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Making changes is never easy. It doesn’t come easily to up-end what you are doing on a daily basis and start doing something else. But usually that is how you got to where you are now. You made a change or you made many changes and now you are doing whatever you are doing as you read this.
With change comes progress, and advancement; that general feeling that you are getting somewhere. One foot in front of the other. This brings me to this first blog post for my year and a half old business, Flourish Market. This business didn’t happen overnight. It was a process. It is a passion. A passion that can only be explored not squelched. A passion that requires changes.
You will notice changes in my business in the next few weeks and months. Changes that have been long in coming, but like most small businesses with a naïve, passionate business owner, changes are hard to make. The biggest change is letting go of some of my responsibilities and sharing them with two new employees, Charlotte and Mary. I knew that I couldn’t get away with being the only one, day in and day out, doing 100% of everything, but I certainly tried to hang on to this delusion for a long time. But when a task would come up, I could only delegate it to myself. And so on, and so on, until the feeling of overwhelmed-ness overcame me.
The business is growing. More customers every week discover this unique store, and more even more are returning every month to see what’s new. Growth is good. Growth keeps you in business. Growth is change. And change can be scary!
So I remind myself of how far I’ve come. What it all started like. How sad this little shop looked on the way out of town. It suffered from dark windows, an overgrown rock garden and rain-battered siding. It needed a face lift! And so I gave it one.
I removed the heavy awnings, installed a grassy lawn, and added a flowering garden. I repainted the grungy interior, installed new lighting, and set about to populate the insides with all the things I covet on a daily basis – painted furniture, oil paintings, pottery and one-of-a-kind lamps.
As I make adjustments to welcome into my daily grind these 2 enthusiastic employees, I become excited and scared all at the same time. It’s a big change, but one that will help me to move forward and make progress. I’ll be able to do more with my family and provide more at the store. It will offer a more balanced life.
Owning a shop is much more than being a cute shop girl, sweeping the front walk every morning and making flower arrangements with luscious peonies that magically appear at your fingertips. By sharing the load with these new and talented ladies, I can become a bit more of the shop girl I want to be!
So what’s in store for Flourish Market besides beautiful peony arrangements and a freshly swept walk, you ask? Well, we are updating the website and adding an online store; we will be selling on Etsy, Chairish, and eBay; we will do more email blasts with news and product introductions; and we will have blog (this is it – in case you hadn’t noticed).
We are now regularly publishing Instagram posts and Facebook posts. We will be doing more Before & After posts, more instructional posts, and hopefully, one day, offering classes to share my learned skills with you. But before I get ahead of myself, it’s best to take one step at a time, one foot in front of the other and just get back to delegating who is taking out the trash.
It’s the basics – am I right?
Please join me, and Charlotte and Mary, as we celebrate this new chapter of making changes and moving forward.
Best,
Jennifer
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