Retail wasn’t the beginning, it goes way back!

How far back do we actually want to go here? Another post for another day, let’s keep this one simple. I used to work in corporate, in the web and digital marketing field. That’s actually my background from college. Self-proclaimed computer nerd?? Sure, fine. Being in anything tech now is a great field and plenty lucrative! Anyways, after working at a smaller marketing company, I was so frustrated with the “rules” and restrictions on how creative we could be.

Long story short, because this story will be for another day, but I stumbled into taking ballroom dance lessons for fun. Miss introvert right here did something totally out of her comfort zone and LOVED it! Well as a recent college grad, there was no way I could continue to pay for lessons so I ended up teaching part-time after some training. That part-time side job led to a full-time gig and that was the last time I worked for a corporation. 

After a rather bumpy road in dance, it was time to leave the industry to find a long term career. Enter the bridal industry! I found a job at a local shop and applied my knowledge of sales in teaching dance and applied it to helping beautiful brides-to-be. It didn’t take long to become the top sales person. I loved seeing the latest styles, meeting new people and being in an environment that didn’t strap me to a desk all day. 

After getting the itch to do more and not finding room to advance, I started to play with the idea of starting my own store. I ran the idea past my parents and they were supportive of me taking on this endeavor.

The search was on for a location and after narrowing down the areas I wanted to be in, I found just the place; something small enough to start out in and far enough from neighboring competition. This completely empty, cement floor and steel beam wall end unit with tons of natural sunlight felt right. Ironically my landlord would be a Fred Astaire franchise owner! After back and forth negotiations, I signed my five year lease and was handed the keys.

The scariest thing I had to do next was quit my job knowing I didn’t know how long it’ll take for this store to open. I made that phone call to my boss at the time and tried to explain myself in the best way I could to say I wanted to start my own career and I don’t plan to carry any of the same designers out of respect. Once I hung up, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and was ready to get to work.

I put pen to paper and started to sketch out a floor plan. I’ll be totally honest, I was learning as things unfolded. I didn’t go to school for business, I didn’t work in retail prior to this job and I certainly didn’t know how to be a manager or a boss!

Did I have a business plan? Nah, I just researched all of the neighboring bridal shops, the lines they carried, store hours, website design etc etc and wrote down what I’d do differently.

I contacted the contractor I wanted to build out the store and we got to work.