Creating a Diverse and Engaged Community and Shop Culture
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Creating a Diverse and Engaged Community and Shop Culture
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This episode’s guest is Shawna Macan, Manager at Mojo cycling in Bentonville, Arkansas, and a member of the 2021 Bicycle Retailer and Industry News Retailer Panel. With contagious energy and enthusiasm, she is leading a passion-filled charge for welcoming more riders and diversity into our sport and industry.
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Creating a Diverse and Engaged Community and Shop Culture
Tue, 5/18
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
ride, retailers, shop, people, women, employees, bentonville, cycling, bicycle, bike, customer, arkansas, mojo, community, bike shop, trails, cyclocross, thinking, events, industry
SPEAKERS
Heather Mason, NBDA , Shawna Macan, Rod Judd
NBDA 00:10
You are listening to bicycle retail radio brought to you by the National bicycle Dealers Association.
Heather Mason 00:16
Welcome to another episode of bicycle retail radio brought to you by the NBDA. This is President Heather Mason. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. If you’re a first time listener, be sure to check out all of our previous episodes, do us a favor and leave a review. As always, NBDA is thankful for our donors and association members. If you’d like to make a donation to the NBA, or becoming an association member, you can do so directly on our web page. A special thanks to bikeexchange for their continued support of NBDA. May is National Bike Month and bike exchange is supporting retailers nationwide. You can learn more about them at bikeexchange calm. Today’s guest is Shauna Macon manager at Mojo cycling in Bentonville, Arkansas. She is a member of the 2021 bicycle retailer and industry news retailer panel. I first met Shauna a few months ago over a conversation centered around women’s cycling. Her energy and enthusiasm is contagious. And you can tell she has passion for the sport, and welcomes more writers and diverse writers into our industry. I thought it’d be great to have a conversation with her about creating community and culture and keeping riders engaged. So without further ado, I’d like to welcome Shauna to the podcast. How are you?
Shawna Macan 01:31
I’m doing great. I’m excited to talk to you today. Oh my God, this has been a long time coming now. Right? So how is the shop and I know your manager, your must be You must be busy right now. Right? Yes, every since with me since COVID, hit a year ago, March, it’s been insane, nonstop.
Heather Mason 01:50
Did you guys have to change your operations at all and closed down for any period of time, or
Shawna Macan 01:55
we did end up closing just for a very short period of time, just because we did have a couple employees tested positive for COVID. But that was actually just here a few months ago. So we made it through the first year. Fine with all you know, we required masks, limiting customers in the store. And then of course, hand sanitizer and disinfecting the store. throughout the day. We thought we were had done great and made it through the first year. And then one of our employees was COVID positive and so we shut down the whole store disinfected it, had everybody tested, closed for a couple days and then opened back up with limited staff.
Heather Mason 02:37
So yeah, it’s definitely been, you know, to get through a whole year, right, and then have someone test positive. And it’s something we’ve never gone through before as an industry. So it’s like you think you’re doing everything, right? All the protocols in place. And now you got to kind of pivot and take care of something you thought you were on the other side of so my heart goes out to all the retailers just continuing to adapt to this situation and get through it. And you’re so involved in your community. So I’m just this conversation today. I can’t wait to see and learn about how you kept your community engaged and you kept your customers and your employees engaged. But first, I’d like to just learn more about you. Gosh, when I was looking through like some of the notes you sent me for our call today and getting to know about your background. And you know, you started out as a writer, but tell us a little bit about the listeners a little bit about how you got involved in cycling and in the industry.
Shawna Macan 03:28
Well, when I got back into cycling as an adult, my dad took me and we did RAGBRAI together and that’s where I’ve kind of refound my love of cycling. And from there, I started finding the community of cyclists, you know, in Kansas City, got introduced to cyclocross and fell in love. I mean, it was so much fun, the community, the cheering the heck lane, just like it was a fun way to get in shape.
Heather Mason 03:59
I love cyclocross, it doesn’t matter what place you’re in, because everyone’s just going around a circle. I
Shawna Macan 04:05
can’t really tell it was fantastic. So I mean, I just fell in love with it. And then I quickly realized how expensive this this hobby is. And so the little team that I was on, was sponsored by one of the local bike shops. And so I’d went in and asked if they were hiring, and they were looking for some part time help. And I was already working full time. And so I started working part time at a bike shop, because I primarily wanted the discounts. And then that just sent me down the rabbit hole and, and now I feel extremely fortunate to be able to do what I love and what I’m passionate about. I mean, it’s just been from working part time and getting involved in USA cycling and racing cyclocross and then eventually realizing that there wasn’t very many women in racing at all. There wasn’t many women showing up For the training rides for the races, there was always a lot of men, you know, they always got the good payouts, you know, that’s the cool, it was just, there was a huge void there of women. So that’s when I started, you know, at the bike shop, even just working part time, just trying to get more women to join me, because it was so much fun. It’s like, I was started talking to all my friends and harassing everybody I knew.
Heather Mason 05:30
You’re like, come out, right? I’m right,
Shawna Macan 05:32
come ride bikes with me. You know, come ride road bikes or or cyclocross or anything, just get on a bike. Let’s go have fun, you know, that we had the Katy Trail up in Missouri, the rails to trail systems that are fantastic. So I mean, there’s just so many opportunities to, to ride bikes and meet fantastic people, no matter where you go. So but then the I started holding, you know, like women’s nights and doing flat tire clinics for just women. But I we really just listened to the customers and see what they wanted. And then, you know, they wanted you know, a flat tower clinic that I would do that if they wanted to learn basic maintenance, how to clean their bike, how to shut their bike up, whatever it was, I just, I just took cues from them and just jumped in.
Heather Mason 06:21
Oh, my God, I’m so your, your story is so inspirational. So you went from rad Bri, which I’ve never done, but I do want to do something, which I heard is a blast, right? To you were doing something else. And you went into a shop and you’re buying parts and falling in love with the sport? And did you just ask the shop if they were hiring? And that’s how you got?
Shawna Macan 06:40
Yeah.
Heather Mason 06:40
So retailers are always asking how can we get more women into the industry? I’m like, ask the women who come into your shop. Right? And that’s kind of what happened, right?
Shawna Macan 06:49
Yeah, yeah. Just just talking. And even today, when women come into the bike shop, you know, honestly, one of the biggest drawbacks of working in the cycling industry is his pay and benefits. So it’s really hard to me part timers is one thing, but trying to find full time employees or full time women especially, is very difficult, because you just can’t. It’s hard to make a living at it if you don’t go into management. Yeah. So it’s, that’s that’s probably the biggest struggle that I see with getting women to work in in bike shops if you don’t have a spouse, or someone else who makes a decent living or have health benefits, but it’s really hard to do it full time.
Heather Mason 07:39
Yeah, so you are in a management role now and cycling. And I want to talk about your role and how you’re engaged in the community. But I would love to give our listeners just a little bit more about Mojo cycling, where you’re where you’re a manager, because I know the shop has been really, we feature do and one of our retailer spotlights, and there’s a picture of the whole team with a dog. The shop looks awesome. Can you give us just a little like some basics about the shot? Like how big is it and you’re in Bentonville, Arkansas. So like the heart of cycling right now very much in the news, right?
Shawna Macan 08:08
Yeah. And that’s one of the reasons I came down here was because it is it’s the cycling industry is just exploding down here. So I figured that was a perfect opportunity to come down and be able to do what I love and make a decent living and hopefully make a difference. But Mojo’s, Dave Neal’s the owner. He’s had the shop for about 12 years. And yes, we have two shop dogs that are fantastic. They greet you. Yeah, it’s to be able to go to work every day and have shot dogs. I mean, it’s the best thing in the world. The best thing in the world.
Heather Mason 08:45
I didn’t know you move to Arkansas just that makes total sense. But we’ll relocate in this industry yet. You know, you don’t i don’t think of that all the time. But they will for a manager Job did were they hiring and you move there specifically to work at Mojo or were you just kind of going there not sure where you were going to
Shawna Macan 09:02
end up? Also, I I was going through a divorce. And so I had been coming to Arkansas to ride and float and do all the things that Arkansas has I fell in love with it and and decided to move and move down here. And I was actually down here for a month. And then I reached out to Mojo cycling and said hey, I just moved out here from Kansas City. I actually took a different job it didn’t work out. And it was perfect timing that that they were they were looking for somebody but hadn’t even advertised yet. And at the same time I reached out so it was it was kind of meant to be I think
Heather Mason 09:42
I love how all that stuff just kind of worked sometimes, right?
Shawna Macan 09:45
Yeah. I thought I was getting out of the bicycle industry because I needed benefits. You know, I needed you know some security and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t, couldn’t stay away I had to come.
Heather Mason 09:58
So how so how big is The shop sauna is a
Shawna Macan 10:02
win win. I started about two and a half years ago at Mojo cycling, we were in a different location at about 1500 square foot shop, it was pretty small, primarily a mountain bike shop for the most part. And then we ended up moving about a year and a half to a 5000 square foot building. So it has grown significantly. Wow,
Heather Mason 10:25
that’s a nice space, how many plays we have
Shawna Macan 10:28
eleven now? And when I first started, we had six, I believe.
Heather Mason 10:34
Yeah, it’s probably definitely since this past year, right? Have you increased your staff just to keep up with? Absolutely,
Shawna Macan 10:39
yeah, when we moved from 1500 square foot to 5000 square foot, we’re like, oh my gosh, we’re never fill this space. We are at capacity we have. We need a bigger space already. And it’s it’s crazy. But the Yeah, the tourism that comes to Bentonville now. It has been a huge part of our business, our new location allows that we can be seen better. We’re kind of one of the first shops as you come into town or closer to the trails, where it’s just a much better location. It’s really allowed us to grow and continue to grow.
Heather Mason 11:14
I’ve never worked in a destination city before, right? So I’m thinking you must have people come in all the time. I’m sure you’re doing rentals and probably selling branded merchandise and all that, right? Because it’s like Bentonville is a cool place to go. Right.
Shawna Macan 11:27
That’s, you know, it’s been it’s been quite a learning curve, you know, especially from when I first started, and then to where it is now. And COVID has definitely been a big impact on that. But the continue of the tourism that comes down. Yeah, we’ve added rentals. We weren’t doing rentals before, we added that that’s been quite the learning curve. That’s a huge part of buttonville now is bike rentals, especially e bike rentals. And then yes, then finding whatever works in the store, that people who come into town whether they forgot their helmet. Our trails are known for slashing sidewall tires. So anybody who comes into town with you know, more XC mountain bike tires, we have a plethora of axes, double down sidewall, you know, anything with a lot more sidewall protection, that they’ll come in, and they’ll they’ll need, you know, tubeless setup, new tires change. So we’ve really started catering to, you know, what people need when they come into town and with the rentals and then as well as just the city of Bentonville growing is it’s between the constant increase of trails, and women in cycling. gravel is finally a thing in Bentonville. So that’s up and coming. And cyclocross of course, is another thing that’s hasn’t ever really been much of a of a scene in Arkansas, but is finally very slowly starting to to become a
Heather Mason 13:01
thing that trans transgender issues in Arkansas lately. I’m sure you’re noticing some of that too, right.
Shawna Macan 13:09
Yeah. So yeah, they’ve actually, you know, passed some some bills, you know, basically primarily targeting trans youth and trans youth in sports. And so, that has caused a lot of issues in Arkansas with Well, I think the the cyclocross director for worlds is made. That’s that that’s coming to Arkansas. And I think it was brick watch. I think it is. He stepped down as director from the world’s greatest because of it. So there’s a lot of backlash going on. And, unfortunately, I mean, I, I hope that people in Arkansas, this is opening their eyes that, you know, the world’s changing. We’ve got to have more inclusivity we’re doing a big fundraiser for the ACLU of Arkansas, which is basically fighting for all human rights, not just for trans or gay lesbians or blacks or Asians. I mean, it’s everything. And so we really hope that help start changing some minds and we want to we want more people coming into Arkansas. That’s a little more liberal or open minded.
Heather Mason 14:22
Sana when you say we are doing a fundraiser Mojo Cycling is
Shawna Macan 14:26
Yeah, as in motorcycling. Yeah. Yeah. So
Heather Mason 14:28
what a great thing for a bike shop to undertake congrat kudos. This is why you’re absolutely amazing. Like, what’s this? brainstorm? Tell me like, how are you getting these creative ideas? How does something like this come
Shawna Macan 14:40
in our app Mojo cycling. Another important part of our shop is, is we’re known because we do Welcome everyone, not just women in cycling or mountain bikers, or, I mean, it’s our staff is very diverse. So we have gay, lesbian and trans bands that work at our bike shop, along with guys who race mountain bikes, people who just ride the Greenway spandex. People in spandex. I mean, oh yeah, that’s always the mountain bikers always joke about people in spandex. But you know what we we welcome everyone into Mojo cycling, it doesn’t matter. I’m a spandex writer. But I’m also a mountain bike rider. You know, it’s it’s, it doesn’t matter what you wear, who you are, or what bike you have. I mean, you’re welcome into Mojo cycling. And so we really wanted that. You know, we wanted to raise money.
Heather Mason 15:42
Yeah, yeah, that’s part of what you do. So that the unique diversity of motorcycling Is that something that the owner had always had, like in his business plan? Or is that something that your team has kind of cultivated over the years,
Shawna Macan 15:56
it’s something we’ve kind of cultivated over the years, he has always been very open minded and supportive, no matter what that is, just that is to date is he is the most genuinely caring person, I think I’ve almost ever met. I mean, he genuinely cares. He, he honestly has passion for cycling, he was in the corporate world before and left it, and then to pursue a bike shop, because that’s what his passion was, as well. You know, working in a bike shop, you do see a little bit of everyone who comes in. And so he really just welcomed everyone. So he definitely started it. I mean, he he even did it of benefits a couple years ago, for a local fundraiser, where they asked him to dress up and drag to raise money. And he did it. And he did it fantastically. I mean, it is amazing. So you know, you don’t find very many straight married family guys who are willing to do something like that. And that was one of the things that I knew I was in the right shop when I went in to look for a job. As soon as I found out about that, because he even has a plaque and he has it hanging like he’s proud
Heather Mason 17:10
of it. retailers are constantly engaging in you know, the question is, how do we make a more diverse, inclusive environment? How do we make the shop more welcoming? I guess it just comes from within a little bit, right? Like you just have to really have that true desire. And you have to have a team who has that desire as well. Alright, so you are doing women’s nights, fix a flat clinics, you’re doing tubeless setup for women, suspension setup, I wish I lived closer, I could totally take a class from you. Like how are you like, how’s the feedback on everything you’re doing? All these well attended? You know, I can think of men are probably like, Can I come to?
Shawna Macan 17:47
And yes, they have they’ve asked and, and our service manager also does classes for men or for anybody who wants to come, he’s done for youth. He’s done for, you know, men, he’s done them for husband and wife, whoever wants to come in and enjoy them. He does more of those where I do mine, primarily just for women in so we have a group in Bentonville, Arkansas called Women of Oz. And it is a group of women who are trying to get more women into mountain biking. And it’s it’s about two years old, and they have grown exponentially. I mean, it is huge. So it’s we live in a really special place. Because I’ve never seen that many women show up for a mountain bike ride. I think one of their biggest rides and people come from out of state for these rides. It’s once a month. It’s the first Saturday of every month. And they they break up into groups. And then they always offer a basic skills clinic at the beginning. So I got involved with them. I think the biggest ride was about 150. Ladies. Wow, I have never seen anything like that. I mean, it’s just it is insane. And it is it’s it’s pretty moving. It’s pretty cool. So we have a really big women’s community in in biking in Bentonville. So I just kind of again, took either from one, when in Kansas City down here is is listening to what the customers want, what did they want to learn? And I started out just doing some flat tire clinics, if anybody showed up great. I was doing them on a monthly basis. Two people might show up, five people might show up, but I mean, they’re pretty small. And then I was asked to do like a tubeless setup. And so I did that and those have probably the best turnouts than any of my other clinics.
Heather Mason 19:45
Alright, so here’s a question for you. If If you know as retailers are always like, we want to do this, you know, everyone wants to grow their women’s community. But let’s break it down to like the simple steps. So say you’re you’re helping someone on the sales floor and the woman mentions Oh, I’d love to come Do like a fixed flat clinic? Do you ever offer them? lightbulb goes off in your head, I should offer a woman’s clinic. So what are you doing? Are you posting on Facebook? Are you just putting a sign up in the shop? Like, how did you start? How did you start? How did you start developing the culture? Are you collecting email addresses and emailing a specific group of women to tell them the events are happening, give retailers a little bit of an idea of if they want to get an event off the ground, how they could go about doing that.
Shawna Macan 20:27
So primarily, it’s social media. So I’ll target primarily Facebook, and Instagram. And then also, we just redid our website as well. So we added a calendar. So now people who are on social media can hopefully find events on our webpage. So but primarily, it goes out to Facebook, into a lot of the groups, I’ll put it onto our Mojo page, and then I’ll also share it and in a women’s groups that is in town. And then that’s primarily how the word gets out. And, and then again, with the women of Oz. So I’ve kind of partnered with them, so that they share my events with their webpages in their Facebook, any other events.
Heather Mason 21:16
So that’s a great idea. So you’re, you’re connected with them. So their community online is sharing your events. So increased exposure, you
Shawna Macan 21:25
know, so yeah, social media and networking, for sure. best ways to do that.
Heather Mason 21:30
Are the events free sauna?
Shawna Macan 21:32
They are all of my events are free? Absolutely. So I do them primarily more in the offseason. So typically, kind of late fall, I’ll do the winter and then into early spring. And then usually the bike shop gets so busy that I don’t really have much time to do it during the the summer
Heather Mason 21:50
with COVID. Last year, were you able to do any events? Or
Shawna Macan 21:54
I put it off a little bit. And then women kept asking. So I did a few and I just kept the numbers small. So I limited how many women were able to come in try to do it in a space that was big enough so that we could stay separated, but yet still listen, and can see. And masks were required. Yeah. And people showed up. So I was I didn’t think that people would be interested during the whole COVID with the unknown, but they wanted it so I was more than happy to still hold some clinics.
Heather Mason 22:33
Yeah, that was such a hard thing to navigate, right? Like we want to keep people engaged. We want to keep keep people active in the sport, but we want to be safe at the same time. So you’re still able to do some stuff. Tell us about your staff at the shop? And how do you you train them specifically to engage a diverse group of people or they’re just normal kick ass humans? Or tell me about the staff?
Shawna Macan 22:55
I would say they’re normal kick ass humans, honestly. We’ve done very well in hiring a staff that they’re just fun, good humans. So,
Heather Mason 23:08
so hard to find awesome people these days? Are they have they been working with you for a long time? Do you? Or do you have some turnover? Are?
Shawna Macan 23:16
We we’ve been pretty lucky for the most part. Most of our staff has been with us for a while we have added about four or five new people in the past year, just because we’ve grown. But I mean, yeah, we don’t have much turnover at all. So we have actually had a few people come from other shops that have reached out looking for your store. So cool. So
Heather Mason 23:47
I know you’re the manager, but are you the buyer as well? Or do you have a say in the items that the stores stocking and I asked this because with so many women, you know your culture, you build up your community? I’m wondering if your retailer sometimes asked if they should stock specific items for women. So do you take any of that into account if you have a role in the buying at all?
Shawna Macan 24:08
I do. Yeah, so I pretty much wear a lot of hats. Do primarily all of our purchasing and manage and do sales
Heather Mason 24:19
and marketing
Shawna Macan 24:20
and events and marketing, the marketing I honestly we really put that into all of our employees hands, we all have a hand in that. And we actually honestly all have a hand in what we bring into the store. So we only carry what we believe in basically. So you know it really is I think that’s what separates Mojo apart from a lot of other shops is we are a shop we’re not a store. We pick brands that really support us and but don’t tell us what we can and cannot carry. So all of our employees test a lot of the products that we carry If, if it doesn’t work, or if there’s a flaw in it, or we get rid of it, then we’ll try something new. And so we do we do it take a lot of feedback from our employees and our customers. So if somebody comes in and says, Hey, I really like these zoic shorts, then we’ll bring in some zoic. We actually did, and they’ve done very well for us, and the women love them. So but I mean, it’s it is it’s it’s items that we actually use and test. So
Heather Mason 25:34
I’m Casey, this smile on my face. I want this response. Because every item in your store has like a story you can say, like, oh, Jeff on our staff loves this, you can every ride, he goes out with this. And you can vouch for every single product. So it’s not just looking through a vendor catalog and just being like 10 of those one of those one of those, it’s actually picking items that you believe in, and you can really get behind. I love that.
Shawna Macan 25:59
Yeah, and all of our employees, we all have different opinions, we all ride differently. So if somebody does come in and is into enduro, right, and then if I can’t answer a question, then I will go grab one of our employees who can, who has tried and trued. and is able to, it helps sell as well, and helps build a community and a customer base is when they can come in, and they can trust our opinions. Because we’ve tried it, it makes it easy to sell. So I mean, it’s it’s I mean, I do wear a lot of hats, but we, it takes it’s it’s a everyone in the shop. It’s an effort. I mean, it’s a team effort, for sure. I mean, we are all involved and and especially right now with inventory, almost impossible to get. Oh my gosh, it is exhausting. So we have not only myself, we have the owner, we have our mechanics, we’re all constantly looking for parts, helping keep an eye on what’s coming in stock, what would be a good alternative. I mean, it’s definitely a team effort.
NBDA 27:11
You have an excellent business, let your industry recognize you. Apply Now for the 2021 bicycle retailer Excellence Awards, to have a chance to have your shop recognized for your retailer excellence, customer experience and commitment to our industry. The 2021 bicycle retailer excellence application requires no payment or membership, and is available on the NBDA website until May 31, learn more@nbda.com slash brea. That’s nbda.com slash b. r e a.
Heather Mason 27:51
Yeah, I’m thinking about you said that if you don’t know that the questioner if you’re not the best person in the shop, you go and grab the person. I’m thinking, you know, there is something about that you can the customer can tell the person Stoke level, like if you came and got me and I was going to talk to someone about enduro racing, my whole body would be lit up, I’d be like, Let’s go, where are you going? I’ll show you the trails, you know, and the customer can see that and it builds this, this energy. And that’s, you can’t find that everywhere. So that definitely sets you guys apart. When you’re talking about employees you’re talking about in terms of you guys are a team, and you say everyone’s doing the marketing. So you’re really receptive to their ideas. And I think that’s, I mean, do you do that you let them just bring you ideas, and then you just run, you know, give them the wings to kind of run with it if they’re good?
Shawna Macan 28:39
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. Because I mean, it’s a constantly changing, you know, with COVID, and, you know, bitten, so growing, and just the markets changing, you know, with some of the bigger brands buying up all the local shops, there’s not a lot of local independent shops left. So it takes a lot to stay ahead of the game and to constantly figure out ways of growing the business, growing as a community being involved in the community. So it’s, you can’t do it just one person. It’s you really have to have everybody. So yeah, if, if, if one of the mechanics has an idea, and it’s fantastic. We let them run with it. I’m not the greatest at Instagram, trying to figure it out itself. But I’m better at Facebook, and Dave, the owners loves Facebook. So we, we do what we do best. So we do a little bit of Facebook, a little bit of Instagram, and then our website. We don’t try to do more than that on social media. But we have a couple I say kids, they’re not kids. They’re young adults that work for us part time, but are really big into social media. So we let them run with it. You know, they’re really good at Instagram. So, you know, we’re like, okay, you know, you were out at some of these trailheads. And you’re writing and you’re doing these cool tricks. And if you, if you post for us, we’ll compensate you. So it helps get them to want to post on our social media. But yeah, because one person can’t do it all.
Heather Mason 30:22
Yeah. And everyone, like you said, has a different lens that we’re seeing through, right. And then this turn, you’re also giving your employees such sense of value, like, you know, that’s great. I noticed the blog on your website is that one of your employees to the blog is fantastic. So if you haven’t been to Mojo cycling, calm, please go. They have an amazing blog. That that’s one of your employees writing.
Shawna Macan 30:44
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. So that’s something new that we started as well, just to try to help reach out to more of the community who may not be on social media. So
Heather Mason 30:53
yeah, because we always think everyone’s on Facebook. Right. But they’re not right. Some people are at all the blog is great. It’s there’s a lot of, you know, simple tips on there. Fantastic content. So I was definitely I was pulled in. I read a couple articles last night. I also noticed on your website, you have quotes from customers, I have never seen this before. One of the quotes was you tune my bike better than any tune I’ve ever had. That was Tyler McCall, a customer of yours. I think this is genius. their actual quotes. How did you guys think to do this?
Shawna Macan 31:26
You know, with Google, and Facebook, and people can leave reviews, you know, or some of them reach out to us afterwards. And they’re like, Oh, my gosh, you know, we did a fantastic job. And Tyler McCall is a Red Bull athlete. I mean, he’s a, he’s a pro rider. And so he was in talent. This was a few years back. And he he was writing to gt at the time, and his gt frame broke. And we just happened to have one of our mechanics that was writing the same gt frame. And so, you know, we went above and beyond the mechanic, took out of his own personal time, stripped his bike down, transferred all of Tyler’s parts onto his frame, let him ride it while he was in town, and then switched it back. And then Tyler ended up sending in an autographed frame for us as well. But I mean, it’s it’s just one of those things that, you know, he was in town riding. And so he would come in, and we’d tune up his bike, because he was riding hard and all day long. And, you know, it’s just little things like that, to help somebody
Heather Mason 32:31
that’s above and beyond. Really a thumb up. Yeah. But there’s, there’s so many quotes on the website. And I love it. And it makes it very personal and very authentic. So another way that you really can grab people and capture their attention, because that has, I’ve never seen a chop do that before. So kudos to you for that. Oh, we got I think keep talking for hours here. Let’s talk about the brain retailer panel so that you’re a member of the 2021 brain retailer panel. How did that come about Shauna
Shawna Macan 32:59
networking. So one of our sales reps knew one of the ladies at at brain and they were looking for an additional panelist for this year. And so she reached out, or put us in contact. And then Julie kind of told me a little bit about what she was looking for in as a panelist and I was like, Sure, I’ll give it a shot.
Heather Mason 33:22
You’ve been doing a fantastic job. The you know, the way it just came out a couple of days ago, I think the most recent one or this morning, maybe thanks for being a member of the community and doing that the tips and the advice. I know people look forward to reading those. So the great thing you’re doing, it seems like you’re just a great contribution to the your energy is great for our industry, we need it for sure. I’ve never done anything like this shot at Will you be a guinea pig in this next little thing I want?
Shawna Macan 33:49
Sure.
Heather Mason 33:50
Alright, so I want to do some like fast questions and get some best tips from you for retailers because I feel like you have just so much and we could just chat for hours. But if we want to get some good information out there in a short period of time, I just got a rapid fire some questions that you should go for. Alright. So your first shot is best tip for retailers looking to hire women.
Shawna Macan 34:16
Have a clean store organized, and very welcoming, and then reach out to the community.
Heather Mason 34:24
Yeah, I love that. Right. Women. I don’t want to work someplace that’s dirty and filthy. That’s a great one. I never even thought about that. So make it make it first make it appealing to women. And then reach out to the community.
Shawna Macan 34:36
Yeah, so it’s definitely got to be welcoming. And it definitely got to be organized and clean or no woman wants to come in there.
Heather Mason 34:44
Love that. That’s a good tip. All right. Next one, Shawn is best tip for retailers managing people
Shawna Macan 34:51
who, that’s a tough one and I’m constantly learning, but I think it’s investing in your employees listening to them and Making them involved into the store, give them like ownership of their space. And just really having them involved put trust into them. And I mean, those are your frontline people. And ultimately, you know, they’re the ones who are seeing the customers, which is going to give you great, you know, word of mouth. So I mean, you really, really have to invest in your employees and give them a voice.
Heather Mason 35:27
In your management role. Do you hold staff meetings? Ever?
Shawna Macan 35:33
Not enough? But yes, we definitely try. And we did a much better job at it before COVID. Since COVID, it’s been running nonstop. But yes, and that’s, and that’s when we really, you know, after hours, everybody can voice their opinions, good ideas, what can we do better?
Heather Mason 35:56
Yeah, I was gonna ask how can we encourage our employees to give us ideas or to know that we are open to their ideas? Yeah. Are you constantly saying like, how are you? Or what’s going on any good ideas? or How was your ride? are you engaging with your employees on a level to kind of get to know them a little bit more?
Shawna Macan 36:14
Every day, that is definitely an everyday process every morning, when everybody walks in, and kind of starting their day, I’ll just go over and just do some small talk and see how everybody’s doing and see if they have anything that they need to tell me or anything I need to let them know. And that’s kind of when they’re like, well, I had this idea last night of I want to do a mountain bike ride, I want to start doing a Greenway ride with customers. And so we, you know, figure out what days and times that we’re staffed enough to be able to do that. And especially as as crazy as it’s been, I think that’s very important, trying to not have burnout for our employees. So if they want to do a ride series or lead a ride, I think that’s very important. And more than happy to pay for their time for that. Yeah,
Heather Mason 37:11
I mean, right now, everyone’s kind of in this weird spot where we’re kind of like burnt out, and we’re ready to get out. And we like, so if you have an idea, kind of help them give them wings, right?
Shawna Macan 37:20
Yeah, yeah. Cuz I am still struggling with trying to find that work life balance for myself. And so if I can help my employees, not to be burnt out, and you know, still enjoy coming to work every day and doing a good job and giving back to the business, then I’m all for it.
Heather Mason 37:40
Alright, so you are good. Let’s keep going. My rapid fire is not quite as thought it was gonna be. That’s me too. I keep asking like eight questions on. Alright, Sean is best tip for retailers looking to grow their social media engagement.
Shawna Macan 37:59
Can I hit on a little earlier? First, you have to have consistency. You know, find what you’re good at for social media. And, you know, do at least a couple posts a day, you don’t want to overdo it. But you also want to stay engaged on at least a daily basis. And, and get other employees involved to help you out. So it’s, it’s, you can’t do all of them. So you just really have to pick what you do best and run with that.
Heather Mason 38:29
Yeah, and I noticed you guys like vary your posts, too. So it’s not all like helmets on sales, or you know, it’s not all like events, different posts that are engaging, and it keeps people wanting to come back. So I think
Shawna Macan 38:41
we’re fighting over who gets to post.
Heather Mason 38:46
If I anytime I have access to post on something, watch out because I post a lot. Okay, I guess let’s Alright, we’ll do one more. So, Shawn is best tip for retailers looking to attract new customers.
Shawna Macan 39:01
So community involvement is probably my number one, get involved in the community. Networking is definitely very important. I mean, that’s something that we’re constantly re evaluating on how to attract new customers and get more people in who might not currently be our customers. But I think for me, I think it’s definitely community involvement being involved, no matter what the size, you know, if somebody is looking for some support, I just did a women’s support event for on Saturday for a gravel ride. They did. They were doing their very first gravel century ride, it was all women. And it was a first year doing it. And so they were looking for support and so but you know, I was like heck yeah, let’s do it. So I gave up you know, one of my Saturdays and sat out there and had a full list of you know, everything that’s worked for me for snacks, you know, bananas and some incredible polls and some scratch labs and, you know, just really supported these women and women talk and they share with other women. And the word of mouth is amazing. So it’s, you really have to support your community, and they’ll support you, hopefully.
Heather Mason 40:17
I love that. And I’m hungry for an uncrustables.
Shawna Macan 40:22
When writing, I wouldn’t normally eat those anytime, but dang it when you’re out riding
Heather Mason 40:26
through the funnel in your pocket. Yeah.
Shawna Macan 40:28
carbs, sugar, I mean, and it does go bad.
Heather Mason 40:32
So Shawna, let me just break it down a little bit more with you, though. So we always say connect with your community. Right? And what about for a retailer who’s like, oh, what are they talking about? Connect with my community? So where can we send them? So is it is it reaching out to your local clubs? Is it your boys and girls club? Is it schools? Is it rec centers? Like what if someone’s like, how do I connect with my community? Where do I start? Do you have any ideas for that?
Shawna Macan 40:58
So a lot of it is is finding your local clubs, and getting involved with them, maybe finding some ambassadors for your shop. If somebody from a community center is willing to lead a ride from a rec center or anything like that, give them a jersey, support them, have them lead a ride, we get so many people that come to us looking for support. That hasn’t been difficult. It’s honestly trying to figure out which ones work best with your shop and who you are to support them. But it is it’s finding all your local clubs, you know, maybe race teams, your community centers, Facebook groups, you know, we have one down here that girls What is it a girls ride Bentonville? So I reached out to them before the women of Oz is another local group that I you know, have protected a little Bella’s you know, getting involved involved in any events in your area, local races, that he’s out there.
Heather Mason 42:08
If there’s no events, I mean, what about doing like a shop ride? Is that something that you guys do? Or that you would promote? The shops do?
Shawna Macan 42:16
Yeah, absolutely. So definitely shop rides, you know, getting in that community following to show up to the rides. I mean, you know, showing showing people new trails, maybe some new skills, no drop rides are definitely very important. You want to include everyone of all levels. So yeah, definitely shop rides are important.
Heather Mason 42:40
What’s like the craziest event or the most off the wall thing that you’ve ever organized? Anything pop to your head? I don’t know, just thinking, like, I did an ice cream ride. Once I had a bunch of kids join. And we from my shop, we wrote over and we got ice cream, you know, and make huge sundaes. It was super fun. And, you know, it wasn’t a big ride. But the parents came out everyone came out, it was just a blast. And have you ever organized something that was just like not typical, I guess they had a really great success rate.
Shawna Macan 43:08
Not that I’ve personally done, but ones that I’ve helped support or protect, and, you know, definitely had some great rides, especially night rides, where you light up your bikes is, you know, crazy as possible. And you just go hit local areas in town. Those are just always the best, the kind of the sporadic ones that just, you can show up on any bike, and you’re just out to have fun, anything that involves food.
Heather Mason 43:38
Yeah, I’m thinking we have all these new cyclists and everyone you know, that could be of all different fitness levels and on new bikes, use bikes, refurbished bikes, whatever, it would be super fun to just do like, I don’t know, like you said, light up your bike and hit up some food or hit up a broom, you know, go have a beer somewhere. And then just thinking of ways to get people involved that are you know, not a group ride fast pay is paying on for your life type of thing.
Shawna Macan 44:02
And it’s one that I hope to start this summer again, now that COVID some of the restrictions have have went away and we can get back to doing more events is doing a fun night ride, late evening ride that you can do that you just whoever can you know, do the craziest, you know, light set up on their bike, and then just find some points of interest and ride to them. And then yeah, like hit up a brewpub maybe and some food or some ice cream. You know, make it family friendly. And just you ride whatever you have. It doesn’t matter. It’s not a fast ride. It’s just a fun ride. So it’s,
Heather Mason 44:42
I think the next event we have to put together as NBDA visits Bentonville, Arkansas and hangs out with the moja cyclery crew and then we go for a ride. I think that’d be really cool. Like, yeah,
Shawna Macan 44:52
that is I mean, that’s the most important thing is just to go have fun. Yeah, bicycles are all about it doesn’t matter. What kind of bike you ride or what type of riding you do, it’s, it’s all about having fun and enjoying the community.
Heather Mason 45:07
I keep telling. So we have our Monday meetup sessions with our retailer members. And I, you know, I keep reminding everyone, remember what we’re doing is fun. We’re helping people to live awesome lives by inspiring them to take the two wheels. So if we wake up every morning, and remember that it like really sets us on the right course for the day. All right, crystal ball, if you had a crystal ball, any thoughts for the future and how retailers should pivot to move forward here to keep finding success and gauging their community and new riders into our sport?
Shawna Macan 45:37
tough one, I think that one of the things is keeping it local. Like I said earlier, you know, having a shop instead of a store, they’re really, you know, having that choice of what you can offer is just, it’s just huge. It’s, it’s keeping the independent small bicycle shops alive. I think that’s where the success is, is that that community and that local shop feel?
Heather Mason 46:07
Yeah, you’ve given us so many takeaways, you know, listening to your customers, engaging your customers with rides and events, listening to your employees, engaging your employees, having a real local culture, right? Yes, I believe in what you’re saying. And I ordered it, and I think you’re on the right track. And I hope retailers are listening loud and clear.
Shawna Macan 46:27
Yeah, yeah, I think it’s, it’s, you know, we all know, what the brands are, that are really starting to monopolize the industry. And it’s really hurting all the small, small businesses. And we’re really seeing it significantly this year, in the lack of availability of bikes, and if parts, because all the big shops are able to, you know, buy in these huge quantities, and the little guys are down here, you know, only getting five, five chains at a time. So it just makes it really hard. So I think that if we can hopefully get back to the brands are working with the shops and working together, that I think it’ll make the bicycle industry as a whole. a better place. Yeah.
Heather Mason 47:18
You’re right. I hope so. I hope so. Alright, bicycle retailer Excellence Awards, we just launched, we rebranded the America’s best bike shop program, making it more inclusive to diverse shops that are, you know, shops with coffee shops. Now we have so many different bicycle shops. And so I’m asking guests, for my last question is if I asked you to describe the term, excellence in bicycle retail, and what that means to you, what would you say?
Shawna Macan 47:48
Probably inclusivity is first and foremost, the probably the most important, definitely a knowledgeable, friendly staff. So that’s what I see is and for probably in excellence in bicycle resale,
Heather Mason 48:05
on the inclusivity piece, is there any tips that you would give to retailers, besides, you know, other outside of what we’ve already spoken about, that they could look to implement to be excellent retailers in that regard?
Shawna Macan 48:17
Just being welcoming. I mean, just having a store that isn’t elitist? I mean, it just is, is anybody who walks in that door is a priority? You know, and they deserve your undivided attention, no matter if it’s if they’re looking for their first bike or their 10th bike.
Heather Mason 48:35
Yeah, so this question, I have another question for you. I’m sorry. So I’m gonna find something. We had a great conversation in our Monday mingle with a couple of retailers the other day, and one of the retailers mentioned a situation where you had a customer come in, who did not look like the typical customer, but because that would be searching searching for a road bike, a race, high end race road bike, it because this gentleman was, you know, older didn’t appear very flexible. And so the shop owner worked with the customer, but the customer was dead set on this bike. Is this what he wanted? And so he bought the bike in the shop owner was asking us, I feel bad about this. I don’t know if I sold them the right thing. I don’t know if I should have made assumptions on what he wanted. In the shop. When I was asking us, what would you have done if you were in my shoes? I mean, anything that you could give us there. It’s such a hard thing, but like, you know, we do have these kind of notions in our head, right. But we also want to make sure that people that come in our shop ended up on the right bike for them at the same time, right. So you have someone who comes into your shop, Shawna, who comes into Mojo cycling and maybe asked for a mountain bike, you know, full suspension, but you’re I don’t know you’ve qualified the customer and you’re thinking, Oh, my God, this person doesn’t want a mountain bike, full suspension. They need like a hybrid, right? But they want it dead set. So what do you do in that situation? Like, you want to be inclusive, you don’t want to tell them that that’s not what they need any tips for retailers who are struggling In this regard,
Shawna Macan 50:01
I think that’s when you, you really have to listen to the customer. And then show them a few different bikes. And ultimately, it comes down to what the customer wants. They are the paying customer and if they really want a full suspension mountain bike, and you have to sell them a full suspension mountain bike. So it’s just a matter of really listening, trying to help educate the customer. And it ultimately comes down to it’s, it’s their money that they’re spending so,
Heather Mason 50:34
right and then if we want to be truly inclusive, we invite them to the Learn to mountain bike class that we’re having. Right? And then show them some local trails and give them a good map and, you know, welcome them back for a suspension tune up clinic.
Shawna Macan 50:48
Yeah, point them into where you know, the best place to ride some beginner trails and with some people to ride with and, and hope they love it. And hopefully they come back.
Heather Mason 50:59
Next thing they’re kicking our butt and the next group ride right.
Shawna Macan 51:03
And sometimes they do absolutely,
Heather Mason 51:06
yeah. So that I think that for inclusive that is so an excellent bicycle retail establishment will go above and beyond even if they’re not thinking that that right thing is you know that that bike is for that customer to that customer wants to become a mountain biker, we’re gonna make sure there have all the tools they need, right? So
Shawna Macan 51:23
really, yeah, support them, show them that you know, the pads in the right helmet and mean if that’s what they want. I mean, that’s what you should definitely educate them and get them exactly what they want.
Heather Mason 51:35
Shawn I am so it’s so nice to have you on the show. Thank you for coming on and chatting with me. And thank you for being a member of the bicycle retailer, industry news retailer panel this year. If listeners want to connect with you and learn more about Mojo cycling, building a community welcoming women working with their staff, like you have, would you share your contact information?
Shawna Macan 51:56
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I mean most importantly, you can always find me by going directly to the website at Mojocycling.Com. You can also reach me by email, which is Shawna at Mojocycling.com. So yeah, just just reach out Facebook.
Heather Mason 52:12
So quickly, so saunas like on it?
Shawna Macan 52:16
Yes, I keep an eye on all of them and I will respond as quickly as possible.
Heather Mason 52:20
So that is it. I invite you to connect with me. Come on bicycle, retail, radio and share your story with our listeners. I invite you to contribute to our outspoken blog and become a feature on our member spotlight. Lots of love for our industry. Lots of great webinars coming up for the month of May. Lots of member networking meetings. Join us on a Monday mingle soon. Thank you for listening. See you back here soon. And with this we go.
NBDA 52:42
This has been bicycle retail radio by the National bicycle Dealers Association. For more information on membership, and member benefits, join us at nbda.com
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The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.
Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year.
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