The Hill I Die On

As business owners we often get sucked into the day-to-day grind of running a business. Our to-do list never gets done. We find it hard to take time off, and the buck always stops with us. It doesn’t go any further; there is nobody else to pass the responsibility off to. We have so much to do that sometimes we make the easy decision rather than the right one.

Furthermore, we all have things we want to do. We have an idea of where we want our business to go and how we want it to grow, but we are so busy in the day-to-day grind that we never seem to find the time to make the changes we want to make. And when we do try to make changes, we either don’t have the time to make it happen or the staff doesn’t have the buy-in to make the changes happen.

Here is my #1 rule when it comes to anything I do with Red Rock Running Company. The hill I will die on every time is hiring the right people. I’d rather be short staffed than hire somebody simply to have a warm body in the store. Your staff needs to believe in your vision, and simply put that won’t happen if you don’t hire the right people.

In return we pay our staff well. Sales associates have the potential to make $21.50 an hour. We measure them each pay period on five key metrics that we believe will lead to success in the store. Twice a month I take about an hour and send every manager, assistant manager, and sales associate their metrics so that they can see where they are and if they are hitting the store goals.

The success we have had is shown in what I believe are industry-leading metrics. This has allowed us to continue to grow, and as we grow we do more for our employees. Beginning in April, for the first time ever, we are offering medical and retirement benefits. The message to our associates is clear: working for RRRC is not your fun job – it’s a career!

Our job as owners is to make the vision of our stores become a reality. It all starts with who you hire! Dive in and make the change! The ball is in your court, and you have the power to make it happen!

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