Material Retail Dumps

Welcome to material retail dumps episode seven. This is the first episode in a series of episodes about hiring, retaining and engaging employees. I think managing employees is arguably the most important and challenging part about being a business owner, whether you have one employee or a hundred employees you'll want to tune in in the first episode, we'll speak with Rachel from whistle and Oklahoma. Rachel, answer a few questions and shed some light on her. Very unique way of tackling these challenges. All right, so today's guest is, uh, Rachel from whistle in Oklahoma. Um, Rachel is, has been a business owner for a long time and I'll let, uh, Rachel introduce herself.

Thanks, Elliot. I appreciate you having me on the podcast. Yes. I'm the owner of whistle boutique in Shawnee. We are an all things gift shop.

Nice. That's awesome. So jumping right in, I've seen the hashtag whistle whistle dolls for life a lot. Um, and there's not a lot of retail employees that wanna identify with their jobs. Um, so first tell us what a whistle doll is and how how'd that come into being

. Sure. Uh, so I started the business seven years ago and I had a pretty young staff at the time and I wanted to refer to them as something tied to the business. And so they actually self named themselves as the whistle dolls. Uh, you know, it was kind of a time when, um, the Kardashians were doing their boutiques about seven years ago. And so everybody was kind of identifying, um, with that retail. I know that was a short blip, right, for like two seconds, but my whistle dolls have owned it and now they run a hashtag called whistle dolls for life. They also have their own private Facebook page. They call themselves like whistle alum, and then they use that, uh, network to, um, continue to get jobs or share jobs for those that, you know, now seven years later, they're in different places in the retail business anywhere from, you know, buying handbags for, um, a major brand to managing and being the trainers at another retail BA brand. And so as they've grown, they've used the, the whistle network, um, to continue to pursue their careers. And so it's really great. Um, I love my whistle dolls. They start with me when they're much younger, you know, anywhere between like 15 and 18 years old. And, uh, some of them, you know, I've got them in California to New York and kind of everywhere in between. Uh, and they all started right here in Oklahoma.

Wow. That's amazing. It's really cool to see how you think about, uh, your employees as not, not only employees, right. Their, their people. Yeah. And, um, it's really cool how they form their own community around your business and, and that must be really helpful. Um, so we've been hearing from a lot of business owners that it's been really hard to find entertained workers. So a, have you been having those issues and B how did your whistle dolls help you deal with those issues?

Yeah, so, um, you know, I, I own multiple businesses as you mentioned, and yes, finding great help is, uh, a challenge for all of us, with there being about 2 million more positions available than there are people. And so, yes, I get it. Uh, but with whistle, I do have a unique situation in the sense that, um, one, most, all of my whistle dolls that, uh, started with me at the beginning of COVID, if there's school arrangement has remained the same, they're still with me. Um, they've been kind of through the trenches with me, which part of my model is to teach them how to run a business. And so I was actually really inclusive with them in the decisions I was making during COVID. So they helped me decide whether we were gonna stay open or clothes or whether we were gonna wear masks or not wear masks.

And so they got to be a part of that decision. Um, and so I think that also created a, another layer of loyalty, um, from them. But the other part is, uh, no one working for me, um, at this time is working for me just for a paycheck, right? So the, the greater goal of whistle is that if they agree to work with me for two years, um, my plan for them is that after two years, uh, they'll both have the confidence and the skillset to run their own business. If they, one day choose and running their own business may be the business of their home, or it may be a boutique or the little girl that I interviewed today. Uh, she one day wants to own Earl nail salon. And so the idea is that they're learning how to run the business. And I think what I find today, especially from millennials and younger, is that if we can explain to them why they're doing the job, there's just another layer of loyalty that comes from them.

Uh, my generation, we went to work and we just stayed because the boss said so, and we stayed longer than them because that was the rule. And it was a different programming where now, um, they're not gonna stay just because that's what it looks like, the right thing to do. They actually wanna understand why they're doing that things are doing. And so I think that my training model is really a great fit for, uh, the millennials and younger right now, because that's actually how they wanna work. They wanna work at a place where they know why they're doing what they're doing.

Right, right. Yeah. Gone are the days where you could just tell someone to do something and they do it.

Great.

That's totally gone. So how long does the average whistle bell stay with your business?

So my goal for each of them, when I hire them is to try to keep them at least two years. And so knowing that I'm dealing with high school and college students two years sometimes looks like two years. And sometimes that looks like four years, but, uh, holidays and weekends kind of thing. And so a across my staff right now, um, I have those, who've been with me that just started in the, the summer of this year. And then I have three girls who are in either their second, third or fourth year of college. And so, uh, I try to keep them two years because as boutique owners know, I mean, the onboarding, the teaching them of the product and the POS system and your, and your systems, you know, I just try to be super careful on the front end, because if I get 'em on board, I really wanna try to keep them, even if it means they, you know, the, the girls that came back for the summer who just worked, you know, June and July, uh, I'll take 'em right, cuz they're already educated on my systems. They know what I expect and they can train the next gen. So I'm looking for two years plus, but I think the important part that I remember and others remember is that I am an entry boutique and they are on a journey through my hiring. And so they're never gonna be with me forever. And the sooner I adjust my systems and processes to, to facilitate that and make that a pleasant experience for both of us, the, the better off I am. And so I know they're coming and they're going in about two years. Wow.

That's uh, that's really cool. And two years is definitely long for, I think, for the retail world. Um, so obviously it seems like there's a lot of benefits to having a program like this. And if I was a, a boutique owner and I wanted to start implementing some sort of program like yours, where, where would I start? What's the first couple steps you would take?

I think LA at the most important part is like, what is, what is your passion and your vision for, for your employees and your store and you have to align those. And so my passion, my vision is I want to teach young women how to run a business and it's, it's the legacy beyond whistle and beyond Rachel. And so the first thing I would say to you is like, what is your goal and objective? And that's the start of the program. The second thing is, is actually commit it to writing, commit your program to writing. Uh, we all are more efficient and more dedicated if we kind of commit a structure to writing. And then the last thing I would do is, um, you know, just remember the things that people did for you, right. And, and how that helped you when you very first started. And what do you wish you would've known and start sharing? Uh, the, the one thing you can do is share the information and the knowledge that you have with other people. It, you don't have to keep it to yourself.

Totally. Well. I love that. That was amazing. Well, thank you so much. I know I could have went on forever, uh, with this conversation. I think it's great. We'll definitely do a part two one day, but thank you so much for sharing. Uh, we really appreciate it.

Thanks Elliot.