Sports Illustrated 2013

Let's just say I'm beyond honored. 

Looking Back

I realize that I'm pretty bad at keeping up with my blog. And it's not that I'm uninterested. The thing is though that I devoted this blog to my personal journey as a business owner, mom and wife. And "personal" can be hard to write for all to see. It was a very exciting time for Sophie Grace Maui when I put the blog together. Our Wailea location was doing record numbers, everyday there was more phone and Internet orders and on top of all of that my Mom wanted to invest in us and open a second location. I'm looking back on all of this now because it was this time last year that we signed the lease for Sophie Grace Paia.

Things are still exciting for our little company. But I have to be honest, it's been a long year. In fact when we first opened our Paia store we were extremely disappointed by the lack of business. It was probably the worst Christmas I have ever had. I was scared to death that I had just washed my Moms investment down the drain. And of course while I was busy building Paia my sales in Wailea suffered because of it. Thankfully, things have turned around. BUT it was still a very long year. I had a lot to learn about owning two locations. About making that much jewelry and delegating jobs to other people. About finances, choices and priorities. About working with my mom and my husband simultaneously because they are complete opposites. About trusting God. And about coming up with a real plan for our family. For awhile there I thought for sure I had heard God wrong. Now I know that I didn't hear God wrong but that I just didn't hear all of it. Like the part about it being hard. But hard can be good. That's how we learn. Obviously I wasn't going to know these things without doing them.

Anyway, back to my point. It's emotionally terrifying to jump on a blog and start telling the world about your business woes while you spend the rest of your day marketing yourself as successful. I studied PR. It went against everything I knew. If I talked like I was failing then that's how people would treat our business. But then I'm not being true to myself either. As I prepare for what can only be a better Christmas I will try harder to share more about the journey. To not put so much pressure on myself. And to trust a little bit more when things are hard.

This made me smile.

I found this information flipping through the Costco Connection Magazine for small business owners. It kind of made my day.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for having a lack of imagination and good ideas.

Thomas Edison's teachers said that he was too stupid to learn anything.

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4 or read until he was 7 and was eventually expelled from school.

Notes from Fred Astaire's first screen test read, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little."

Surprise!

So much has happened in the last few months. immediately following my last blog Sophie started a new preschool, we had three sets of family visit, we moved and then we found out we were pregnant (surprise!). We of course told all of our family and friends through a series of phone calls, text messages and then followed up with a personal Facebook post just to cover our bases. But when it came time to tell my customers I was a little stumped. I feel like so many of you are my friends and I want to share this news with you. But announcing something like that on my website/fb page just feels weird. Just like it feels weird posting photos of Sophie which is why I rarely do. I don't really know the protocol here. So instead I'm going the round about way and blogging it. This is my safe place and I know only the customers I'm closest with will actually read it.

I'll admit that we were a bit shocked. Greg and I have known for awhile that no time was going to be the perfect time for us to grow our family. So instead of trying to plan it we gave it to God at the beginning of the year. And with each month since our life has gotten more chaotic. So imagine my surprise when God chose now to multiply us, right when I already felt like I was drowning. But isn't that when God works the best? Just when your convinced you can't possibly take on any more he asks you to let go and surrender. I realize now that this is probably the best thing that can happen to me. The business has gotten to the point that I can no longer do it all. It's time to hire help and start delegating. Something that has always been hard for me. But now I have to, especially if I want to keep growing and not drive my family insane. I'm so blessed to have my husband and my Mom to help me do this. It's absolutely a family business now and I can't wait to see where the next year leads us. Baby is due in March, so it's time to get to work!

Crush it!

My brother in law recommended this book to my hubby for me. By page 3 I was hooked. The author, Gary Vaynerchuk, describes passion as this, " It means that when you get up in the morning , every single morning, you are pumped because you get to talk about or work with or do the thing that interests you the most in the world. You don't live for vacations because you'd don't need a break from what you're doing - working, playing, and relaxing are one and the same. You don't even pay attention to how many hours you're working because to you, it's not really work. You're making money, but you would do whatever it is you're doing for free."

That's me in a nutshell. Absolutely obsessed with what I do. I feel like it was written for me. What this book talks about though is how to harness that passion and get people exited about you and your product using social networking. I haven't been this excited about a book in a long time. Anyway, I'm only a few chapters in. But I will keep you posted on it's advice and how well it works. I even started tweeting again determined to give it another shot. So you knew it was coming, follow my tweets @sophiegracemaui.com (but bare with me I'm new).

Choices

This month has really given me a huge dose of what it means to be a parent. What it means to put your child first, what it means to get down on your knees and pray for them and what it means to fight for their welfare everyday. And mostly, what it means to make difficult choices.

A few blogs down you can see the post about Sophie throwing temper tantrums. That was kind of the beginning of it all. A couple weeks after I posted that (and endured plenty more of those tantrums) I got news that her daycare was closing down for a week. I scrambled to find a daycare that would take her temporarily. Thankfully I found a great substitute with an interesting rule. No sugar. No sweets, no gummies, no fruit roll ups and NO JUICE. Guess what? The tantrums stopped cold. I all of a sudden had a different child on my hands.

I think that it's appropriate to insert a great big DUH right about here. I know, I know. I mentally chastise parents all day long for feeding their children shaved ice for breakfast while on vacation and then acting bewildered when those same children grow a second head by lunch time. But I guess that I never really put it together. Greg and I had already been considering a day care switch for reasons that had more to do with the price of gas. But the sugar thing was icing on the cake. It's hard to ask any daycare to not give your child juice when all the other children are getting it. I don't want my child to think that she is being punished because she keeps hearing "your mommy said you can't have that" all day long. So we gave a 30 day notice that we would be switching daycares. This was difficult because the person in charge has been a big part of Sophie's life. And we could tell that this person was and still is very much offended. I don't want to hurt anybodies feelings, but I have to-have to put Sophie first.

And if that wasn't enough we might be needing to make that same choice again with our living situation. Or at least enforcing some uncomfortable rules. Sophie has been saying nasty words and phrases to the other kids at daycare that I promise we never taught her. But I know who did and they live next door. And again that choice will offend more people.

So I guess that's what it means to be a parent. To unapologetically (not really a word- I know) choose to put your child's welfare above the desire of others. I'm in charge of raising the best daughter that I know how. That's my job and responsibility above everything else. I can only wonder what it will be like as she gets older and makes friends, joins clubs and plays sports. I pray that God gives me the strength to make the difficult choices for her and the wisdom to teach her how to make them for herself when I'm not there.

Help Wanted!

Sophie Grace Maui is officially hiring. We are looking for somebody to work one to two days a week in our Wailea location but also be able to fill in once and awhile in our Paia location. We are looking for somebody with strong sales skills who is comfortable with customers. Somebody who loves people, jewelry and fashion. Somebody who is trustworthy, organized and able to communicate well. You do not need to know how to make jewelry but must be willing to learn. This person must be able to work Saturdays. The shift is from 10-5 and is outside by the pool. It does require setting up and breaking down of the kiosk. If this sounds like you then send your resume to jamie@sophiegracemaui.com. If you have sent your resume in the past and are still interested please send it again.