I used to refer to my daughter Natasha as Ivanka Trump. Both have jewelry lines. Most EtsyNY members know Natasha is Wink and Flip. But she recently confided in me that she did not like being called Ivanka Trump.

"Who then?" I asked.

She thought for a moment and then answered purposefully, "Mickey Drexler."

It raises certain issues. When an EtsyNY friend wanted to attend a movie together and suggested a date, I wrote back: "

Booked. Day of beauty planned with Mickey Drexler," and there were some questions.

No one ever accused Natasha of aiming low. Mickey (his mother named him Millard) Drexler grew up in the Bronx, slept on a cot in the hallway of his apartment (according to 60 Minutes), and you might never have heard of him except he is the current chairman and CEO of the J. Crew Group (a place where I swear they know my daughter by first name.)

Some people say Drexler invented Casual Friday. As the former CEO of Gap Inc. he pulled the khaki pant away from the military and out of the Preppy Handbook to make it an American wardrobe staple. He's been a director at Apple since its heyday in 1999. His 69th birthday was 10 days ago, and he is still going VERY strong; the guy is called the Merchant Prince.

But he started out like many of us did. He attended the Bronx High School of Science, City College and SUNY Buffalo. He received an M.B.A from BU and went on to rise to merchandising vice-president at the now-defunct A&S department store in the mid-70s. He held positions at Ann Taylor, Bloomingdales and Macy*s.

GAP and J. Crew

Drexler was GAP in the 1990s. He introduced private label merchandise for the store. it expanded rapidly to become an iconic part of 90s pop culture, featuring commercials with Beatles background music (remember Mellow Yellow?). The relaxed American casual look that he defined made the Gap a top brand the world over. Retailers began to believe that stores needed people with "impeccable taste" and "strong gut instincts" rather than just numbers, to thrive.

In 2002, Drexler and GAP parted ways, and when the head of The J.Crew Group heard this he went over to Mickey Drexler's house, knocked on the front door, and offered him the company's top job.

Drexler turned the American clothing and accessories retailer (founded via catalog in 1983) into an upscale boutique, opening its first store in 1989. Gone were the dressy business-style clothes, in came the vintage "look alike" styles with a feminine edge.

According to writer Nick Paumgarten, in a profile about Drexler he wrote forThe New Yorker, the CEO frequently gets on the company loudspeaker at the downtown NYC offices and makes random announcements. Here is the pre-announcement scenario Paumgarten witnessed firsthand:

"On a rainy day in May, Drexler and his team of designers and merchants crowded into a shack on a pier in Maine, where a small group of local seamstresses, in the employ of a company called Sea Bags, was stitching totes, duffels, and dopp kits out of old sails; the New Yorkers were swarming the goods, like discriminating pirates. They arranged bags on the floor in order to choose a few to feature in the J. Crew catalogue. “This is why you come and you see and you feel,” Drexler said. He stood over it all, rocking a little on his heels, his lips moving silently, his body a kind of divining rod. He turned to the bags’ designers and said, “Here’s what I’m thinking—should we talk?” His barrage of questions barely left time for answers. “Where in the world do you sell your bags? Is there an iconic or a famous Sea Bag? In five years, do you repeat? Is this your logo? Do we have time to do this today? Can we just work? Should we just grab the things we like?” The arrangement on the floor grew. “Let’s see less depth, more assortment,” he said. “Bring out some more stripes and numbers.” More bags appeared, emblazoned with stripes and numbers. “This is like discovering gold. This is it. Loudspeaker, please.”

What kind of 24-year old chooses this kind of madman on which to model herself A hard worker.

Drexler is known for hiring people -- not for their G.P.A -- but because they come from humble beginnings and are willing to work hard. He learned his work ethic early. His mom died when he was 16 years old and his dad worked as a button buyer for a coat company in the garment district. But he also has described his desire to get away from his humble beginnings as a motivating factor.

All in the Family

In Natasha's family, the pater familias was her grandfather, Theodore, and he was a retailer. He worked at Macy*s in the prime of his career and then at a domestics textile company, Lysander Tufted Products. They hired him to turn around the company, and he did just that.

Theodore as a teenager on his horse, Gypsy

"Don't go into retail," he told his daughters, "you work when everyone else has off." Then he proceeded to imbue the two of them with all they needed to know to excel in it.

"If you don't reach out and touch the goods when you walk by, you shouldn't be in this business," he once said. He was a font of explicit and implicit nuggets of retailing gold. If you wanted to be in retail -- which neither of his daughters did. Yet both of us excelled in it, one before choosing a career in nursing, the other choosing it after a career in journalism.

Ted Spedalle and Mickey Drexler may have been cut from the same cloth. Drexler was such a merchandising nut that he once tore apart a Gap Body store on the eve of its opening day, getting up on a ladder to do what needed to be done. When I read this for the first time, it reminded me of the day I was representing Wink and Flip at York College in Jamaica, Queens. York is not a college whose students have a lot of discretionary income, so when assigned a bad selling spot, down in a well of concentric circles, where it would have been difficult for customers to get to me, I moved the table when a better spot opened up. Then I moved the table a second time, into a position closer to the stream of incoming students, when it became available around 2 o'clock. At 5 o'clock, when a vendor packed up and left, I shifted our table into the spot I thought was best.

"Are you done moving now?" another vendor asked me. I smiled. "I would move this table 10 times if I could put it in a better position," I answered.

Isn't that why we are here?

I realized years later I didn't move that table for any reason than one: It's what my dad would have told me to do. Ted Spedalle contracted Multiple Sclerosis in his early 30s but he worked so hard to make Lysander Tufted Products a success that they paid his salary for ten years after he could no longer make it from the suburbs into the Manhattan office. His eldest daughter taught his granddaughter everything he taught her, and today that young woman, makes her living growing her jewelry company, Wink and Flip, into a business she hopes she can one day pass on to her own children. She never met Ted Spedalle, and so far she has never met Mickey Drexler. If you happen to know him... tell him he has a big fan in Queens.

Why We Love Him

Here are 10 tips from the Merchant Prince, originally published by Fast Company:

"EVERY BUSINESS COULD BE CREATIVE."

I talk to so many people about the lack of creativity in companies in America. Part of creativity is contrarianism. Creativity battles common wisdom. Because if there's common wisdom, there's an opportunity. In my own experience, whatever was a good idea was a bad idea to most people.

"COMPANIES ARE IN THE STONE AGES ORGANIZATIONALLY."

"MOST COMPANIES SHOULD HAVE A RULE ABOUT HOW BIG THEY GET."

You can tell by the offices. "I'm going to see the king!" The king is on the top floor and there are 17 people in front of the king's office. There are layers of bureaucracy. It shouldn't be like that. Not necessarily assigning a billion-dollar value or a 10 billion-dollar value, but companies that become too ubiquitous go one way.

"AMERICA'S COMPANIES ARE BUILT TO DESTROY CREATIVITY."

If you become the head of a big company today, you're not the youngest person in the world. You have a contract. You get a jet. You have a huge overpaid salary. You get bonuses. Do you think that CEO is going to screw around with fast, creative change? No. And the board of directors--the last thing they want is someone who's going to change things. Steve Jobs--he would bet the company, he wouldn't care. But there are very few people who run companies that way.

"YOU HAVE TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD."

Everything has a trend to it; I don't care if it's appliances or engines. I always ask: What has a company done in the past five years that somebody's noticed?

"I'M A VERY PROUD MICROMANAGER."

If you don't care about the lapel or the buttons or the fit, then you are doing a disservice to the consumer. We're all inside the tunnel, speaking the language of business, but we need to speak the language of customers. How many companies actually talk about the product?

"YOU CANNOT COPY HIGH QUALITY."

It takes a long time to get a reputation for quality. There are people in our industry, they're basically copiers. Look at the cars on the streets. They all look alike. But if you put quality into a product, then have it validated, you have huge credibility. It takes time to earn that.

"YOU CAN DROWN IN DATA."

Data is very important, but you have to be good at reading the data in an emotional way. If you look at a selling report, there's an emotional trend to what's selling. What's a focus group? We ask, "What's going on in the stores?" You learn and then edit, edit, edit, because there's a lot of junk mail in your head.

"IT'S AGGRAVATING TO BE A PUBLIC COMPANY."

People who own stocks could not care less about the long run. Everyone in the world has a quarterly report. Your owners and investors are looking for a result. [But] it takes five or 10 years to build a company.

"SIMPLICITY IS VERY DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE."

Try to ask someone to make a really good roast chicken.

Susan/WinkandFlip winkandflip

The warmer weather is finally here, which means many Etsy artists in the New York area will soon be selling their wares not just in their online shops, but also in the great outdoors—at street fairs, flea markets and crafts festivals.

Are you ready to interact with your public? Are you ready to tell your story in order to make that sale?

According to SpeakEtc.’s Robyn Hatcher, a communications and presentation expert based in New York, there are a few things creative people need to think about to communicate their message, and it doesn’t always involve your words.

Robyn Hatcher

In fact, when it comes to the elements that affect a listener’s tendency to believe or trust a particular speaker, a well-known study by communications expert Albert Mehrabian notes that what you actually say (the verbal element) counts for just 7%. The vocal element—how you say it—counts for 38%, and the visual element—what you look like—counts for a whopping 55%.

How do these numbers translate into how you present yourself?

Your work and your look should be consistent. “People believe what they see and hear before the words even come out of your mouth,” says Hatcher, “so dress in a way that’s consistent with what you’re selling.” If you dress conservatively, for example, and you’re selling soft paintings, people may not trust you as much as if you dressed in a softer style.

Conversely, if you’re an artist, that doesn’t give you license to look disheveled, either. “You want to look arty yet professional,” says Hatcher. “Make sure what you’re wearing is flattering to your body and figure. But most important, make sure that what you’re projecting is 100 percent consistent with your work.

“It may seem like a no-brainer,” she adds, “but I’ve met jewelry designers who don’t even wear their own pieces. Of course, you shouldn’t wear too much either, but wearing a touch of what you do is essential.”

Project confidence with your body language. There are things that we do naturally when we’re confident that can put our potential customers at ease, but these things can go out the window when we’re anxious about making a sale. Hatcher suggests remembering the following tips when nerves start to kick in.

Greet people with a slight eyebrow raise. It’s a warm, inviting silent welcome.
When possible, try a light appropriate touch, on safe places like the elbow, shoulder or hand. Touch creates a bond and makes people feel more positive about you.
Use eye contact (5 to 10 seconds at a time). People will feel engaged and connected.
Smile.
Keep from covering your torso whenever possible. It’s easy to assume a posture like crossing your arms, but the torso is the most vulnerable part of the body; showing it makes you seem trustworthy and confident.

Don’t think it’s about selling. When making your sales pitch, remember to talk about why you do what you do, not just what you do or how you do it. “Think about why you create,” says Hatcher. “Of course we all need to make money, but the moment we focus on making money first, we project desperation and/or frustration, neither of which is very attractive or engaging. Instead of thinking about selling, think about sharing. Every person who experiences you and your work is one more person you’ve impacted. You never know who they know or how long it might take for them to call you or engage with you.”

When Hatcher coaches her clients, she looks for the relatable stories or aspects of their work that they can use in closing a sale. If you can touch upon an emotional need in your customer—be it a sense of nostalgia, or making someone feel more attractive—then you’re much more apt to not only make the sale, but also a connection that turns the sale into a returning customer.

“Whenever someone is listening to you,” says Hatcher, “there’s always this tape in their head that’s asking—what’s in this for me? That’s what you want to hook into.”

If you’re a jewelry designer, for example, think about what drove you to create a certain design, then share that story.

“You want your customer to say, ‘Oh, I’ve been there. I know this person better because she shared this info with me,’” says Hatcher. “You want the customer to be able to relate.”

Of course, you may not even be aware of why you created certain things, as so much of our creativity is subconscious. But Hatcher says it’s worth it to dig down into yourself and find an answer that’s deeper than saying you created something simply because you like it.

“Ask yourself why you’re doing the work you do,” she says, “then ask what it is you want your customer to feel when wearing or using your things.”

A happy outcome of doing such an exercise might be not just more sales, but a spurt of creativity as well, as you become more aware of where your work is coming from.

“Proudly and confidently talking about what you do is not the same as bragging,” says Hatcher. “Fully sharing what it is that you do and the value your art might bring to perspective buyers is providing a service.

“Art is healing, art is therapeutic, art can change people, and by not fully sharing what it is you do and by not allowing people to fully experience you and your art, you are doing them and your art a disservice.”

Looking for a professional video for your web site? Hatcher and videographer Judith George will be presenting a two-day seminar May 19 and 20 titled "Telling Your BizVid Story." Participants will leave the workshop with elevated communication skills, a clear and concise business story, plus a professionally shot and edited, ready-to-post video. Contact Hatcher for details.

Until next time!
Mary Ann
www.maryannfarley.etsy.com

A photo locket for your little secrets...

Happy Birthday Mickey!

How to Tell Your Story and Make the Sale