Uncategorized

August 31, 2023

The Retail Education Store

It is an exciting day for the Story co… we are adding something new to our suite of businesses.

Please welcome: The Retail Education Store!

If you are a retail bricks and mortar, online shop, or a pop up – the Retail Education Store will be the perfect haven for cultivating and growing your business.

As many of you know I am passionate about the business of retail! It started innocently enough :), from a young age I loved to shop! For me, there is nothing quite like walking into a store that immediately transports you into an inspiring curated new world!

I have had the good fortune to see the retail industry from a few different perspectives.

Early in my career as a shopping centre manager, I began to understand the landlord side of the equation. Then, I became a bricks and mortar retailer where we manufactured a line of women’s clothing. We had opportunities for growth and dove into the wholesale market selling our line of clothing to 320 retailers across the United Sates and 110 stores across Canada. Since then, I have been honoured to help small and medium sized businesses build their brands and tell their story.

The soft spot for retail remains (as does my love for shopping)!

Then the pandemic… and the hit to the retail industry was swift and severe.

A friend and colleague, Lisa Hutcheson of JC Williams Group, put our heads together and wondered how we could help. We starting piloting retail courses to help retailers futureproof their business. Bringing confidence in an uncertain market, offering coaching and peer to peer mentoring opportunities.

We both strongly believed that independent retail enriches communities and local economies. And yet often store owners feel isolated and exhausted from long hours and ever changing markets. The Retail Education Store offers busy store owners an opportunity to learn today and apply their knowledge tomorrow all within an ecosystem brimming with inspiration and support.

We hope you will dash on over to our sparkling new website: www.theretaileducationstore.com, and then sprint madly over to follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Our first virtual live course starts October 2 – Maximize the last 90 days of 2023! Because this year, more than ever, the last quarter can really be a game changer!

We’d love to know what you think!

Uncategorized

March 21, 2023

The Power of Every Touch Point

Human to human connection – we have all ached for it through COVID!

Now the marketplace is demanding it too.

Creating human moments in your marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.

In fact, sometimes it’s the simplest gestures that can have the biggest impact. Whether it’s a handwritten note, a personalized video message, or a small gift that shows you care, every touch point matters when it comes to building a relationship with your clients.

But it’s not just about the gesture itself.

It’s about taking the time to understand your clients and what is important to them, showing empathy and compassion, and making them feel seen and heard. When you do this, you’re not just building a business relationship, you’re building a connection that goes beyond the transaction.

When you focus on these small impacts, you differentiate yourself from the competition and tell your story in a way that resonates. Quickly becoming more than just a service provider, you become a trusted partner who is invested in their success.

If you’re looking for ways to create meaningful moments in your marketing, start by putting yourself in your clients’ shoes. What would make them feel valued and appreciated.

Check yourself on this – if you are sending a sweatshirt with your logo plastered all over it are you asking your client to be your billboard or are you sending something that speaks to them (of course if you are Louis Vuitton this does not apply).

What would surprise and delight them? By answering these questions, you can create a strategy that is centered around empathy and human connection.

In today’s world, where automation and technology reign supreme, it’s more important than ever to remember the power of the personal touch.

By focusing on every touch point, and creating human magic moments that show you care, you can build relationships with your clients that will last a lifetime.

It’s also a really fun and rewarding way to do business!

Uncategorized

March 14, 2023

write like a human

Get into the minds of your readers then connect your voice and your heart to theirs. No jargon required. 💕

Uncategorized

March 3, 2022

great stories – believe it

I love to read about successful women entrepreneurs.

Jamie Kern Lima was the owner of ‘it cosmetics’. She sold this company for over a 1 billion dollars to makeup giant L’Oréal. You would think that is the whole story – because really, who does that? But the story instead is about the grit it takes and the self-doubt that needed to be conquered before she could trust herself.

This book is a quick read and reads like a conversation. By the end of it, I felt like I had just had coffee with a friend! Her level of honesty and vulnerability about herself, her family, and her business is a refreshing change.

Here are a few lessons and aha moments I had while reading:

“Don’t take criticism from someone you would not take advice from.”
“Something has to give – the things we focus on come at the price of other things we can’t give our focus to” That had me asking what in my life has to give?
She had many question about her path into one of the world’s most competitive, cutthroat (and lucrative) industries. With $1000 in the bank and after being turned down by 23 banks for a loan, well, you can kind of get it why that might happen 🙂 Her response: “Energy is contagious and even though you can’t control how other people show up, you can control who you let others impact yours.”
Like most successful entrepreneurs, her success did not come easily or overnight or on a silver platter. It was a grind. She believed, above all, she would champion women and that all women were beautiful. That purpose kept her steady and focused, feeling that her biggest competitor was her need to avoid getting distracted from her purpose. She kind of sums it up with, “you might be tempted to underestimate me, but let me save you some time… don’t.”

If you need a good sit down with a motivating and purpose-driven friend who tells it like it is, then this is the book you want to read next.

*This is an unsolicited review. There are no incentives attached to this.

Uncategorized

December 14, 2021

Welcome to the story cafe

We are launching the Story Café!

Some of the best stories are heard, and told nestled into a cozy café, tunes vibing in the background sipping on something wonderful.

We can’t resist wanting to recreate that right here. A warm and friendly space to share opinions, fresh as a croissant insight, and ideas that you might want to swirl around for a while.

Like any coffee date you can’t predict the conversation and that is how it will be here. We are going to let this concept be fluid, creative, and fun.

The café will also give you the opportunity to curl up with stories from Bronwen Malloy! A most fabulous addition to the Story Co.! Personal tales about what she is thinking about and what is shaking up her world.

She is a fabulous storyteller and she will tell you her story in our next Story Café post.

We hope the Story Café will be a chance for you to sip on some inspiration, feed your creativity, and indulge in positivity.

I’ve always considered myself to be a rebel of sorts – stuck between practicality versus passion, but choosing passion in hopes that it would lead to something “practical”. Do you ever feel that same pull between passion and practicality?

Usually, I am led by my drive to integrate both work and play – this consistent nudge has pushed me to pursue writing as a means to fill me up creatively and intellectually.

I am perpetually in awe of people’s stories – fascinated by their experiences and how their lives have led them in certain directions. This is one of the many reasons why I love traveling. Meeting people from every corner of the world, listening to their stories, and loving how they could be so vastly different (and sometimes even startlingly similar) to my own, and yet, here we both are.

Having completed my undergraduate degree in English Literature, with a certificate in Public Relations, I am thrilled to be putting my skills and background to use through projects with The Story Co.

On the Story Café, I’ll be sharing thoughts, findings, insights into a range of topics surrounding connection, storytelling, and purpose. The aim of these posts is to leave you thinking about things a little bit differently… and (hopefully) leave you feeling a little bit more inspired than you had been before.

Cheers,
Bronwen