Our entrepreneur journey part 6.
Before Chris & I were married, and I would think about what our future as a married couple looked like, it wasn’t this. Much of what I envisioned was based off what I grew up with. I would stay home with the kids for the most part, maybe work a couple shifts a month as a nurse. Chris would be employed full time for a company.
As we got about 6 months into marriage I began to realize that what I had envisioned would probably be different. Chris was really enjoying and thriving in the entrepreneur world. But never in a million years could I have predicted that we would end up working together running a business that I started!
Fast forward to the summer of 2019 where we left off. (Did you miss the previous post? Read it here!)
Business was taking off and keeping us so busy! We were running into supply issues. Our leather earrings, the original Signature design, were selling so quickly. They would run as a flash sale for three days on the third party website, and we would sell 200-300 in that time period. I had found a place to buy basic cow hides and small 12×12, but we needed something different.
We found out that there was a leather expo in NYC in July, and we booked a flight. This was a huge step for us. The trip was so fun! It was also very worth it in terms of business. We found the suppliers we needed to and where able to source exclusive leather to cut our earrings.
Since we both grew up in small towns, NYC seemed so busy and a bit overwhelming. We only got on the wrong subway once though!
Aside from Chris selling his business and starting to help me grow this one, this trip to NYC was the biggest risk and investment we had ever made in business.
During this year of business together, we learned alot about each other. Having been together since we were 16, you would think some of the things that we learned, we would have already known.
From one perspective, our situation was great. We were working from home, the business was thriving, I was homeschooling the kids, and there really was a lot of good in life.
On the other side of the coin, there was some struggles shifting dynamics in our relationship and learning how to be business partners. I was also struggling with postpartum depression (but didn’t realize it).
While we were always committed to our marriage and family, we arrived at our 10 year anniversary worn down, feeling distant from each other. The reality of Chris going from running his own business to stepping into mine and essentially “working for me” was hard on him. I never viewed him as my employee, always a business partner. But he would get comments from people often, joking about him working for his wife. While it was a joke, he still had a sore spot from feeling so burnt out that he sold his business. It was a joke that swung a soft blow every time it was told.
We also learned that we work very differently. I like to have a plan. Look ahead. He is very much a day-to-day guy. This hadn’t been so obvious when we had very divided and separate roles. He worked, I took care of the home. Then there was this shift in what I was doing and my responsibilities. I was homeschooling our kids and then all of a sudden had a business to worry about that was the sole income for our family. It was alot for me to process and carry.
But there was enough good we could see in our situation, that we continued to work through these feelings. We learned to communicate better, and also make compromises on each other’s work styles. We found our roles in the business and it turned into a really great time for our family.
2019 was a huge year in growth for our business. We ended the year with 5 part time employees. 2 full time employees. We took our whole team & family out to dinner, and gave everyone bonuses. We thought 2020 was going to be better than ever.
What we all didn’t know…
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