So it's true. I always pictured myself running a small shop.
When the location in the Fernwood Square came up I knew it was now or never! However, I had to chat with my favourite small biz owners first to find the support I needed to convince myself that I could do it. I chatted with Erin from Luna Collective and Jess from SALT Shop and both of these women assured me that I had what it takes to run a small business! So I went for it! I started dreaming up names and envisioning how I could transform the little space. It was definitely a quick process - I found out at the end of December and CREAM Life + Style opened the second week of March!
Behind the scenes I was thrifting like a madwoman, finding local makers to carry, redesigning the shop and of course busying myself with all the business stuff that comes with starting a small business. At one point I even bribed City Hall with baked goods to get my business license expedited! Haha! So many things to think about. Fortunately I knew two incredibly talented women who created my branding, set up my Shopify and built my online shop, which we're officially launching today! If you ever need help with branding Jess & Arielle at SALT Shop are the best!
When opening day came I was a ball of nerves! What if people didn't like my eclectic sense of style? What if nobody showed? Honestly, it was like inviting people into my home saying here ya go, hope you like it! Luckily, people did! I was overjoyed at the amount of beautiful humans who came out to support me & my little shop! I even had a women drive down from Campbell River - wow! My heart was bursting for sure!
Fast forward three months later.......
I realize I'm not a super woman and cannot possibly juggle family and running a shop as the sole employee. Enter Leilani & Halle. Lei is a beautiful soul who curates gorgeous vintage pieces for the shop and has an epic sense of style! She's super playful about style, which I love! Halle is an incredibly talented photographer, and is so helpful for bouncing around creative ideas with especially in the socials world! So essentially I've got a CREAM Dream Team! (Haha! I had too!).
There's still so much to running a business that I am just learning and for an Aries like me I can get really down on myself if I'm not doing a perfect job of it all. Even when I think I'm not stressing about something a fun little cold sore will appear to let me know yes, yes you are stressing! When things are feeling too heavy I just remember why I started this shop; so people could have a fun, creative, inclusive space to shop for unique items and connect! That's really what it boils down to. I want for everyone, including myself to have the freedom to do what whatever we want! Listen to what we want, dress how we want, create how we want and really just be whoever we want to be! And, with the official launch of our website, it's just gotten that much easier to really live the Cream Life!
All the Love,
Stacey