Remembering a Fun Project
Tru Vue Retail Makeover in Port Angeles, WA
I am lucky to be involved in so many businesses and the lives of the people who run them. The opportunity to learn about someone’s business and help them solve the challenges they face is hard work, but also very rewarding. Some projects provide more memories and opportunity than others and recently, we just wrapped up a very special one – the Retail Makeover Project sponsored and funded by Tru Vue©. This project involved many different aspects of Larry and Rene’ Bauer’s framing business in Port Angeles, WA. Larry and Rene’ made it something special because they embraced the process and maximized the outcome through hard work and a willingness to accept a lot of change.
If you’ve been reading about the Makeover, you know that the Bauers had done many good things in their business and understood a lot about proper pricing and profitability before we began. The real challenge in the project was to help them create a new identity that represented their business instead of the one they purchased from someone else. Now, as the story is presented by Tru Vue in the upcoming weeks, you can see the transformation of their brand as they completely changed the identity (including the name of their business!) and entered a new world of digital marketing.
These major changes had to be a bit scary for the Bauers; they moved away from an image that was so familiar to many in the community to a completely new brand. This new identity will provide more opportunity for them and their business in the years to come. These types of projects are so important to the framing industry, which is challenged to meet the demands of a changing world. Tru Vue’s investment in their clients and the Retail Makeover project teaches us what can be done to help framing shops grow, and the Bauers were the perfect choice to meet the challenge and run with it.
Thank you Larry and Rene’ for the memories and the chance to work with you. Thanks also to Tru Vue and their continued dedication to helping improve our industry and for letting me be a part of it.
“This project teaches us what can be done to help framing shops grow, and the Bauers were the perfect choice to meet the challenge…”
One additional bonus to the project was getting to travel to Port Angeles, WA, to work three times on this project. It is truly one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world. Although time didn’t permit taking full advantage of the location the first couple of visits, I drove out for the final segment of the project so that I could have some additional time in the area. This worked out really well because Larry volunteered a complete day as tour guide of the Olympic Peninsula’s amazing rain forest, which is something you must experience in order to fully appreciate. Thank you Larry for being so generous with your time and for teaching us so much about this fragile and special place.
What a good looking, though somewhat motley crew.
It was such an amazing experience working with Ken Baur and Tru Vue on this project. Change for all of us can be a huge question; when to do it, how to do it, what is the financial obligation and return. This transformation has been so much better than anything we could have done on our own. We are so very thankful for the expertise of all parties involved.
Really enjoyed working on this project and getting to know you and Larry. Hope that we get to see each other again soon when we visit the area again. Keep up the great work you do!