I agreed to wait until after the first week of July to leave
town, as Codey and Clark, the new owners of Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, are
on their honeymoon; as part of my agreement with them upon the sale of my
business to them six months ago, I promised to storesit so they could not have
to worry about day-to-day operations while they’re spending this important week
together.
This last week, I’ve set up a workspace in the front of
Uncle Marty’s on the guest worktable that is situated between banks of private
mailboxes. Being up front, I’ve been able to see so many dear guests and loyal
clients who have stopped in to check their mail, ship packages, pick up
printing orders, buy greeting cards, or drop off used packing material for
reuse. It has been truly a blessing to see these amazing advocates for Uncle
Marty’s this week and say a proper goodbye (many did come to my retirement
party in December, but now I get some one-on-one time to let them know how much
I’ve appreciated their friendship, support, and patronage for 13ish years).
I’ve given so many hugs, shed a fair amount of bittersweet tears, and felt incredibly
content in the win-win-win sale of this business and the next chapters ahead.
Why win-win-win? It was definitely a win for me, as I needed
to head out of town in order to be closer to family in Delaware, as well as to
move on to an exciting post-retirement career in consulting and editing, both
of which have been so well received that my fellow coaches and I with our new
consulting firm (AYM High Consultants, if
you wanna check it out) can barely keep up with demand. So, the business sale
and moving on to new and exciting freelance things was definitely the right
decision for me.
It was definitely a win for Codey and Clark as well. Clark
had been my manager the last couple of years and has worked in the shop off and
on for nearly six years now. His sister Aleah started before him, brother
Callum after him, followed by mom Julie, brother-in-law Ryan, and many other
family and friends. This business had become a true family business—just, it
was their family and not mine (though I am definitely an honorary member,
loving my “work kids” as if they were niblings of my own.) In the last six
months since Codey and Clark have been the owners, they’ve broken my records
every single month and are poised to open a second location downtown next month,
with a third location for 2025 in negotiations and looking very promising.
They’re smashing it and I am so, so proud.
The third win is obviously a win for the business. With the
growth, new locations, tremendous positive feedback, new systems in
development, and possible franchising down the road, the business is doing
better and growing stronger than it ever has before. It’s definitely a
win-win-win; my heart is definitely content, overjoyed, and full of gratitude
with how it all worked out.
There were two new team members, Ben and Caleb, at Uncle
Marty’s who each started a month or two ago. They’re working out really well.
As is the Uncle Marty’s tradition, once a team member reaches the point where
we’re sure we like them, they like us, and they’ve made a difference around
here, we immortalize them on our “Team Member Wall of Fame”—which is a section
of the shop where we display portraits of all of our favorite team members,
past and present. But these aren’t normal portraits. No, they’re black and
white face-smashed-on-photocopier portraits.
The face smashing started years ago with Aleah, my very
first long-time team member. (I had a few others before her, but none worked
out.) Not only had she never used a landline, but she had also never
photocopied her face! So, I was thrilled to show her what I have always found
is a fun thing to do in any office…but made sure to set a precedent that we
keep the photocopier portrait usage to faces only. So, I first demonstrated how
to properly lay your face on the copier glass and made a copy of my mug and
then, after the glass was properly cleaned, Aleah followed suit by copying her
own face…and the Team Member Wall of Fame was born.
So, when it came time to initiate Ben and Caleb, I was so excited to be able to do it during the week I was storesitting. They know they’re likely the last ones to be initiated to the wall by “The One & Only Founder Uncle Marty Himself,” a title Codey and Clark graciously gave me when I relinquished my “Owner & Shopkeeper” title at the store sale closing. (Actually, the title they gave me was just “Founder,” but I’ve added a little extra flare to it since…because I’m admittedly a little extra).
What has made me just as proud as watching the new team
members flourish, trained by people I trained through a training program I and
long-time coworkers created, is watching the long-term team members that I
hired take ownership and management and charge. In fact, there are two more new
interns starting here next week and I’ve had the privilege to be introduced to
each one when they came in for a business introduction / tour before they sign
on officially. I watched Ryan, who has just become Store Manager, walking one
of the new interns, Zoltan, through introductions. One of the first things Ryan
did was bring Zoltan to the front counter where we have our mission statement
framed for all guests to see and said, “This is our mission and what we aim to honor
with each guest.”
My heart melted. I have preached and preached and preached
mission statements to our AYM High clients—many of whom have never thought
about having one—and how important it is to not only have one, but to publish
it, display it, and from-the-get-go have each team member be in line with it.
And that’s exactly what Ryan was doing, organically, because he knew that was a
cornerstone of Uncle Marty’s. I was so proud.
Ryan then told Zoltan that, “At Uncle Marty’s, we believe we
must diversify or die, so we are constantly looking for new products and
services that make sense to add on and grow with.” This is verbiage Ryan has
picked up from my own mentor, Fahim, and likely repeated by him to our team.
“Diversify or die” is something we also preach now at AYM High.
So, as I sit here in the front of Uncle Marty’s, spending my
last week getting all the takeout dishes I’ll miss from this neighborhood,
hugging all of the regulars one last time, and feeling elated, excited, and
sometimes a little weepy, I’m reflecting with profound gratitude and looking
forward with hopeful anticipation.
This has been one wonderful, wonderful last week.
…
Marty
Johnson is the Communication and Vision Coach at AYM High Consultants, a columnist, and an editor, producing the mail and
business center industry's leading magazine, MBC Today. In 2023, he sold
his popular and growing brand, Uncle Marty’s Shipping Office, and retired from
shopkeeper life to focus on writing and coaching. Subscribe to his Ask Uncle Marty™ newsletter and read more at askunclemarty.com; follow him on socials @askunclemarty. #AskUncleMarty
…
Article
written July 5, 2024, for co-publication on the askunclemarty.com and aymhigh.com blogs.
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