imagine.
a song to set the scene // it’s going to take some time by the carpenters
Imagine it’s the middle of February in Southcentral Alaska.
You’re in a small town, and it’s snowed over 2 feet in the last week.
Currently, you’re in your first six months of opening a small business, in a very niche market.
Naturally, foot traffic is slow, as the town thrives in the summer when the salmon are running.
You haven’t seen a soul in two days, and your friends visit you so you don’t start talking with the mannequins.
You look out your barred train window at the empty parking lot, then look longingly at the beautiful merchandise so thoughtfully displayed inside.
As if all of that weren’t a struggle, imagine waking up to two corporate companies emailing you that you owe more money. They always want more money. Each totaling just over $200, it doesn’t seem like a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but to you, an early entrepreneur trying to make a go of it in a corporate driven world; sometimes, $200 is a week’s worth of sales.
Starting the day with tears rolling down your face, you dread going in.
Owning a small business is like this. One day, you’re flying high, other days, you don’t have a single visitor. It is fickle, unpredictable, frustratingly unstable, and you get why everyone doesn’t do it.
But, you nonetheless zip up your favorite vintage dress and drive in, because that’s what you do.
Standing alone, entering inventory and dusting where possible, the day seems like all of the others, that saddle pressure mounting whenever you think about those corporate bills you have to pay.
All of a sudden, someone walks in who hasn’t been in before. You start chatting, and turns out, they’re a fellow cat person.
Beelining it to something they saw on your social media, she starts a pile at the register. As if that weren’t heaven-sent enough, she pays in cash, the total just over $200.
$200, seemingly not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, if you recall. But for an early entrepreneur trying to make a go of it in a corporate-driven world, $200 makes your day.
It not only makes your day, but it restores faith in what you do. $200 feels like hope, promise, and the continuation of following your dream.
For a small business, money like that is what allows you to continue to make it through February, and the slow off-season. And for some reason, that lady was sent into your shop at precisely the moment she was meant to. Call it divine intervention or the timing of the universe, but it meant the entire world to you.
It’s those little morsels: those visits in your shop, the compliments, recommendations and support you receive from girls like her that inspire you to continue to share all the treasures you thrift, hunt, and rescue from people’s homes.
You could list 200 reasons why retail is hard, why small-business in America is so difficult right now. But, you could also list 200 reasons why you continue to do it, like the joy it brings you to hear people laugh at your innapropriate stickers and cards, or watch them reminisce when they walk down your train aisles.
Imagine it’s the middle of February in Southcentral Alaska.
You’re in a small town and you just made somebody’s day by visiting their shop…
