Growing Pains

So I am entering the 4th month of my "new" job and I am finding the hardest part is maintaining the visual aesthetic. For those of you who have never worked retail you might not understand what I am about to talk about so don't think this is mindless bitching because it does have a point. In fact I will maintain that retail is quite possibly one of the hardest and most underpaid jobs out there. The truth of the matter is that as a 26 year old I am currently managing a 1.1 million dollar business and you know what I am pretty stinking proud of it. I'm sure if it was my own private boutique and not a chain store there would be a lot more respect for my job, which is unfortunate. I digress .... back to merchandising.

Many large retailers have corporate visual merchandisers. These merchandisers have say a warehouse with faux walls and tables and all of the fixtures that the stores are equipped with they are built. These merchandisers are then supplied with all of the next season's products and their job is to create the wall and table displays that they would like to see implemented into the stores (this is in fact a dream job for me). They photograph each fixture and send photos along with alternate suggestions to the stores monthly, quarterly or whenever there is a big promo etc. Victoria's Secret had a bangin' Brand Guide and it made merchandising the store fairly quick and efficient, we also had the opportunity to change layouts wherever we saw fit. It was with I fell in love with my favorite part of retail, the merchandising. As I moved to Brooks Brothers I was provided with much less of a guide, in fact pretty much none. My manager and I spent many a day at each others throats merchandising because we had very different ideas and were never on the same page. Now as I hit Frans we have 0 direction. Because we are only provided with 6-10 units in each piece we are the merchants. We decide the color stories, the tables, the mannequins, the EVERYTHING and it is a LOT of work. Seriously.

The most frustrating part for me is that I have no merchants on my team and teaching them to see balance and composition and product placement is proving to be the greatest challenge of my job. This time last year I was in grad school to become a teacher and I feel like I am back there now. I consistently am battling frustration because I cannot seem to teach my team members how to merchandise thus I walk into the store and I often "see disaster". I don't want the store to feel like it is on my shoulders to merchandise because it is a huge task that I could spend 60 hours a week doing so I am looking for new appraoches. I am trying to ask myself if I can become a better teacher for my staff and share my knowledge with them and I am trying to keep my own confidence up as the manager. But it's starting to take a toll on me, I can't lie.

I remember laying in bed this past Spring praying for a new challenge in my life, something to motivate me to work hard and man did I ever get that! I think that I really do love this job and I am running into many unforeseen challenges but that only is reinforcing growth for me. I think when we are uncomfortable it's ok, there is something out there that is bigger than us pushing us to be better, to perform better, to assess our actions and evaluate ourselves. I am definitely a new manager learning the ropes and we are all feeling the crunch but I am determined to get this job under control and have fun with it. I just wish I could internalize that uncomfortable feeling a bit better and that a couple other areas of my life would start to fit together so I felt less stress, but apparently now is not the time. So here's to growth and change and the opportunity to put my teaching skills to good use. I challenge you if you are frustrated with your jobs to look at your professions in a new light. Force the frustration in another direction and find the purpose of this moment you are in right now, because you are there for a reason, guaranteed.