Imagine this: you check your email and see that your name and business has been featured in a Forbes article. And to top it off, a photo of you was used for the hero image!
This is exactly what happened to me in 2013.
I was two years into my business and the recognition and respect for what I had created was life changing. I had opened my mobile boutique The Fashion Truck, in Boston, and was selling chic women’s apparel and accessories out of the back of a converted delivery truck.
Never did I see this coming.
At 17, I had the idea that someday I’d like to open my own boutique. Like most of us, I put it to the back of my mind, went to college and got a job in corporate retail. It was then that the thought of opening a boutique became a goal that felt possible to me. But because I felt like I was too young to open a business, I pushed my feelings down. I had to make the corporate world work.
It was a few years later when I worked for Henri Bendel, that the bug got even stronger. As part of my role as merchant, I spent time in the Fifth Avenue Flagship store down the street from our offices in New York City. I loved talking about our products, buzzing around re-organizing merchandise and got hooked on the energy of people from all over the globe coming in and out to visit famed retailer.
My itch turned into action. I signed up for a continuing education class at the Fashion Institute of Technology called “Opening Your Own Boutique”. The night class was fun, but it all boiled down to the instructor saying on repeat: “Just do it!” The message was clear, but I told myself I wasn’t ready. Why would I give up my good job for uncertainty?
As any good New Yorker would, I saw a therapist about my desire and uneasiness about leaving corporate. She and I spent our 50 minutes in deep discussion about what was stopping me from opening a store. I hemmed and hawed over where it would be, what I would sell and of course, how would I ever make enough money to support myself. In short, I was terrified of failing.
I read every business book I could get my hands on. Writing a business plan seemed to be the main idea in all of them, so I started keeping a notebook with me at all times. I’d spend many boring meetings or long train rides sketching in that notebook. This method quickly let me get my ideas out and was the start to me expressing myself as an entrepreneur.
Weekends were spent walking around the West Village and Brooklyn to study how other small boutiques seemed to make it work. I always secretly hoped the owner would be working so I could talk to her about what she had to do to keep the doors open. Deep down I wanted their approval, as if one of them would say: “You’re totally cut out to do this too!” My need for outside validation was a clear sign of my insecurities.
For 7 years, I was in a constant state of “I really want this, but I’m too scared.” I used every excuse in the book to avoid taking the leap to entrepreneurship.
I fumbled around searching for all the answers because I didn’t trust my own vision. I told myself the financials or choosing a location was too hard, and when I’d actually need a business plan I’d never be able to do it. My fear was like a broken record, always stopping on use any excuse I could use to stay scared.
Until that cold January afternoon when I was shivering on the sidewalk of 23rd Street, having just been unexpectedly laid off from my cushy corporate job.
It was a huge blow to my ego. Only two years ago, I was sitting in my bosses office being told I had everything it took to be a Vice President in the future. How dare they get rid of me? It must be a mistake.
Once my anger subsided I realized: this was the day I had been hoping for. The day that all my fumbling around was leading up to. I was cut off from corporate so I could swim with the sharks in the land of entrepreneurs.
To this day, seeing myself in that purple dress on the back steps of my truck gives me goosebumps. If only that corporate woman looking for all the answers had known that everything would be just as it should.
You can now find Emily teaching others how to follow their creative visions at Stylish and Successful.