JimmyCast

Podcast: Larry Rickert on Working From Home and His Last Big Project

He’s looking to reinvent how his store reaches out to and connects with customers.

Published

3 years ago

May 11, 2020

INSTORE Staff

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THIS MONTH, JimmyCast welcomes Larry Rickert, owner of Jim Kryshak Jewelers in Wausau, WI.

Podcast host Jimmy DeGroot knows Larry well, as Jimmy was the general manager at Jim Kryshak Jewelers from 1996 to 2007, before leaving to begin his current jewelry consultancy business.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Larry shares with Jimmy and co-host Doug Meadows how he thinks customers will change as a result of the pandemic and and also offers timely guidance to jewelry business owners on how to adjust to working from home. In fact, Larry is something of an expert on the matter — having stopped working on-site at Jim Kryshak 15 years ago.

The most important lesson Larry has learned since deciding to work remotely? Stop micro-managing and trust your people. “Since 2005, the store has continued to grow,” says Larry. “Because of the people at the store, not because of me. It actually was in spite of me. Because I wasn’t there, I couldn’t micro-manage. I broke my micro-managing tendencies and everybody did just fine.”

Later you’ll hear about a major initiative that Larry calls his “last project” that he sees as a top-down reinvention of the way his store reaches and connects with customers.

Catch additional wisdom from Larry, Jimmy and co-host Doug Meadows in the latest episode of JimmyCast.

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