My story

Hi.

My name is Fernando Silva. I was born in Portugal.

My career in retail started in 1993, when I was still in college.

I’ve managed several stores and chain stores. What I learned from one of my big mistakes is:

You have to manage every retail business as it was a small independent store, even if you are managing a big retail chain store.

This is the philosophy I have followed since then. And I can say, with pretty good results.

Along my professional life, I made hundreds of tests. I like to test every idea. Ideas that I read in business books. Ideas I saw other retailers using, even from other industries. That’s why I know every industry in retail.

But why could this be important to you?

As S. Roland Hall, said in his book “Short talks on retail selling”, in 1915:

Experience is a great teacher. But there are two kinds of experience – your experience and the accumulated experience of other people. Don’t try to learn everything through your own experience; some of the lessons will be too bitter, too costly; and too slowly learned.

In recent years, I started teaching other retailers what I know. Small retailers, but also medium chain retailers in Europe, United States, Australia, Brazil, and other places. Because there’s no country without stores.

It looks I was ahead of time. And it wasn’t because I saw the future. No. I was just doing what I thought was best for me. And luckily for me, it is now the latest trend. Some call it “managing companies the start-up way.” I call it being able to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Solving every problem of your customers, attention to details, and my definition of a retailer’s goal:

Make your customers feel good, while they shop in your store

My apologies.

I’m not a native English speaker. This means you may find some typos. Sorry about that.

But on the other side, it means you won’t find difficult words, and complicated sentences. My books and courses are easy to understand and go straight to the point.

So, How can I help you?

There are 3 ways:

1. You can read my blog (tips and thoughts) . Or you can read longer articles. So, if you’re interested, it’s a good idea to subscribe to my newsletter.

2. You can buy my books and courses.

3. You can hire me as a consultant.

Thanks for reading.