The year 2024 has brought me many tough challenges, ranging from a very long period of sales decline to having to break with staff in order to cut expenses.
A year of mental and physical obstacles, testing me in various ways and not making my life as an entrepreneur any easier.
2024 also taught me very valuable lessons, specifically in what true value is for me and my surroundings, and how to keep moving forward.
The key take away for me is: breaking patterns.
Having reflected a lot on how my business impacts me and how I impact my business, and trying to seek a balance in both work and personal life, a new direction is slowly starting to take shape.
Running a business often bottles down to hitting the target, something I've been doing my entire career and which has always been a major driving force in achieving goals.
I've been fortunate that, despite what's been going on in the world, I managed to push Store Du Nord through the storms and with good results overall.
However, it also drained the energy out of me.
Keeping the ship afloat, pushing for growth, continuously reinventing myself to keep inspiring customers, dealing with issues that take way more time and energy than it gives.
Such is life, specifically as an independent business owner.
What I've learned in the past years, and what I've been heavily reflecting on, are vital for the way I want and need to move forward in the not too distant future.
I have realized that:
- Running a business with staff does not always give you the freedom you hope for, especially when you have difficulty in handing over your workload (into capable hands mind you, great people worked here);
- My own interwovenness with Store Du Nord and how the outside world sees you sets expectations which are difficult to ignore;
- There is a strong desire to go off the beaten track however, I'm not yet able to see or understand how to get there (work in progress);
- I want to create experiences and build relationships.
Now you might wonder what all these scribbles and blurbs mean.
A few months ago a seed was planted in my creative brain. It started to root, aching to shoot out and flourish.
In my efforts to find simpler things and re-balance life and work, I've realized that eventually I want to move away from the busy "high streets" where so much people run about and consume.
Store Du Nord is located in a very touristy area which, indeed, brings me a good deal of traffic and business, but in recent years it also takes away a lot of moments and time to engage better with customers and my overall work.
Complaining about positive results, it's a thing I guess.
I started to ask myself, what is joy? What is fulfillment? What is money?
As I'm becoming more seasoned in this thing I do, I'm becoming more and more aware that the real satisfaction does not sit in continuous growth and increasing turnover.
It sits in creating a mesmerizing experience with the makers I proudly work with, engaging with you as a customer and take our time to talk about garments, life, work, joy, and so on.
At the same time, it needs to be viable, profitable and thus successful.
To break the old pattern, I first need to understand the new pattern.
It is a goal of mine to operate in a more "under the radar" location, to find a space that caters to all needs and which allows me to create an intimate and more efficient setting.
A major challenge, which can only happen if I tweak and grow certain aspects of my current business structure.
Not an impossible challenge, certainly not. There are various examples of successful retailers who have made the move away from the typical shopping streets and thrive due to them being able to create a better engagement with dedicated customers.
I have a long way to go before I can achieve this next step but with every new day I get a step closer, every new idea feeds the visualization, every talk with every person shapes the path in front of me.
Curiosity over fear.
Break the pattern.
