AERIS Story
1. How Most of Us Got Here
I never grew up wanting to be in the window covering industry. Almost nobody did. Here’s how most of us actually got here, and what nobody teaches you when you cross the threshold.
Read the Article →Field Notes
Field Notes is a series of essays from James Hutchings about the lessons of running a window covering business. Below is the AERIS story so far, plus practical playbooks for dealers.
The story of how I built and rebuilt my company over twenty-five years.
AERIS Story
I never grew up wanting to be in the window covering industry. Almost nobody did. Here’s how most of us actually got here, and what nobody teaches you when you cross the threshold.
Read the Article →AERIS Story
I spent years building a window covering company without understanding the math underneath it. Two unlocks finally changed everything, and one of them came from a conference where I was the only blind guy in the room.
Read the Article →AERIS Story
Our industry lets the supplier set our retail prices, then discounts from there, then absorbs shipping and install on top of it. The math was never going to work, and most of us were never shown why.
Read the Article →Practical lessons on marketing, sales, leadership, and operations from inside the work.
Playbook
We went from occasional training to three structured sessions a week. In 90 days, four of seven reps made massive jumps. Two more improved. One didn't.
Read the Article →Leadership
For years I made bad hires and promoted the wrong people. Here’s the test I didn’t know I was running, and the person who taught it to me.
Read the Article →Marketing
I spread my marketing across the whole valley for years and lost most of those bets. A friend who built his entire business inside one neighborhood showed me what I'd been missing.
Read the Article →