Stuff and Things New with Me

I keep meaning to write about my thoughts and feelings about closing a small business.  I keep meaning to write about what the future holds for me (in the professional sense.)  I keep meaning to do these two things, but I haven't because, if I'm being honest, my thoughts and focus are scattered.  So, here's my stream of consciousness...random, jumbled, wordy and all.  No pretty pictures or funny gifs included.  My bad.

My husband and his father opened their store 12 years ago.  I joined the team 7ish years ago.  Throughout those years, in addition to me, there would only be one other employee, in a part-time capacity.  So, we were truly a small business, family owned and operated. 

Every sale mattered.  Every repair mattered.  Every customer mattered.  Because they paid for every aspect of our livelihood.  There was no set, stable, guaranteed income.  But, it wasn't just about money.  It was about our name.  Our family.  Our reputation.  Our business. 

And, when it comes to the product that we were providing...fine jewellery...often the purchase was made to commemorate an important occasion.  An engagement.  A wedding.  A birthday.  An anniversary.  A gift to oneself after earning a bonus that required hard work and commitment.  A gift to oneself to just "treat yo self".  A graduation.  And more.  We truly wanted the items from our store that marked these important events to be unique, special, quality, and memorable. 

There are not enough words to describe my husband's commitment and work ethic.  I won't even try.  Nothing I could say could do justice to how hard he worked, how committed he was to doing his best, providing the most, giving his all to the business.

Working with him, we learned that we truly made a good team.  We knew each others' strengths and weaknesses.  We bounced off each other well.  We knew how to depend on each other when needed and when to give each other space and autonomy.  Working together truly prepared us for marriage in some ways, without question.  I think that we made such a great team professionally in some aspects, that it convinced us that yes, we'd make great life partners too.

Deciding to close shop wasn't an easy decision.  Not at all.  Reviewing things that went wrong.  Recognizing things that should have been done differently.  Examining the business, trade, and market.  But, once the decision was made, we were ready for it.  The final day those doors closed, we were celebrating.  There was even an impromptu dance session to "The Final Countdown" mixed in there the last week.

What does the future hold? 

We have several ideas and ventures in mind. But, for now, I think we are both in a space that we want one of us (me!) to have steady, stable, known income...even if it isn't a big income...while the husband pursues other ventures in the jewellery trade that are a gamble.  He has some custom orders already established that he will be working on in our home workshop.  He has other opportunities that have been offered to him, and he has some new ideas for a different type of jewellery product launch as well. 

So, I will be on the job hunt.  I started resume writing today.  I haven't written a resume for myself in over a decade.  I reached out to a few people that I've worked with in the past to ask for a few adjectives/buzzwords to describe me.  I gotta admit: I'm pretty humbled, astonished, and quite frankly, proud of their responses. 

I have decades worth of sales experience from building materials to fine jewellery.  I've got a BA in Sociology and years ago worked as a caseworker at a juvenile prison.  A few years ago, I completed a Diploma of Tourism (similar to an Associate's Degree) because the travel industry has always interested and excited me.  Getting a focus on the avenue(s) I want to pursue is my challenge at the moment.  But, I'm confident I'll work through it. 

So, that's "Stuff and Things" that are "New with Me".  How about you?

Linking..... with Kristen and Gretchen:

Linking..... with  Kristin:

Things I wanted to be; things I did instead

You know those articles about "live the life you always dreamed of" or "are you passionate about your job?" or "if you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work"?  Well, that's all fine and good, but in my professional work career, I didn't become what I dreamed of as a kid.  Many of us don't.  Are you the teacher, the ballerina, the fireman, the police officer, the pop star that you dreamed of being?  As you can see listed below, my career dreams didn't exactly pan out. 

As a kid and/or teenager, even early adult, these are the following things that I dreamed of becoming when I grew up:

• Radio DJ - my earliest memory of a dream job
• MTV hit; then I decided "Screw radio.  I want to be a VJ."
• Fashion Designer, although I can't sew; can't even hem pants or sew on a button; can't draw either
• Talk Show Host; this was during the time period that I'd get home from school and watch Sally Jessy Raphael, Oprah, Phil Donahue, Geraldo and/or Montel Williams
• Personal Shopper - I like shopping; why not use someone else's money to do it?
• Criminal Profiler - I've read a lot of true crime in my life and watched a lot of crime story documentaries; somewhere along the way, I thought this would be a good profession for me.
• Stylist, preferably for a musician or rock band - I like clothes; I like music; makes sense.
• Rob Zombie Back Up Dancer - no lie, this is still my dream job.

What exciting things have I done with myself in the working world?  Well, here's an assortment:

• Hostess at Red Lobster - I don't like seafood; I thought if I picked a place that I didn't like the food, then I wouldn't eat it all the time; I was wrong; I devoured their cheesy bread rolls.
• Manager at a tanning salon - I looked tan & fine; let's hope I won't regret it with melanoma later on
• Waitress - everyone should have to work as waitstaff at some point in their life
• Manager of retail clothing store - a couple of different clothing stores actually
• Caseworker at a juvenile prison - Sociology degree in tow; if I could have made a decent amount of money doing this, I would have continued; Also, if I hadn't been the subject of an assault plot as a gang initiation, I would have continued as well.  (plot - it didn't happen - fortunately - the facility I worked at had a terrible amount of assaults on staff)
• Jack-of-all-trades in building materials world: credit manager, inside sales, outside sales, product manager, purchasing agent, roofing specialist, assistant manager - oh yeah, glamorous stuff, but I met a lot of good people in this industry.
• Jewelry sales extraordinaire + marketing too + small business owner - my guy and I make a pretty great team, except we aren't making the money we'd like, so maybe a better way to say it is we are compatible, supportive, bounce ideas off each other, know what the other's thinking, but not financially lucrative kind of team.

So, Mr. Rob Zombie, if you're reading this, I'm still waiting for that call to audition. 

 

Are you living your career dream?  What did you want to be?  What have you become?