10th Anniversary Series: 10 Lessons Learned throughout 10 Years

Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works from mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and I can't wait to chat. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. This week it is a very special week and it's you and it's me. But we have something so huge to celebrate and that is this week we are kicking off a monthlong celebration into the hubs 10 year anniversary. Holy smokes. I can't even believe 10 years is actually here. I feel like there's probably been a lot of gray hair, a few extra pounds gained, and maybe even some Botox that have helped me survive 10 years. But nevertheless we are celebrating full on all month long and I wanted to kick it off today with just a really honest and open and raw conversation about the good, the bad and the ugly. But most importantly, the 10 biggest things that I have learned from 10 years in business. It pertains to our industry and to you as a business owner. And hopefully you can learn from some of the honest mistakes and maybe some of the big wins that we've celebrated here at the Hub and you can fast track them and put them into work, into your business. So I've got 10 awesome things I'm excited to share. But before I get into it, I just like from the bottom of my heart, you guys, thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Thank you for those of you who read our blog or have taken a course or are members of the Boutique Hub. Thank you to those who have been to a boutique summit or been in retail boot camp. Thank you to those of you who have shared the Boutique Hub with your friends and have trusted our advice or just sent somebody else an encouraging message inside of this community. Man, this community started almost by accident, if I can even say that. And I'll have another episode where I tell you lots of past stories. But for the most part, for those of you who don't know, the Boutique Hub started because I grew up in the fashion mecca of the United States, North Dakota. I say that with a grain of salt because I love North Dakota and I love how I grew up in a very small town, but we didn't have a lot of boutiques in North Dakota at that time. Somehow I still Loved finding unique things in the flower shop that I first worked in when I was 14 and working at the Buckle in college. I love finding these unique things, but I felt like for people like me in the Midwest, fashion especially was very New York in la. But what about the rest of us? What about the rest of us? And boutiques really were the answer to that question. For me, boutiques were the things that made people feel unique and special, special and understood in a place where I felt like not everybody, you know, always felt understood, especially in the Midwest. So I fell in love with boutiques very early on. And our very earliest version of the boutique hub was me wanting to make this online shopping mall of boutique so that people like me in the Midwest could find great stores no matter where they were and no matter we lived, we could find them online to shop them. But what happened, through a lot of trial and error was I realized that boutique owners that I was reaching out to, and I cold called and emailed and reached out to friends and had friends of friends introduced me to fellow boutique owners they knew. What I found out during that time was the boutique owners I was talking to really didn't need that. They really didn't need an online shopping mall of boutiques because many people weren't even selling online yet when that idea first started. But what boutique owners really needed at that time was a home and a community. And I thought, man, all right, I can teach you everything I know. I worked in economic development and ran a small business development center. I can teach you everything I know. Even though I'm not a boutique owner myself, I will tell you everything I know about social media and running Facebook ads. From the very week Facebook ads were launched, I started running ads. So I've known it from the beginning. I. I thought, I'll teach you this. And I am not scared to tell you what I don't know. And how can I just bring together a SEAL Team 6, an army of experts who can serve in the areas that maybe I can't. And that's how the boutique hub really came together again. By accident. I thought I was building this online shopping mall of stores that really turned into a home for our industry. And thank God so many of you at that time saw the vision for what we were wanting to build. So many of you said yes, because at that time our industry was so siloed and it was so competitive. Many of you have these stories of going to market and when you would pull things, you know, to build your rack or you'd go into A showroom for home and gift. And you'd kind of hoard your things and you'd hide them because you didn't want Susie across the street seeing what you were buying. So this idea of community over competition, when the hub first launched, it was a little foreign, and it took a little bit to catch on. But again, thank you to those of you who were here during that time. And you said, I want to be part of that, because you guys are the reason the hub really built and blossomed and has become what it is today. Because your belief that a rising tide is going to lift all ships, and there is room at the top for everyone, right? If you walk down the wine aisle, if you walk down the bread aisle at any grocery store, you wonder, how can all these brands survive? And they do. They right? There is always more than enough to go around. And I believe wholeheartedly, and I always have. The same is true for our industry. You know, a long time ago, when I was working in economic development, this clothing store, and I've told this story in retail bootcamp, you guys probably heard it, but this clothing store was going out of business. There was two clothing stores, a western store and a clothing store, embroidery shop in my small town. And one was going out of business, and the other one, owners of the second one came to my office, my economic development office. And they said, hey, Ashley, can you help us? We have to find somebody else to go into this store that's closing. We need them across the street from us. And I said, wait a minute. They're your competition. Like, now everyone has to shop at your store. Isn't that a good thing? And they said, no, because when two or more stores come together, we become a destination. And if we're just here alone, we're not going to give people enough reason to come and shop with us. And from that moment on was like a gut punch, right? It was, holy smokes, light bulbs, birds singing, the whole thing. A rising tide really does lift all ships. And when two or more stores come together, you really are a destination. So this idea of community is so deeply, like, rooted within my gut because I have seen it firsthand. And so I could not be more proud of the fact that this idea latched in our industry and has really taken hold the way that it has. So, again, thank you for believing in this mission so deeply, you guys. It has not been an easy road here at the hub. It's 10 years deep. I could tell you a million stories of success and failure, miserable failure. You're probably going to hear a few more of them in this episode. But it has been a journey of love, I will say that, and a journey of passion to really just live within what our motto is and our big why here at the Hub. And that has been to change lives, to change communities, and to change the future of retail through our education, through our trusted wholesale community, and through our community as a whole. So thank you for allowing me to live out that passion and to get to meet so many of you and to be a part of your lives. All right, enough about the backstory. I hate talking about myself in that way. Gosh, thanks for bearing with me. Let's talk about some lessons, shall we? Here's what I think you can learn and latch onto from our journey over 10 years here at the Hub. Number one is this. Retail. And really, any business is a cycle. There's going to be ups and there's going to be downs. And if you've watched in the last couple of years, I think, unfortunately some of the burnout that I've noticed in the last year alone in our industry is we have gotten so used to beating last month's numbers. Covid was a wild roller coaster, right? Full of opportunity in many cases and some drought in others. And we became so obsessed with winning and winning and winning and growing and growing and growing that all of us sudden, so many businesses hit a wall and said, whoa, wait, and numbers started to drop and numbers started to change and we're getting back into what I call normal, the ups and the downs of retail, the J months. I just did a solo podcast episode on this last week because we're in the middle of it and that's all part of it. And so there has to be a part of us as a business owner that has an unemotional set of eyes looking at our business and understands how to take the good with the bad. Because we are not always going to beat last month's numbers to give ourselves permission in order to do that. Now, here's the other kicker. Yes, every business has a J month, whether it's a J month or it's an M month, right? It can be whatever in your particular business. But when we're there, we have to remember that our comfort zone, right? And just doing things the way that we've always done them is a bit of a death sentence, right? So it's okay to be challenged, because when we're challenged in business, it makes us think totally outside the box. It flips our habits, it flips our patterns. And a lot of times we can come up with solutions and outcomes that are so much more creative and so much more successful long term once we lean into them and face the discomfort of having to change. And it becomes a great opportunity having to go through the struggle to get through the other side. So if that's you, or if you've gone through a struggle or you're in the middle of one right now, lean into it. Because there is fruit, there is something good that will come from every bad situation if you choose to look for it. And that's the kicker if you choose to look for it. Because we can become the victim of any situation or we can become the victor of any situation, but the choice is certainly going to be in how we approach the situation. So I encourage you dig into this change, this moment that you're in. If you're in it right now. Dig into your customer surveys because not only are you changing and evolving, but but so is your customer. So make your business a journey of constantly dating your customer. Date her, get to know her, wine and dine her, ask her questions, learn about her struggles, and learn about her wins. Because as she evolves, your business has to evolve alongside of her. All right, tip number two is no matter what business you're in in retail, in e commerce, or if you're in an education company like vine, community always wins. Community always wins. People don't want to do business with companies. The last five years have certainly proven that people don't want to do business with companies. They want to do business with people. And the reason is when we can treat our customers as if they have a sign around their neck that says make me feel important, when we can do that and when we can create an emotional reaction within our customer, they are with us for life. And so when I say date your customer, like that's part of the process is what do they need to have an emotional reaction? What do they need to feel important? And every successful store that I have ever worked with, community has been an aspect of that. So when you're thinking about your marketing strategy, it's not how do I talk to my customers, how do I sell to my customers? Or maybe how do my customers respond to me? But if you can bridge the gap to get your customers to then respond to one another and you can truly build community. That's why I've always loved Facebook groups and felt so strongly about them. I feel the same about Instagram stories. Well, you can bridge the gap and have bidirectional multi directional communication you to your Customer, your customer to you, and your customer to one another, and they latch on to an idea or a belief or a purpose or a value that you hold near and dear, then they can become a customer for life. And here's the kicker. This has been a bit of an uncomfortable learning experience for me, is sometimes in order to really build community, you cannot be fluffy. You cannot be bubblegum pink. Sometimes, in order to build community, you have to alienate the people who are not your customers. Right? So over the years, man, have I had some real disagreements in our community at the Hub. I've probably said some things I shouldn't have said. I've been a little bold, and I've removed people from our community. I've said, you know what? Sorry, but you're no longer welcome here. And in our terms and conditions, we reserve the right to do that. And you, as a boutique owner, have the same right to fire your customers. We all do. But we get scared to do it because we think we have to please everyone. But sometimes it's worth it to alienate the people who are not your customers, to build a deeper relationship with those who are your customers. They will become stickier longer. So for us in the Hub, when we find somebody who's mean, who's a bully, who is taking advantage of other people, who is in the Hub but is willing to go to multiple other Facebook groups and bad mouth the Hub, or me personally or our team or they're rude to our team, like, any of those things, for me, are such a red flag. And so I've always believed that you have to have light that outshines the darkness. And pretty soon that darkness, there's no shadow for it to hide in anymore. And it goes. So don't ever fret if you lose a customer or if you have to remove a customer, or if you alienate somebody who really isn't a fit for your brand anyway, sometimes that can be the best thing that ever happens to you. And even though I will tell you I should probably do a whole podcast episode, probably a whole episode on mean tweets, even though they aren't tweets, they're just, like, really mean remarks that people have said over the years that could fill a whole episode, I could. I probably won't. But I'm okay with those comments because if I've ever had to remove somebody for being rude or harmful to somebody in the community, it's worth it. And if they don't like me in the process, so be it. And I hope that over the years. You have the same confidence and comfort in your own skin and in your own business that so that you can do the same because it allows you to finally sleep at night. Let me tell you that. Being comfortable in who you are, what you stand for, and what you believe in. All right, tip number three. You are the brand voice, but you're not the brand alone. This was a huge, huge decision for me early on at the Boutique cabin. Let me explain to you what I mean by this. I talk a lot, coaching about the value of you creating, being the brand voice or bring the face of your business. Right? And I really think we all have to be a face of our business to a certain extent, but we can't be the only face. Like, we cannot be the brand ourselves. We're building a brand, but we aren't the brand. And for me, a long time ago at the Hub, I have to be honest, I hated the name the Boutique Hub at first. Like, to me, I made it because it described what I was trying to do and build before a lot of it was built, but I just didn't love it. Like, I thought, man, I need to be one of those cool startups. Their name is like one word and it's some obscure thing that nobody knows what it is. Like, I thought that was the cool thing to do during all the, like, Silicon Valley boom. But now I really appreciate it because it describes who we are. And the decision that I had to make was when I build this company, is it going to be the Boutique Hub, the name, or is this Ashley Alderson, the boutique coach, the name. And I discovered early on, you know what I think if I build it as the Boutique Hub and it's not just me, this allows me to build this army of experts and this community that can serve people in areas that, you know, people know way more about than I do. I can bring them all under this one umbrella. And it's not just the pressure on me. To me, that felt like it was something that was scalable and it was marketable and it made sense long term, big decision. And there's a lot of coaches over the years that I know wish would have not used their name and actually used a brand name for the same reasons. So how does this relate to you in retail? Well, you have a boutique name, right? It's the Black Pearl Boutique, whatever your name is. But you, Jessica, are insanely tied to that. You show up on lives and your voice is in your Facebook group and you're talking about behind the scenes at the brand or your personal life or you as a mom and you're busy. And what's for dinner tonight? Are you cooking? Brussels sprouts? Do you hate Brussels sprouts? That's all a part of it. But the two of them are married together. It's not one without the other. To me, that's the combination that you want long term. Now, there's a lot of boutiques that have become the only face of their brand, and today are facing sincere burnout because they didn't bring in another model, and they wanted to go have a baby, and they wanted to take time off, but they couldn't. They were trapped. So I encourage you, build the brand, be the face of your brand, but bring in supporting voices in your brand, because that's what will make you scalable long term and will allow you to take a break and have life, because you have to have both a break and a life. All right, tip number four. Business, not just retail, but all business, is a combination of your right and left brain. It's the art side of your brain, the science side of your brain. Now, those of you who know me, you've probably heard me talk about this. I freaking hated, hated, hated math in High School. Mr. Nagle, God bless you. You probably hated having me in your class as well. I get it. I get it. I needed a lot of help in math. It was foreign. It wasn't until I graduated college that this awesome small business owner, her and her husband owned a small little motel, like, Drive up to the Room motel in my small town. And she was a former accountant and the nonprofit I was working at at the time she was on the board, and she would come in and she would help teach me QuickBooks. And she was like, ashley, like, these numbers don't have to be overwhelming. You don't have to be intimidated by QuickBooks. Like, let me just show you in the way that you learn, which I studied communications and marketing. She said, let's teach you QuickBooks in a way that the numbers. The QuickBooks numbers will tell you a story so that your marketing brain can take the story and do something with it. And I was like, okay, that makes sense. So for almost two years, like, her and I had these regular sessions, and she really helped me understand the numbers of the company. And to me today, this is, like, one of my greatest joys. And I know seeing Sarah Burks teach this in retail bootcamp as well is one of my greatest joys, because I think there's a lot of boutique owners who feel like I did Back then, very overwhelmed by the numbers. Like, what if I screw this up? You know, maybe. Maybe you're the more retail art side of the brain. Maybe your spouse is more the science or the analytical side of the brain. You don't have to have both, but, you know, you have to know how to figure out how to use both and to surround yourself with people who understand that they are strong where you might be weak. Right? You got to know enough to be dangerous and then surround yourself by those right people. So I think it's important in business, both financially, to know, okay, where am I strong with my art side and who can help me financially with the analytical side. But also, I would say as a leader, you have to have somebody who comes in and supports you. Right brain, left brain. So if you've read the book Traction, or if you read the book Rocket Fuel, you've heard Gino Wickman talk about this relationship between the visionary of the company, which is usually you, the owner, the founder, the CEO. That's me. I'm the idea person. I am Squirrel. I have all kinds of ideas, but I really suck at tying up all the loose ends. And I know that I need somebody to be my right hand to sweep up the mess and the tornado that I'm leaving wherever I go. And for almost 10 years, that's been Beth on our team. Beth has been our integrator and. And really my right hand for a long time. And my friend Jesse Jarvis has been my right hand for a long time. These two women have helped me to support my wild squirrels. But to say, okay, here's how we can put all the pieces into place. Here's the potential implications of these things that we're trying to do and how we can mitigate them long term. So I encourage you, if that's not somebody on your team, if you're a solopreneur and you haven't hired someone yet, find someone who can be your sounding board so that you can be the visionary, but you have an integrator for me. When Beth first started, she started. I love this story. Beth first started as our babysitter. Isn't this wild? We had just moved to Wisconsin. We had just had Jade, just was pregnant with Jade, our youngest. And Beth was our babysitter. And she was awesome. Super detail oriented, super organized, very trustworthy. And I was like, hey, Beth, okay, besides watching our kids, do you think you could help me, like, fill in these spreadsheets or answer these emails or just, like, do these little tasks? And she was like, yeah, for sure. And she handled all of them. And then she took over running our cookbooks and just doing all the, like, secretarial type work at the Hub, because as you start to grow, you have a lot of that just junk, right? And it grew and it grew and it grew and she took on more and more and more. And she knew every aspect of the boutique hub from the inside out. Today, Beth is our coo. She's our integrator. She is like our right hand and knows every aspect of our industry. And, man, our business would not be the same without her. So I encourage you, find a Beth, find an integrator, find somebody who can be your running partner and help keep you on track. Because when you're a squirrel and you're a visionary, maybe five out of ten ideas are good. Maybe it's four and maybe it's three. And so you have to be okay with like seven of your ideas out of ten sucking and not working and someone telling you that so that you can find the three that do that. You can run with them. So use the retail art side of your brain and use the retail science side of the brain. Find someone who can help you and fill in the gap where you are not as strong. Okay, tip number five. Oh, my gosh, this is a big one. What got you here may not get you there. This, like, maybe a year ago, two years ago hit me like a ton of bricks. What got you here may not get you there. That might be strategies, it might be a vendor, it might be people on your team. It might be people in your inner circle and in your family. It could be any multitude of things. But a lot of times we rely on, well, this is how it's always been done. Or, this is what I'm comfortable with. Or, but this is who's on my team now, so how do I make this work for them? But you have to be comfortable being a little uncomfortable and being nimble enough to change, and that sucks, man. That's hard. I've had that with staff, where we've let staff go. Yes, they've been with us for a long time and they've done these things. But this not going to get us where we want to go. Right. It's no longer a great fit. And those conversations are so hard. So I just give you guys grace to think about. What got you here may not get you there. And I pray for your courage to address those things as they arise. Because the longer you're in business, those things will arise. So what got you here will not get you there. Failure is not ever an option. It's only reinvention. So don't be scared of taking a risk and potentially failing at something. Because it's only reinvention when you start to look at what is going to get you there. Tip number six. This is specific for retail. Tip number six. If you want to be a successful retailer, E commerce store, brick and mortar, home and gift, children's apparel, doesn't matter. You have to have awesome wholesale partners. It's not wholesale vendors. It's not the people you buy from and you're their customer and they treat you like you're on a silver platter, but it's a partner. The best retailers that I have seen really grow in scale over the years have super solid relationships with their vendors. Like their friends. They've built trust. They know what's good for one has to be good for the other. I'm gonna say this and I hope like just take this with a grain of salt sometimes. Over the years I've seen boutique owners come in to the Hub and complain about their customers like, oh man, I hate when customers do this. But then I've seen the same boutique owner go into a wholesale group or go to a wholesale vendor and treat them the same way that they were just complaining about their customer. So I think like the golden rule has to always apply. Treat people how you want to be treated. And that goes for wholesale partners as well. There are some amazing wholesale partners who I feel so blessed and so lucky to call friends who have been here for 10 years of the Hub. And I know that they are so excited to be a partner with an awesome boutique owner like you that they really want to grow with long term. So to me, buying online, filling your store with online marketplaces like Hubventory, that's awesome and you should definitely do that. But I don't think we can ever replace the value of going to an in person market like Atlanta or Dallas or Vegas or Nashville, because that's where you actually meet the vendors. That's where the relationships are forged. Go out to dinner with them, take them to lunch, buy them a Coke, bring them a coffee. They're in their booth all day long. They never get out. They very seldom get a break. They're exhausted. They've been on their feet all day long. Like go love on them a little bit and they will in turn love on you for a really long time. So let's build better partnerships in our industry. I think that's going to make a huge difference long term. For Every single person here. Okay? Tip number seven. Don't get caught up in what other people are doing. Don't get caught up in what other people are doing. This, man, I've had this. I've had this a lot. I know many of you have had this. But when we look at what's really happening on Instagram, let's say, and we're like, oh, my gosh, so and so just posted this screenshot. She's making so much money. I saw her Shopify account. Right. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a broke millionaire. That sounds weird, right? A broke millionaire, but that's true. I've seen boutique owners get in and brag about, I made 6 million, I made 7 million this year. But really, there was a foreclosure on their buildings, and it went through their hometown newspaper, and they actually had to lay everyone off on their staff. Unfortunately, like, there's a lot of that that happens, and I think that social media really fuels that. We feel like we have to be as big as so and so we have to, oh, they built a 20,000 square foot warehouse. I need to build 30,000 square foot warehouse. Like, there's no race. There's only a race to the bottom, frankly. And bigger is not better. Better is better. So I encourage you. What is the business that you want to build? How much time do you want to put into this? How big do you want your team to be? Right? New levels, new devils. Is that what they say? And lean into that. You don't have to run the race and compete with anyone. And you can't ever out facade anyone on social media because everyone has pat. But when you're genuinely happy and you're genuinely content and you can genuinely, like, show up humbly and graciously with an open heart and be real about who you are and be excited about where you're going, that's contagious. But being stressed out for you to keep up with the facade, man, that's also contagious. Eric always says he's like, desperation is a stinky cologne. Like, we can smell it a mile away. Right? Nobody wants that. And keeping up with the Joneses leads to a lot of desperation. So I encourage you, take a step back, be grateful for where you're at, set a point on where you want to go, and make sure it's a life that you really want to live. I think that's been one of the blessings post pandemic that we've all walked through is I've seen a lot of Boutique owners say, you know what? That was not sustainable. I want to go here instead. And maybe they've closed down brick and mortar, so maybe they've downsized their online and downsized their team and just gotten really good at being efficient, and they're so much happier. So I encourage you and ask you to just give yourself grace as you start to uncover how you really want to live and go for that goal with the end in mind. All right, tip number eight. Don't be the bottleneck of your business. I have been the bottleneck of this business pretty much every day of my life, if I'm being honest. The team's like, oh, waiting on Ashley. If you ever watch the movie eight seconds, and they're, like, waiting on Lane, that's how I feel. They're pretty much waiting on Lane pretty much all the time. So that sucks. I've had to learn so many systems and processes to get myself out of that. And if you've been through boot camp, you've heard me talk about the four part to do list and being a CEO versus being an entrepreneur and thinking bigger. But having an unemotional set of eyes help rein you in and get you there. At the end of the day, I guess it's this. You've got to be willing to ask for help, and you can't do it all alone. Like, I know it sounds great to be a solopreneur, and if you are one and you're a little intimidated by hiring, I get it. It feels like a big step. But really, for you to build this business and for you to really have the life that you want to live, it's going to require some help. So don't shy away from that. It's okay to build a team. I tell you what, at the Hub, we're like, we have applications. We have people email us literally, like, every week. Are you hiring? Are you hiring? Are you hiring? Your team looks awesome. And that's because our team is awesome. Like, we have the most. Like, we're so blessed. We just have the best team at the Hub. But I believe that comes from we're all in on the mission. We are all in on our company's values. Right? We operate the same way. We are all in on where we're going. We know the numbers, we know the goals, we know the rocks. Like, we're all pulling in the same direction, and we're committed to having a ton of fun while we do it. And that makes such a huge difference. Like, our team culture, yes, it ebbs and Flows. No, not everyone's happy all the time. Like, I'm dumb and I do things that make people mad. I know that, right? Like, gotta have grace. It's hard to build a team, it's hard to lead a team, but it's so important to have a team. So even if that's really, like, tough for you, if you're intimidated by it, I'll tell you, when I first built a team, I was super intimidated and felt like, oh my gosh, one of these days these guys are going to figure out I don't know what I'm doing. They're going to look at me like a fraud. They're going to look at me like a failure because I have no frickin clue how to really lead them the way that they need to be led. So give yourself grace for that process too, in the journey to understanding what it's like to lead a team. Because otherwise you will be the bottleneck of the business. So be the CEO. Build a team. We cannot just focus on the money alone. We have to focus on creating more time. And we can only create more time when we have a team to help us get there. That's how we become the CEO of the business and not the bottleneck. All right, tip number nine, your family. If you have a family, relationships, friends, your family's got to come first. Figure out how to set a boundary for me. Several years ago, maybe like 2019, I'll say I was getting ready to go to Las Vegas for the nfr and it was the night before. I've got three small kids, you know, it was the night before I leave. Eric and I were flying out the next morning. Of course, I was packing last minute and I was down in my office scheduling out content and answering emails, just trying to wrap up things so I could get on the plane the next morning. And we had just had supper, I sent the kids up to bed and I was like, hey guys, I'll be up in a minute to tuck you in. Just like, go brush your teeth, Go get started. And at that point, we were living in this house that had a loft. And pretty soon I'm working on my computer and I can hear one of them come over the edge of the loft and they're like, mom, are you coming? And I'm like, yeah, I'll be there in a minute. Go brush your teeth. I go, go back to working. And pretty soon they come over the loft again. Mom, are you coming? Like, I'm waiting for you. Come tuck me in. And I'm like, yeah, I'll be there in just like, just one more email, just one more. And I go back to work and like an idiot, I keep working until I hear these little footsteps coming across our kitchen floor. And here comes Jade. And Jade's dragging her blankie and she peeks her head in my door, which is a spare bedroom of our house. And she looks at me with these big, big brown baby eyes and she's like, mom, you're always working. And she comes in and climbs up on my lap and snuggles in with her blankie. And I just slammed my computer shut like, oh, what did I just do? I felt so guilty, you know, like the mom guilt is so real. And I went and took Jade to bed and tucked the kids in and all the things. Two of them were already asleep that night. And Eric and I got on the airplane ride the next morning and mutually said, we cannot do this anymore. We cannot live like this. We have to set boundaries. And our word of the year was December at that time. So we were doing all of our end of year stuff and our word of the year became maximize. We have to maximize this. We have to maximize our time. We have to maximize systems, processes, organizations, set boundaries. We cannot live like this. And that changed everything for us from then on. It didn't. Wasn't an overnight thing, let me tell you. It's never perfect, but for us at least, like, putting the family first means I have a hard stop at work at 5 o'. Clock. Now granted, there's times when I'm in a busy season and I might work till five, take my time, be with the family, do dinner, and I might pick up work again when they're sleeping, but it's not very often. I have learned how to jam everything I need to into my working hours so that I don't miss a basketball game, so that I don't miss school. Drop off in the morning, Eric does pick up so that I don't miss those really important moments and especially just dinner together as a family. Because now, I mean, we've got kids in middle school and like time is flying. We have five years left as a family and our kids are gone. And I'm watching Sarah Burks go through this right now like her girls are graduating and I'm like, holy buckets, that goes fast. I don't want to miss anything and I don't want you to miss anything. So how can you set a boundary as a CEO so that you can be present? That is like the most important lesson that I feel like I've learned here at the Hub, and I really want it for you, too, because it's so valuable. The work will always be there. You can always be busy. You can grow the business later, Right? But your family isn't always there. So maybe you don't have a family and this doesn't apply to you, but if you do, I just want you to be able to put them first. And so let's get you some systems and processes in order to do that. All right, Last one. Tip number 10 is invest and diversify your revenue. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. One of the coolest parts of this journey at the Hub, to be totally frank with you, is we're so blessed. We're so blessed. We have no idea how blessed we are that we have a business that took off. Right? I can tell you, like, it's rare. And I'm so thankful for Eric and his side of how we run the boutique Hub. He's our cfo. He's so good about. Okay, Ashley, like, how do we make this sustainable? Like, it's not just about members at the Hub, but, like, what are other revenue streams outside of the Hub that can make the Hub even stronger? Eric's really good at real estate and investing and just being really creative with different financial models. He helped us find our dream property that was a place that we could live, right? This beautiful house, but it had a barn on it. We have horses. Shocker. Perfect. It had an indoor arena, but ironically, the indoor arena had office space in it, and it had a warehouse space in it. It had all these things that we needed. So for us, it's perfect because then the boutique hub can rent this property from our personal LLCs. We can also run our hunting business out of this property. And there's all kinds of wild tax efficiencies, right? And there's different revenue streams that we can build off of the property and the hunting and all these other things that really come back to building a life that we love and hobbies we love at the same time of building this business that we love. So I say that to tell you your business is not just about the products you sell, but I want you to start thinking bigger. It's about the real estate that you have. It's about owning the building that you're in so you can lease it back to yourself, and you have multiple LLCs and you can create tax efficiencies there. It's about you being an ambassador for other brands. It's. If you're going to invest time building 70,000 Instagram followers. Do not just monetize that by selling your own products, sell something else. Build a lifestyle brand, right? If you are a great cook and you're also a great boutique owner, build a recipe book. Like do something to monetize what you're good at so you can build another revenue stream because you want to build this business that is long term, not just the boutique alone. And that's how I look at the Hub. Like, yes, this is the hub, but I'm building all these other things that are beneficial long term. Here's why I love that. This is really important to me. We are huge believers in our family. And maybe you guys already know this, but this is a Christian company and Eric and I just strongly believe in tithing. And so whatever we build at the hub and whatever we build in whatever other companies we create, how can we give that back to other people and make impacts? So every year we try to find one charity or a family or like one cause where we're not just divvying up like little bits to different places. Like we do that, you know, here's money here, there, whatever, like little things for tithing. But how can we go all in on one really big thing, like one big deal? So we've done huge donations for fighting human trafficking. If you've heard of Operation Underground Railroad, family clinics, faith based organizations, families that we know of, in need, cancer research, Alzheimer's research, like things that are near and dear to us. Adoption, that's been a huge piece. We've always had that on our heart because we've had friends that have gone through the adoption journey, good and bad, right? These things, like, how can we build these businesses so that yes, it's whatever we need is fine, but it's how can we give back to other people? How can we make this way bigger and way longer lasting for generations beyond us? That's the point. And I hope that you have that same opportunity because it's amazing to know that money in your business is a mirror who you are. When I first started the Hub, I was so scared of money. Because I was always told growing up, money is the root of all evil. And easier is it for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of, or a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. All these things. And I really had to unlearn a few things to relearn that. Money is a mirror, it's amoral, it's a brick. You can Take this brick. You can use it to build a beautiful cathedral. You can. Or you can take this brick and smash the windows of that cathedral. But it is a mirror of your character. And so for you and your business, like, it's easy to get stuck in the numbers and go, oh, my gosh, I need this money to survive. But when you can flip the script for yourself and say, my purpose is bigger than my profits and you're all in on your purpose to serve, like servant leadership's big for me. If you're all in to serve and you're all into what your purpose and your mission are, the profits will follow. You will find ways to build more profits so that you can do big things in this world. So that is a huge why for me, and I hope it's a huge why for you. And if there's ever anything I can do to help you guys along that journey, I'm really excited about it because I think that's an awesome lesson that we all are going to get to learn together. All right, man, you guys, that was a long episode. Thanks for bearing with me, but those are 10 big lessons over 10 years that I hope resonate with you as well. So as we kick off our 10th anniversary, you guys, for this month, we have a couple awesome things that are happening. For the next several podcast episodes, I'm going to be interviewing some of my friends in the industry who have also been celebrating 10 year anniversaries. This year you're going to get to hear from some amazing boutique owners like Leslie hall from the Zigzag Stripe and so many more who also have lessons from 10 years in business. You're also going to see some awesome stuff across social media. This month we have a huge giveaway happening. Please go to our Facebook or to our Instagram so that you can enter this giveaway. To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, we're going to be giving away $1,000 shopping spree on Hubventory, Free membership for life to the Boutique Hub, a VIP package to the Boutique Summit, a VIP Retail Bootcamp package, a VIP Boutique Boss Planner package, and there are 10 brands on Hubventory that are all joining up to give you a huge giveaway on Hubventory as well. So these 10 brands are each giving away a hundred dollars in wholesale credit. And that's Headbands of Hope, Pure Love Essences Yoga Designs Lab, Jess Lee Wholesale Mixology, My Girl in la, Pretty Simple Nash Gray west and Company and Bella and Bear. So if you would love to win some credit to these awesome brands on Hubventory that is also available. Biggest giveaway we've ever done. I could tell you that. So check out our socials so that you guys can go ahead and get entered in the giveaway. All right, I've got to end this sucker. I don't want to. I just want to tell you thank you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being here, you guys. You have absolutely changed my life by just being a part of this movement and this community here at the Hub. There's not enough words inside of me to sincerely express my gratitude for how you guys have changed my life and how you've changed my family's life. So thank you for 10 awesome years. And I cannot wait to see where the next 10 years are going to go together as well. Thanks for being here, you guys. Hey guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope that you loved it. Don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a rating and review down below for a chance to be one of our featured listeners each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and how to access complete show notes and bonus downloads from our guests, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.