Sales Strategy
Jimmy DeGroot: Entrepreneur, Manager and Technician August 22, 2024 (0 comments)
Green Bay, WI--Shane reminded me of a book I needed to read, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Shane Woodruff of Crocker’s Jewelers in Texarkana is a very wise man and when we were chatting a few months back, he spoke of how this book had changed his life. I ordered it from Audible while we were still on the phone and when we got off, I dove in.
The E-Myth Revisited is about sharply defining what you want your life to be like and just how you want your business to give you a life and not a job. I absolutely love this book because it so perfectly reflects what we teach in our Train Retail training videos.
Michael talks about the importance of the three roles of business, the entrepreneur, the manager and the technician. When we run into unhappiness in our businesses, it’s usually because we don’t have the proper balance of these three roles, whether these are three individual people or one person dividing her work into these three segments. It’s pretty predictable really, a business typically starts out with one person who does one thing really well either on their own or working for another. This is the technician. They paint, do electrical work, bake cakes and repair jewelry very well. Then they get the bright idea to go into business for themselves. This is when stuff typically hits the fan. It can be right away or as long as five years in. The joy of doing this thing with passion fades and now the business of doing that thing takes over their life. The business now needs a manager. Their number one role is to manage the business that the entrepreneur dreams up. Of course we need an entrepreneur. This is the one who thinks creatively about where the business could go.
You can see how it’s very easy to get stuck on just one of these roles. For jewelers, this usually rears its ugly head at about $2 million in volume. The technician ran things their way from the ground up and just can’t let go to enable others to take over processes and vision. Think of where Steve Jobs would have ended up if he didn’t have Wozniak and others to help fulfill his vision. Grab a copy of the E-Myth Revisited. You can have it read by the weekend and it just might change your life like it did for Shane.
James (Jimmy) DeGroot is a professional jewelry sales and operations trainer from the jeweler’s side of the counter. Having been in management and the jewelry business for over 20 years, Jimmy offers weekly training to jewelers nationwide via the Train Retail website. Jimmy is an AGS titleholder and specializes in training relevant and timely methods for jewelry teams. He can do a full training on making Bridal Presentations the best they can be, among many other regular training options. Contact Jimmy at jimmy@trainretail.com or call 920-492-1191.