Lucky #7!! Wow!  I am writing this to say THANK YOU my sweet #stylesnobs! What a journey it has been! I am so thankful to have the sweetest, most supportive clients all over the country! I am a very reflective, introspective kind of girlie. If you’ve been here a while, you probably know this! I’ve spent a lot of my time in the mornings (in my little zen garden where I am writing this) reflecting on the last seven years!

Last fall I basically threw in the towel. I wasn’t in a good head space and long story short, I was experiencing burnout and basically a nervous breakdown. There was burnout from trying to wear all the hats, trying to find the time to do the creative side, from keeping up with the business trends & social media trends, popping up at markets, competing with Amazon and inflation. Everything felt so heavy and mentally draining. Well, that is why we take breaks. I kind of “snapped” one day, I remember it very clearly, and said I couldn’t do this anymore. Everyone close to me was super confused, especiallly when I said I would never do any oof it ever again (dramatic much)?! 

I basically did this on my six year anniversary. I was ready to walk away from everything I built with my own blood, sweat and a lot of tears at times. The constant pivoting, coming out of a pandemic. It left me feeling drained of all my magic.

Well, when passion fuels purpose I feel like you eventually come back to it because it’s YOU. My whole heart & soul was (and is) connected to my business. It wasn’t just a fun hobby for me or something I wanted to try. Since I was a little girl, dressing my dolls and Barbies up, making them play the role of the woman I wanted to be one day, I knew what I wanted to do and what kind of woman I would show up as. I have to also thank Barbie here, my true bestie. I have always loved dressing dolls, Barbie’s, my friends, my mom’s friends and over time that turned into dressing all of you. Feeling defeated by life for a little while took that sparkle away, but what I learned in my seven month break is incredibly valuable. Taking the time away to breathe, learn from others and have new experiences is sometimes necessary in a small business owner journey. Taking a step back to give the brain a little break from being a self starter, working machine and allowing new energy doing new work related things can be great. For a moment anyway. 

I always say I wish I could go back to college to re-learn everything that my Integrated Marketing Communications degree has to offer now that the world is so different! We get very stuck in our own little worlds that it’s hard to see outside of that sometimes. So my experience being away for seven months was a learning lesson for me. It also put a lot in perspective. I went back to work for a luxury brand. I was initially excited to, “Only gave to worry about clients & selling.” I wanted to take the risk away, stop investing my own money for a while (that comes with a lot of worry and stress at times), and just invest my TIME doing the piece I loved so much; styling clients. Well, all that glitters is not gold and said job turned out to be the perfect storm to send me right back to all of YOU!  The company essentially wanted you to run your business within the business, and I realized I mind as well go back to what Ioved with REAL kind& supportive women. I was lucky to find all of you, it is rough out there!! This experience made me really miss not only my clients, but the small business community. The clientele there made me remember why I started Style Snob, to serve the everyday woman/momma through my love of fashion and styling. I just love meeting genuine, kind, NORMAL women. Women who just simply want to feel cute and comfy for their kid’s school events, for office parties, work and all of life’s special moments. Women who appreciate the value I can bring to their life with not just my selections, but the genuine friendship and sense of community Style Snob offers. I am so thankful for this community. I always knew I was lucky to have that, but my experience away heightened my appreciation. The love I still had in there for my business and all of you began to outweigh the FEAR that caved in on me. 

So, that passion fueled my purpose once again. I honestly prayed on it & asked that silly universe to guide me towards what’s meant for me once again. I did this seven years ago when I decided to put 12k of merchandise on my credit card and “go for it.” I paid off the credit card in less than 90 days and turned a profit. I was in business! I always said I’d get on myself again and again. That girl was still in there, she just had to find her way back to herself. 

And find herself back to all of YOU. My girls. I’ve enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you over the years. My cup is so full having met so many more #stylesnobs over the summer. I started this business because I knew I had the magic to make other women feel good in not just their clothing, but their skin. I also knew I had the grit & work ethic to get me through.

So that is what I hope to do for another seven years, keep my head up and focus on the magic my business can bring the world. 

So that is my little diary piece for all of you…for now. I have a lot more I’d like to share in the weeks to come. If you made it this far in the blog, thank you. I don’t know if what I poured out makes sense to you, but I felt in my heart I wanted to share more of the recent struggle and how I ended up back where I belong after seven months away. So hopefully this truly is my “Lucky #7.”

Seven years as Style Snob LLC., I may have taken a break but we will say it was for “furthering education” so I could come back inspired & stronger than ever! 

Cheers to another seven with all my girls! 

Sincerely,

#stylesnob