There's way too much to say about the store's first year in business and all the feelings I'm feeling about it. If I could bottle the immense joy and gratitude that I've lived over the past year I can guarantee I would sell a billion of that lil' spell spray. Still, it feels important to try to say SOME words about it, so here goes:
People have asked me what was the biggest surprise or unexpected challenge has been during this first year. It's actually a complicated question because I actually had NO IDEA what to expect, so I was kind of flying blind. Which, looking back, was a blessing because it forced me to stay present and just go with the flow. But here are some things that in hindsight, are a little different than I would have thought.
The emails are endless (and that's totally okay).
When I was getting ready to open the store I foolishly thought, "I'll just be sitting in the store all day and have nothing to do but creative work!" HAHAHAHAHAHA. NO. On any given day I respond to at least 50-100 emails. I work with dozens of vendors for the store, have collaborations going with a lot of them, need about 1,000 supplies for HausCraft, and I organize all the events at the store. Not complaining, just saying, there's actually not a lot of time for creative work when I'm in the store.
I've leaned in harder to self care.
I would've thought that I would have less time for myself. I'd worked with so many small business owners that were always stressed, working too many hours and basically martyring themselves for their business. Maybe that's what "works" for them, but I found that taking care of #1 doesn't compromise my ability to stay obsessed and vigilant about my business, it makes it easier. I don't resent my business for exhausting me or preventing me from having a social life. I'm very fortunate to have the amazing support of people like CJ and Ariel who always step up to watch the store baby when I need them to. I mean, CJ is indispensable in so many ways and I'm still not sure what I did in past lifetimes to karmically deserve her, but I'm running with it. #worksmarternotharder.
I care less.
Which is not to say I don't care about my business of course. I care an incredible amount about my business. It is my child. I tend to it constantly. It just feels totally natural and there's very little effort involved. It's just this thing that I have to care about constantly and make sure it's taken care of and set up to thrive, but doing that feels as involuntary as breathing. When I worked for other people, the effort was gargantuan and painful.
I'm still late all the time.
I guess I would've thought that having my own business that I'm SO PROUD of would've made me so excited to get there early every day and put intention into every second of opening up my shop like some sort of old-timey shopkeep of decades past. The truth is, I'm a few minutes late to open the store often. And when I say "a few minutes" I do mean a few minutes, like, less than 5. But part of growing into myself as a business owner has been to honor the fact that my quality of life, and freedom to have slow, mindful mornings is actually a huge deal to me. I also think I'm still rebelling against the 15 panic-filled years of being the person who has to arrive early to let everyone else in every morning. I mean, what good is owning your own business if you can't eschew the rat race a little, you know? So basically the store hours are 10-ISH-7.
YOU are the magic behind HausWitch Home + Healing.
The biggest thing that I absolutely, never in one million years would have predicted is how much the store resonates with people and the community that has formed around it. Total strangers have love in their hearts for this crazy thing I dreamed up and that is such a mind-blowing honor to me that I sometimes feel like I could be crushed by the weight of it. HausWitch Store can only exist because of you, my customers, my community, and my coven. In so many ways it doesn't actually even feel like it's solely mine anymore because all of you have helped to shape it and give it energy in a million tiny (and huge) ways.
So that's it! Thanks for an amazing year! On to the next!
