Lessons Learned in Business
by Julie Schmale
Opening a brick and mortar store has been a whirlwind! We’re almost 2-1/2 years in. More than half of that has been affected by covid-19.
As 2021 is coming to an end, we’ve been spending some time looking back at the year. So many lessons learned…. Maybe this is just for me to verbally process my thoughts. Maybe this will encourage you. Maybe a bit of both. We’re never alone in our mistakes, struggles, and hardship of life. Others deal with similar things, and there’s a bit of encouragement to be had in that thought.
One big thing we’re learning and keep on having to learn, is that no renovation or build ever goes without challenges. Not everything will line up perfectly or go according to plan. Many different lessons have spawned from this; First, make sure you chose a contractor that has a good reputation and is willing to problem solve along the way. Second, work with suppliers that stand behind their products and service and will step up to the plate if problems arise.
“During a build, it’s not about choosing a builder who never runs into issues. You’ll always have issues arise. It’s how your builder deals with those issues that make the process a successful experience.”
We feel proud of the companies we work with right now. We did have to cut ties with one supplier this year, which was hard to do. They happened to have tile we really wanted to carry. Like, really really wanted to carry. But at the end of the day, beautiful materials just don’t make up for poor service, poor communication, and lack of follow-through. As much as we desire to offer our community great products, we’d rather offer good service.
We’re also learning that we are human. We make mistakes, overlook details, apparently can’t use a tape measure correctly, or forget to follow up on something important. I know we all know this, but when homeowners and builders end up stuck in limbo because you messed up, it sure doesn’t feel great. Of course we make it right and everything moves ahead, but in the moment you just want to curl up in a ball and cry. Hide from the world and give up. Close up shop and be done with it all. But you can’t. You have to keep going. You have to be humble, do your best, and shake off the shame. Realizing we’re imperfect people is not always an easy thing to accept -anyone agree?
Usually personal growth happen in hard times. It shapes us. Makes us more resilient for the future if we can learn and grow. And honestly, perfection is unrealistic. Especially in our current world. It doesn’t matter how well you line everything up. How much you’re ahead of the game. Covid will throw a wrench in your wheel just to remind you that you’re not in control. And back to the client you go with bad (or more bad) news.
Enough about the challenges…. We all have our own junk to deal with….. Here are a few of our highlights.
Finishing up and staging two of our biggest projects: #functionmeetsclassy and #warmindustrial.
Working with people to help them realize their dream home is very satisfying and humbling at the same time. Trying your best to hit a home-run and seeing your client’s reaction; they just love it and it’s exactly what they wanted -THAT makes it all worth it!
In #warmindustrial the goal was to make the modern new-build more warm and inviting feeling. It was a beautiful clean canvas to jump off from. The clients already had great taste, so adding that homey feel in finishing touches was quite fun. Especially the little girls room. Working with lots of colours and different patterns and textures while making it all cohesive was a fun and refreshing challenge.
In #functionmeetsclassy the goal was to create more function in the existing home. In a renovation you have set parameters to work within and you have to be really creative to make things work. Think outside the box. Work around all the things that can’t change. We feel pretty proud of what Jess came up with in the end, which was a complete re-arranging of the layout of the main floor. Proud because it worked and in the end gave so much more open concept living, made the space so much more functional without adding any square footage. It turned out beautiful. And when people are happy and love their home again, it feels really good to have been part of what got them to that point.
Getting professional photos taken of the spaces we worked in has been a blast -and a TON of hard work!!! Lifting beds to tuck a giant, dead-weight heavy rug underneath, climbing ladders to hang who only knows what, moving heavy furniture around just to re-arrange them and finally arrange them back again to how they started because it looked better somehow. Set up décor, re-arrange décor, subtract décor, and at the end gather up said décor and stuff it all back into our minivans to we can bring it back to the store and haul it all in put back on display.
Have you ever watched those home shows where there’s an entire design team plus a moving crew that all work to set up a home? The designer just gets to stand there and give direction to it all? And then someone shows up with doughnuts for everyone!!! (Hello Studio McGee) Maybe that will be us one day, looking back at the early days of Liliidae where we did all the heavy lifting ourselves…. Maybe not! And that’s okay. But we laugh and tell ourselves that they all started somewhere too and have probably lived through the heavy lifting stage just like we are. And realistically, neither one of us can eat those doughnuts anyway.
Another highlight was our Christmas Market which was a wild success! What an affirming way to end the year. When there are so many challenges and growing pains you’re juggling, it can sometimes feel hard to keep going. You wonder if it’s all worth it. The Market showed us that in the midst of everything, you guys, our rural Saskatchewan community supports us, and we are incredibly thankful for that, because we love what we do!
Looking ahead to 2022, what do we hope for? To be completely honest, we lack some enthusiasm for 2022 even though there are great things already in the works and big projects coming. But it boiled down to this: Less complicated. Just less complicated. (And fingers crossed for less lessons to learn LOL.)
Finishing the back wall next year is something we look forward to as well. Even though we got quite a bit done, it isn’t fully finished and therefore didn’t quite qualify as a highlight, even though it sort of is… One thing is for sure; it’s been a really fun journey to engage the community to come up with a design and afterwards picking the favorite!
Hope you enjoyed reading our ramblings of lessons learned. It feels good to have shared. And just know that as you go through challenges or have done so this past year -you are not alone! Be willing to grow and stretch yourself, but also be brave enough to cut ties where you need to. Be humble enough to own up to your mistakes, and merciful enough to yourself to shake it off and keep going. And get a support person to steer you in the right direction. I love it, when Jess looks at me and says “We got this!”
