“As God is my witness…they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk.”

Scarlett O’Hara retching from a turnip and vowing never to go hungry again maybe feels a little too close to home for comfort these days. It’s been a rough couple of years for the independent entrepreneurial business owner/decorator. Many can relate to Scarlett’s desperation to hold it together despite very difficult economic circumstances and some are close to losing the very things that are most precious – like Scarlett was with her beloved Tara.

Perhaps a closer look at her grit and green eyed determination could teach us a thing or two about real entrepreneurial spirit – and about creative  Window Fashions. Up on that hill with wild hair and dirty face, she could have crumpled and crawled home defeated, but she didn’t. She never gave up; she rolled up her sleeves and worked hard and shrewd to protect what she loved. She showed the ability to change and adapt to meet current circumstances no matter how different or unexpected and a willingness and courage to move outside of her comfort zone. She knew to turn to someone with more knowledge and experience when needed, no matter what it cost her. And then of course, my personal favorite, she had the creativity and moxie to turn draperies into the thing that helped her gain what she needed to achieve success.

Rather than go it alone, making one decision after another that got her deeper and deeper into trouble, Scarlett could have benefited by surrounding herself with a network of like minded people with knowledge, expertise and experience to help her. People who – rather than competing against her – were working together to achieve the same goal.

And as for the draperies – well, they are a big part of the secret to getting what you need in business – more happy clients, more referrals, more appointments -  and making everyone else “pea green with envy.” They make life, your business, and your customers homes more Exciting!

Kathy Cragg is VP of Consumer Marketing and Member Support for Exciting Windows! She coaches others on how to get so many window treatment appointments that the competition can only be Pea Green with Envy!

A lot of us have over 10 years in the window coverings business.  We’ve always thought of it as an independent business – you know, the business owner serving a customer directly.  We never thought about chains and large businesses, franchises and networks coming to dominate the business.  Sure, we’ve always had JC Penney, a class competitor, and before that sears, but today it is changing.

For the first time, marketing and managing our business is getting too complex for a single independent.  It was not so bad when we could put a few hundred in the newspaper and Yellow Pages and get leads.  Ain’t that way any more.  Now we see chains – 3 Day Blinds, Next Day Blinds, Blinds to go, and of course JCP.  There are major franchises, with Budget Blinds as leader followed by V2K (now Gotcha Covered Blinds), Today’s Window Fashions, and smaller ones around the country.  There are national Networks like Blind Brokers Network, and the leader, Hunter Douglas Gallery stores…and, naturally, Exciting Windows! (featuring draperies, plus blinds, shades, shutters, AND creative stylings with Michael Payne to set the tone).

So, where does it go from here?  This is not to say the independent can’t survive.  They can.  But it means a lot more work just to stand still while the big folks figure out the Internet, marketing technology, and have the training programs to move ahead.   No question, it is a New Era.

Tell me your thoughts…how is the movement to large business and the Internet affecting you?