Episode 53: Family Dynamics & Facts vs. Feelings, with Dustin Knapp

Dustin Knapp is the General Manager of The Wickertree – Home & Patio – a business his family has owned and has grown in Langley over the past 15 years. Dustin has been involved with the family furniture business for of this time in one capacity or another as he completed his undergraduate studies at Simon Fraser University. While he holds degrees in Criminology & Psychology he found the allure of marketing, sales and working with people on a daily basis to be an exciting challenge worth tackling. He took on leadership roles within the company and has worked closely with his parents, Frank & Laura, as the business continued to grow; particularly over the past several years.

Dustin met Colin Sprake in 2012 and subsequently completed all of the Make Your Mark courses and continues to be involved with Kap-It Success – a board of director’s style group that is facilitated by Colin himself. Dustin and Colin co-authored a Best-Selling book in 2015 called “Entrepreneur Success Stories.” When not working at the business or engaging with the community, Dustin can be found riding Arabian and Saddlebred horses, traveling or reading!

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• What Dustin learned about business from his family at a young age – and how that affected his own plans for his future in unique ways
• Why retirement doesn’t always mean not working and why sometimes, it just means starting a new job and finding new challenges!
• Dustin’s broad education with a focus on security and how this has helped him make the right business management decisions
• Why it’s very important to find the right people with the specialties that you don’t have, and get them on your team (or at least establish a service relationship) and why this is often worth paying more for
• Working with your family and making high-level business decisions together: why this comes with its own challenges, including generational experience gaps and good old-fashioned family dynamics
• Some of the more curious ins and outs of selling business-focused furniture, including what kind of relationships you need with vendors and the interesting things you end up spending money on
• Marketing higher-end products, and making choices about how to focus on higher or lower end products at your store, based on the results that you see
• Why sometimes, convincing your superiors and peers to spend more money can be very challenging and why it’s important to have plenty of facts on your side!
• Recognizing the times where you have to set feelings aside in business
• Recognizing that, even in a family business, things can and should change over time and why this is the first step to success.

Ways to contact Dustin:

• Website: www.thewickertreelangley.com