My Pivot Story | Restarting in Retail #1

Top in sales in less than a month of me pulling a weekend/holiday retail position! .... you read that right, $900 per hour!

Greetings Network!

As I make a pivot to better optimize my marketing communications, strategy, and business development skills into a more viable option for my intended audiences I decided to take on a holiday retail position at Ralph Lauren in Niagara Falls.

The luxury brand has ALWAYS been one of my favorites, i.e. a few weeks before seeking an interview I mentioned in an Instagram Story that to "keep up with the cool kids" in high school I would thrift Polo Pony shirts in excess.

When I took a step back to think on if this position was right for my career, I remembered that each and every pivot in my many years of working was anchored in retail.

I worked at The GAP in Ann Arbor, MI as I paid my way through college at the University of Michigan. Before I worked for Blue Cross, I managed merchandising and sales for an Italian import and gift shoppe in Birmingham, MI. Before I launched my first brand in San Antonio, I held down roles at The GAP and Nordstrom Rack - each taught me key principles about interaction, consumer economics, merchandising and hospitality. Skills I no doubt took with me into corporate and entrepreneurial roles as a public relations professional and ambassador.

But this experience has been different. I am older now, and I am in a new city - so I am more observant. To be honest, the first thing I recognized in this role is that I had never really looked at my retail positions from the POV of a Store Manager. The team leads here have bombarded me with metrics that have helped me improve my integrations in quick sales opportunities - I am more spry in my KPI than I've ever been! And reaching TOP in sales, almost $21K in my first month of working here is the confidence boost I needed to be more effective, amplify my style/fashion expertise, and remain openminded during this career transition journey I have embarked upon.

#YayMe

Originally, I made this post to mark my new employment and celebrate a milestone. I included a photo of the sales leaderboard, that listed my name at the top, plus the names of my co-workers. Not 48-hours after posting it, my general manager pulled me aside and mentioned a privacy-risk in my post and requested that I take the photo down. She referenced a "policy", and while I considered questioning it, I reclined in my position as a 'mere' brand ambassador and complied.

This experience would be my first NEW lesson in my new pivot.

You see, as a consultant and business development insider I would have countered in a phased approach to ensuring my platform isn't being censored unnecessarily. To do this I'd have to ensure I didn't tiptoe into an assumptive phase, i.e. "Who's the person from corporate? Can I read the policy?" Because who wants to be interrogated? We're already asked "Are there any more in the back?" literally ALL DAY!

And entering a mentorship phase would have been completely out of line for not only my role in the store, but my own personal-professional boundaries I'd set when I entered this environment.

Those boundaries included,

• (1) I will not start preaching from the good book of entrepreneurship to my coworkers,
• (2) I will not make this store or my coworkers my newest pro-bono clients, and lastly
• (3) I will do the best job I can do according to the job description and the goals as they are illustrated by the managers of which I am not among the tally.

You see - Christian the Pivot Phase Princess - would have no doubt objected to this request.

I would have referenced the first all-team meeting I attended when this specific GM mentioned that the employees should all have LinkedIn accounts, for reference most of the brand ambassadors are much younger, the majority are recent high school graduates or currently college students, they have not configured a need to network just yet. I'd then inquire if I had the capacity to instruct the other top producers on how to engage with my growingly popular post by tagging themselves and commenting. And lastly, I would compile a digital recognition timeline that would identify top performers across the retail brand's platforms in an effort to depict a global family of aspiring successful brand ambassadors.

Alas, the shoulda-woulda-coulda phase ... the only optimal approach to responding to this situation. The phase where I consider opening the floor to commentary, mentorship, and shared learning to encourage or inspire changes in systems that may limit visibility, and thus opportunities, to vital ambassadors.

I've been privileged to meet some awesome digital strategists in my careers - as well as a few "work" enthusiasts from HR pros to placement engineers.

I've already considered how this action and response been re-worked to increase engagement for the brand and its leadership as well as my storyline and journey?

Should I consider this level of surveillance a threat or an opportunity?

Working for a large, retail brand like this - I am sure there are failsafe brands that manage reputation across regions and languages. My post was escalated in the direction it was supposed to - as a review. No biggie. I actively tagged the brand; I wanted it to be seen.

But are there organizations that provide oversight across buzzing conversations with the goal of improving work-life balance across satellite locations?

Note: No doubt this is an opportunity - but that's a post for another day.

Also, why didn't I get a screenshot of the comments - some of my favorite mentors were congratulating me! Lastly, since posting, deleting, writing, editing, and second-guessing THIS post, I have since been re-named the highest earner for the store.

No mentorship to offer? What is the lesson you think that I learned in this experience?