Toilet paper made from yesterday’s news. Computers made from clunkers. New tin cans made from old tin cans.

Recycling is a good thing, most of the time. Furniture recycling, however, is not a good thing for you. We’re not talking about making microfibers from plastic pop bottles, or advocating filling landfills with still-good stuff. What you don’t want is Ms. Jones recycling her old furniture when she buys new.

Sometimes Ms. Jones moves up or adds on, but mostly she just moves stuff around. Most furniture purchases are replacements of existing pieces in the home. She needs to take that old furniture and put it out of its misery. You want her to say, “Sionara!” to sagging mattress sets and, “Ciao, baby!” to crappy couches. 

Do you remove old furniture? What charities in your community could use gently-used goods? How do you help Ms. Jones free up square footage for fantastic new furniture?

Steve Jobs says, “Innovation distinguishes a leader and a follower.”

Our Partners at Profitconsulting and PROFITsystems are talking about retailer innovation:

Date: Wednesday, August 5

Time: 11:00 am Pacific |  starts at 12:00 pm Mountain, 1:00 pm Central, 2:00 pm Eastern

Cost: FREE

You’ll learn 21 innovative practices to help retailers maximize profits and cash flow from David McMahon, PROFITconsulting Senior Consultant and Furniture World Contributing Editor. You’ll also be given proven strategies highly successful retailers are using to get the upper hand on their competition. 

You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions about practical application of the practices in your business.

 for money-making, money-saving ideas.

Space is limited. Reserve your webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/361477657

Theodore Roosevelt made stuff happen.

He didn’t have the patience to sit around and see what might come from Congress. On May 6, 1903, he declared the Grand Canyon unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. Then in 1908, without even a hint of authority, he spoke our national parks system into existence using the power granted a President under the Antiquities Act. Interestingly enough, the park didn’t become official until 1919, when Woodrow Wilson finally signed the bill officially establishing Grand Canyon National Park.

I think Teddy would well understand the small business owner in America today.

In 1906, Roosevelt made his now famous Muckraker speech. Muckrakers were people who worked to reveal corruption in business and in government. The first stories about the “muckrakers” appeared In McClure’s Magazine in January, 1901.

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As I read these words today, I feel like he is talking directly to the many family business owners I have the pleasure of working with:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

Times are rough. All of the credit belongs with those of us in the arena. Speak your future into existence. Let’s agree to not be timid.

“Never buy a couch or chair unless you’ve sat on it. You spend a lot of time there, so it needs to fit your body.”

So says “home maven Angela Matusik, founder of home decorating website Shelterrific.com” in a print and online article in Woman’s Day magazine.

Huh?

Shelterrific’s “friends” and major online retailers at Living Rooms Direct might beg to differ, as do a growing number of home furnishings retailers nationwide, and as do we at The Lively Merchant.

With manufacturers joining the eCommerce world, what choice do retailers have? Should they sit back and watch sales slide in their brick and mortar stores while allowing their once-trusted vendor partners to use them as third-class distribution partners? Should they ignore Ms. Jones’ late night browsing and buying binges?

A vibrant online presence and online selling is not only necessary, it’s vital, to the survival of today’s home furnishings retailer. New solutions for product imaging and cataloguing as well as innovative delivery services and flexible return policies are making this an achievable reality for many stores whose future may be otherwise bleak.

We don’t need “industry experts” telling the customer otherwise.

People shouting, arms waving, voices rising. Bang! Bang! The judge pounds his gavel and shouts, “Order in the court! Order in the court!” The slamming gavel continues until the courtroom goes silent.

Ever notice that you don’t reach into your $10 popcorn until order is restored on the Hollywood screen? If the movie usher had come down your aisle during this scene and offered you a refill, you would have shushed him off. We can’t really relax until order is restored. Chaos breeds tension, discomfort, anxiety. It ties us up in knots. Order cuts the ropes loose.

Is shopping at your store like watching this movie? Is there so much drama and confusion that Ms. Jones is unable to concentrate or respond?

Sure, you’re going to have to pound your gavel sometimes. But does your drama ever play out on Ms. Jones’ screen? Do your run around like a headless chicken looking for pricing? Do you have to ask three different people when her order is coming in? Do you transfer her call to find out where the truck is?

Can she eat her popcorn – or pull out her wallet – while watching your show?