Rachelle Schouten, Development Director of the NBDA
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Rachelle Schouten, Development Director of the NBDA
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Welcome to Season 2 of Bicycle Retail Radio, where NBDA President Heather Mason will meet with industry professionals to have conversations to provoke, educate, inspire and empower you to your best retail self.
The first episode of this new season of Bicycle Retail Radio is with Rachelle Schouten, Development Director of the NBDA.
The “glue” of the National Bicycle Dealers Association. Guiding programs, member communications, social feeds, and the P2 project; considered the backside of the organization.
Meet Rachelle Schouten.
A trained violinist who found her way to the bicycle industry, Rachelle penned the often-read Outspokin’ blog titled Adapt or Die the 4 Keys to Retail Success, as well as facilitates the Americas Best Bike Shop Program. Her role at the NBDA allows her to see many sides of the industry and this thought-provoking episode uncovers some great tips for retailers on the importance of your network, how to trust your path, overcome bad advice and take the leap to further your business by investing in yourself.
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Rachelle Schouten, Development Director of the NBDA
Mon, 2/22 4:33PM • 36:14
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
bike shop, shop, members, retail, retailers, bicycle, people, store, thought, industry, feel, headed, hear, business, share, idea, question, bike, Rachelle, membership.
SPEAKERS
Heather Mason, Rachelle Schouten
Rachelle Schouten 00:03
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Heather Mason 00:27
You are listening to bicycle retail radio, brought to you by the National bicycle Dealers Association. Welcome to another episode of bicycle retail radio brought to you by the NBDA. This is President Heather Mason joined here with Rochelle Schouten, Director of Development with NBDA. Welcome.
Rachelle Schouten 00:47
Hi, Heather.
Heather Mason 00:48
Rachelle, it has been just two weeks now that we have worked together. And I need to tell you, it has been amazing. I am learning more about the new role. And it has been so evident that you’ve been so helpful in guiding me, I feel like you are the glue of the programs, the backside of the organization, you talk to members, you guide the P to project schedule all the member programs. And I just thought it would be a great idea for the two of us to come together and talk a little bit about your role with NBDA. And share a little bit of ourselves. They say it’s like 25%, finding who you are, and 75% of who we’ve become. And I feel like our members and current members to feel really close and to trust us. We have to give them an idea of who we are, as well as what our mission is for the MBDA. Yeah, thanks. I could not agree more. All right. So, before we get started, and we have so much to talk about. I just want to give a quick mention to longtime Association members of the NBDA. As I’m learning more, it’s just so evident that we need support within the industry. I chatted with Ryan Atkinson of smart detailing yesterday, a great person and his website platform is changing the way that bike retailers do business, and I can’t say enough positive things about the team at quality bicycle products. I’m setting the example bar high for how suppliers and retailers and advocacy groups should work united. So, Rachelle, I want to dive right in. You’re an amazing person. We are so lucky to have you. I’m so lucky to have you. You have contributed to some fantastic information for our retailers, specifically a blog titled adapt or die. The four keys to retail success, which we’ll get to later. But first some backstory. So, starting simple, where are you based?
Rachelle Schouten 02:43
I am in Orange County, California. As you know, it’s been cold across the country, we’ve reached frigid lows of like 50 degrees, it’s harrowing.
Heather Mason 02:53
This weather has been absolutely terrifying, you know, looking at what’s happening in Texas, clearly unique. I’m in upstate New York, and I know working with you this past week or two. It’s been fun just juggling the time zones. So, share with us how did you come to work for the NBA? And what were you doing prior? Yeah, so
Rachelle Schouten 03:11
before I started with NBDA, I was the office manager for an insurance and Financial Group. I worked closely with life insurance agents and securities brokers and I loved the people that I worked with, but I wasn’t necessarily in love with the work the insurance. I happen to know the accountant for the NBDA. And she let me know that there was an opening here and I just jumped. So, my first couple days on the job. Were actually at interbike in 2018.
Heather Mason 03:42
I love that you say you are not connected with the insurance. I totally get that. So, the bike industry is this an amazing collection. So many people from so many unique directions that have just been pulled in kind of like yourself. And we have to love what we do. Right? We have to love what we do. And I don’t know Did I ever tell you what my dream occupation one was when I was a child? No. All right, so don’t laugh. But I wanted to open a little juice bar called the strawberry octopus. I was like, you know, convinced that was my where I was headed. I went to college, not only for business, but for Culinary Arts. And when I found bike racing, I fell so deeply in love with bike and then the industry. And I mean, here I am.
Rachelle Schouten 04:26
That’s really interesting. I actually have an arts degree as well. I went to college for music, actually for violin performance. And I definitely after graduating there I never thought I would be in the bicycle industry. But I’m definitely glad that I’m here now.
Heather Mason 04:42
So funny between the two of us such a unique background, right?
04:45
I know. All right.
Heather Mason 04:46
So, there’s so much to talk about with you not only where you came from, but your time with the NBA from contributor to facilitator of our America’s best bike shop program. Before we start, I want you to know I’m gonna throw in some questions that might catch you off guard. Get to know like the behind the you who’s behind the NBDA.
Rachelle Schouten 05:05
Oh boy. Okay. All right. So
Heather Mason 05:06
tell us something unusual about yourself or an absurd thing that you love.
Rachelle Schouten 05:11
Okay, so I am a giant nerd. My boyfriend and I are actually in a d&d group DND being Dungeons and Dragons, we’ve been meeting with the same people every week for about two years. I don’t know if that’s unusual, you know, these days, but we have a great time.
Heather Mason 05:32
I love how you just threw out like referring to yourself as a human. I think it’s so important no matter what role you’re in to have those moments where you’re totally open and exposed. And yeah, I myself, I love to dance. Like, I have a speaker in almost every room in my house. And I have a 12 and a 10-year-old and you’ll frequently hear me saying, Alright, we’re having a dance out, and we just dance. But these are our sides of our soul that we need to like fill in, just to nerd out every once in a while. I know there’s so many listeners who could totally relate to that. So, Rochelle, you talk to so many bike shop owners and suppliers on the phone, participating in the day to day struggles and victory with them. You’ve heard from so many of our members, what advice would you give to someone thinking about opening up a bike shop?
Rachelle Schouten 06:22
Wow, that’s a great question. I would say probably the best advice I could give would be to not do it alone with independent retailers want to succeed. Really the best way is to get input from people who have been in your position and have gained that knowledge firsthand.
Heather Mason 06:43
Yeah, right. input. So, I think that’s one of the so this past week, I’ve been calling members of the media and asking them, what do you think is like the best thing about being a member? What do you get out of it? And it is that that, like, I hear from so many people the ability to network and connect, and have these conversations about what’s working, what’s not working with other bike shop owners. I mean, I myself always make it a point to try to surround myself with people who are forward thinking, and, you know, great communicators headed in the right direction, maybe following the same athletic pursuits I am, but being around people that put me in a position to further myself, you know, just to be able to get some of their energy, you know, are conversations that lead to inspiration. But sometimes I got it, I hate when this happens. But we we get around people that give us bad advice, right? That are or that just suck the energy out of us, right? We don’t want to ever do that. But there’s a question like, what is like the worst advice that you’ve ever gotten? Like, give us a dive into the backside of Russia? Like, give us something that is the worst advice you’ve ever gotten?
Rachelle Schouten 07:51
Yeah, there’s a story I like to tell. So, I mentioned I went to college for music. When I was graduating high school, we were required to have a meeting with our school guidance counselor. So, I went into the meeting, I had already, you know, done my research, I had a list of schools that I knew, you know, I wanted to go to and, or that I at least wanted to apply for, and I went into the counselor’s office and he said, You know, I’m supposed to help with your college choices, and just give me a general field that you’re interested in. And I said, I’m interested in classical music. And he said, huh, all right. And he grabbed a gigantic book, from the other side of his desk, he flipped straight to the back to the index. I swear to God, he found music and he flipped to the music page, and he said, looks like there’s a school named Julliard.
Heather Mason 08:45
Oh, my God, I am just picturing in my head like, sitting there. I’m sure you were shaking your head. So super bad advice. Super just like, Well, maybe not bad advice, but
08:56
just like super random.
Heather Mason 08:58
How would you react like, what did you do?
Rachelle Schouten 09:00
I just sat there for a second and I just said, Yes, I’ve heard of Juilliard. But here’s a list of schools that I am looking at, that are not Juilliard. Some of them are local, some of them or not. And he said, Well, it looks like you got a plan. And that was pretty much the entire meeting. Luckily, I didn’t really need any help from him because I already had ideas. But that was the most interesting counseling session, heavy quotes implied that I’ve ever had.
Heather Mason 09:30
Yeah, I think it’s, you know, I bring up this advice question, because as I was thinking about the role that NBDA has, and even a conversation I had this morning with Dave from Dave Sharpe, who is a member. Thanks, Dave. But, you know, the call this morning he reached out looking for advice. And I think one of the best things we can do is give good advice to our retail partners, right? Not the bad advice or not the Oh, let me grab this random book, you know, but qualified advice. I mean, talking about that, I just Went back a couple days ago and reread your column titled adapter die. It’s in the MBDA outspoken blog if our listeners haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do I have to say I, I thought that you nailed this article. And I thought that the key takeaways from this article, we’re strong, but you really you reference a conference that led up to the article. Can you talk more about the conference and some of those takeaways?
Rachelle Schouten 10:27
Yeah, I was actually living in LA at the time, and I heard about this retail symposium that was not far from where I was living. So, I decided to go because it was full of just a day packed with seminars and panels done from leaders of really large retailers from like, you know, forever 21. But also, Rei was there and just a range of different, what’s the word, I’m looking for industries, and levels of retail. And so, I thought it would be really interesting to go and hear about what these larger retailers are struggling with, and how they had to modernize their businesses so much in recent years, just like we have,
Heather Mason 11:11
yeah, so you know, I when I was first interviewing for the MBA position, and throughout some of the past articles and content I’ve written for bicycle retailer, I have pulled from other retail organizations, you know, look at like the book retailers and other independent stores and seeing like the lessons that they have learned, because I feel like there’s crossover from other sides of retail. In your article, I specifically hold on to this thought of all retail, but it’s all retail. And you talk about the store layouts and merchandising, but also keeping your brand alive via your website. Because really, whether it’s online or in store, it’s all retail. And I mean, I couldn’t agree more. But getting that message out, you know, I’m constantly looking at our members, websites, and social feeds. So, when someone calls me up, if you’re on the phone with me, and you’re a member shop or future member shop, please know, I am on your website, I’m on your social feeds, like you’re probably going to see a little Oh, Heather likes you, as I’m on the phone with you. Because I’m always curious to see how your shop is represented across various platforms. Because I feel like that is one of the biggest things like we can’t just be strong in person, we have to be strong online. So, I mean, you wrote the article here. I am blabbing about it. But anything more any tips advice you could offer to retailers about the theory of all retail? Yeah,
Rachelle Schouten 12:35
it’s definitely important to have that online store and the website, you know, with the basic information, your location, your hours. But there’s definitely more to it than that the best retailers have these, like all these things, but they take the extra step of defining who they are. And what they offer into a clear message, whether it’s a paragraph or like one or two sentences, and then they just plaster that message everywhere. And it really speaks to the professionalism and the legitimacy of a store when there’s a clear and defined brand that is cohesive across all of their platforms. You know, if your message is excellent service, or if your message is, you know, great staff, local community, put it front and center on your website, but also make it you know, front and center of the About Us on your Facebook on your Yelp page on your Google business. Just let me see exactly what you want me to know about your site as the first thing that I see everywhere I find your store and that also applies to physical locations. So everywhere I see you online, everywhere I see an ad, you know, for your store, let that be the one thing that you want everybody to know about your store.
Heather Mason 13:55
Okay, so let’s boil this down. So, what we’re saying is, or what you’re saying, and I’m agreeing with you, as the shop is not defined by its bike supply partners, let’s say the shop so you as your shop owner, so listener, you should be sitting down with your cup of coffee in the morning and taking out a piece of paper and a pen and jotting down like five things that make your bike shop. Let’s say Dave’s bikes again, what makes Dave’s bike Dave’s bikes, right, what defines what is your brand. And that message needs to be clear on all your platforms.
Rachelle Schouten 14:31
Exactly. It gives you a defined brand that when people find you for the first time, or when they’re recommending you to their friends, they can say, you know, it comes to the front of their mind. This is what this shop is about. And this is why you should go there and when people come to you for the first time, and they see that message everywhere that they find you. it solidifies that idea.
Heather Mason 14:54
right away. So that’s your homework listener, sit down and make a sentence or two about why Someone should come shop at your store. And make sure that, you know that aligns with what you’re offering and what you’re doing. Right. I love that. That’s like a deep dive into like, why you opened up? Like why you started this? Exactly? Yeah. Yeah, too often I think retailers start, like they open a shop, and you know, 20 years later, maybe they lost sight of that, because you’ve morphed into so many different things. But what was that initial thing that you you know, that made you unique that made your shop going to be unique to the bike shop down the road?
15:32
Exactly. You know, it’s all
Heather Mason 15:33
retail.
Rachelle Schouten 15:35
It’s all retail,
Heather Mason 15:37
such great advice there. I mean, the past weeks have flown by, and you and I are just, we’re like a content driving, creating this pipeline channel of all this goodness to come, we have this Google Sheet that is like filled up of this to do list. I know, we are so focused on our members and building up our relationships with our suppliers and offering fantastic benefits and making sure our resources are dialed. And I know this past week, and one of our main goals is to increase communication with our members, and just create that opportunity for our dealer network to interconnect and get to know each other. How has it been for you? Like, you know, like, I know, it’s been a crazy week, how are you doing over there?
Rachelle Schouten 16:23
I mean, honestly, it’s been so great. I really enjoy engaging with our membership. And just driving this engagement, it has been a lot of fun for me. And I’m really excited to keep rolling out new and improved benefits and content and really just cementing the idea that we are the trade association for bike shops.
Heather Mason 16:47
Yeah, I mean, Rachelle, you are amazing. So, anyone who has worked with me in the past knows that I am just like, throw, throw, throw throw ideas out. And Rachelle has been grabbing all those ideas and actually turning them into reality. So that has been really awesome. And then the retailer feedback. So yesterday we are at frostbite, virtual frostbite. Thanks, kvp. That was awesome. I was super positive. Would you agree?
Rachelle Schouten 17:11
Oh, definitely. Yeah, yeah,
Heather Mason 17:13
super feel good. Like, even like I left like right before the end that I missed the last comment. And Rachelle sent it to me. And it was really positive. So yeah, so then we’re doing the new social feature called the member spotlight. And basically, I personally love seeing that we have shops sharing photos with us. And we post on our feeds about the shop member, and then the shops reshare it and it’s really getting a lot more people to see the shops that are out their unique shops that are out there. And I know a lot of shops like yesterday, you know, how do I do that? How do I take part? So, Rochelle, since you’re the one taking all these great ideas and turning them into reality, any insights? Who are members who might want to take part or come on like to bicycle retail, radio and talk and share their story? How do they do this? What
Rachelle Schouten 17:58
tips do you have? Absolutely, we would love to hear from our members. And anyway, if you see a post of ours on social media, go ahead and just send a direct message or comment on there, or email us info@nbda.com We always love hearing from you can send us photos of your shop and we’ll put them up on our social media and highlight your store for a day. If you have stories of you know, a customer that came in and you had a really great customer interaction and you just want to share that let us know if you have employee highlights. An employee went above and beyond, and you want to highlight them we can do that. If you’ve been recognized in your community for anything, we would love to share all of these things.
Heather Mason 18:47
That is so spot on. I love that, especially like recognizing your community. I mean, there’s so many shops doing so many great things. And I mean, we need to let our other we can learn from each other. Right. So, I like you know, this past two weeks, it’s been a whirlwind. I’ve been kind of waking up in the middle of the night sometime with my list next to me, like ideas. Give us some tips like when you’re feeling overwhelmed or unfocused. How do you juggle? What do you do to keep yourself kind of on the path?
Rachelle Schouten 19:15
Yeah, I by nature, I’m a really forgetful person. If I don’t write something down, it’s just gonna be gone into the ether. And like five minutes, I’ve learned this about myself. If I don’t write every single thing down, it’s just like whoosh gone forever. So, you know, I had a system where I just always had paper in front of me and I would just write down everything and then I just had a giant piece of paper with like, upside down and diagonal notes and they’re not organized or anything and then that overwhelmed me. So, I’ve adapted to kind of like a, like a bullet journal light kind of a thing. I don’t do the full bullet journal, but I have a system of daily, weekly, monthly, and then things that don’t get done, get moved to the next day. Bye priority. If it works for me, you just have to know how your own brain works, and then go from there.
Heather Mason 20:08
I mean, I couldn’t agree more so at CABDA. So, Joe Morales gave the keynote and him and I had a conversation right before he went on and did the keynote. And it was about prioritizing, and especially for shop owners, like we have this list of like a million things that needs to get done around the shop, right. And you could easily attack the things that are easy to do, let’s say or that you like to do. But you really need to prioritize, because you can’t keep putting off the things that might make you the most profit or, you know, so it is about prioritizing and tackling those big things, talking about prioritizing. Now, last year, you stepped into the role of director of the well-known America’s best bike shop program. Congratulations on that. Thank you. It’s
Rachelle Schouten 20:51
a really important program, I think. And I love seeing the winners at the end when they share their achievement that they won the title of one of America’s best bike shops with their communities. It’s just a great feeling to provide that to our members.
Heather Mason 21:09
Yeah, I mean, the program has been a staple of the NBDA for many years. And like even yesterday, we had one of our recipients reach out for a logo request to share it with their community. So, I know that the winners really take value in receiving that title. But I know that you receive many applications from shops all over the US. I mean, it’s hard to get that title. So, is there any tips you could give to shops who are planning to apply for 2021?
Rachelle Schouten 21:39
Yeah, so the application, it’s not just for us, you know, to go in and judge you. There is a portion of that, but we really design the application. So that it gives you the opportunity as the shop owner, or you know, if you do it with your manager, just take a second away from working in the shop, to kind of zooming out, take an outsider’s look into your store, and into you know, your daily processes. It’s hard to find time day to day, or even, you know, a desire day today to zoom out. But it’s really easy to miss things when you’re just bogged in it all the time. So that would be one. The other is, you know, we really look for what is unique about your shop? What is something that makes you stand out from all of the other shops in your area or even you know, in your state, and we love that personalized touch?
Heather Mason 22:48
Yeah, so going back to like, the brand is the shop right you shop. And I know that a lot of the people who apply a lot of the shops that apply for America’s best bike shop, they love the part of the program. That’s the secret shopper, right when they get Yes.
Rachelle Schouten 23:01
Yes, it gives you an outside perspective that even you can’t give yourself which is somebody who is brand new to your shop, who walks in doesn’t know you, you know doesn’t know your staff. And they get the opportunity to look at that person’s evaluation and find out you know, what, somebody who’s looking at your place for the first time, what they think of it what they see. I think it’s really invaluable.
Heather Mason 23:35
And Chris Shelton, any shop applies for this regardless of if they’re a MBDA. member,
Rachelle Schouten 23:41
you do have to be a member to apply.
Heather Mason 23:44
Okay. All right. And I know that we have like continued sponsors support from Marcia McLennan insurance and smart detailing. Thank you so much for your support of our program. When will the application period start? Or shall if shops are looking to apply for this year?
Rachelle Schouten 23:58
Yes, we’re looking to open the application around April 1 this year. It’s tentative, but it will be around April 1. Yeah, I
Heather Mason 24:07
know it’s on our list. Yes. Some of the shops that I have talked to many of them say applying for the program was one of the best investments they had made. And that winning that placement on the list earns them like instant street cred, right? I mean, personally, every time I invested in myself, like going mentally all in on an idea or training for, you know, some 100-mile ultra-runner, some stage race on my mountain bike, or invested time into just a relationship or friendship, it’s paid dividends. So, this is an opportunity for shops to definitely invest in themselves. You know, you know, you’re going to be Secret Shop, you know, get your stuff together, get your staff trained, like you know, be ready for this because it’s instant street cred. Absolutely. Alright, what’s the best investment you made in yourself? How do you like that question?
Rachelle Schouten 25:03
Yeah, back into the deep personal questions. Good, good, great question. So, after I got my bachelor’s in music, I actually immediately applied for and got into a grad program at University of Cincinnati to get my master’s in violin performance. I didn’t end up staying and finishing the degree for a number of reasons. But I learned a lot about myself. For that degree. Outside of classes, I spent about five hours a day just by myself and a tiny little practice room with me and my violin, you know, just practicing all the things that I had a lot of scales, a lot of basics, I definitely improved a lot. And it taught me a good deal about self-motivation, and about time management. That is like,
Heather Mason 25:55
so, what I’m getting from that. And I love that you share that. It’s a great reminder. I mean, I think sometimes we find ourselves in these spots where we’re headed in one direction, we’re like, smooth sailing. And I even think about this over this last year, how we’ve like had to adapt. So, rewind before COVID, right, we are, you know, everything was kind of in a direction that we were comfortable with. And then all of a sudden thing changes, everything changes. And we feel like, Oh, my God, you know, I’m not doing what I thought I was, should be doing. So, God, maybe I’m a failure, or whatever. But if we get out of that mindset, and we just hang in long enough, we’re actually going in, like, positive direction, but we just don’t see it at the time. Right,
26:34
exactly.
Heather Mason 26:36
This is another question. This will become like a Heather podcast question. So, get ready for a future guest be expecting that you had like a giant billboard? What would it say?
Rachelle Schouten 26:47
Don’t go to grad school? I’m kidding. Probably something like, don’t allow other people to tell you what your value is. I like that one.
Heather Mason 27:01
I like that one. So much. Right? No one knows really accept you. Right? So, I like that.
27:07
Yeah.
Heather Mason 27:09
Gosh, so I know, this past week, I’ve been calling you up. And we’ve been zooming every day. And I know that I keep coming back to the NBDA. And my vision to just strengthen our membership base, talk more, make better relationships with advocacy groups and suppliers. And I guess like, I know, I’ve told you, but I’d love to talk about it. So, my main goal is just I placed so much value on networking and interaction, and that you can read a lot on paper, right, and you can read emails and texts, but by uniting people, even via zoom, like this past week, I think I zoomed with, like 40 people. And when you’re face to face, there’s just so much that come from those moments, the idea sparks, when you can see people’s eyes kind of either light up or, you know, go the other direction is so important. And that is why I feel like making our members feel connected to us so that they know they can call us to email us. And that’s why I want to talk to you today, you know, and start the retail radio, you know, kind of like this to let people know that they feel connected to you and I and they can text us and offer us comments and feedbacks and, you know, seek solace in us like when you’re having a bad day and trust us. So, I don’t know. I mean, you feel good about that. You think we’re heading in the right direction? Anything you want to add like about that?
Rachelle Schouten 28:31
Yeah, I really think that we’re in a great position right now to unite as an industry and to learn from each other. You know, we can’t see each other in person, and we can’t hold in person events. But the opportunity for networking, over you know, the internet online has just increased so much. And the emphasis on the interaction is spot on. It’s exactly what we need. As for our members, we’re definitely working on stepping up the communication, starting with, you know, this podcast with our frequent emails, you know, directly from me directly from Heather, but we’d also love to hear from you like she said, if you have ideas, suggestions, concerns, anything about your membership, anything about your shop, anything about your community, please let us know. We’re always happy to hear from our members are retailers always.
Heather Mason 29:33
Yeah. And so, you’re right, like communication direct from us. I sent an email out to the retailers yesterday, giving them a little bit more on my background, but also asking them to share the MBDA on their social feeds to share with their network about what we’re doing. And, you know, we really want when consumers walk into a store or when consumers visit your website. We want to let them see that MBDA logo on your front door on your website and kind of place, you know value in that your part of this organization. And that gives your shop, you know, puts your shop on a certain platform of being a well-educated retailer. So, we need our members to participate with us. And to get that to latch on to that concept, that idea that you know, you are a part of this organization, and we don’t just need to know it inside our industry, we want consumers to recognize that you are part of the organization and that is one like that is like a nod, right? It’s like a tip of your hat. Right? Definitely. And we’ll be hosting like, Rachelle, like we’re going to host some live zooms, bringing retailers together, right. So, we want our webinars, our webinars now are free for members only. So, make sure that you’re signing up, right. That’s a new thing. We want to increase interaction right there.
30:54
Yes, definitely. So yeah, I
Heather Mason 30:56
mean, yeah, so this past year, right, we’re all kind of in this new way of working, it’s left a lot of tremors. And, you know, the conversations I’ve had with bike shop owners is that, where are we headed? Like, that’s the big unknown. The big question mark, right? I have these coffee dates with my dad, I love my dad. He’s like my greatest influence. And we often have coffee dates, in which I just kind of unleash and give him everything that’s in my mind. And he reminds me on certain times that in five years from now, you won’t be worried about this, this will not even be this will be just a glimpse of something, you’ll be thinking a new, you’ll be surrounded by stronger habits, you’ll be, you know, you’re moving forward confidently. So, it might seem like a big deal right now. But take a deep breath, and just keep pushing on, right. And then like, times when you have to do that and internalize and become stronger, it makes you just come out a whole, I don’t know, more capable person. And so, I feel like the industry, we’re so concerned right now, you know, I read it in like the Facebook groups. And we I mean, we should be, but I feel like we’re in that spot right now. And we just got to take a deep breath, and think of where, you know, we’re going to be in the next five years, and maybe we won’t be so concerned. I don’t know, do you feel like is there anything like, five years ago, if you think back anything that made you stronger? Or anything that, you know, you could reflect back? We’re going back to these deep personal questions.
Rachelle Schouten 32:24
Yes, I think one of the biggest decisions that I’ve made personally, in that time was that I, you know, was one of those people that felt brave, because I, you know, didn’t share any of my struggles, or any of my, you know, issues, and I did everything on my own. And I had that as a point of pride, you know, but I made the decision. And I realized that what’s brave is to actually put yourself out there, and to ask for help, even if it’s something small, like, Hey, can you proofread those social media posts before I put it out? Or, you know, I made this event flyer, do you see anything just like, wrong with the placement of the graphic or whatever. But also, just, Hey, I’m feeling uncertain right now, do you also feel that way, you know, and you get a lot of positive feedback. And it is really reaffirming of your feelings. And you know and asking for that tiny bit of help makes all the difference in the world.
Heather Mason 33:31
I’m thinking of one word, and its vulnerability. Like, you have to be able to just be vulnerable and ask for that help and, and just be comfortable with you, right? Like, this is. Rachelle, you are truly an amazing person. I am beyond excited to be working with you. You have so much positivity and love, you’re truly engaged and your passion fuel to make our industry stronger, and you smile every time I talk to you. I thank you for not only your willingness to come on bicycle, retail radio, because I was like, Hey, what about this so candid and you let me throw some crazy questions at you. And your support these past few weeks has been absolutely awesome. And I’m so excited to be like team, Rachelle, and Heather and, and work with our members to really provide amazing support. So, thank you.
34:23
Thank you.
Rachelle Schouten 34:25
I really, really have enjoyed working with you. I agree. 100%, you know, with all your ideas and your vision for the NVDA and I am so excited to keep working on it to keep engaging to keep improving and connecting. And I think we’re headed in a great direction and I’m really excited for it.
Heather Mason 34:48
We are so full on the gas. But like I said we need to call our current members and ask you more than ever for your help to reach out not only to us as we’re saying but you’re connected into peers, let them know why you value your MBDA membership. I invite you to connect with me and come on bicycle retail radio and share your story with our listeners. I invite you to contribute to our outspoken blog become a feature on our member spotlight or leader webinar. There’s lots of love for our industry and there’s lots of great webinars coming up. We have Jay Townley this week. Members, like I said, Please pre-register. There are so many great resources on the NBDA website. If you would like to support the show. Don’t forget to subscribe there Spotify Apple podcasts, share your favorite episode with friends post this episode on social media. We appreciate your support and thank you for listening and we’ll see you back here soon. And with this we go piece
Rod Judd 35:49
by this has been bicycle retail radio by the National Bicycle Dealers Association. For more information on membership, and member benefits, join us@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.
Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.
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