Ana Maria Muñoz, author of "OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream," knows this journey intimately. From her early days of mindful backroom sessions—palms pressed together, setting intentions for each day—to the brilliant burnout that followed when routine replaced reflection, she's lived the full spectrum of entrepreneurial seasons.

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This is an audio version of the Substack, OPEN for Growth, by Ana Maria Muñoz

Explore more …

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

Let's work together

... Empty retail space creates an opportunity for another entrepreneur to share their passions, interests, and expertise with the community. It’s an opportunity for the entire ecosystem.

How can we create and offer value to our customers and streetscape so that we stick around as long as we choose to? So that it’s our decision to make … to stay or close, and be loved or missed either way?

Endings are beginnings, and beginnings are endings. Sometimes both feel obvious but when it comes to entrepreneurship, we actually get to choose how we begin and end each day, week, month, and year in more ways than we’re aware of. We get to choose how we nurture our passions, interests, and expertise and how we share them with our community.

Let my ramble be a reminder of the time you have right now with your dream, whatever stage it’s in. Do your best. Don’t take it for granted. Make your own opportunities every day.

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This is an audio version of the Substack, OPEN for Growth, by Ana Maria Muñoz

Explore more …

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

Let's work together

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This is an audio version of the Substack, OPEN for Growth, by Ana Maria Muñoz

Explore more …

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

Let's work together

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy my book:

OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

“As a fellow boutique shop owner, I believe this book is a gift to those who plan to start a retail shop. Ana Maria honestly reveals her experience as a shopkeeper. It’s a case study full of lessons learned and great tips for running a shop. She also describes the evolution of the business as it grows from sole owner to a business with staff and a community that embraces them.”

— Kelly Wohlgenant Owner Retro Modern Furnishings

From the joys and celebrations that prompt purchases, to the heavy stresses of life that call for a form retail therapy … we have no idea what’s going on in their world as they browse what’s on the shelves.

It is the Shopkeeper’s job to welcome them in and practice Non-JAR.

What in the world is “Non-JAR”??

Listen to find out.

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This is an audio version of the Substack, OPEN for Growth, by Ana Maria Muñoz

Explore more …

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

Let's work together

I want to offer something. And since I don’t know who’s listening to this, and your particular business and situation, I offer these words that really landed for me during a recent yoga class ...

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This is an audio version of the Substack, OPEN for Growth, by Ana Maria Muñoz

Explore more …

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

OPEN For Growth on Instagram

Let's work together

So, whenever the Marketing 101 SWOT Analysis comes up, I’m ready to share my reframe of the competition part of the “T” with anyone nearby.

In today’s post, I’m talking about the "T" as it refers to Competition. Specifically, how we can view their “threat” through a different lens.

When we see our collective businesses as options instead of competition that aims to “inflict pain, damage,” or seek “retribution” for opening for business, we can see that we all want the same things.

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This is an audio version of the Substack, OPEN for Growth, by Ana Maria Muñoz

Explore more …

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

OPEN For Growth on Instagram

Let's work together

We’re constantly growing and evolving as we open ourselves up to new ways of thinking, doing, and being within our businesses and lives.

Because of that, it was time to shift gears and bring OPEN for Growth to Substack.

Press play to hear more about the change and what to expect.

Desire met vision and passion, and combined with time and place. The moment to say YES to the calling was now, not later or one day. Your store’s “Open” sign would be hung and nothing stood in your way.

The Shopkeeper Dream is a desire to share what you’re passionate about by creating a physical place where these passions can delight others. This shared physical place benefits your customers and community, and personally fulfills you creatively and professionally. The dream is built from scratch, or purchased from another dreamer and continued in your own light.

Excitement. Passion. Adrenaline. These and other high-energy feelings can fuel the launch of a Shopkeeper Dream. You jump into an existing Commercial + Community Ecosystem eager to make an impression and contribution with your eye-catching storefront. You give many s***s about the neighborhood you’re investing in by setting up shop. You care deeply about connecting people to the objects on display. Your vision creates an experience.

As a Shopkeeper you become an integral part of the community … a local personality of sorts. You’re recognized by your customers and community members when you’re out buying groceries or taking the kids to school. You might join local organizations if not support them through in-kind donations and sponsorships. You’ll develop a camaraderie with peers across retail, hospitality and services — it’s a club and you become a proud card carrying member.

We go all in with our businesses, hoping and praying that our vision, creation, and relentless labour gets seen and supported.

We want the business — The Dream — to work. We want it to make an impact. To add value. To offer delight. Most important, because it’s a business, we need it to make a profit so we can make a living doing what we love to do. But even with the best intentions, we can unknowingly sabotage our own dream.

I was fortunate to live my Shopkeeper Dream for five years after a lifetime of passing empty storefronts and imagining what I’d create within their four walls. I loved it, mostly, but I know now that I would have enjoyed living my Shopkeeper Dream more — and grown the business to its true potential — had I known myself better. I now see just how personal business can be and I’m determined to push conversations around entrepreneurship and personal development being two sides of the same coin. Getting personal is essential.

Owning and operating a retail store was not my ultimate calling, but it was my greatest lesson and catalyst for personal growth. I’m grateful for that brick and mortar chapter of my adventures in retail entrepreneurship — I got to open, operate, and evolve.

Every Shopkeeper’s journey is different yet similar, and I believe that all points across opening, operating, and evolving, must include Taking Personal Inventory. The Shopkeeper Dream, and journey, requires it.

Like a retail store's ever-changing inventory, we, too, are ever-changing. We require frequent and thorough check-ins to keep things in order and operating at a healthy and sustainable capacity. We must check in with ourselves, learn to tune into our energies, and be willing to dig through the darkest corner in our Personal Backroom to search for the circumstances, beliefs or habits that may be throwing us off.

It's easy to present a neatly organized store (or self) that looks like it has its s**t together. But the backroom, the stockroom, the storage room, whatever you call it ... that's where things get real and messy, and a closer look is required. This is the space inside of us where we pull up our sleeves, take a big breath, and go deeper.

Why do we need to go so deep? Because as a Shopkeeper, there will be slow days and moments when you will feel like you’re in a glass fish tank surrounded by the things you think are worth sharing. Just you in your fish tank, hoping that someone comes in and likes something enough to buy it so that you can pay rent. Just you in your fish tank, wearing your creative heart on your sleeve for all to see and critique by way of your taste, decor, and how the entire store looks at any given moment (big arrival and unboxing days make it that tough!). It can feel vulnerable. The more clarity you have about why you’re in this fish tank — why you started the store in the first place — the better and more enjoyable the swim will be.

This vulnerability makes it easy to focus outside of ourselves when starting out. I unknowingly focused on the externalities of my business idea and let my work resume full of prior retail experiences and skill sets take the lead. I used external data points and pragmatic operational checklists to fuel my vision. What I didn’t do as well, or perhaps at all because it’s not easy to do, is take a journey inward to determine how to best operate and enjoy my Shopkeeper Dream. I confused knowing my skill sets and present mindset with knowing my heartset, the part of me that intimately understands my fears and desires, my blocks and clear runways, my optimal conditions versus my kryptonite. Letting your heartset take the lead when launching, operating, and evolving the Shopkeeper Dream will yield vastly more positive results. For you, your business, and your community.

Whether you’re looking at your first location or considering your third, it’s key that you’re honest with yourself about your goals, hopes, fears, and what your life will be like considering your season of life. If you want to paint a picture, it’s best to know what you’re painting and the tools and materials that are available to you.

Too many how-to books and retail experts focus on utilitarian checklists while matters of the heart are cliff-noted or left out altogether. That’s why I wrote OPEN: Big Lessons In Small Retail And Living The Shopkeeper Dream. I want to help retail entrepreneurs paint a better picture, wherever they may be in the process. OPEN is the book that I wish I’d read before opening my dream store and reread while operating and closing it. The intention is less how-to build and more how-to be because being true to your truest self can be the hardest this to do.

I was given then Shopkeeper Dream for a reason, and so were you.

From the soul to the sales floor, honor and celebrate your Shopkeeper role because it’s bound to bring you experiences you could never anticipate. And isn’t that beautiful? To be drawn to something so intensely that you’re willing to take the chance to figure it out as you go? Living the Shopkeeper Dream is an act of vulnerability and empowerment. Insanity and clarity. A manifestation of the world you wish to see. And perhaps, subconsciously, the person you wish to become.

You hang your store’s Open sign to let people know you’re open for business, but it says so much more than “come on in” — it’s a reflection back to you: you’re OPEN for personal growth. Growth can be fun and it can be painful, and it’s certain that you’ll experience the full range of emotions across joy and struggle on any given day. Entrepreneurship can look like risk wrapped up in play and passion, so let each sign flip be a reminder of the life you’re living: A Shopkeeper lifestyle that was once a vision of your mind and pull of the heart. Give yourself a high-five for going for it, and grace for growing with it.

Stay OPEN,

AMM

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My book:

OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

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Signage S.O.S.

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

Don't be an entrepreneurial martyr like me — Plan to pay yourself from the get-go.

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This is an audio version of the Substack, Retail Rookie, by Ana Maria Muñoz

Show Notes:

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

Retail Rookie post: No Profit Like Beckham

OPEN For Growth on Instagram

Let's work together

From this "Episode":

"I've mentioned the practice of Taking Personal Inventory in a few posts but have yet to elaborate on what it is and where the concept came from. Well, as one of my favorite Lizzo songs says, "It's about damn time!""

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YES = Your Energetic Spark

Business is personal

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

From this "Episode":

"The festive season starts months before customers see anything related to it on the sales floor and in your marketing. So, what do we consider when planning that marketing? How do we consider sales goals and the value we offer to those who shop with us?"

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Shop! Association article

Setting The Table book by Danny Meyer

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

From this "Episode":

"I imagined the founders saying “clean your damn shoes!” to their friends and family and building a business around it.

Sometimes phrases like this can launch a business. Pain points become ideas and ideas offer solutions.

Other times useful phrases to describe your business can develop after you’ve been in business for a while and get clearer on what you do and who you do it for. Your next tagline could come from your very own pain point or point of inspiration."

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Sneaker Laundry

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

From this "Episode":

"Degrees may vary but you’re personally intertwined with your business whether you like it or not. Your business will go through evolutions, just like you. Your business will go through challenging times, just like you. Your business will thrive in different seasons, just like you. Even if you’re not the face of the business or operate it on the daily, your influences, beliefs and values are all over it."

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The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck. book by Mark Manson

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

There’s Christmas in July, and then there’s planning for Christmas in August. The festive season starts months before customers see anything related to it on the sales floor and in your marketing. So, what do we consider when planning that marketing? How do we consider sales goals and the value we offer to those who shop with us?

I came across this short piece from Shop! Association as it relates to marketing fatigue and the Christmas season:

Two thirds of consumers (67%) expect to be wrestling with “marketing fatigue” by Nov. 1, a new survey from customer-led marketing platform Optimove has found. Such fatigue occurs when consumers feel overwhelmed by the volume or repetition of brand messages, leading to reduced engagement and negative perceptions.

The survey results mean “… it will be critical that brands engage with consumers to enhance their relationships – not alienate or overwhelm consumers with irrelevant impersonal messages,”

Irrelevant and impersonal messages … we all know what these look like. We have been known to put these out into the world ourselves! They happen, and they’re OK in the grand scheme of things. However, we can’t default and dwell in the “new arrivals” and “pretty in pink” messages that can plague newsletters, websites, and social media copy. Relevant, yes — you may have something new and pretty in pink to share, but could we dig deeper to connect with your audience? Absolutely.

If your latest arrival creates a sense of calm in the home, paint the picture through words or visuals.

If your best seller evokes joy through vibrant colors, paint the picture through words or visuals.

You get the idea.

Tell us more! Tell us what spoke to you when deciding to bring that product into your store. What was your vision of how people might enjoy the object and how it could add value to their everyday day at home, work, on the go, or at play?

Beyond merchandise, how are you connecting with your customers in-store and online?

Do you know the names of your regulars? Do you respond to their love notes on socials with more than a “thanks!"? Are you getting to know them when they enter the store … or as Danny Meyer shares in his book Setting The Table, are you turning over rocks?

Meyer was inspired to “turn over rocks” after a fly-fishing experience with a guide who showed him the thriving underside of an otherwise unassuming rock. The bottom was full of tiny aquatic insects hatching on the rock, which informed them of the best artificial fly or bait to use in that location. Only by picking up the rock and turning it over could they have made this connection.

“I took a valuable business lesson back home to New York. There’s always a story behind a story if you look for it; and you can augment your success at ‘hooking’ customers by taking the care, time, and interest to look …

… It’s human nature for people to take precisely as much interest in you as they believe you’re taking in them. There’s no stronger way to build relationships than taking a genuine interest in other human beings and allowing them to share their stories. When we take an active interest in the guests at our restaurants, we create a sense of community and a feeling of “shared ownership.”

Shared ownership develops when guests talk about a restaurant as if it’s theirs. They can’t wait to share it with friends, and what they’re really sharing, beyond the culinary experience, is the experience of feeling important and loved. That sense of affiliation, invariably leading to repeat business, a necessity for any company’s long-term survival.

And it all starts by turning over the rocks.

I’m constantly reminding our staff members to initiate a relationship with our guests whenever it’s appropriate.

I love that because we get to paint pictures and turn over rocks, every day in our stores.

We get to take curiosity and connection to new levels across product knowledge and one-on-one conversations.

We get to create our community one post and in-store engagement at a time.

The beauty is that once we’ve built a community, marketing for and during the Christmas season is already taken care of.

Stay OPEN,

AMM

Know someone who would enjoy this post and newsletter? Let them know you’re thinking of them :)

My book:

OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

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Their window has a glowing sign that reads “clean your damn shoes.” It’s more than an invitation to stop and wonder if your shoes do in fact need cleaning, it’s a statement for what Sneaker Laundry cares about: helping us fall in love with our shoes again.

I imagined the founders saying “clean your damn shoes!” to their friends and family and building a business around it.

Sometimes phrases like this can launch a business. Pain points become ideas and ideas offer solutions...

Join me on Substack at https://retailrookie.substack.com

From this "Episode":

"Personal self-worth can create ease or friction in business, whether or not you have financial buffers or safety nets … So, when someone like Victoria Beckham makes the news for not making a profit, and there's seemingly no shame around it—just more passion and work—I say hallelujah. We’re all better for it."

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Beckham Netfilx Documentary

Victoria Beckham + Mango The Guardian article

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

Episode Notes:

Retail Brew article

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Read my new book OPEN — Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream

From this "episode":

"When we give joy, we get joy. In these times of increased living costs and the ever-evolving customer and retail landscape, giving your time, resources, and expertise can be a win-win for you, your customers, and your community...Money is an energetic exchange, and if, like money, everything is energy, and you exchange that energy for good, what might be possible?"

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Setting the Table by Danny Meyer

My book: OPEN: Big Lessons in Small Retail and Living the Shopkeeper Dream