I recently wrote an article about the traits of successful retail store owners. Of course, there are tons of different traits and skills that would benefit you if you were interested in opening your own retail store. Still, there are only a few that are must-have traits which you can’t learn or hire someone else to do for you. Of those traits, the single most important one that you really ought to have if you’re going to own a retail store is a true love for people.

Retail stores may sell products but they’re still all about people. You have to be interested in the psychology of people to truly understand good sales and marketing of your business. You have to be interested in interaction with people if you are going to be working with them day in and day out as you try to convince them to buy what you have for sale. And you are going to need to be able to establish healthy working relationships with people if you are going to be successful in working with employees and subcontractors in your business.

Are there retail store owners out there who don’t like people? Of course. Are some of them successful? Perhaps. But this success could be luck or it could be short-lived and it certainly doesn’t help them to get through tough times in the business. People who truly like others will find that they enjoy their retail jobs even during economic slumps because they derive their happiness from being around others. So although you may need other things to be good at business, I’m convinced that the thing you need most is an interesting in people.

Tags: business, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, open a store, personality, retail, small business, store, traits

I really adore creative things of all kinds and particularly love learning about how technology has advanced the ability of individuals to be more creative. For example, I love that there are so many people now making their own videos thanks to the popularity of YouTube – it’s a form of creative expression that the average person wasn’t engagin in twenty years ago and I think it’s great.

Another thing that I think is great is the availability of online storefronts like Zazzle. These are places where you can upload your own creative designs and easily turn them into T-shirts and coffee mugs and other items for use or for sale. This allows people to be flexible in their creativity and also to be productive with it.

I really like Zazzle and the sites that are like it so I’ve been trying to spread the word about it. I wrote a piece about Zazzle on this blog not that long ago. And I also answered a Yahoo! Answers questions about Zazzle which covered the basics of what it is and how useful it is. That answer was chosen as a best answer for the question.

Tags: art, creativity, design, kathryn vercillo, online design, questions, store, Yahoo Answers, zazzle