Retail Pride: The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career

Hello, Book Thinkers family. Today we're doing a couple things. We are celebrating retail. We are filming a video review with the most amazing view that I'll show you at the end of today's video. And we are wearing green. We are going green because today's book is Retail Pride by Ron Thurston. There are a couple stats that blew my mind in the beginning of this book and that I can also relate to. Did you know that 6 in 10 Americans have held a position in some sort of retail job and that almost 1/3 of Americans start their professional careers with a job in retail? I know that I did. I started in an ice cream shop in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. My parents had a summer house up there. I got a job serving ice cream to people and manning the cash register. And that's a job in retail. It's taking sort of a B2B good, which was ice cream, and serving it to the general public. And I loved that job. It taught me so much. It taught me so much that has led into my sales profession and then Book Thinkers. So I'm so happy for retail. And today I want to celebrate it because a lot of people accidentally find themselves in retail. And this book right here is meant to teach you how to celebrate your accidental career and also take advantage of it and move to the next pillars of retail management and leadership and things of that nature. So I'd like to read right out of the introduction here. Ron does a fantastic job at framing what this book is all about, and by the end of this right here, you're going to know whether or not it's a good fit for you or somebody in your family. So, introduction: everyone, everywhere, every day. That's how big this is. Everyone in the world is impacted When I think about the size, scale, and positive influence of this industry, it gives me great joy because I know there are millions of people who love working in retail and they need to be celebrated. Can you feel the celebration energy? And the cars going by. Retail is woven into every city in this country. It's where most teenagers get their first job. It's where friends meet to hang out, and it's the industry that comes together most often when communities face a natural disaster, need a donation drive, or see an opportunity to raise money for a cause. Small businesses, especially retail stores, often contribute to the heart of a community, uh, where business associations and local government work collectively to preserve the character of their town. As advocates for the industry, we have an unparalleled ability to create compelling, positive economic impact and rally our teams around causes. So I know a lot of people in retail that aren't very happy about working in retail, and sometimes it's seen as a little bit of a negative job. It's like, ah, I work retail to pay the bills, but I don't really know how this is going to progress. And this book is a fantastic resource, not only for you to appreciate and be grateful for the opportunities that you currently have and are working, but it will give you direction and a path to use to progress your career to the next level. And that's what I thought was so special about this book. Ron has tons of leadership experience and recommendations. He has tons of public speaking and storytelling experience in recommendations. As an example, there's this cool quote kind of towards the end of the book where Ron says, listen, the same story told by 2 different people can have a very big impact. It can either be uplifting and engaging, it can be inspirational, or it can just hit deaf ears because you're a terrible speaker. And so what are some ways to be a more engaging storyteller? And how can you leverage that in a retail position? And just on and on and on and on. There are so many good recommendations in this book. And you know what? People think retail is dying too. I read another book on retail and then this second one that said, listen, over 80% of transactions are still done in a physical location despite COVID, despite Amazon taking over the world. Retail is as important as it ever has been. And if you take the most, the 50 biggest retailers as an example, Ron says most of them still have in-person locations. It's not going away anytime soon. So if you aspire to be in a retail position, if you aspire to grow in your existing retail position. I would really, really, really recommend reading this book. Ron did a fantastic job. The COVID is beautiful. And anyway, I had a fun time reading it. I also come from a family where my mom has been in retail her entire life, and my dad works in sales. He's one step outside of retail, but he has a lot of day-to-day interaction with people that are in retail. So it's close to my heart. Like I said, Ron, you did a great job. Now I want to show everybody this beautiful view in Colombia because it's pretty spectacular. So here we go. Woo! Spin this around. Look at that. That is why I had such amazing lighting, is because of this beautiful view. Check out all the different colors in the greenery. Ron Thurston with the green retail pride. All right, have a good day, everybody.