IN THIS ISSUE’S “Big Story”, we feature contributors who have no connection to the pet industry. Moreover, a few of the ideas they offer are pretty out there — in no way based on the limitations and realities that you see, day in and day out, in the trenches.
“Hmm,” that might have you thinking. “Has Pets+ already run off the rails?”
If your business is going exactly as you’d planned, you’re making more money than you’d ever dreamed, and you have no reason to change a thing in your store, then yes: Pets+ is off not just the rails but its rocker too. No need to read on.
But if you are in the trenches day in and day out, you know the realities and limitations of carving out time and energy for big-picture creative thinking. And you won’t want to miss our Big Story written by these know-nothings of the pet industry.
While they may not be steeped in pet industry knowledge, each “If I Owned …” essay author has devoted his or her career to creative retail — and to sharing that knowledge with others. For this issue, we asked them to apply their years of knowledge, imagine they owned a pet business and then tell us about it.
What do you get out of it? Big-picture creative thinking laid out for you, from the outside, looking in. Completely fresh, unbiased ideas, unadulterated by the daily grind.
And now a word here about another know-nothing in this issue. Full disclosure: My own time in the pet industry totals three months. I just recently returned from my very first Global Pet Expo, where, thanks to a lot of great people who took the time to meet with me, I began steeping myself in industry knowledge.
What I have devoted my career to is magazines, however. And as someone often caught up in the day-to-day grind of doing just that, I ask you to feel free to reach out anytime and tell me what you would do if you edited a pet magazine.
We can all benefit sometimes from a little help thinking from the outside in.
Wishing you the best in business,
Ralf Kircher
Editor-in-Chief, Pets+
ralf@petsplusmag.com