Atticus often has job applicants (or even friends) that swing by and say,
“I’d love to work here. I want to learn the business because I'm considering doing something similar, and I love your store."
Wow. A compliment AND .....well, learn the business? Like, you want to know the secret sauce?
That felt a little strange at first. But then I realized HARD WORK isn't a trade secret. There’s no secret sauce other than hard work (and a crash course in sales tax and bookkeeping.)
Running a retail shop isn't rocket science. You buy the things, you set up the shop, you sell the things. No complex calculus to figure out aside from the minutia you can learn from a quick google of "how to set up a business?". What YOU have to figure out is the answer to questions like these:
*What is your comfort level for hard work? What goes on the back burner while you build your business? What are you willing/not willing to give up for the time you'll spend building your business?
*How much can you invest (and possibly afford to lose)? Because buying inventory and setting up shop is not cheap. It takes money to make money, and not all bets make.
*Are you okay with working 60-70-80+ hours a week in the beginning until you can afford your first hire?
....those kind of questions are the answer to "do I want to do something like this?" The personal limits questions that only you can answer.
Today's instagram post shows some of our amazing team members working hard to keep A&Co. running. They steam, tag, enter, clean, smile and make our customers happy. I could not do it without them, and I wouldn't want to. They make the daily ins and outs of being a retail business owner so much easier because I can do other tasks like researching my next purchase, replying to a rep, writing this blog....things I wouldn't have time to do if I were running the shop alone.
Atticus is lucky....lucky and blessed to have the ability to hire help.
So when I thought about someone wanting to work at Atticus to "see if they want to start a retail shop someday", it was easy to discern their intention. Because about three years ago, that was me….taking 3 hour long drives to visit inspiration stores, staying up late nights dreaming about what the shop would look and feel like and then spending the endless hours making it come to life.
Hard work is not a trade secret.
And owning a retail shop is hard work.
But if you're lucky, you get to do it with amazing employees who cheer you on and cheer you up every day.
I'm eternally grateful for ALL Atticus employees - past, present....
and future! Yes (cue the announcement confetti!), we’ve made our first full-time hire. This person will be coming on board at the end of this month to collaborate with and complement me in the pursuit of keeping Atticus & Co. on its toes and wheels turning creatively. We are so excited to see what this pairing produces and can't wait for Atticus 1.0 to evolve into 2.0.
So stay tuned! Oh, and if you ever find out the "secret sauce" to running a successful business for years and years, will you DM it to us, please??