Speaker 2: 0:31

I rocked it Right but it was just such a change, a change. And then I was like, oh, can't wait to grow my hair back out.

Speaker 1: 0:39

Right, well, and I think as females we find a lot of identity in our hair. Isn't that a weird thing? But it's true, and I think also career-wise too. So that was a big thing for me when I transitioned from being an IT consulting to being a stay-at-home mom. It was suddenly this like who am I? Do I have purpose? Like when you go somewhere and people are like what do you do? And they're like do you say I'm a stay-at-home mom and that's OK, I do nothing.

Speaker 2: 1:10

But what's my kids? Yeah, is that anything? A picturias up off the floor. Being a stay-at-home mom is so much harder. It's the hardest.

Speaker 1: 1:20

It's the hardest.

Speaker 2: 1:22

Yes, I know, yeah, I know me. Going to work is my escape from the real work of taking care of the kids. Do you have? I have three kids and, it's funny, I actually chopped off my hair right before my divorce. Ok, so it was almost like your type of identity.

Speaker 1: 1:36

It was like one of the new chapter Exactly.

Speaker 2: 1:40

And I didn't realize it at the time. I was just like I just need to look like a badass. That was my justification. But yeah, no, you're asking about kids. I have three kids, ok, so I've got a 16, 12, and then a year old. A year old too, no, no, no, eight year old, eight year old, don't put me back in those days. So 16, 12, and eight and eight, yeah, OK, so the 16 year old, is watching the two kids today.

Speaker 2: 2:03

Ok, no school. So yeah, so tell me a little bit about your journey and where you are today. Ok, how far back do you want me?

Speaker 1: 2:13

to go how far back?

Speaker 2: 2:14

do you want to go? So where to start? First of all, wait, hang on. Those earrings are like clutch, I love those. Oh, thank you my lot of say clutch, you can get these at the shop.

Speaker 1: 2:27

Really, tell me about the journey and let's end up at the shop, ok, ok so I'm going to go back to growing up in a small town so we'll start way, way back and kind of a bit of a country girl on the Tennessee line of Virginia and there was Eastman Kodak Chemical Company was there in Kingsport, tennessee, right beside, and that's where all the people that made money works. So I decided to go to college, at Virginia Tech. I studied engineering because I liked math and science and I wanted to come back and be a chemical engineer because my world was so small right. So I ended up changing majors. My fourth year, realized Kimmy wasn't for me, ended up in industrial and systems engineering with a business minor, not sure what I was going to do. Got into the consulting world with Accenture, moved up here, actually got married in there that was a big one, slide that one in there, slide that one in there.

Speaker 1: 3:32

And I worked for probably three and a half years before I got pregnant with my first child, decided my husband was traveling a lot internationally, that it just wasn't a fit for us, for me to both work and be a mom, just because I'm kind of all consuming and so something was going to really get lost in that and then with his traveling it just was going to be impossible. So I became a stay at home mom, then went through that whole journey of rediscovering who I was and my new role, and then I had another baby two years later. Then we'll fast forward to when my daughter Macy, turned 11. And I realized so I had 11 and 9-year-old at that time and I realized I was starting to micromanage everyone at an age where they didn't need that anymore, so you had your Ascension hat on at home.

Speaker 2: 4:26

Yeah, yeah, a little bit, but not touch your micromanaging Right, but it's my to-do list, my.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Exactly. And I think I felt like, ok, it was this balance of I'm driving everyone else nuts and I need something. And at the same time, macy had gotten an American Girl book about starting a business. And so she was like, mom, let's have a lemonade stand". And I was like, oh no, not a lemonade stand. But I was like, let's start a business. And so when she was 11, we started Two Jains and it started mostly handmade on Etsy.

Speaker 1: 5:03

At that time we were doing some local pop-ups, things like that, and it was such a time of discovery for both of us. There was, of course, the days where it was like, oh, we're besties, this is so much fun. And then there were the days where it was like tears everywhere. She's crying, I'm crying, you know, like it's taking over our life, all the things right. But what was beautiful was that self-discovery about the things that were my natural gifts and what I enjoyed and what her natural gifts and what she enjoyed.

Speaker 1: 5:39

And I can remember one of the first events. I think it was at I don't know somewhere in Loudoun County and there were more vendors than there were shoppers and I said, macy, I was like I just want you to take our business cards and I want you to go around this room and I want you to meet each of these business owners and I want you to tell them about our business and learn about theirs. And she did it. And she came back and she was talking about all these businesses and she learned so much and it was really eye-opening. How was she? She was probably 12 at that point, yeah, so it was early on.

Speaker 1: 6:17

Oh, and rewind on the way getting there to the event. I remember getting the car. You know when you're hauling stuff, you know you're putting it all in the car. It's so exhausting You've made. You know at that point we'd made most of it and put it in the car, stopped to get gas and I was like it's like Macy, I feel really nervous. And she was like why? And I was like I think it's just like the putting myself out there part. I was like I think I'm happy in my jammies with my cup of coffee making things or doing Etsy yeah behind.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Etsy and she's like oh, she's like I love this is my favorite part. And so realizing that we were really different and that that was okay and that that could bring different things to our business, yeah, so that was kind of the story of two Janes. We ended up that first year not knowing what we're doing. We sold to 25 states and we were like this might work, you know. So that was a journey for our family until this past year.

Speaker 1: 7:24

She graduated from high school and it kind of fell into our lap to take over a new space in Aldi, virginia that had formerly been an antique kind of consign not consignment antique market, I guess you would say. And so last weekend we celebrated our one year since our soft opening for Loudoun Market, and so that was kind of chapter two for me. So we still have two Janes. Two Janes is a vendor at Loudoun Market, but now we have a location, brick and mortar, where we can sell actively throughout the year, not just online and at popups, and we have a sense of community because we have other artists there as well.

Speaker 2: 8:10

What a beautiful journey. So that's my journey. So what are you doing now?

Speaker 1: 8:15

Like, how involved are you in Loudoun Market and I am so far involved in all of it and actually right now we're at a pivot point where it's that realization and that's happened all along the way that it's like I've grown it to a certain point and then I've become the bottleneck.

Speaker 1: 8:35

And how do I get out of my own way when you want the control of your baby right, get out of your own way to actually scale your business? And so I think throughout the years it's just been putting more and more on top of it. And now it's like this is how my husband describes it, who's very involved but he's like you have a balloon and you put all these things in the balloon and if you're going to expand in one area, you're pushing on another area. So we'll grow this. Like this year, for example, loudoun Market increased in sales so much for us but my Etsy shop decreased, right. So we're at this point where we realize how, how do you, rather than pushing and pulling from all the different revenue streams, how do you add air to this balloon so that everything grows? So we've just hired a shop manager.

Speaker 2: 9:33

I was going to say. What do you think the reason was the Etsy shop decreased, purely time.

Speaker 1: 9:38

Yeah, it's insane, purely time, because it was my time Because of promoting it, the making. I'm doing the making right now. It's mostly collegiate Morse code jewelry. What did you say?

Speaker 2: 9:54

It's mostly what Collegiate Morse code, jewelry? What explain it for viewers and for me? Yes, yes, what that is so it's really Morse code.

Speaker 1: 10:05

Jewelry is what we started that first year. That sold so well, and at that time we were doing it more like sisters, mom, things like that. Then we started getting custom orders. So Morse code is the dots and dashes that translate to letters and that's how you would communicate, right. So we assign the dots and dashes different colors and that creates the bead pattern for a pair of hoop earrings or for a pendant on a necklace, and so then it allows you to translate any kind of words. So if you wanted to say a Leah on it, we would translate that, Then create your based on what colors you want. We would create that bead pattern.

Speaker 2: 10:44

Where did you get that idea?

Speaker 1: 10:46

I? It goes back to that first year. I think it was just looking. I remember before we started it was like I wish somebody would just hire me to get on Pinterest all day. So it literally was. It was based out of inspiration, right, like you'd see something similar or you'd see how people were doing different things. And then you start it and then you see what people gravitate towards and what they don't, and when it starts selling, you're like let's do more of that. And then it evolves and changes. Okay, so it really is getting into the collegiate. It's kind of like weddings and having babies. It's the things that happen every year. There's a new audience for that and I think that's why it's been such a great seller for us is people get so excited about their school spirit or about their kids and where they're going, and there's a new audience constantly. And smart, yeah, so Unique.

Speaker 2: 11:40

Unique, yes, so unique, yes. Anyway, sorry, I just said it off. No, no, no, I'm so glad to tell you yeah, okay, so that's where you're at now. Mm-hm, you just hired somebody to help with the Etsy shop Actually, no, with the brick and mortar.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Without a market.

Speaker 2: 11:56

Okay, that's who you're hiring. That's your. That was your bottleneck.

Speaker 1: 12:00

We've got a lot of bottlenecks and a lot of room for growth. It's I, you know. I always say I don't need to hire people with ideas because I have plenty of those. I need to hire people who can execute.

Speaker 2: 12:12

Who can execute?

Speaker 1: 12:12

yes, and I did, over this past year, end up hiring someone to help with. Well, it's different. She's more of a consultant. I call her my business therapist, and those are greatly needed. It has been game changing and early on she realized that a lot of the conversations come back to conversations that my husband and I have had. He's an entrepreneur spirit that works for the federal government. He's at that point in his life where he's at retirement age so he could retire. I was just itching to get out.

Speaker 1: 12:47

Yeah, and does he come with me? Does he do something else? Yeah, I don't know so anyway.

Speaker 2: 12:52

so she made a quick. The different therapists for that one.

Speaker 1: 12:54

Yeah, well, it's like marriage therapy and business consulting at the same time. But so we have met together and it's been really a year of growth in that perspective about how we expand all the different areas, like with the Morse Code, jewelry, getting the collegiate licensing so that we can get into each of the schools. So that's a separate chapter from the brick and mortar That'd be, great. It's a separate chapter from our 2Janescom website and then also what we're doing with events and things like that and building this presence in Loudoun County.

Speaker 2: 13:33

So, wow, you are definitely got a lot that you're developing and building. And how old is your youngest? He?

Speaker 1: 13:42

is 17. He's 17. You got 19. Right.

Speaker 2: 13:45

Now, though, yes, I do Right. Yes, except for when they go to school, because then you're going to want to go visit them at their yeah, or will they come visit you Both, okay? Okay, yes.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Yes. So it is a different chapter and it's interesting too, because there are three things, I think, in my business that, from the very beginning, have really been of value to me, and that's family, community and fun. And so I grew up working in our hometown hardware store. My great-grandfather started a hardware store that then was handed down to my grandfather, my father and, as I opened up Loud Market this past year, my sister took over as fourth-generation owner of our hardware store. It was literally in your DNA, it's in my DNA.

Speaker 1: 14:37

So talking about inventory and doing inventory this past month, that takes me back to being a child where we had a potbelly stove and that was the heat in the building and you're counting nuts and bolts and all those things. So having family be a part of the business is kind of the way I was raised, and a lot of what I've created or what we're trying to create at Loud Market revolves around that feeling of this small-town business, feel. So, talking about the potbelly stove, I can remember as a child like there's some old theater seats behind it, like maybe a wood stool, a few things, and people would come in off the street daily, walk in, sit around the potbelly stove and they would talk about what's going on in town. They would talk about what hay is for sale, what land is for sale, about how Mary's doing, or did you hear about so-and-so and so-and-so?

Speaker 2: 15:37

Social media right.

Speaker 1: 15:38

It was, it was and it became just a hub for community. And so at Loud Market we have it's not this big but we have a white marble table right off from our register that I call my potbelly stove and it was very purposeful because that's a lot of when you're talking about retail. It's a lot of space where you could actually be selling things. But foundationally in the market I really wanted to feel like a place where, if you're driving by, you could stop in and we have a little coffee bar and we could make you a cup of coffee, we could have some tea, sit down and chit chat and talk about things. So while we're selling things, we also have our little potbelly stove living room, all the things. We have our artists when they're there. So we work in shifts and we try to have at least two at a time. We sit there and we have lunch there, we chit chat. Occasionally at three o'clock we'll open some bubbles. But so that sense of community, fun and family, I love that.

Speaker 2: 16:48

And also Loud Market is a hub for helping other business owners succeed and thrive. Why is entrepreneurship important to you? I know you told me about growing up. It's part of your DNA. But just in today's world, why do you feel like that's so important?

Speaker 1: 17:04

That's so interesting. This may be evolving in my head right now even, but I think there's a part of me. I was the youngest of three children, by eight and 10 years, so I was always the baby. I felt like I spent a lot of my life doing what I thought I was supposed to do or what everybody taught me to do, and kind of that realization, that of self-identity and that you can do and be whatever you want to do if you're willing to work hard enough. And I feel like there's enough room for all of us to succeed. And coming back to that fun component, it's more fun to do it together right, and to see people thriving and happy and oh gosh, I guess too, thinking about like we all have gifts and we were all designed for certain things, for people to latch onto what that is, where they find their joy and what they're good at, and to create a business out of that. Like. I feel like the world becomes suddenly a better place and a happier place.

Speaker 2: 18:12

Yeah, so you can actually find fulfillment and fun in seeing other people's success and in your career.

Speaker 1: 18:19

Yes, absolutely Well, and I love you know I have a heart, obviously, starting with Macy when she was 11, and my son helps as well too. He's now bigger than I am, so it's this new thing, because we do sell furniture.

Speaker 1: 18:31

I was going to say he can travel all the way around and it's suddenly when we hit that point where it was like, oh my gosh, he can move more than I can. Yes, but so you know, having a heart for seeing kids have that aha moment, that wow, it's not such this big thing. That's unattainable. Like I really like the world is your oyster, you can do these things. So it was touching.

Speaker 1: 18:59

Last year, two high school seniors from Freedom High School asked to do their capstone project with me and so it was really fun to have them come in and work alongside and kind of see what it looks like from behind the scenes. It's not just everything you see on social media, you know. I can remember it was so funny because we had gotten a huge order of wholesale items in and they came in one day and I was like girls, I was like it's a lot today. They walked back and they kind of were like oh my goodness, and they're like I can't believe you would be doing this without us and seeing the hard work that goes into it. But one of those girls actually has known Macy for a long time and I can remember we did. Are you familiar with Hub Dot?

Speaker 2: 19:51

I am.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Okay, so is it still around?

Speaker 2: 19:53

I'm not sure.

Speaker 1: 19:55

But we did. We were speakers Macy and I, early on, were Hub Dot speakers when it was at Athleta and Reston Town Center. And this girl, caitlin, she came at that point when we were talking about, you know, mother daughter business starting a business, all of that. And since then I don't want to misquote it, but she's got more than 100,000 followers, I think, on her Instagram account where she sells upcycled clothing. She bought herself a jeep, wow. And to see that sort of aha moment that, yeah, it doesn't matter how old I am, yeah, it doesn't matter what I don't know, that I'm willing to put myself out there and work hard, figure it out.

Speaker 2: 20:36

Figure it out. Yeah, I think it's the biggest thing when you're at that age point is if you can just learn like, if you can make that connection of you don't have to have all the answers, because none of us actually do right. But when you're 16, 17, 18, 19, you think or at least I would look at these adults that had these successful careers or professions or lives and I'm like they got it all figured out.

Speaker 2: 20:58

They obviously know, what they were doing and now, as like a 39-year-old, I'm like, I'm still figuring it out and still figuring out what your path looks like.

Speaker 1: 21:08

what?

Speaker 1: 21:08

you want to do Like for me, like studying engineering and then ended up being an Etsy owner at one point or a stay-at-home mom or a shop owner. It's different, right, and just kind of following your gut a little bit and continuing to dream, regardless of how old you are. I think. Also being from a small town and being in a family business I think maybe that for me showed me the possibility a little more, because I was so involved. How does it feel when you go back? It's interesting, the perspective is different, right. I'm so excited to see my sister there. I know my dad, my grandfather, my great-grandfather would be so touched that she's carried it on and I think she has big visions too. It's funny Thinking about her and pivoting.

Speaker 1: 22:07

She studied fashion, merchandising and apparel design, went to Manhattan, was a designer for a children's clothing brand, became a stay-at-home mom four boys, 10 or 11 years apart on that and then she worked at Anthropology here or there. But now she's back in this really small town and she's selling like piping and electrical supplies. Four boys, four boys, that's right. But she has bigger visions for it too. And she's so cute too. I think it is. It's kind of what you said in the DNA, but it's in the nurture and the nature. I guess there are still the regulars that come around the potbelly stove and she knows when it's their birthday and she'll bring in balloons or have cupcakes or she'll get cool and hard-wear hats made and she'll be like this one's for you and this one's for you, and so they wear them around town. Such a sense of she puts her feminine touch in there.

Speaker 2: 23:05

She does yes.

Speaker 1: 23:07

She totally does. That's beautiful. And they're selling ice cream now too, and she doesn't love ice cream, she's throwing a little mix in there.

Speaker 2: 23:14

Yes, she's like there's the hammers and the nails and over there's the ice cream and, by the way, here are some balloons. Happy birthday, Right. Right. In terms of looking into the future and your vision for the out-of-market for the next five, 10, 20 years, is there anything different you would like to see? Because a lot of people are like I want to see more successful. You know what I mean More self-sustaining, but do you have anything outside of just that growth aspect of it?

Speaker 1: 23:53

I think I'm excited to continue to dig into what it is if we're talking loud and market itself, because I've continued to spread myself so thin Other times that I felt like, oh, it was great, we did a great year, you know.

Speaker 1: 24:09

But I could have done A, b and C and I'm excited from a creative perspective to just do more fun with the sort of merchandising and the decor, more events.

Speaker 1: 24:21

We had a sip and shop with Fleetwood Winery in November and we put just a fire pit outside, there was a fire, we had the wine, we had charcuterie from the Cornishon and just that sense of community again where people showed up and we had fun and we also sold things, which is a part of the business and an important part.

Speaker 1: 24:43

But really my joy comes from people showing up and building community there where we're having a lot of fun, and so I think there could be I have a vision for getting more artists getting on a rotation where, on a more regular basis, we're featuring pop-ups in the shop because that's fun and it brings a new offering. It gives people who are kind of me three years ago, who needed a platform to kind of get their business out there, to give them that opportunity to come in and set up for something and see how it goes, sell things, show off their talents and their merchandise so doing that more regularly, and then maybe some events. Like you know, this is like way down the road, but the dreaming I would love to have like little mini houses around the property where you could actually I'm going to build your own magnolias.

Speaker 2: 25:43

Yes, can I have that? I'll take that. It would be great.

Speaker 1: 25:45

So finish your thought.

Speaker 2: 25:46

No houses around the mini, like the little houses, 10 houses.

Speaker 1: 25:57

But like if you had, let's say, in a parking lot, kind of like here's our main shop, if you had a row of those and then you could have rent them out, like on a six month basis. So it would give people you know, I mean I guess I'm thinking about these small business owners that kind of have a passion for it. But it's like how do you get a brick and mortar? It's hard, real estate is expensive, the commitment is big, and so having that opportunity for people to have a place that they could just try it without so much risk and have their own place to feel proud of, yeah, that's exciting and from a customer's perspective as well, like how fun is that to go and to be able to shop from all these small businesses?

Speaker 2: 26:41

I love that. It sounds like your real focus is on experience, creating experiences that drive your client customer base to want to keep coming back again and again because they feel something when they come into your space. That's exactly your best offense your shop space, creating these other little entities around the main brick and mortar.

Speaker 1: 27:05

That's exactly the case and talking about the business that that's where my joy comes from is kind of that experience. Actually, I can find the joy by myself when I'm sourcing and merchandising. I do love that, but introvert in you, the introvert in me.

Speaker 1: 27:22

But then I also love that part where people are coming in and how they talk about things and oh, this is great. Oh, did you see this? Or two ladies come in and giggle over the funny coasters and yeah, I think if you. Well, that was what I said the first year with Loud Market, which was this past year. When we were starting I said I'm not going to put pressure on myself to look at the numbers hard. I want to make something that's beautiful and I want to make something that's fun, so that people walk in and if they feel like, aesthetically, that's pleasing and they think, well, that was it felt good to be there. Why won't they come back? Yeah, why won't they tell their neighbors?

Speaker 2: 28:02

And so I'll tell you what's aesthetically pleasing is those cute little earrings you've got on, thank you.

Speaker 1: 28:07

These are available at Loud Market through two Janes. I love those I'm going to come by and grab those.

Speaker 2: 28:13

I love like Thank you, understated, but statement piece. You know what I mean. They're not like too much in your face, but it's enough to be like yes, exactly.

Speaker 1: 28:23

And you know what the sort of thing. I don't know. If you find this with clothing sometimes too, that you don't really know how much you're going to like it till you get it home, and then sometimes you're like, oh, this is perfect. You get it home and you're like, hmm, sometimes so it was iffy when I first saw it and then I put them on and I was in love with them and they're actually called disco balls.

Speaker 2: 28:42

I was going to say they remind me of disco balls, but they're not. They're not flashy.

Speaker 1: 28:45

They're not flashy. Yes, Exactly.

Speaker 2: 28:48

Do you try to look at her earrings now, aren't you? I know?

Speaker 1: 28:50

Are you he's?

Speaker 2: 28:51

like. What do you think?

Speaker 1: 28:52

Hello, oh, and I'll have to tell you about this one too.

Speaker 2: 28:57

I know I was like wait did you see this? I did and I was trying to figure out. I was like that's the left hand, is that her wedding ring?

Speaker 1: 29:03

Well, I purposefully put it on this finger so I wouldn't look.

Speaker 2: 29:06

Not married in this video.

Speaker 1: 29:08

But it's actually adjustable size, and this is coming back to that sense of family. So I started making these probably three or four years ago so it's been a long time and it was a vision I had for it it's out of a button, oh sweet. And so then adhered to an adjustable band, and so my sweet husband he'd probably be mortified that I'm telling you as this Tell me more, even better, right, but literally, these are Daddy Jane's bling rings.

Speaker 2: 29:44

Daddy Jane's bling rings.

Speaker 1: 29:45

Daddy Jane's bling rings, that's the best, yes, and so he would set up an assembly line on our, you know, on our workspace, where he would dremel off the back of all of them, and then he would, yeah, put them together and make these things, and then they ended up being like a fan favorite for like a period of time.

Speaker 2: 30:05

I love that. How sweet. So he probably made that ring that you have on. Yes, it works as a wedding band as a wedding band, right.

Speaker 1: 30:13

Yes.

Speaker 2: 30:14

Exactly the beautiful.

Speaker 1: 30:15

I love it, yes, and like he. I just want to tell you about him a little bit, because I do think it's kind of like they talk about every great man has a great female behind them, you know, and his support that he's given me has been amazing for my business. He has jumped in wherever I needed him and he's he's an interesting balance to me, because I do tend to be very emotional about the business and I care more about the joy maybe than the numbers on occasion, and I tend to see things very uptight or close in and he tends to be a big picture guy, and so he's been just such a great balance. But right now we have a spray booth in our garage, because now we do furniture too and he can use the like the sprayer. I can't do that. He can sand the furniture and all that and get it prepped, so like he literally.

Speaker 2: 31:15

He might be coming into the business on sand, I know right and they love him at the shop.

Speaker 1: 31:21

All the other artists love him, like he's really a part of the team.

Speaker 2: 31:25

But do they call him?

Speaker 1: 31:26

Daddy Jane, no, because he doesn't love that I was going to say he might make it, he prefers Brad. He'd probably be okay with Boss too, but Brad.

Speaker 2: 31:39

Brad Boss or.

Speaker 1: 31:40

Boss or Brad?

Speaker 2: 31:42

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:43

Not Daddy.

Speaker 2: 31:43

Jane yeah, that's funny. Yeah, now, having that support system is so important because sometimes, as a woman, as men doesn't matter. You just need to know that you've got that support, that like I got your back, versus feeling like you're alone Because entrepreneurship I'm sure you're talking to a lot of the artists that you support there at the market it can feel very lonely and it can feel very like nobody else has my problems that I'm dealing with. You know, whether it's like merchandising or counting inventory, or spending your Friday night, saturday nights, looking at your social media, marketing numbers or analytics, because it's so many hats.

Speaker 1: 32:24

The gravity of it, of small business, is large and heavy. It really is Financially. The burden that goes on you is difficult and when you're in a larger business you have so many people that can cover for you. Sometimes when you're in a smaller business, ultimately everything feels like falls on you and I think that that support can look like a spouse, it can look like family, it can look like some really great friends and it can also look like other small business owners. And that's another vision I would love to see out in market is having almost more of a weekly meeting for small business owners or for makers, where you could come in and just have you know a moth and mimosas Sit around the potbelly stove table.

Speaker 1: 33:24

And feel supported, answer questions like hey, I'm having a hard time with this. Who are you using for HR or accounting, or whatever it might be? And just lifting each other up and helping each of us understand that there are highs and lows in small business and that the best thing you can do is show up every day and keep marching forward, even when yesterday was hard.

Speaker 2: 33:53

Exactly and to know that the problems that you're dealing with you're not alone. So many other people have those exact same. I think it's the biggest thing is it feels easier when you know these problems are not just your problems, Like a lot of other people in your space are having the same challenges. So you're going to get through it Right. Other people have. It's just a matter of like step by step.

Speaker 1: 34:14

Yes, absolutely. And I think you can even see things where it's like you think, oh, this thing, this, this business has it all figured out, like because they are doing well, right. But then you can look at little things, like I heard, had an experience recently we're talking about POS and some of the struggles that we were having with SKUs and things like that and then realizing that another business that's far beyond our business was handwriting some of the transactions and to think, oh gosh, I thought we were terrible on, you know, this aspect of had so much room for growth and it's like.

Speaker 2: 34:49

What is that? The comparison is a thief of joy, though.

Speaker 1: 34:51

Absolutely, it is.

Speaker 2: 34:53

It is yes, we start comparing. It's like wait just knock it off Right. We're going to get to the strengths and weaknesses and we're going to get to our finish line Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 35:06

Yeah, no, that's it's. It's good insight. I know a lot of people will come to me and they're like oh, your photography business. You've got like everything figured out, you've got a team, you've got this. It's like no, no, I'm not a. I'm not a photographer anymore. I am, but that's not what I spend my time doing now. I spend my time marketing, managing the team, making sure we're all doing our thing.

Speaker 2: 35:27

So, like, with each stage comes a different set of challenges, yeah, and roles that I've got to learn how to solve. So it's not like any business owner, whether small or large, once you get to a certain point it's like, ah, life is easy, right, it's always going to be a challenge.

Speaker 1: 35:47

It's like parenting. Yes, it's like parenting. Each stage is different. Each day is a new, a new thing to tackle.

Speaker 2: 35:54

That's right With a lot of fun along the way, a lot of fun and learning moments for both kid and parent. Just to kind of wrap this up, if you could give one message to the world, whether that's the entrepreneur audience or just, in general, the entire world, what would your message be?

Speaker 1: 36:16

I have to pick one you could go on a roll and.

Speaker 1: 36:24

You know, I think that it's kind of because I have a hard time picking one it's kind of a few kind of tangled into one. It comes back to that idea of showing up every day, but also with putting a smile on your face and seeing the positives, because life is difficult, because yesterday may not have panned out the way that you expected it to. I believe that in life, regardless if it's in small business or if it's just in your regular day to day, showing up each morning with a good attitude and just your presence, that life becomes a better journey for you and the people around you.

Speaker 2: 37:17

I love that. Yeah, it's hard sometimes, though right it is, because if you haven't done it before, it's hard to just kind of take that on, but it's a journey. Yeah, thank you so much for being on the show, thank you.

Speaker 1: 37:32

That's a pleasure.