During most of my career, I have had an amazing team to work with. They were everything I wasn’t. When I searched for what to do next in my life, I found that I had a lot to learn. As I have mentioned before, I moved my freelance marketing business into the Sound of Music Building, in Scott's Addition. When a retail store moved out, we snapped up the spot to enjoy the sunlight. People kept coming, so we decided to build it, and the fun began.
Merchandising is a gift very few have; I now know that I am not one of them. A friend from years gone by popped into my mind, and sure enough, she was doing exactly what I needed. We began the process of putting “Stuff” together, and I have followed just about all of her recommendations. Katie Schaeffer had been with Anthropology, Nike, and Sugar Paper. We have similar tastes for the love of paper, printing, ink, plants, and just all of the little things that make you smile.
That was just the beginning. Ordering signs, flags, stickers, bags, sourcing products, meeting with artists, website creation, business cards, direct mail, social media, talking until my jaws hurt, and it's seven days a week! Doing it all by myself has been hard, but I'm hard-headed. I needed to learn.
I wasn’t even open yet before people came to shop. My first few customers were told, "Please take it; I don’t know how to work Square yet." All I wanted in return was for them to come back. My first real customer visited to purchase wedding presents. We had to work out Square together, but we had a good laugh and vowed to always remember that funny moment. I wrote this entry on Saturday, and on Sunday one of the first couples that “just took it” came back and bought more…. Yay.
I call this 'hard work and constant learning' a little bit of heaven. There are mornings when I get in really early just to sit in the shop, breathe in a joyously heavy sigh, and take in the beauty of all the art I am surrounded by.
I can't wait to see who comes in today.