Things I Wish I Would’ve Known Before Starting a Boutique

All right, it's time for episode number 251, a candid conversation between two boutique besties that started at the same time, that live an hour apart, but define success and their journey and their path in business in two different ways. I think you guys are gonna love this one. 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 SC 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. This is going to be a great one. You guys get ready to meet both Summer and Amanda, two boutique owners, two boutique besties. They live about an hour apart in South Dakota, but both, although they started at the same time, have a little bit different business model. Summer, who has a brick and mortar store, was a two times children's Boutique of the year award winner in the state of South Dakota and now sells women's apparel. And Amanda was also a storefront boutique of the year winner in South Dakota and twice in the top five global boutique of the year category. Now, although these women have won these national accolades, they both are going to come to you today to discuss their business, the different paths they've taken in business, and let you know why it's important to build your tribe. A tribe of 100 true followers beats a million fans any day of the week. And this candid conversation is going to bring you behind the scenes and the things they wish they would have known before they started their business. All right.

Hey, guys.

Welcome to the show. This week, you guys get a two for one. This week, my friends Amanda and Summer are both here. Two boutique owners that started about the same time, two totally different paths in business, but both from. From the boutique mecca of South Dakota. Oh, how was that set up, you guys?

So good.

Being from South Dakota.

Oh, being from South Dakota. Yeah. Oh, yeah. There's so many amazing ones here, so. Yes, definitely. Perfect.

Well, you guys, I'm excited because you guys, we were chatting, I guess, before we started to record, and for the last couple of weeks, actually just about this conversation as a whole that so many times online, we get lost in this idea of keeping up with the Joneses, seeing other boutique owners grow to certain levels or growing big online versus storefronts, or they have multiple storefronts, and we're always putting our measurement of success on what other people are posting online. But you guys have such a great story again from South Dakota. You're about an hour apart from one another. Two different paths, and you support one another. And you're here to talk about why bigger isn't always better, but better is better in definition of what your own personal journey is.

Correct.

Tell me more about that conversation that.

The two of you have had. I missed that question. Sorry. Can you repeat it?

Oh, just tell me more about the conversation that the two of you have had about your own individual journeys.

I think early on Summer and I honestly, I don't even remember how her and I first started talking. We've been talking for. Feels like years now. But I think the, the, the awesome thing is, is even though, like you said, we're on. Definitely. I mean, we have had different paths, we're in different places in our businesses. It. We still have so much. There's so many similarities and everything that we go through, situations we have. It's just the, the differences. I'm sorry. The similarities definitely outweigh the differences. Even though, like, like I said, businesses definitely different for both of us. I'm more online and Summer is def. She excels more in her store and. But at the end of the day, even though, I mean, like I said, there's so many differences, the similarities definitely outweigh. Summary. Maybe you should help out with that one too.

Yeah. I mean, I think our styles are very similar and I think just.

The.

Way we want our store to be perceived is very similar. Like, we're just very. Have a very big work ethic and our customers are our biggest priority. We know that they are the ones that are making us go and we're kind of just here for them to cater to them and, and we're always just open and honest. I feel like it's very similar in our personality too. We're just kind of, you know, we tell our customers how it is. You know, I never want anyone in my store to leave when I know maybe that shirt is too big or your jeans aren't fitting right because that's a reflection on me when they walk out the door. I want them to feel good when they leave so that they come back. And I think that's kind of very similar of how we both run our stores.

For sure. Yeah, I'm. I'm the same way. I, I don't even like to. It almost bothers me sometimes when I say the word customer if I'm typing anything in, like My group, like, oh, I have the best customers. I don't. Because to me, I don't think customer is the right. The right word to call the people who have supported me. I'd rather call them supporters. I'd rather call them friends. I'd rather call them family. Because customer just seems so generic and not. I don't know, it just doesn't have that feel good feeling behind it. I don't know. Maybe that's just me, but I don't. I don't even like to do it. So, yeah, I think Summer and I definitely are both similar in that aspect where we. We definitely care. Sometimes I feel like maybe. I don't know if it's. I don't know if it's possible to care too much, but sometimes we let things get to us, I think a little more than we should because we just want people to be happy so bad. And I feel like there's. I mean, a lot of people are like that because this is our baby. And we just want everybody to love your baby. But, yeah, it's definitely been a crazy journey, but love every minute of it. So true.

And you guys have built such a strong community around both of your brands. I'm curious to hear more of the backstory. So you both are friends. You're both boutique owners from the same area. You support each other in community over competition. I want to hear about how your journeys are a little bit different, how they each got so started. So, Summer, talk to me first about.

How you started your boutique. So my initial boutique started in 2014, same as Amanda. But my story kind of started basically when I had my first child, Isabel. She's 12 now, but I've always been a crafter my whole life. And after I had her, I wanted those adorable baby pictures that, you know, were all over Etsy. Etsy was, like, probably just started by then, and it was the big frilly tutus with the matching hair bows and the onesies and all that. And so I'm like, I can make that. And so I did. I. I started making that stuff, and I'd post it on Facebook because back then you could post one thing and, you know, every friend that you had would see it, started getting orders. I did a ton of shows, and Madison was just kind of where I kept coming back to. The community was always just so great. They were so supportive. And I just got to really know a lot of people through my craft shows in Madison. So I had an abundance of, you know, product and stuff that I just needed to get rid of more than just in one craft show. And so I wanted to do a pop up store here. And so I found a little building and I did a pop up and I did it for four days. And at the end of my four days, customers kept coming to me and saying, you're leaving. And I'm like, oh. And that was when the light bulb went off. I just. I seen that huge need that there really wasn't anything in our community, especially for kids stuff, because that's where I started. And so I just, I figured out how to stay. And that progressed into a few months later where people were asking, are you gonna ever have women's clothes? And that was another light bulb like, oh, you want me to pick out clothes for you? I didn't know at the time if I could do it because I just felt like women were super picky about their clothes because I was. And I was kind of terrified to pick out things, but I did, and I started with a few things and it would sell out. And so then I was only open one weekend a month when I had first decided to stay. So I would, you know, post it on Facebook when we were going to be open, and I would use the money that I had had earned from the time before to put more product in, and I would expand my women's each time. And it kept just selling out. And so I'm like, gosh, I just, I want my own store and I want to be open all the time. And so that kind of led into us finding a space downtown. And I scoped out this really actually awful, ugly space that got overlooked for years.

Perfect.

Just like a storage space. And it was really about to fall down. But my husband and I renovated our three story farmhouse, so I knew that this was something that we could do. So we bought it and we spent four months tearing it out and restarting over, and now I'm open Monday through Saturday. So.

Awesome. So it definitely worked out. Creating your own space and building your own community. And Madison. How big is Madison? Just to kind of give people an.

Idea, It's a little over 7,000.

Okay, perfect. All right, Amanda, tell me more about how you got your business started.

Oh, gosh, you know, six years ago, it was kind of a crazy time. That's when we started in 2014. It was June, and it just. So my husband and I actually adopted a baby in December. So it had just been about six months prior to me opening boutique. And when I knew. Well, at least I thought when we adopted Micah, his name, he's six now, but we adopted him. I assumed he would be our last. And I have two other kids that I wasn't able to stay home with them when they were born. And I think it's. It was just a dream of mine to be able to stay home with Micah. I just wanted to stay home, whatever. However, I didn't know how I was going to do it. I just wanted to make it work somehow. So I feel like my whole life I've always wanted to own my own business. I just. And I went through quite a different or quite, quite a few ideas on what I could do. Some. Some were so silly and I'm so happy I didn't take those paths or even try. I think it would have been a big waste of time and money, but I just didn't really have anything that I was super passionate about yet that I really felt would be my niche. And I started shopping online at a couple different boutiques. And then there is some locally popping up and I'm just like, gosh, you know, I don't. Nobody in my small town has a store or we don't have any boutiques here. There's. I mean, the closest place to buy clothing to where I am is like, I guess Kohl's or Target. So I saw the need there locally and I. I think I just. One thing that I feel like over my life, I've always let fear kind of go in, into play when. When trying to make a big decision. And a lot of times I'll just back out of things without even trying. So I didn't want to fail. But with this I just. I knew I wanted to try it. And if it failed, it failed. At least I could say I tried. If it worked, great. I got to stay home with Micah. So a funny thing, I didn't really get out to stay home with them because it was. Wasn't too long after I started my website online only. I mean, it was, gosh, I think maybe just five months before I quit my job that I was at. And then I opened a storefront. And so my husband and I got a storefront completely. We gutted it, got it ready, and I was in that location for three years before we grew out of it. And I got our second store, which is. Or not our second store, just our new store. And we've been there now for three years. And then with our online that kept on going well and, um, we got our first warehouse last summer. And then, gosh, it was. Or no, it wasn't this past Summer. The summer before. So we were there for a year before we moved into our current warehouse. So, yeah, I mean, it's just when I talk about it within a span of a couple minutes, it seems crazy because it's been six years and it's just been such a wild ride and such a roller coaster. But. But I'm very thankful that it all worked out and I'm very happy that I didn't let fear stand in the way of giving it a shot. And yeah, here I am today.

I love that you both kind of had your own ideas of what you wanted to create and different reasons.

Right.

But your path has turned out to be different. Like Summer having you have more focus on your storefront. And Amanda, do you still have some focus on your storefront, but really online is your baby, correct?

Online is my baby. And I mean, I wouldn't lie if I said every. I mean, gosh, our lease just renewed and there's been so many times that I'm like, I don't. I wish I could focus on one thing, but I. Right now, where I am, there's. There's us and two other boutiques and we're all very different from one another, which is great for the community because they have, they have options. So I just, oh, gosh, it would be so hard to close my store. Even though someday it would be nice to just focus on one thing and really try to expand on that. But as long as the store is profitable, it'd be silly, I think, to close it because we have such a great community with the support that we've gotten and everything. So, yeah, I mean, I do do both, but online is where I personally am at. I have a store manager and employees at the store. Store who kind of focus on the store and make. Made that their baby. Awesome.

Summer, talk to me about how, you know, you and Amanda, both your friends, you live locally, and we talk a lot in the hub about what it means to be in community over competition and what it means to have a boutique bestie. But tell me more about your guys relationship and how you work together and maybe even how other boutiques in the area work together because there are so many boutiques in South Dakota and I'm sure there's other boutique owners that can relate to that.

If I could start, I would. One thing that I think has been amazing is the local boutiques that we have here. I feel like there's. I mean, the community over competition is so strong here. I met Summer. Summer we met at Katie Lutman with Mason jar. We met at her event. Right. That's how we met. Okay. If I'm not mistaken, because I'm like, I know I've been talking to you for so long, but it's hard to remember, like, well, where did I initially meet her? So, yeah, another boutique owner start. She kind of had a. We would do monthly meetups, and she had a couple events, and that's how Summer and I met. And there's so I. There's so I could. I could just go on and on about with names of people that I talk to locally. And it's. It's just amazing, the support that we have for one another, and a good shoulder to cry and. And an ear to vent, too, and. And just a. It's just been amazing.

I agree with that. And even in our community, too, I think it kind of started for us a couple years ago. There was a couple. I was kind of the first boutique, I guess, in our community. And I think the same with Amanda. I think that's kind of maybe why we feel so strongly about our supporters the most, is because they supported us kind of initially when they didn't have anything else to support. So I think we just feel so strongly like they are friends and family to us because they kind of had our back at the very beginning. And then as more and more boutiques and stores opened up here, you know, we just feel like we need to hold on to them and just feel so thankful that they're here for us. But I think when we kind of came together as boutiques in my community was a couple years ago when I just kind of reached out and said, hey, let's do a sip and chop. And our community just loved that so much. And now we do them quite often. We kind of do them about four times a year, actually. And the community just loves it that we all come together and we have a lot of fun with them. And we just kind of offer gift basket giveaways or gift cards or we do coupons sometimes, or you stamp them and, you know, if they visit all of the places, they could maybe get another gift card or something like that. So. But then going further through the community, you know, just like Amanda said when we got together at that group meeting a few years ago, you know, we all follow each other and, you know, we'll like each other's stuff and, you know, comment and just we know what it means to help each other out just with one like and a comment, how it boosts the post for us. So just something as simple as that we support each other with and then further with, you know, asking each other questions and you know, like Amanda said, someone to a shoulder to cry on or someone to vent to. Anything like that has been great too, man.

Absolutely. Makes it so much easier when you have one another to rely on, right?

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I don't know how I know there's some boutique owners out there who just, I mean, and staying in your own lane is great. And sometimes I can see, I could see maybe how if you have too many boutique besties, how their ideas or differences might get in the way of you being in your own lane. And so some. I know there are some owners out there who, who just keep to themselves. I mean, they're. It's not that they're not about community versus competition. They just don't want anything clouding their path. And that's totally fine too. But I think, and I guess it's just up to, I mean, how you are personally. But I find so much comfort knowing that I have so many people I can reach out to if I need to.

Absolutely. I'm sure you both feel like since you started and you have each other, right. You have these conversations, there's been many ups and downs in business. And because you both kind of are on different paths, I want to go here. Talk to me about one of the biggest struggles that you faced along your journey so far and how you handled it.

For me, I guess one is, you know, we're growing, but we're growing on a smaller scale. So, you know, from where I started, we have definitely outgrown our store, but we're just kind of still here making it work. But employees are so hard just trying to find that perfect employee that can do all the things that you need. Because when you're small, you. I don't have the hours to offer a full time position to every position that I have open that I'm meeting. So that's been a big struggle for me. And then also trying to grow and getting yourself hooked into some of these marketing firms that offer all these things and get you in this big contract and at the end of it, they have done really nothing for you. So that was a big, huge struggle for us last year when we got ourselves roped into something like that. But we are out of contract and we made it through it. And obviously I've learned a lot from it. And Amanda and I were talking and it's just. I think the most important thing is in business is learning everything about your business yourself first and then teaching someone else to do it. That has been a big, big, huge factor, I think.

Yeah. I feel like last week when Summer and I met up to talk about the podcast, um, we almost. She. We had this plan and meet up and we were going to go through our plan and everything. And then by the time our meeting was done and I had to go to another meeting, I was like, well, I don't really feel like we got anything about the podcast figured out because we ended up just like, talking about business and like. And, you know, she was talking about getting stuck in that contract. And like, one thing that I, I feel like after going to a couple Rachel Halas events, I'm like, you know, if you can figure out how to do it on your own by Google searching it or something, like, try your best to do something on your own before you reach out to other people to do things for you, because it doesn't. I've had to learn that the hard way, too. I feel like anybody in this industry has probably gotten themselves into a situation like that where they trusted, whether it be a marketing firm or who, whoever it was, they. They got roped into a contract or they got roped into just something just crazy expensive for somebody to do something for them that they probably didn't really get a lot of return on, investment on, or they just really didn't get anything out of it other than just a waste of time and money. So, yeah, we talked a lot about that. And I. I feel like one thing from, from my experience, to be able to tell, you know, just to talk to Summer about that, or it's just you have to go through those things, you have to fail. And I think that just creates. I mean, you learn so much. You learn so much. And by failing at things, I feel like it's. It's a necessity. If you want to be successful, you have to fail. And Ashley, I mean, one thing that I want to mention to you is I think it was the first summit when Kelsey Darby spoke and then last year when Red Dress spoke. And one thing that's stuck out to me so much in hearing them speak was their failure that they went through and how they basically had to just start over, like, wipe it clean and start over whether. I mean. And you have no idea how many times it's gotten me through just these negative thoughts in my mind, like, oh, my gosh, I don't know how I'm going to get out of this. Why did I do this? Just why, why, why? And just knowing that the failure and the mistakes are all part of the process. And learning and growing is. Is. Is so important because how are you going to learn how to be better unless you mess up? Like, it's just impossible? And I feel like that's been my biggest thing is, like, bigger. And we've spoke, we've touched on it, but bigger isn't always better. Smarter is better. And I wish I could hear myself say that six years ago, before I made all the little mistakes. Well, not really. All of them were very little. Some of them are pretty big. But I wish I could have told myself that then.

You know, exactly. What you're saying is so spot on about this idea. You know, keeping up with the Joneses and feeling like there's a magic bullet. And Summer, I think that's probably what you were feeling a little bit of, is feeling like, well, certainly someone must know more than me and someone can help get me to this goal quicker if I just hire them or I give them the. This money or, you know, there's always this thought process that we're new to this business and someone must know more. So they're going to get us to point A, to point B a lot faster. But that's not the truth. Just like you were saying, Amanda, it's faster and more secure in the long run. If we figure it out and then we start to outsource it to our team, we start to hand it off and have someone in house start to take on some of that burden for you. So, Amanda, back to you. I know we were kind of talking about this before we started to record, but when it comes to scaling, right, any business wants to grow. One issue that so many businesses can run into, kind of like this outsourcing to different contractors, is also taking on too much debt and feeling like you have to scale your inventory and tie up all of your cash and, you know, the race to the bottom of just trying to get bigger and bigger and bigger. I know you've had some experience with that. So can you tell me about that process and what you've learned?

I feel like I'm an expert on that. And one thing I. Anytime I ever hear or see anything in the hub or anywhere where people are talking about, well, I really need a loan, or PayPal is offering me this working line of credit or this loan builder or this Shopify line of credit, and it just like, it just. It. I just want to be like, no, don't. I mean, I'm not saying don't ever do those things, but a lot of times what will happen is say Shopify is offering you a line of credit and they give you three options. You can take, you can take 50,000, 75,000 or 100,000. Well, even though you probably don't need $100,000, it's being offered to you and your mind just goes crazy and all the things and ideas of what you could do with this money that you don't necessarily need, but you just do it anyways. And so now you're taking on this debt that you really didn't need to begin with and only to, to do what you're just gonna, you're gonna buy more inventory than then you need, than you have room for, than your employees are going to be able to keep up with. Nine times out of 10, you don't have the customer, customers to back up the amount of inventory that you're buying. Or it's just, you just get so caught up in it and then all of a sudden you're, you're in a position where, oh crap. Now Shopify is basically eating my cash because they take money off the top, so they're taking a percentage on sales. Well, great. Now I have no cash in the bank. Well, great. Oh, here's PayPal. PayPal's offering me a line of credit. I should just get this paper line of credit because I need money right now because Shopify is keeping all my money. And then it's just like you're just robbing Peter to pay Paul. And it just never ends. And if I could go back in time. Oh my gosh. Anytime I ever hear people talk about how they are debt free or they started debt, they are summarized. I know you said, you just said something a little bit ago, how you, you would sell out and then you would get a little more. You would sell out and you get a little more. And how much smarter that is than trying to be bigger. Oh, well. Well, that boutique just got moved into a 15,000 square foot warehouse and I'm only in a 5,000 square foot warehouse. I mean, I'm not saying only to make it sound like that, but it's just you get so caught up in what other people are doing or how they're succeeding and then you do things that end up being so, so detrimental to your business and could end up, I mean, costing you your entire business because you were trying to rush it too fast. And yeah, I'm very transparent. I'm open and honest. And I will say that I got really close to that last year and we're still getting out of it, but I have. But I've learned a lot. I've learned how to budget and look at data and be smarter about what I'm buying and what I need versus want with employees and delegating responsibilities. You know, maybe if those two employees could be cut into one employee, as much as I would hate to have to get rid of one, maybe that's just something you have to do to make your business arrive. I mean, you just have to be smart about it. But yeah, smarter, you got to be smart because, yeah, it can. It can catch up to you really quick. And then you're gonna look back and really regret like, why? Why did I do that? I would have been okay if I would have just done this or this or didn't do this or this. Mm. Yeah.

Two. Two things that you really hit on are really being smart with how to scale your. Your team and your time and the other, how to scale really your inventory and your data, how to understand what steps to take at what time. Summer, back to you. Tell me more about your process of just kind of understanding what's going to be on your plate versus what you're going to ask help for, when and where.

I think, you know, with what Amanda is saying, I think the reason why I'm also where I'm at in business is because I have been a cash only business for three years now. So, you know, I did take out some loans at the beginning to get me started, but then I would invest in that and then pay off, and I was able to do that. So that really makes me watch my numbers because when I'm out, I'm out. I don't have a loan, I don't have a credit card. I do cash only. So that really helps me with my inventory. If I don't sell anything today, that means tomorrow I can't put anything out. That's kind of how I work it so that I'm not putting out too much inventory that I can't sell. And I just kind of really watch that closely. And I'm always kind of checking what I did, you know, prior last year to where we need to be at for this year, seeing what's selling, what's not selling, what needs to be marked down. That's kind of my process, I guess, and maybe why I have scaled. You know, I'm growing, but I'm not. I'm not scaling huge numbers every year, but I am growing, but it's just a slower process for me. And that I know, is because somewhat of me and you know, and again, coming down to employees, what I can afford and making sure they're the right fit for me. I guess I may be picky on that. I just, I want to find someone that will stay here for a long period of time and will help with all the things instead of just one thing because we're just not big enough to be able to just do. Have one person just do shipping right now. One person needs to do shipping, online measurements. You know, we kind of. Everybody does everything here because we're smaller. So I think that's kind of a big factor as well with where I'm at in my business.

And super important that you've like cross trained your employees in that way. Right. That's a part of being lean and making sure that those employees can do multiple things. Talk to me about that process of what it was like for you. And then Amanda will go to you next about hiring that team for the first time, bringing them on and starting where you're at. And then we can talk with Amanda a little bit more about adding to that team and what that looks like as well.

I guess for me, I just knew right away when I opened my store that I wanted to have a full time employee. So I know for a lot of people that they work in their store first and then they kind of, you know, work up to that. But I just knew. I have four children also the same as Amanda. And I too started as a stay at home mom. I went to school for orthodontics. I worked for an orthodontics office and not orthodontics, but a dental assistant. And I worked in orthodontics office. And after I had our first baby, I just, I had a really hard time bringing her to daycare and I just struggled with that. So we tried to find something so I could stay home. So again, initially that was my thing. I didn't want to have a store where I had to be here full time and miss out on some of the things. So I knew initially I wanted that full time employee so that I could still be in the back, you know, marking inventory and, you know, getting home at a decent time. Or I could bring my daughter to work with me, all of my girls and my son come to work with me or my husband. We have not had daycare since. For 11 and a half years now.

So, so jealous. So jealous.

It's a blessing and it's a curse sometimes because sometimes it's very hard to get work done with children. But you know, there's so many times where they're here with me and, you know, when they were young, and they'll. They'll be looking in the mirror and just giggling like, it's just all those little moments that I would take in that I wouldn't have gotten.