least a hundred new customers a day placed orders on the site back then. We did not have to hunt them down; they just needed what we had. Then we entered our awkward teenage years as a company, making our way through by pivoting rapidly from opportunity to opportunity. By the time we reached 2018/19 we had somewhat matured and had leaders over most critical areas, Craig had a vision for where he wanted to go, but the how was still a bit fuzzy. 2020 was supposed to be a year of reaping the rewards of hard work that had been put in during 2019 to really define the roadmap of where we wanted to go. Enter COVID.
From the very beginning of us venturing into safety supplies, I had an impression that this was a learning ground for us. Because of that I’ve spent a good bit of time pondering what lessons can we capture and take away from this period of time. Adding and selling products people needed during COVID was like operating in a pressure cooker. Everything happened at rapid speed. We ran a radio ad and immediately saw results. We sent an email to a new list of people, it paid off instantly (until it didn’t). Craig had {yet another} “crazy” idea to email customers daily about what products we had coming in, and it paid off. We are still here chatting months later, which has been a huge blessing to us in so many ways. One of the best operational lessons learned: go GET your customers. Talk to them, bring them into what you’re doing and offer value. The e-commerce world has changed, and we do not have the luxury of customers finding us by “accident” each and every day anymore. We must be intentional.
We will soon have planning sessions and dive deeper into other operational takeaways from 2020, make goals and plans for 2021, and begin walking that path. I have confidence it will be good stuff. But what I really wanted to share today was a comment one of our leaders made recently about lessons learned. She said she felt like a different person pre-COVID to now, that putting a plan into place and winning at it felt good, that we’d proven we CAN win. I’m going to add my own thoughts and embellish a little to say that coming together as a team to work on this project, making plans, each team playing their part, finding success, and opening ourselves up to new ways of doing things is the wind in our sails that we all needed. We’re motivated in a different way, because we know we can be successful. We’re more focused and aligned, we’ve been intentional about what products to carry, we’ve made mistakes but have been able to quickly work on what to do about it, and we’ve added a whole intentional marketing effort that we didn’t have before.
Craig often encourages action on a new idea by reminding us “you can’t steer a parked car.” I believe that saying came from a former mentor of his. Let’s get started, put our foot on the gas and begin whatever dream we have, but also remember we must actually steer and keep our eyes on the road. I am looking forward to driving into 2021!
“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, and magic and power in it. Begin it now.” – Goethe
Let’s purpose to be bold, friends.
Christin
Today’s Product Updates from Rebecca:
We made it to Thursday! As you likely have heard by now, we are winding down our PPE business so we are running some amazing deals!
We currently have two excellent non-contact thermometers available for purchase! I have seen similar thermometers in stores for over double what we’re charging for these!
We still have stock of both Black Nitrile Gloves and Blue Nitrile Gloves in stock and ready to ship, as well as Vinyl Powder-Free Examination Gloves! These are going fast and we will not be re-stocking!
Reminder: Get free shipping on your PPE orders by using coupon code PPESHIP at checkout!
Main Safety Supplies Landing Page: https://www.cablesandkits.com/c/safety-supplies
Today’s product spotlight is going to be focused on our most popular rack mount kit: RCKMNT-1RU
This little guy is extremely versatile and fits a WIDE variety of products! The RCKMNT-1RU is a 19” 1RU rack mount kit that includes (2) brackets and all the screws needed to attach the brackets to your switch! It is designed to help you mount your switches for safety and efficiency! If you are really looking to maximize efficiency and keep your rack clean and organized, you can also add in our Cisco 1RU Cable Management Kit in addition to your rack mount kit!
If you’re curious about which switches RCKMNT-1RU fits, here is a quick snapshot of some of the most popular switch series that it fits. RCKMNT-1RU fits many Cisco Catalyst models in the following series:
Please check our product pages to confirm the specific models in each series that this rack mount fits.
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life – By John G Miller (author)
On Independence Day, in the Land Of The Free,” I woke up asking, “What could possibly keep me un-free?”
Don’t Let Thinking Hold You Back
I noticed our Shiba Inu, Mabel, standing in her kennel. She was waiting to be let out. I then saw the door was not latched — but she believed it was. That is, if pups possess beliefs. Haha!
Her errant thinking prevented her from “being free.” It held her back.
What Bad Thinking Sounds Like
Humans do this, too. We hold ourselves back by holding onto self-limiting beliefs and thoughts. We get in our own way, locking ourselves in imaginary cages with —
“I don’t get any support”
“I can’t change”
“No one listens to me”
“If only my spouse would change”
“I deserve a break”
“My situation is not my fault”
“I’m not good enough”
“The world owes me”
“I’m a victim of the system”
Sadly, regarding that last one, some people tell other people, “You are a victim of the system.” How does that help someone be free?
Escaping Negative Self-Talk
What’s fascinating about this topic is how we might talk to others versus how we talk to ourselves. We often tell our friends, co-workers, and children …
“You can do it!”
“I’m proud of you!”
“You’ll find a way!”
“Keep moving forward!”
“Get up and try again!”
To ourselves, though, it could be such negative talk that we convince ourselves we’re locked in “the cage” with no way out.
The reality is, I am free to learn, grow, change, and succeed — if I want to. You are, as well. Only, though, if we believe it. Think it. Take accountability for it.
News to Start Your Day With:
- Right at 41,562,400 cases worldwide, with 30,951,400 people who have recovered, with 1,137,646 deaths AND 8,585,750 cases in the US with over 5,603,025 people have recovered, with 227,419 deaths.
- Federal health officials issued new guidance on Wednesday that greatly expands the pool of people considered at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus by changing the definition of who is a “close contact” of an infected individual. The updated guidance, which health departments rely on to conduct contact tracing, now defines a close contact as someone who was within six feet of an infected individual for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, according to a CDC statement Wednesday.
- Southwest Airlines lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter, its biggest loss ever, after the coronavirus pandemic hurt the summer travel season. The Dallas-based carrier trimmed its cash burn to an average of $16 million a day in the three months ended Sept. 30, from $23 million in the second quarter.
- Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and biotechnology company Moderna are expected to release data on prospective coronavirus vaccines this month or in November in one of the most closely watched human experiments in history.
- Former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive will work with Airbnb on hiring and future products, the company announced on Wednesday. Ive is best-known for being Apple’s longtime head of industrial design before leaving the company to start an independent design firm last summer.
- Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report on Wednesday that Slack no longer appears to be a beneficiary of the work-from-home trend. Microsoft and Zoom are winning an “outsized share of the Covid spending rush,” the analysts said. Slack’s stock fell as much as 8% after the report and is underperforming its rivals this year.
- Regal, owned by Cineworld, is reopening 11 locations in New York state starting this Friday. The announcement comes days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that movie theaters outside of New York City would be permitted to reopen at a limited capacity. Cineworld’s decision to reopen its New York locations showcases the importance of this market to the movie theater industry.
- The Senate panel charged with vetting Amy Coney Barrett is set to approve her nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday. Democrats are expected to employ a variety of procedural tactics to delay Thursday’s hearing but have acknowledged they cannot block what appears to be her confirmation to the high court.