10 Years & 10 Lessons Learned

We celebrated our 10-year anniversary on 1st of November 2023, and I was asked to reflect on what I’ve learned over the past 10 years, creating, developing and running Oakleigh Watches.

I think I can confidently say, after 10 years, I am a luxury watch expert. So, keeping with the ‘10’ based theme, here are 10 of the most important things that I’ve learnt running a successful business.

And …… because I couldn’t resist – 10 of my favourite watches from the past ten years.

 

1. Believe in yourself

I once overheard a conversation where someone asked when I was “going to stop messing around and get a proper job?” That was 10 years and £20m in watches ago. Just because they don’t believe in you, don’t let them knock yourself belief.

 

2. Customer service is everything

I’ve got into this business because I couldn’t find a watch seller who was interested in anything other than money or watches. I love both of those things, but without our customers, we would have neither so we must always remember that customer service is paramount.

 

3. Concentrate on the ‘doing’ not on the ‘winning’

To be honest, this is a phrase that has been in my mind for the past 35 years. What it really means is that if you do the absolute best that you can, every hour of every day then the end result will take care of itself.

 

4. Honesty is vital

It’s crucial to both buy well & sell well. Repeat customers are absolutely vital, so it’s important to do right by everybody, all the time. A quick buck can lead to an early demise. Remember to pay it forward.

 

5. There’s a wrist for (almost) every watch

We all make mistakes sometimes (even watch experts), but generally speaking, every good watch will find a home eventually.

 

6. Brand integrity is key

Somebody who I respect & like enormously once told me that I “inhabit my brand”. I think what they meant was that I believe in the brand of Oakleigh so deeply that I live and breathe it, and with that comes authenticity.

 

7. Enlist the help of experts

Understand what you do well and get other experts for everything else. No one is good at everything, so you should find somebody equally as talented in their field as you are in yours to do the things you can’t do. Never try and wing it because it will always end in tears.

 

8. Online and offline are as important as each other

The future of successful retail is the combination of a great website with personal service. Just because your website is good, doesn’t mean you don’t need to be able to back it up. If you get your SEO right, make your shop window reflect your values and back it up with great customer service you should be onto a good thing.

 

9. Do the right thing!

Own your mistakes and honour them – if you’re wrong, you’re wrong, so do everything you can to make it right as quickly as possible. Then you will have nothing to be ashamed of and will have earned the right to stand up for yourself when it’s right to.

 

10. Love what you do

Then it won’t feel like work, and your success will be all the sweeter.

If you want to know how it all started 10 years ago, visit our About Us page and watch our short video.

 

In Conclusion

So, there you go. It’s all very well learning these things, but of course even a ‘watch expert’ must apply them consistently as well. I’m sure that’s not something that I achieve 100% but it is my aim and I do my best.

If you’re reading this, I hope that you’ve experienced the benefit of some of these key things over the last 10 years, and you can rest assured that I will do my utmost to keep serving you for the next 10.

Visit our Collections Pages for our current stock or get in touch if you need some luxury watch expert advice.