How This Fabric Store Increased Profits by 40%
Bringing Business to Retail
What does it take to build a retail business that is profitable, deeply connected to its community, and still growing years after opening? In this episode, Salena chats with Jill Schuler, CEO of The Stitchery Studio, a fabric shop and studio that has grown from one person's dream into a thriving creative community. Since opening in 2017, Jill has taken a considered approach to modern textiles, combining retail with education, creativity and connection. The result is a business that gives customers a reason to keep coming back, while continuing to evolve and grow. And the numbers are worth...
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How to Make More Money From the Stock You Already Have
Bringing Business to Retail
Somewhere in your product catalogue, there's revenue you're missing, sitting in data you're not tracking. In this episode of Bringing Business to Retail, Salena Knight sits down with Leon Bart-Williams, a former Amazon sales leader and founder of a retail technology platform, to talk about how the world's biggest retailers use product data to make decisions, and how independent retailers can use the same thinking. Leon draws on his time at Amazon and NBCUniversal to explain why looking past top-line sales numbers reveals hidden profit, shows you why customers pick one variant over another, and...
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The Stupidest Thing I Ever Bought For My Store
Bringing Business to Retail
What if the biggest mistake you ever made in your business wasn't actually a mistake at all? In this episode, Salena shares the story of the most ridiculous purchase she ever made for her retail store - a box of decorative sew-on barrettes that had absolutely no place in an eco baby boutique. Nearly 20 years later, she found them again while packing up her house, and they reminded her of one of the biggest lessons every retailer needs to learn before peak season. As Q4 approaches, retailers everywhere are making critical buying decisions. Should you reduce your order to fit your cash flow?...
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She Lost Everything. Then Built a $50 Million Dollar Business.
Bringing Business to Retail
Jennifer Ann Johnson knows what it's like to lose everything and start again. After rebuilding from the ground up, she created True Fashionistas into a $50 million resale business while discovering that confidence isn't something you're born with. It's something you build. In this conversation with Salena Knight, Jennifer shares the lessons she's learned about resilience, leadership, business growth, personal branding, and creating long-term success without losing yourself in the process. We discuss: Jennifer's journey from model and actress to entrepreneur Losing everything and rebuilding...
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How This Retailer Quadrupled Orders in Just a Few Weeks
Bringing Business to Retail
What would you do if your orders suddenly quadrupled in just a few weeks? For one retailer, a simple change to her shipping strategy delivered exactly that. Orders surged, the Shopify notifications kept coming, and it looked like she'd found the perfect way to increase sales. But was it really a win? In this episode, Salena Knight shares the story behind a coaching call that uncovered what was really happening beneath the surface. While the increase in orders looked like a huge success, the numbers told a more nuanced story, highlighting why every retailer needs to look beyond revenue before...
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The Safe Choice That's Draining Your Cashflow Right Now
Bringing Business to Retail
Playing it safe feels responsible. It feels sensible. But what if it's the thing keeping your business from growing? In this episode, Salena shares one of the most pivotal moments in her retail journey, and unpacks why the safe decision is often the most expensive one a business owner makes. From setting conservative revenue goals to avoiding difficult conversations, underpricing products, and under-ordering best sellers, you'll learn how loss aversion shapes the decisions you make every day. Those decisions can feel logical in the moment, but they often carry a hidden cost that limits what...
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The Real Reason You're Still Doing Everything Yourself
Bringing Business to Retail
Think you're the only one who can do it properly? That belief might be the thing keeping your business from growing. If you've ever caught yourself saying "it's just quicker if I do it myself," this one's for you. This week, Salena Knight exposes one of the biggest hidden traps in scaling a retail or ecommerce business. It has nothing to do with working harder, hiring more people, or finding a better way of doing things. It's about the habits that keep you at the centre of everything, and why you don't always notice you're doing it. Salena gets into why founders end up being the bottleneck in...
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How to Find the Money That You're Leaving On the Table
Bringing Business to Retail
Are you working harder than ever but still feeling like profits aren't where they should be? With rising wages, increasing software subscriptions, higher freight costs, and customers becoming more selective about how they spend their money, many retail and ecommerce business owners are finding themselves squeezed from every direction. The natural reaction is often to focus on getting more customers through the door or driving more traffic to the website. But what if the biggest opportunity for growth isn't outside your business at all? In this episode of the Bringing Business to Retail...
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How to Get Customers to Say Yes
Bringing Business to Retail
Why do customers ignore review requests, newsletter signups, and referral programs even when they love your products? In this episode of the Bringing Business to Retail podcast, Salena Knight shares a simple but powerful communication strategy that can help retail and ecommerce businesses increase customer participation without changing their marketing systems or spending more money on advertising. Using examples from both physical stores and online retail, Salena explains why customers are more likely to say yes when requests are framed around helping others rather than helping the business....
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Do You Feel Guilty When Customers Spend Big?
Bringing Business to Retail
Do you find yourself feeling guilty when customers spend a significant amount of money in your store? You're not alone. Many retailers feel uncomfortable when customers make large purchases. Instead of celebrating the sale, they worry the customer will change their mind, question the value, or think they've spent too much. In this mini episode, Salena shares the story of her first $1,000 sale and a coaching conversation with retailer Kevin about the tendency to offer discounts customers never asked for. If you've ever second-guessed your prices or felt uncomfortable when customers spend big,...
info_outlineYou know that moment when you place a stock order and feel equal parts excited and anxious. You’ve done the maths. You’ve picked the colours. You’ve crossed your fingers.
And then the stock arrives… and it doesn’t sell the way you hoped.
In this episode, Salena breaks down why ordering stock on hope is one of the biggest reasons retailers end up with cash stuck on shelves, reactive marketing, and constant discounting. You’ll learn why selling should never be the reward for ordering, how treating selling as the starting line changes cash flow, and why most retailers aren’t bad buyers – they’re just starting in the wrong place.
This isn’t about buying less or playing it safe. It’s about flipping the order of operations so you stop guessing what will work and start making buying decisions based on proof, not belief.
Inside the episode:
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Why ordering stock first quietly creates cash flow pressure
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The difference between customer interest and real demand
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How slow-moving inventory leads to fear-based buying decisions
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Why discounting trains customers to wait instead of buy
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How selling before ordering reduces risk and pulls cash forward
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Why selling is the filter – not the reward – for ordering stock
Ready to sell before you order? Get the Pre-Sales Campaign Toolkit: https://salenaknight.com/toolkit