Answering some FAQ's from you guys!!
Q: How old are you?
A: I'm currently 21 years old!
Q: What made you decide to open up your own boutique?
A: I opened up my brick and mortar store in July of 2019 but I started my boutique in 2015 as my senior project in high school. I always knew even as a little girl that I wanted to be a business woman. I specifically remember winning "Career Day" when I was like in kindergarten/first grade for dressing up as a business woman. This might be biased but I had the cutest black suit with soft pink stripes and my dad fixed my hair all sophisticatedish. I grew up in the business world being raised by my dad so it became second nature to me. I knew a lot and I was good at what I knew. I always wanted to make it this far but I never actually thought I would. God said otherwise and this became my suddenly. My full time job was becoming so toxic (you just would not believe the mess y'all) so I had to get out, so I put in my resignation letter and left 2 weeks later. But bills kept coming in so I had to find a job and fast. I guess that was also a big push into opening my store up. I was so tired of working (overworking really) for a boss who didn't fully appreciate me and my talents, being underpaid, providing a luxurious lifestyle for my boss and their family while I was struggling, and knowing that I could do it for myself. So I did and here we are.
Q: How did you take that leap of faith to open a boutique not knowing if you would succeed or fail?
A: It was scary. I didn't get to do much planning as I had to act fast. I just prayed and I mean, I PRAYED HARD. There was so much that was unknown, dad and I both had no income, savings were going fast and we didn't know where the money was going to come from if we did this. We didn't have much to lose really so we trusted God and went for it. So far it has been a success. I don't brag on the business though, it pays our bills, we can eat, we have gas in our vehicles, we can tithe at church more than ever before, and we have a little extra money left over to continue to eat at Taco Bell every Sunday and go see a movie or two when we want. This business could still fail, the boutique industry is very shaky as there is so much competition but we are trusting God every step of the way.
Q: How did you know it was your suddenly?
A: Read back to my first blog post if you're not sure what the "suddenly" means. But I knew this was my suddenly because too many things fell into place that couldn't and shouldn't have if it wasn't part of God's plan. It's really hard to describe the feeling of something like this. Everything worked out and everything fell into place for this to happen. I had been praying for months for a way out of my job and God went ahead and prepared a way out for me. I had been thinking about opening up a boutique and had talked to my dad about it, but it was small talk. But I couldn't get it off my mind. I couldn't find any negative as to why I shouldn't do it. I couldn't stop thinking about it. This voice in my head was LOUD and very persistent. I found this tiny space that I fell in love with. I couldn't drive past it without looking at it. I told dad we had to at least go look at it and we did. It felt so right being in there. I felt a peace come over me. I quit my job before I had even signed the lease on the building I was interested in. I didn't know if we were going to be approved, were we going to have the money, were we going to be able to pull it off, nothing. I just listened to what God said to do. But as soon as I said 'I quit", I mean EVERYTHING fell into place. Lease was signed on May 1st, and when we first walked in with our set of keys, that's when we knew for sure that this is where we were supposed to be. Dad and I prayed in the floor and then we cried. Then friends came to pitch in to help paint, move in inventory, decorate, promote, people donated displays, I asked for money for supplies for my birthday and that's what I got, utilities got paid, everything. Everything felt so right and I felt relieved. Some would say it was just a coincidence or pure luck, but God kept showing up too many times for it to just be that. I do think that some people miss their suddenlys because they really don't see it or they're too scared. I would say that we missed our suddenly many times before as we had previous discussions of opening up a store in the past but we never did. But I think God keeps revealing Himself to us over and over again until we listen. Like I said above, this time this voice was so loud and I finally just listened.
Q: What's the hardest thing about being a boutique owner?
A: Nothing isn't really too hard about it, it's my passion so I love what I do and nothing's too hard if you love it enough. I would say that one of the toughest things that I had to give up was my free time with friends. I still get to go hang out every now and again, but it's nothing like it used to be and I catch myself on my phone more than I'd like to be trying to stay caught up while I'm out with friends.
Q: Do you face a lot of negativity being a business owner?
A: For the most part, no. All my family and closest friends are super supportive. The community of Eden is definitely supportive and we have the best customers ever. To be 100% honest with you, the little negativity I do get is from other business owners or friends who became jealous. Negativity never gets to me and I refuse to be negative to or about others. All positivity here :)
Q: How do you resist from keeping everything in your boutique?
A: LOL *inserts sweating emoji* it's soooo hard. It takes a lot of self control but so far I've done really well with not keeping so much.
I have lots more questions to answer in the near future from you guys to be on the lookout! Want your question answered? Keep an eye out for our posts in our Facebook VIP group for requests!!