Restructuring

A close friend recommended a book on finances to me recently. I’d told her about my frustrations with my small business. For 3 years, I have been trying to figure out how to sustain my home goods market. I did start it up in 2022 during a time of inflation and uncertainty. That was a challenge I knew only God would see me through. And He did. But I have made mistake after mistake along the way. Although this is typical for most new businesses, it doesn’t seem to be for my close friend I mentioned. She owns a wellness business, runs a forest school, and operates a 30 acre farm. She inspires me with how well she runs her businesses. So I naturally went to her for advice. How do you do all of this, make money, and not go mad? I jokingly tell her that she is a rule follower, unlike myself. Although she is brilliantly creative and can be wonderfully spontaneous, she also thrives on order and rules. What a good balance! After some self-reflection recently, I’ve found I am certainly a planner. I have spreadsheets, Google Docs, and notebooks full of plans. But I had to ask myself, where are all these plans? Where are the fruits of these plans? While planning is important, I shamefully realized I have unhealthy spontaneous tendencies…

You see, I’m what Anne from Anne of All Trades would call a “chaos monster” in her upcoming book Heartbreak, Habits and Hope. I dream big and have issues with follow through. Worse, I drag others into my enthusiasm and bombard them with all the crazy ideas that fill my head. I dive right in without assessing the risks. I put the cart before the horse. I find ways to skip the line (literally sometimes). I am utterly impatient. I want to do so much, but simply do not have enough time in the day nor the money in the bank account.

I’m going to humble myself and let you into our finances in hopes that this information will help another entrepreneur that may be in a similar situation or, better yet, save a soon-to-be small business from making the same mistakes. 

1. I started with someone else’s vision. Those were the days when I was on social media, following accounts of beautiful french markets. I can’t remember the account now, but there was a shop in the USA that had a beautiful market of goods out of a huge, white washed barn she had restored. I followed her, longing to have exactly that too! I did find over time she also struggled to keep her beautiful market afloat. Eventually closing the barn and opening a store on a main street. But eventually closing that store down soon after. My guess, she was also a dreamer, a planner, a risk-taker, and a chaos monster just like me. 

2. I got too excited. I had money to spend! My husband allowed me to use our savings to start up the business. What was meant to be a loan, has yet to be paid back. You see, I took that money and purchased way too many goods at once. And the wrong goods. I wound up having to sell many of my first goods at a discount, wholesale costs (breaking even), or taking a loss.

3. I never sat down and created an actual business plan. I cringe thinking about this utterly dumb mistake. I should know better. I have a college education in business. This is literally the first thing we’re taught to do. I still have no idea why I thought I didn’t need one. Dumb.

4. I didn’t learn my lesson. I kept repeating the same mistakes over and over. As though it was just bad timing and maybe this item would sell better elsewhere. Wooden brooms, for example, were something I wanted to sell because I thought they not only looked cool in my market, but would be a big seller. They Are Not. I still don’t know why. But they just aren’t. It took me 18 months to sell them all. Foolishly, I thought, “Okay! Time to restock!” So I bought more brooms, and guess what. I’ve sold one in the past year. 

5. I was too proud. I didn’t want vendors thinking my business wasn’t doing well, so I kept buying from them. Putting myself, and now my family in debt…

6. I kept spending money I didn’t have. When the start-up money got used up, I began charging my business credit card. Causing us to dip into more of our personal money to pay that off. 

7. I didn’t listen. I didn’t listen to God when He told me to be patient and to slow my roll in the beginning. Over and over I ignored discernment when it came to various decisions. I also didn’t listen to my husband. He has really good intuition. He is great with numbers and sees the bigger picture. He would give me [unwanted] advice, and I would let myself feel offended. He would say no to something I wanted to do and I would ignore him and continue to do things my way. I am emotional. And make emotional decisions. He is logical and level-headed. (This is why we need men.)

I have taken the past few months to pray and reflect on what to do about this hole I have dug. A few weeks ago, God responded to my prayers with this wisdom...Stop dragging your feet. Stop being helpless. Stop waiting on me to do everything for you. You’re not a baby anymore. You can open doors if you get up and get going. He had me understand that it is time for me to do the work and start following through on the visions. Make it happen, dangit! 

So, here I am restructuring…

1. I created an actual business plan. What I should have done before a single penny was spent!

2. I’m getting rid of unnecessary costs. This was part of the reason I closed the online storefront. It was costing a lot of money I just don’t have right now. I also got rid of software and subscriptions that weren’t necessary. 

3. I’m slowing down to assess every decision. Which, I'll admit, is difficult for me. Luckily, I have my dear friend and wise husband to help me. And I’m listening to them.

4. I’m cutting costs, getting creative, and creating wider margins. As a reseller, you have to be able to sell other’s goods at a wide margin (50% or more) or you will find yourself in my position. I just wasn’t getting a wide enough margin (20%-30%) from most vendors. Which is understandable because many crafters make a living from selling their goods. Many don’t do wholesale for this reason. Therefore, I’ve found I can’t continue to use this business model anymore. It’s not sustainable. 

So, I’m making many of the home cleaning, beauty and wellness goods in our store now. I told myself for years, I wasn’t the creative type, but merely the saleswoman. I really let the enemy hold me back by limiting my ability and potential. So I started making the goods and have found so much joy in creating!

5. Future plans. Once I’ve paid off the credit card debt, paid back the loan from our personal savings, and have a steady profit flow, I will begin saving for a physical storefront. That was always the dream. Only now it finally feels attainable. (I also plan to bring back the online store-front but with a limited selection of goods.)

I couldn’t help but think about what other parts of my life could use restructuring. What have I been doing wrong or the same way over and over hoping for a different result? In the past few months I’ve restructured the way I parent, the way I garden, and the way I manage our home. No more chaos monster. No more unhealthy habits. No more dropping the ball. No more excuses. I’m planning, I’m scheduling, I’m learning, I’m implementing, I’m getting what needs to get done, done!

What could use restructuring in your life? What’s not working? What radical change needs to happen for you? Comment below or email me at therootedmarketgoods@gmail.com.

Many blessings,

Casey G.

The Shopkeeper