My Gift

Yesterday, my husband brought me a gift.

Last weekend was our wedding anniversary, and he bought me a pretty bead for my charm bracelet.  So, when he presented me with another gift, I was a little confused. 

Yesterday's gift was a copy of Dave Ramsey's brand new book, EntreLeadership! 

When we were at the EntreLeadership Master Series back in May, Dave gave each attendee an advance copy of the first chapter, and I asked Dave to sign my copy.  Now I'm so excited to read the entire book.  I am only wondering if there will be much information that is different from the conference that we attended, or will it be the same material, just in book form?  Either way, it will be an enjoyable read.

An Open Letter to a Young Businesswoman

Last week, our bridal boutique was featured on the Dave Ramsey Show!!!!  (yippee!)

Since then, we have received calls and e-mails from other business people all around the nation, congratulating us on our story and our success.  One of these e-mails was from a young woman in the South who has always dreamed of owning a bridal boutique.  She wrote and asked me for some advice and the answers to some specific questions. 

Well, I'm pretty sure she's not the only young woman out there with this dream.  So, in hopes that I can help even just a few, I'm going to print my response to her here.  As background, this young woman is in her mid-twenties, married, and has a baby who is about a year old.

Dear __________,

Baby boys are so much fun!  I have two sons.  Josh is 15 and a sophomore in high school.  Jonny is 12 and just started 7th grade this week.  My husband, Jeff, and I will celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary on September 18.

Both pairs of my grandparents owned businesses in our town while I was growing up, and my parents own a dry cleaners that they have had for over 30 years.  I grew up working in the cleaners, and my Mom trained me to clean and preserve wedding gowns when I was 15 years old.   When my boys were small, I helped with payroll and misc things at the dry cleaners and taught piano lessons so I could be home with them most of the time.  When they both got in school, I started getting the "itch" to have my own business.  With my husband's encouragement, I revived my mother's teaching in regards to the wedding gown cleaning and care; and opened a business that was closely connected to the dry cleaners, but specialized in wedding gown preservation and restoration. 

When I was shopping for my own wedding gown, way back in 1991, I dreamed of having my own boutique one day.  Over the next 15 years, that dream would come and go, but the time and opportunity was never there.  I didn't give up on it, though.  I just kept learning everything I could about gowns and customer service as well as developing relationships with people in the wedding businesses.  In 2007, one of the bridal stores for which I did wholesale gown preservations closed their doors, leaving gowns still hanging on the racks!  We re-opened the store 3 months later as "September's Bride". 

After that background, here are my answers to your questions:
How did you decide to get started?  See above :)

How much money would say it took to get up and running?  A lot.  More than you think.  Depending on what you need to get a space ready, I would say no less than $100K.

Do you have a certain amount of dresses you try to sell each month?  Yes.  We set goals for our team each month depending on many factors.

How do you sign up as a retailer for different dress lines?  Lots of research, contacting sales reps, attending bridal market

What do you find to be the most challenging running your own business?  The most challenging part to me is balancing my personal life and my business life.  When you own your own business, the two are intertwined significantly.  Cash flow is always challenging, as well as leading a team.

Do you ever have a "Bridezilla"? How do you handle a sticky situation?  Oh, yes.  Each situation is different.  Bridal is one of the most intense, emotional, businesses in which one can be.

Do you have any promotions, sales, or advertising ideas that you can share?  I use social media marketing as much as possible.  Also, word-of-mouth is the best advertising, but that takes lots of time to grow!
I have a wonderful assistant who is also our boutique manager.  There is no way I could do this alone.  My husband is also as involved as possible. 

My advice to you would be to wait until your children are at least middle-school age.  I cannot tell you how many bridal boutique owners I know who have gone out of business because the demands of running the business and raising small children was too much.  In the meantime, save as much $$ as you can and learn as much as you can about weddings and wedding gowns.  Perhaps do some wedding planning...that is a good way to break into the business without the pressure of having to make rent and payroll each month :)

Owning a bridal boutique was one of my dreams, too; and I really love it.  I hope I haven't discouraged you from pursuing your dream, but instead given you some practical advice so that when your time is right, you'll have a boutique that is a blessing to you and your family and not a rope around your neck.

Kelli, feel free to e-mail me anytime if you have more questions.  I love to talk business and bridal!  Also, we have a blog: www.septembersbride.blogspot.com and a page on Facebook, so please join us and follow along!

Blessings,
Tami

Best Thing I've Done Lately

Last month, Jeff and I attended EntreLeadership Master Series, taught by Dave Ramsey.  I cannot recommend it enough to any small business owner!

We learned so many valuable things; some of which we are chewing on, some of which we will do in the future, and some of which we were able to incorporate right away into our business.

One of the most useful tools that we began using immediately is the Weekly Report from our employees.  I ask each of my team members to fill out a very simple Weekly Report.  On this report, I ask them to detail something they learned that week, something at which they were successful, and then a quick high point and low point of the week. 

Wow!  I am learning so much about my team, and it's only been 4 weeks!

Now is the time to start!

Jeff and I have spent the last 5 days or so in sunny Orlando, Florida attending Dave Ramsey's EntreLeadership Master Series.  Our mornings have been filled with teaching & coaching from Dave and his team on all things business.  It has been intense, powerful, and wonderful.  In the afternoons, we have been spending time together dreaming and planning on how to make our business and our lives all that we feel God would have them to be.

Almost everyone has a goal or a dream.  Something you want to do.  Maybe you can't do it tomorrow, next week, or even next year.  But, you can begin to do it!  You can make plans.  Perhaps all you can do right now is plan to make plans. 

One of the most important things I will be taking home with me this week is the knowledge that things do not need to stay the same in my business or any other area of my life.  It is my job to find out where God wants me to be and to move in that direction.

EntreLeadership...here we come!

So EXCITED!

Jeff and I are attending Dave Ramsey's Entreleadership Master Series at Walt Disney World next week!

I'm hoping to blog a few times during the event right here and share some of the lessons we are learning.  Do you have anything you'd like me to ask Dave for you?

Be a Point of Light in your Community

"Community", "Local"...all buzzwords that are popular in small business today.  But what does it mean in practice?  We like to talk about banding together to make us stronger and strengthening our community.  But do we really put our money where our mouth is?

This week, our business was able to very specifically live out our mission statement, "...bless our...community as we are blessed...".  Another bridal store in town suddenly closed its doors, leaving customers without wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and other items.  We have stepped up to fulfill as many orders as we can; honoring the down payments, and barely covering our costs in most cases, while losing money in others.  It's the right thing to do.  We have enjoyed grateful responses from almost all of the customers involved.

I also remembered one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers, Randy Travis.  In the early 1990's, he performed a song at a gala for the first President Bush called "Points of Light".  One of the lines says, "If you see what's wrong and you try to make it right, that's when you become a point of light".

Rainy Day Fund

Do you have a savings account for your business?

Of course, we've all been told to save for a rainy day.  This is great advice for your personal finances, and one that I hope most Americans are learning to follow.

May I encourage you to also have a savings account for your small business, too.  Each week, I make a regular transfer from my business checking to a small business money market account through my bank.  It is not money that I am saving for taxes, or upcoming expenses, or anything in particular.  It is a small amount that is being consistently set aside.

This fund gives me such peace of mind.  No matter what your business, making saving (even a small amount) a regular weekly occurrence!