#607 Transitioning in Retail: Lessons Learned and Exit Strategies

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Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat, where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, e commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. 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 this is a special treat because this is not just the first time around, this is the second time around for this podcast. Megan, I'm so glad that you're here today.

I'm so excited to be here for the second time.

Okay, we've got to tell everyone what happened with the first time. So I'll start, but then you finish the story because this is so good. So this is like God's journey, right? Of timing. I had interviewed you last year in the fall to be on the podcast and we were talking about how to run a boutique out of your home. So if you guys have questions on how to run a boutique out of your home, Megan's your girl, she can give you all the answers. But I'm going to show you the details of that for now because you decided shortly after we recorded the podcast, we hadn't aired it yet, that your life was taking a completely different turn. So tell me about that journey of how you landed your boutique in your home and then what happened next?

So it's crazy. 2023 in general was just the biggest transition year for me, business wise and honestly, probably life wise. I spent the entire year on my knees in prayer and just like, God, what is it you want to do with me? I was in my warehouse, like my third warehouse. You know, we had moved so many times. We had storefronts, we had warehouses, and. And I just kept having this tug and God's like, you know, we need to completely downsize this whole thing. You are missing not only so much of your children's lives by being go, go, go, go, go all the time at this warehouse and never taking a beat. But I just feel like, you know, he was telling me, this is time to slow your roll, slow your roll, pull it back, rein it in. And so I made the decision at the end of summer to not renew my lease and, and go through the end of it, which was the end of September, and to move my boutique back home, which my boutique had been home at the very beginning. So I had dipped my toes in Those waters before I had moved out to my first storefront, but it had been about five years. So I had to completely change every single thing about how I was operating my business. Because we went from this huge warehouse to probably about close to three or 400 square feet period. So I went from like 190 some bins to 18 and two hanging racks. And I'm looking at them now because I haven't gotten rid of them husky bins and my ring light and a desk. So we went from a lot to a little. And I wanted it that way. I felt like God was telling me that. But it was, it was a huge, huge change. And while we were changing everything, we were, we were changing how we were operating, we were changing how we were doing live sales. We were changing obviously inventory because if you downsize like that, you can't carry a bunch of inventory. So we did a lot of drop shipping in the end and then just pulled on hand, maybe five to ten on hand styles a week. And when they were in, they were in and they had to get right out. If they didn't go out, we had to figure out how to get them out because we didn't have the room. But at the end of the day, October, so I'd only been in my house again for like a month. I was like, you know, I just, I kept having this feeling and I, I kept telling myself I was insane because I just made this move and I just had all this stuff set up and I'm like, I'm not, I'm not closing. That's, that's crazy. Like I'm not going to close my business. You know, when you're a boutique owner, your business becomes your baby. I mean, it's your child. You have nursed it, you've grown it. It's this beautiful thing and you love it. And I held onto my boutique like an idol for far too long. For far too long. Because I loved it so much. And I built something so beautiful and in the most non brag worthy way I know I changed a lot of lives. And so I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that God would want me to close something like that. And at the end of November, I can tell you the exact moment that I knew God told me, you're closing and this is the end. We had just gotten off a live sale and we had been struggling just to really get in our mojo. And I think that that was on purpose. I think God was purposefully causing that struggle so that I could Open my eyes and see exactly what it was that he was saying. And we got off this live sale. I think it was my Pink Friday live sale. And it was a huge flop. Huge flop. And I sat there, and I wasn't mad. I wasn't frustrated like I normally would have been. I heard clear as day, megan, that was your last live sale. This is the end. I don't want you to do this anymore. And I just. I really. I truly sat in this chair, and I just sat quiet for, like, two hours, just kind of looking around the room like, is this truly what you're saying, or am I just mad? Like, am I. Am I mad? Like, am I frustrated? And I'm telling myself to close right now, and. And I. A river of peace just flooded my body. And he's like, no, no, this is it. And I think it was maybe a week after I interviewed with you, the first time for the podcast, maybe. So I started putting everything into motion that night, and I told my husband, and he said, honey, you've been. You've been having these feelings, and I know that you don't want to recognize that you've been having these feelings and these, like, God winks, but you have. And I knew this was coming, and it's okay. And so I put everything to motion, and I thought, well, what can I do? You know, I have all these skills. I have all these things that I've, you know, gathered over the years as a boutique owner. And I'm so knowledgeable in so many things. What can I do to further that and help other people? And so I kind of dabbled in opening my own consulting business, like social media consulting and things like that. And I had a few clients, and I was doing fine with that until I had this tap on my shoulder again from God, and he's like, hey, you don't want to run a small business anymore. Like, you're tired, sis. You're tired. You've been doing this for a long time, and you're tired. And I'm like, okay, well, then what do I do? What do I do? I have all these skills, but I don't know what to do with them. So I started interviewing for some social media agencies and some different places. And then I saw the post for the boutique hub, having a job position open, and actually, one of my clients at the time had sent me the position. She's like, you would be so good in the Hub. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, I would love this. I would love to work for the hub. And I sat there and I just tossed it around because I had kind of started this company and I didn't really know. Like, do I continue that? Do I. It's going fine. Like, do I keep going with that or do I take this jump and work for some. Somebody else? And I've not done that in, like, my entire adult life. Obviously I did. And I'm employed with the Boutique Hub now. Amazing. It's been absolutely amazing. So that was a long winded explanation as to why we have two interviews for the podcast. That's right.

That's right. We couldn't. It wouldn't make sense to air the first one. So we're coming back around the second time and redoing this whole deal. But I just. I love. Let me back up. First of all, let me say this. When that position opened and I had just recently talked to you and I knew you were kind of going through this journey, shortly after that, I immediately thought of you, like, wow, someone who's been a part of our community for so long and has been such a light and you're such a giver, like, it's just who you are by nature. I thought, man, she would be so good at this. And so I am overjoyed. Our whole team is overjoyed that you're on the team and you're absolutely shining in your position. And I hope that everybody who's on the other side that's listening if you're a part of the hub. And I just want you to know, like, there's people like Megan and Megan on this team who have a huge heart who are ready to just, like, you know, they've been in your shoes and they're ready to help. So, like, what a blessing for us. We're so lucky. But I want to keep unpacking this conversation with you because there's a lot of mental gymnastics that goes into making the decision you made, and there's a lot of fear around that decision. And so for those of you listening, this is going to be a complete 180 of what you normally hear us talk about, which is how to go and how to grow and how to succeed. But we also have to have a realistic conversation of, you know what, Sometimes it's not right to do that. Sometimes you have to admit, like, this isn't right for me and overcome this fear of failure. And I love what you said about I made my boutique an idol. And I think that's really common as a small business owner, especially as a woman. I think we just, like, put so much of our heart and soul and pride into what we do. So how do you separate yourself from the boutique being the idol? How do you separate your existence from the boutique and say, this is me, the boutique is this thing over here, and it's okay if we decide to part ways because I am worthy and I have value in who I inherently am, and I have so many other options. And closing does not mean failure. Closing means there's just a new opportunity that's waiting for me. Talk to me about, like, that mental process and, and what you would have wished or what you wish you would have known now that you know you could have held on to then that would have helped you go through it.

Oh, my gosh. This is like gold. I wish this podcast existed when I was going through this and I had this advice from myself in the future. Yeah, man. One of the biggest things I struggled with in closing is that my identity was connected to my boutique. Yeah. Who. Who was Megan without my boutique? Who. Who am I? I mean, this was what I had done for five years. I was cl. I was the identity of clothing and styling people and giving and pouring into these women's lives. And I kept having these thoughts like, I literally wake up, eat, breathe, sleep, my business. And if I'm not doing that, what do I do? Like, how do I operate? How do I wake up and not get on my phone and check notifications and see if I have emails and communicate with customers? It just. I couldn't make logical sense of it. And I also actually see this a lot when I see members posting about the potential of closing. And they're like, but how do I do that? Because, like, I am my boutique and if I close, I close myself. Like, myself is gone. I can tell you with 100% certainty because I am on the outside of it now. That's not the case. You. You relearn how to operate as a person. And I honestly am a much better version of myself now with the peace that I have and the closure that I have than I was when I was go, go, go going and trying to be my boutique all the time and be something for everyone all of the time. And there's. There's a level of balance that I think a lot of boutique owners just don't have, because we run it all. We're usually a one woman show, and we do all of the things and you get into this groove that you never get out of, and then the idea of getting out of it is terrifying. You're Scared to death. Like, if I get out of that, who am I? I can tell you. You are still a person, and you still value and you still have so much to offer to this world. And you can't let fear keep you from finding something new and from finding a new path and opening a new door. And closing that door doesn't mean that everything you've built was just this, you know, wipe your hands. Well, that failed. You know, that was no good. You've had. You build a business from the ground up. You transformed women's lives and hearts, and you've done so many things with that business. It doesn't mean you failed. If you have to close that chapter, it's just. It's just the path that you're on. And that's okay. That's all right. And I don't think a lot of boutique owners hear that enough.

Yeah, I think that's so true. I think that's like you said, step one is just recognizing you are a human being with all inherent value and worth and potential outside of the business. Outside of the business. That does not define who you are. Talk to me about. So you. There's the mental gymnastics side of this, but then there's the okay, now putting the plan into action side of this. So how. What was the next step for you when you were like, okay, it's time. Walk me through the announcements and what you did with your inventory and what were the next steps?

I jumped into it headfirst. And I'm that type of person. If I make a decision, I'm. I'm doing it. I'm not going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs.

We're.

We're going. We're getting this thing done. Honestly, if I could have, I would have closed the following day just because I knew I am. God says, this is the end. It's like, okay, we're done. We're going to move on. Obviously, you can't do that. You've got responsibilities to your customers. You've got responsibilities to your vendors. You've got a lot to cover before you can close your doors. My first thought process was every single on hand item I have needs to get gone. We need to get this out of here. We gotta. We gotta liquidate without saying we're liquidating. I think that's very important. You do not want to tell them you're closing until you are, like, closing, because first of all, they're going to wait on a sale. They know you're going to get rid of it. And they're going to wait until it's marked down to like 2 bucks because they know you're going to be desperate to push it. So I did not say anything at first. We just did a very important yes, you need to be. It's not that you're lying to them, but you're, you're being, you're having discretion yourself. And so we started doing winter blowout sales and we just, you can disguise it as whatever you need to, you know, spring forward sales or whatever you gotta do. And we did some live sales and we pushed and pushed and then we did threads in our Facebook group and we pushed and we pushed. And thankfully for me, I had downsized so much, which was clearly in God's plan here. I had already done a lot of pushing out, so I didn't have as much at that very end stage as a lot of people probably would.

Yeah.

So it didn't take me that long to clear it. Once I felt good about that and like everything had been pushed out, I made sure to go through all of my open purchase orders.

Yep.

And I contacted everyone and I said, you know, this is what's going on. Because first of all, we have to remember that our brands are companies too. Amen.

Yes, I know.

It's easy to forget that, like, they serve our company and we just don't think about it. Yeah. But they cut items based on orders we place, so we do own a responsibility to them. So you do have to say, like, hey, I know, like, I'm probably causing an issue on your end and I apologize for that. You want to keep those good relationships. You never know, you might open again. You, you don't know what your future holds. You don't want to close your business and cut ties with people and cause burned relationships. Like, look at me, I'm now working at the Hub with a lot of these brands that I canceled orders with. Can you imagine what they would think of me if I just cut them off? So you have to think about those things. So I contacted, contacted every single brand, canceled all of my purchase orders, made sure everything was kind of ducks lined in a row as far as that went. And then I started going into legalities legally. What do I need to offer these people legally regarding, like gift cards? And that's a huge thing that people kind of forget about. Technically, it depends on your state. Just FYI, my state there, it wasn't really black and white, it was kind of gray. So I felt morally I needed to offer them at least 45 days to use their gift cards. So I made sure to have that within my closing announcement. And I made sure to email multiple times and resend gift cards multiple times and make sure that that was taken care of. Because that's the last thing I wanted is somebody to have purchased a gift card and feel like we screwed them over. And I continued personally to release new arrivals from my dropshipper until the very end. Because you're offering those gift cards.

Yeah.

Website. There ain't nobody to buy.

Give them something.

You gotta go to something. So legally I would just make sure to look into that also if you are wanting to sell your business. I did go down that path briefly. Briefly. That's tricky because when you're a boutique owner, 90% of the time you're the face of your business. So 90% of the time people are shopping with you because you're you, which is wonderful while you're in business. But it's, it's kind of a double edged sword if you want to sell. So I struggled with that. I struggled with the idea of selling my customer base, which is basically what you're doing in a sale like that. Because they trusted me and they put their trust and I built friendships and relationships and I didn't feel right handing that off to somebody that I didn't know. So I ultimately decided not to sell. But that is an option and you have so many different options regarding that. You can sell your business, you can sell just your socials. There's so many things you can think about to try to recoup some money at the end. Especially if you have any business debt. That's also an option. But yeah, that was kind of the process I went through until I announced our closure and I had given them that 45 day notice to use their gift cards. So yeah, perfect.

I'm assuming you had some inventory then that was kind of like stragglers at the end. Tell me about that. I'm sure like inventory exchange, any kind of d stashes. Like how did you move some of that? Hard to move inventory.

Inventory exchange was like the best thing ever. When I was saying I got rid of a lot of those little stragglers on the inventory exchange and then the. It was between the inventory exchange and doing threads and their destashing and then also destashing in my own customer group. And at the very end you just want it gone. Like you don't really care how much you're making. It's just, it's sitting in your home. You don't want that there. So I was, I was selling it pretty, pretty cheap. A lot of it was below wholesale, but I only had like 20 items left, you know, so it wasn't, I wasn't giving away the farm. But make sure you try everything possible before you get to that stage. You want to try to recoup as much as you possibly, possibly can.

Have you decided to attend the Boutique Summit yet? You guys, this is our industry's biggest business conference and in person gathering for you to learn from all of the top industry experts, top retailers in home and gift, top retailers in e commerce stores in apparel, and all kinds of industry experts. I hope you join us June 9th and 10th in Dallas, Texas for the Boutique Summit. Plus, you guys, John Acoff, he is our keynote speaker this year and he's one of my all time favorite authors and he's going to be doing deep dives on leadership just for you. You guys, I want to get you something special. So Here is a $50 off per ticket at checkout coupon that you can use just for listening to the podcast. Use summitcast at checkout when you're purchasing a ticket to the Boutique summit and get $50 off per ticket. I've got those links linked up to you in the show notes, so let me know if you've got any questions. But I can't wait to see you. And at this year's boutique summit June 9th and 10th in Dallas, Texas. Yeah. Amen. Okay, so then after mental gymnastics, after those step by steps, now it's like, what am I going to do next? And I think that there's one part of this industry that we sometimes forget is yes, you can be a business owner and be in this industry, but there's all kinds of amazing businesses in this industry that you could go work for. So you started to, I know you interviewed a few different places. Talk to me about that and the discovery of like what careers were opportunities in this industry.

Yeah, well, social media was like the forefront of my mind. I have done short form content for I think 2021 was when our business kind of started taking off on TikTok and Reels. And I've learned that I love social media. Like I love studying the algorithm, mostly regarding video. I love that kind of aspect of it and kind of breaking it. Like I like to see if I can get across the other side and go viral or whatever. Like, it's fun to me. And so I'm like, I'm good at this. Like I, I do well with this. This is something that I'm successful in So I started interviewing for a few social media agencies and then I also interviewed to do some virtual assistants, actually with a Hub provider. She was amazing. I loved her so much, I almost accepted a job. And then I'm like, I just don't think this is it. I don't think this is where I'm supposed to be. So I kind of cycled back and like, literally a week later, interviewed at the Hub. So it's. It's finding those little things in your business you love. It's finding those things that you were like, this isn't a job part to me. Like, for me, I hated numbers. So if you were like, hey, you want to go be an accountant? I would be like 1,000%. No, there's no way. Couldn't give me enough money. But the social media side really engaged me. And I know each of us have a section in our business that we excel in, otherwise we wouldn't do this.

Right.

So finding those little niche areas and really running with it, because if you needed that in your business, some other boutique owner needs it in their business and there is absolutely a way that you can bring value to them without having to own your own boutique.

Yeah, absolutely. So fast forward, we. We snatched you up. We were so lucky to snatch you up. And so you come to the boutique hub and I'm just so curious. You've been a member for a long time, so you've been in the hub groups forever. And now all of a sudden, like, talk me through day one on Slack with our team. We add you to everything. You're getting interviewed. Beth is onboarding you. What is your first impression when you come to the other side on the Hub?

My first impression was that I was really nervous. I just didn't want. First of all, I was nervous because this was like my first job outside of being a boutique owner. I had my kids and I stayed home and then I opened my business. So, like, having a job like, working for someone else, that's nerve wracking. I didn't know, like, am I going to be okay with that? Like, I know, like, my schedule's still very flexible for my lifestyle as a mom, but, like, I didn't know how that was going to feel. I didn't know. I mean, I obviously knew you, I knew Sarah, but I didn't really know anyone else on the team. Like, I might have seen names in the groups, but I didn't know them on, like, a personal level. Like, I would have considered you and Ash or you and Sarah. So I was anxious but the first call I hopped on that day was with Scarlett and Marissa. Literally 10 seconds into the call, I felt like, it's fine, it's fine. They joked with me and we laughed and we really like meshed immediately. And I feel like you can always tell, like if the vibe flows, it's just going to flow and you don't have to force anything. And that was from literally 10 seconds into my first day on the job. It was like that. So I was surprised, honestly, how easy it was because I think I built up this anxiety of like, how am I going to do something so different? And God, just really allowed it to flow perfectly. And see, like, see, I told you I was doing something. You just stop being so stubborn and.

Close your boutique and do it.

And so it was. That was my biggest shock when I first onboarded.

That's so cool. You know what's so funny? I would think like most businesses when they bring in someone new, they're like, okay, we have to make sure that she meets these people first and not these people first. But truthfully, on our team, you could meet anyone on our team literally and immediately have that same sensation. Like, does it. I don't even think about it. Like anyone on our team would make you feel that way because our team is so incredible. I'm so grateful for them. What other misconceptions do you think you had? Like, talk to me from like member side or boutique, like boutique owner side misconceptions you maybe had about the hub that all of a sudden you got into it and you were like, wait, this is totally different than what I thought it would be.

I can tell you exactly like the first thing on the top of my head. So as on the member side, when you are in the groups or you're just living your day to day life and you frustrated about something and you go and vent about it and you don't think much about it. You don't think certain comments you make are possibly criticizing somebody's work or you're frustrated with a certain thing that like might be happening in the boutique world or maybe like the hub had their hand in and so you vent those frustrations and the last thought on your mind is like, you know, I could be hurting somebody's feelings that's, that's doing their job on the hub team. Or that like you don't recognize the work that actually has gone into something you're venting about. That was the first thing I realized is, you know, I was actually really curious too to see how that Worked out. Once I joined the team, I was like, you know, do they read the complaints form, monitor these Facebook groups? And I can say with 100% they do. I actually. I actually do it. Like, it's part of my job now. And it's not. It's not fun, I can tell you. Like, we do don't enjoy seeing complaints come in, and we don't enjoy having to, like, remove posts in the group or being like the Debbie Downer who sees something and we're like, well, you know, have to delete that or whatever. That's not our goal. You know, on the. On the Hub side, our goal isn't to frustrate people more or to remove a post and, like, make them feel bad about something. It's genuinely like, you have to think of it as your boutique. Like, think about if your boutique group was open, which it is. It's open to your customers. And think about if they all went in there and they started talking about how much you suck or how much you're doing something wrong. And, I mean, I know it would break your heart. And I never thought of it that way when I was a member, I never thought of it that way. I was like, this is making me mad. And so da, da, da, da, da. But now I see it on a totally different level. And it's just. I see how hard our team works every single day. I can get on literally at 7pm at night, like on our Slack channel, and see somebody working. And it's not like they're overworking themselves. They genuinely care about their job and they genuinely care about our members. And I see that every single second of every single day. And so that was the most shocking thing, was, like, how much the Hub actually genuinely cares about their members and wants them to succeed.

Man, I appreciate that. And I really appreciate you bringing up those two things specifically, because I think those are the two hardest parts of the job, the complaints form, because there's. Things happen, right? And sometimes we have to remove a member because they've, you know, jacked something up.

Yeah, right.

So we do that and that sucks. And then they're mad. But sometimes we get complaints and then you go and investigate the other side of the story and you're like, oh, man, there's really two sides. And it's tricky. And you. You don't want to be the boutique police, and so it gets really muddy real fast. And same with, like, complaints. If you opened up the group for everyone just to vent all day long, you wouldn't want to be in that space very long, it'd feel real heavy. So really trying to, like, keep the vibe somewhere you want to be while also being realistic at the same time, that's a real balance. So I'm glad that you're on board because you understand that firsthand.

I do. I see it.

Yeah. What do you wish now, sitting in this seat, what do you wish boutique owners would take advantage of or take action on? Whether it's in the hub, whether it's something they pay for, or whether it's something free, I don't really care. But what is something you wish more boutique owners would do that you think would help them be successful in the seat they're at right now?

That is such a good question. I look back on my time as a boutique owner, and there were so many days where I would be frustrated with something in my business. Whatever aspect you can. You can think of. Let's just talk. Let's say inventory. I'm frustrated with my inventory. I can't figure out as much inventory as I need or how much how to supply my customers. And I would sit on that problem and just be mad about it for, like, months and just not really do anything. Like, I'd be mad and frustrated that, like, this sucks. I hate that I can't figure out a good balance. I did that with so many things, and I don't think people realize, like, the actual resources that are at their fingertips in the hub. I literally have gone through now as a team member, I have gone through every single course we have. There's so much value. There's so much value. And I see it in the groups a lot. You know, people saying, like, hey, I need help with this and that. And I think that we just don't. We're so busy. You know, boutique owners are so busy that they just don't have a time to sit down, breathe, and really look into the resources that they have. And I think it's so important. I wish I could have gone back and said, if you just, like, take a beat, like, sit down for a second, you will see that you actually already have the answer. You just need to go look for it. And that is so valuable. I think that we shoot ourselves in the foot when we don't stop for a second. We don't stop and think and pause the chaos and really pull in the reins and see exactly what it is that could provide value without us running in a circle, chasing our tail like a dog.

Yeah, can I piggyback on that something? I feel like I see A lot right now is because everyone is so busy and they are just running. There's just this need for instant gratification. Nobody wants to stop and take a beat. Nobody wants to figure out the answer. It has become a habit in our society and I blame social media, I blame cell phones, I blame a lot of things. But it's become a habit in our society to say, just give me the answer, I don't want to work for it. Just tell me and then I'll go on. But there's no value in that and there's no one size fits all. So this, I mean, I'm just gonna straight up call it entitlement of just tell me what to do, you know, and I'm not gonna put any effort or thought into it. Beyond that is really frustrating. And it's not gonna lead to success in anyone's business. You have to be willing to set a boundary and say, okay, when is my time to go dig in and figure this out? When have I created that space for myself? Because it's gonna, that's what's beneficial is me going through the process of learning this thing. And the resources are all there. We just have to choose to use them. So soapbox. It's like going to the gym and hoping to get skinny and hoping to get fit, but not doing a damn push up. Yep, gotta do the push up.

Agree, completely agree. The learning is literally in the journey. It's, it's in the process of it all. And if you're handed the answer, you're not gonna remember it in a year.

Right?

Exactly.

Yeah, yeah. So let's flip the script on this. So, so that's what you wish more people would take action on. Let's talk about those who you see that are successful, that are like things are working out for them. And keep in mind, definition of success for everyone else is, is different. For some, it's multiple millions of dollars. For some, it's a small sustainable business for their family. Define it as you choose. But those who are successful, what do you think they have in common? What does their day to day life look like and what actions are they repeatedly taking that's leading them to more success?

Oh, that's so good. Biggest thing I see is a consistency. They don't, you know, pop on a live sale and it was awful, hop off and not do another one for six months because they're so mad. They go and they show up every day and they do what they say they're going to do. And that is valuable. Your customers will recognize you showing up for them. They also are. They're plugged in. I mean, they are plugged in where they need to be plugged in for their specific business goals. And that is so important. They know where they're supposed to be. You know, if they're. Let's say their goal is Facebook ads. Maybe that's their bread and butter of their business is Facebook ads. Well, they're not gonna hop on the back end of their Facebook and pop out an ad if they don't know what they're doing. They're gonna join boutique. They're gonna do the Facebook ads masterclass. Like, they're not going to, like, pretend they know and just flow with it. They're going to do the things they have to do to reach the goals they want to reach, and they're gonna have tunnel vision. They're not going to look at Sally down the street or, you know, Maggie over here and see what everybody's doing and try to pull it into their own business. They know what's successful for them, and they follow through with that. And that is so valuable in having a successful boutique.

Yeah, I would add to that, too. I mean, like, they have to have. The tunnel vision comes from knowing what the goal is and the metric is they're chasing, and then they can chase it. It's not just like on a whim. I saw Susie in the hub said this worked, so now I'm going to try it. Yeah. Yeah. But it's. I have this goal, and what Susie said would help me achieve this goal. So then I'm going to try it. Like, I think that's the missing step is what is the goal in the metric I'm chasing right now first, and then I can do all the actions that follow that.

Yep.

All right, well, any other parting thoughts or words of advice for boutique owners that are listening no matter what stage of the game they're at?

I just want to say it's okay to be where you are. It's okay to be in your beginning stage and not have a clue what's going on around you. It's okay to be in the middle of your journey and feeling like you're in a good groove. It's okay to be super successful and wanting to continue to achieve more. There is no, you know, stage that's wrong in this journey, I think. You know, it's so easy as boutique owners to compare yourself to other people. You see what other people are doing and you want to be as good as them or you want to Be as successful, successful as them. But every single journey is so different. Like, if joining the Hub team hasn't shown me that. I talked to so many boutique owners, and I have never. Like, there's just so many different types of stores. There's so many different types of journeys and what people are doing. I also want to say, you know, obviously, here at the Hub, we want to support you. We want to find what's going to work for your business and. And go with you in it. Like, we want to see you succeed. But I also want to say on the other side of that, if you're done, if this chapter is closing, and if you feel like, torn, if you're supposed to do that or not, it's okay. It's okay. You know, you're not wrong. You're not a failure. Your business didn't crash and burn. You're allowed to close a chapter and open a new one and find success in new places. And you're not wrong for that.

Much needed. A much needed conversation to have and just, you know, as a resource for everyone who's listening. If that's you, reach out. Yeah, Megan's here. Our team's here. We can help with the growth side of things, but we can also help you make that determination of, you know, what is it? What is it time for for you? So don't be a stranger in that regard as well. Megan, you're such a light. This is so incredible. I'm so glad we got to do this again. Way better this time around. Oh, my gosh, what a. What a great conversation. I have to ask you this question before we wrap up, though. It's the ultimate question, and it's probably different than the last time I. But you're a mom, your wife, you're down the road, you know, 20, 30 years, and you're sitting on the front porch with the kids, and you're talking about this journey, being an entrepreneur, being a career woman, all these things. And as you look back, what's the thing you want your family and friends to remember most about who you are and the journey that you are on?

I want to teach my kids that it's okay to make scary decisions. It's okay to get out of your comfort zone and not stay where you are out of fear. You can't grow if you're not uncomfortable. And I want my kids to know that I was very uncomfortable, and I made a very scary decision. And I'm sure I'll make many more in my life, but I'm so much better for it on the other side. And fear shouldn't control how you decide to live your life. You've got to trust that there's going to be an answer on the other side of it and you're going to be okay. And I hope that my kids know that as they grow up that their mom did scary things and I did it for them. And I hope that they know that they can do the same thing.

Oh, that's so good. So valuable. Oh, man. Megan, thanks again for your time today. Thanks for being on our team and making this happen. And you gu reach out to Megan anytime in the groups.

Yes, please do. I would love to talk to you.

Awesome. Thanks for listening guys. I hope you took away all kinds of nuggets and new ideas from this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review. We love to hear your feedback and give you a chance to be featured on the show each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and to access guest downloads and bonuses and all the resources we talked about on the show, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.