Happeh Holidaze

Hey all,

Happy December - I can’t believe the holiday season is already in full swing!

I am super excited to be writing this blog post as it is the first one since early October, and a LOT has transpired! Most namely being the launch of the shoppe and leaving my full time job in Philly. As spruce lane shoppe takes form, I want to continue to blog along the way so I can candidly fill you in on all things business and personal throughout the transition. My hope is that my honest account of launching this small business can help inspire others to take steps towards fulfilling their own goals. I will continue to share the ups, downs, and mundane parts in between.

a blustery walk on the bay - i love capturing our shadows on the sand!

So let’s dive in! Around halfway through November, I finally got to the point where I felt like I had enough merch on my site to share it with the public. I was definitely trembling when I hit “post” on Instagram, but the outpouring of love and support was overwhelmingly positive. I received a good amount of orders mostly from friends and family which was amazing - ILY guys! With those orders, my first hurdle was figuring out the shipping algorithm on Squarespace. You have to manually set the dimensions and weights for each of your products individually, and also create “shipping containers” so that the site can calculate cost estimates for shipping things individually or combined into packages. I did not do this right and ended up charging some folks out the wazoo for shipping (oopsies). I had to text them “SRY!” and refund them to reach the accurate amount. I think it is mostly ironed out now, but if this happens again just know I will reach out to you and will fix it. <3

Other little systemic things that I have learned about and want to continue to refine are product packaging (it’s expensive, but important when making good first impressions with customers), and product photography (it’s a lot harder than it looks, esp when your content is cast out into a sea of wildly brilliant, professional photography online). Brand identity is also something swirling in my head. I feel like that is going to evolve over time as I continue to become more established, but I want to have a solid sense of what it is that I “do” and “sell”, and be able to articulate that to others in a clear way.

wintry sunset in cox preserve, or what the true locals refer to as ponder lodge (the old golf course’s name that it originated from).

My last day at my prior job was shortly after the launch of the site. I had a really wonderful sendoff from my company that I am very grateful for. It’s always been important to me to leave an organization on the best note possible, which can be tough because there are typically some feelings of sadness on both sides when closing a chapter like that, so again I am glad it all went well. Leaving the corporate world to work independently has been its own journey to navigate. I have learned that it truly takes a concerted effort to remain structured and productive each day in this new capacity. I don’t currently have an alarm clock set and am starting to feel like I should enable one, because the time that I wake up each morning keeps getting progressively later and later, and I’m not really a fan of that. I love getting online orders not only for the sake of sales, but because it means getting dressed and going out to the post office, AKA, leaving the house.

I don’t know if this is just me, but I put this unspoken pressure each day on myself to feel busy. While there are times that I am busy with stuff (especially with the pop-ups that we’ll get to in a few), there are times where I am not busy and feel a little lost. Those are the toughest moments for me mentally because the feelings of doubt start to creep in. What am I doing and is this going to end up being a giant waste of time (and money) if it never really takes off? How do the established business owners I see all around me get to the point where they have mountains of orders they can’t keep up with? I have definitely had a few sleepless nights this past month contemplating thoughts like those. But...I digress and just continue to work at it.

when my head gets a little screwy and my mood dips, a walk outside with weej is the best medicine.

Anyway, December has rolled around and I have already done three pop ups! They have been really energizing again, not only for sales but for getting out and interacting with like-minded individuals in the community, whether they are other small business owners, creators, or customers! The first two pop ups were at coffee shops and went really well. I enjoyed the coffee shop setting as it was pretty intimate and low key. The most recent pop up I did was outdoors and more of a “festival” style event that was geared towards holiday shopping. I thought it would be my home run, “I can’t keep up with the demand” moment, but it turned out that I was mistaken. While I did meet a lot of lovely people and made some sales, I did not crush it and was having more feelings of uncertainty. I am sure a lot of creators can relate to this but it is a funny feeling to put your energy and passion into something, then release it out to the world, and see how people react to it. The festival pop up was a crash course in that. A lot of people asked questions, perused, and moved on without buying anything. Obviously that’s a very normal part of being in retail but for me it was an unfamiliar experience and was a little tough to endure as I work to build my confidence as a new business owner. Shout out to my husband for not only coming and helping me do the whole event but for reassuring me that everything would be fine at least a dozen times throughout the day. I felt really grateful for him as we were packing up when it all concluded (and still do).

nothing beats a sunny morning in here. we still have house projects we want to work on but with the start of the business and finances in flux, we have put all of that on pause, which is tough but necessary.

As for the future, I know the next few months after the holidays wrap are going to be tough both personally and professionally. Personally because about 75% of our town shuts down for the off season (uhhh hi tell me what are we supposed to do for fun!), and professionally because I am going to have to work extraaa hard to maintain that sense of being busy that I was discussing earlier. The idea of scaling this business is kind of an enigma to me because I don’t have a ton of cash laying around to pump into it, so I am going to try to be a sponge and soak in what is working well, reevaluate what is not, and just continue to follow my instincts. The feedback I have gotten online has been so incredibly motivating, so thank you again for cheering me on. If you couldn’t tell from this recap, this work is very rewarding but also anxiety inducing, so every ounce of positivity helps!

sea foam! the thing with the weather i have noticed most about living here is the wind. they talk about wind gusts down the shore on the news a lot and now i can attest that is a real thing to be conscious of.

Someone joked with me recently and asked how “retirement” is going. HAHA, good one! I know it was all in light humor, but the comment has replayed in my head quite a bit. Instead of getting down about it, I want to use it as motivation and pass that sentiment along to you as well. As a woman in my early 30’s, it’s not easy to navigate this chapter of adulthood and a lot of people may have opinions about what that should look like. Newsflash - it looks different for everyone! Maybe you live in an apartment in a bustling city with your beloved cat, or you are married with children raising your family in the burbs, or you have a killer career and are climbing the ladder financially, or a combination of it all, or literally none of that. Who knows! I say just keep going and keep doing what fulfills YOU. I am certainly not going into a retirement phase even though I don’t have an alarm clock set at the moment (lol, should I actually set one though…?). If anything, I know that I am growing personally and professionally throughout this experience, hurdles and all, which is invaluable..even though it scares me, ha!

Cheers to a healthy holiday season. Catch ya on the next blog post.