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.
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Hi Jamie, I was so touched when I read this. It's completely ok to show your vulnerability and it is inspiring for us to see how you've dealt with life's challenges. I don't know know how it feels to be a business owner but I do know how it is to manage or make decisions for logistics, finances and legal matters for a retail business and it is a ton of different skill sets especially when also combined with visual, buying and design. It can't be easy. Also the challenges of not spreading sales with multi locations, making each spot its own unique experience. I wish you and your mom the best with Sophie Grace.
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