First Year
I can’t believe this week is my one year anniversary of setting up shop inside All Good Granola. Has it met my expectations? Yes, 100% but I admit to setting my expectations fairly low and have adjusted my goals a little every few months. My ego had said that aaallll of our old Wedge customers would flock in to see me, that totally did not happen but they are slowly finding me again and it’s always a fun reunion. Advertising can be challenging and social media is a job in itself but we are doing the best we can and the new customers trickling in are proof that our labor are paying off. I am full of gratitude for the consistent growth at this new location.
Since this isn’t my first rodeo I knew certain things, like the majority of our sales will come from doing farmers markets. As long as I am physically able to attend markets and they prove to be profitable this will remain our business model. Yes, the long game is retiring comfortably in my cozy space making art by the window, whipping up Chow Chow and selling you cheese from a climate controlled environment. We are not there yet and that is ok, I’d miss the community spirit of these events, but I do want to stress that a visit once in a while to the shop over the winter months is crucial to the survival of the business. As stated before this isn’t my first rodeo and I set aside funds for the slow season BEFORE purchasing inventory for the holidays. I do worry though as I had heard several disheartening comments over the summer. One comment in particular at the very last event held in my target community was “I won’t come see you at your shop this winter because I only like to buy my cheese here”. Granted, I am a sensitive gal on a good day, but this hit me like a gut punch and had me spinning out that if all my customers feel this way I am doomed for failure. I’m over these negative feelings now and just accept it as this human doesn’t have a filter. I get it, I am not a shopper, I am super frugal and I don’t enjoy running errands. A friend asked me what I’d have rather heard as she didn’t see anything wrong in the honest comment. I said I thought an appropriate response would be “thank you for coming to this market for 10 years and I look forward to seeing you next year”. Basically the same truth but minus the gut punch.
One thing hasn’t changed over the last 12 months and that is I LOVE walking through that door 5 days a week. I never dread going to work, well maybe on a 12 hour day that involves deliveries, supply runs, shop time and evening markets LOL. I have loved walking in and seeing the shop slowly filling up with artisan gifts and foods. I love sharing space with Bryan as his sweet demeanor and calm personality is very grounding for my spastic self. I love that Tracy has followed me here even though she has to drive from BFE to get here, I have been working with her for at least a decade now and so grateful that I get to see her every week. I am so thankful that Jeannie was able to hold down the fort while I attended my weekday events this summer and that Laura was able to fill in the gaps and we never had to close on this days!!
I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous at the beginning and occasioanally spun out in despair. Luckily I have the best friends a girl could have a the most supportive encouraging husband in the whole world and they all kept me in check. I finally had a come to Jesus moment with myself. I said you are either going to embrace the ups and downs of this business or you are going to quit and go work for someone else. End of story. Yes, you can have a bad day but I had to learn to let that sh*t go. Life is too short to be worried and stressed every single day. This is either goin to work or it’s not and all I can do is show up every day and do my job to the best of my ability.
So there ya have it, my year in review and I’ll leave you now so I can go make my social media posts about preordering for Thanksgiving, yes it’s that time again, go vote, run by bank and get to the shop to fluff a Christmas tree, yes it’s THAT time too. LOL I love you guys, thank you for being with me this last year and a real big thank you to those who have been following me since 2013, it’s been a journey and I am grateful to every single one of you.