1 – Tell me three
things about yourself, aside from your worklife.
I have tiny birthmarks in the shape of the big dipper on my
right hand.
I’m extremely good at
knowing what size of pot/jar/Tupperware, etc (prior to filling) will fit the
exact right amount of food possible without overfilling -call it my spiritual
gift if you may.
Starting when I was 10, every single time I heard the theme
song from the Price is Right, someone that I was related to was involved in
some form of an accident. I made a list once, and it had happened over 30
times! It stopped happening almost to the day of 10 years. I still freak out
every time I hear that damn song.
2 – Where do you work
these days?
I own a shop called Rhymes With Orange, at 223 McDermot Ave,
here in Winnipeg, with my best friend-Stefanie Hiebert! We have a partner-Doug Shand
who does the men’s section, while Stef and I do the women’s section, kitschy
house wares, accessories and new kids section!
We also have a 1956 camper trailer that Stef and I turned
into a mobile vintage shop, and we go out to festivals with it in summer.
On top of the shop and trailer, we run a blog called Oh So
Lovely Vintage!
3 – How long have you
been running your business?
Well, technically we started in the summer of 2011 (with the
trailer) but Rhymes With Orange opened its doors in December of 2011.
4 – What is the birth
story of Oh So Lovely?
It all started when I hired Stef at Para Mix and we worked
together for three years. At the end we knew that we both wanted to do our own
thing, and we thought, why not do it together? We didn’t have the funds to open
a brick and mortar shop at the time, and we had both been looking at old camper
trailers. We loved vintage, the idea of
having a mobile shop and being able to travel!
First, we found the trailer on Kijiji in Minnesota, Stef’s dad hauled in
back to Winnipeg for us, and then we spent the winter of 2010 completely gutting
the whole thing with help from Stef’s husband and dad and Derek. We sanded the
beast down, Emery (Stef’s husband) gave it one incredible paint job, and we
re-did the entire inside turning it into a retro little home on wheels! Next we threw together our blog to try to
build a name for ourselves. Once the trailer was up and running we were lucky
to receive a lot of amazing press, including a piece in Bust magazine, The
Globe and Mail and the Winnipeg Free Press! The blog took off after that and we
knew we would need to expand once our first Summer of festivals with the
trailer was over. That summer, we were
parked at the Fringe Festival for 12 days in front of one of our favorite
vintage shops- Vintage Glory. We had known the owner-Doug Shand (Remy Shand’s
dad!) for years from shopping at his stores, and knew that his lovely wife Lana
had recently passed away. She had always been in charge of the women’s section,
so after she passed, we saw that he needed help and offered to help out. Little
did we know, he would take us up on the offer, letting us move in once we were
done at the Fringe Fest, and take up half of the store to do the women’s
section! It went well and after being there for only 3 months, our lease was up
and we started looking for a new space-something bigger and cheerier and then
we stumbled across our current spot on McDermot, and fell in love! We still
can’t believe how lucky we were…the timing of everything was incredible!
5 – What is a typical
work week like for you?
We have a pretty ideal schedule. Our partner Doug always works Sundays and
Mondays, so Stef and I work Tuesday-Saturday from 11pm-6pm. We work together 3
of those days and then we each take a day at the shop by ourselves unless it’s
really busy or if we have some kind of deadline to meet. We try to blog every
day, so often if the shop is busy this means doing blog posts at home in the
evenings. If I’m not at the shop, I’m usually out thrifting. I try to go at
least 3-4 times a week. It’s what I choose to do on my days off anyway, so I’m
killing two birds with one stone!
6 – What do you love
the most about running your own business?
I love the freedom it gives me. I get to make my own
schedule, work with my best friend, and sell stuff that I genuinely love, what more could a girl ask for? The
very best part is that I found a way to combine running my dream store,
travelling & shopping!
I first travelled to
South East Asia back in 2004 with my sister Megan and completely fell in love,
especially with Thailand. I then spent a year backpacking through 11 countries
in S.E. Asia with my boyfriend (now husband) and found incredible vintage
markets and literally shopped till I dropped.
I always secretly hoped to one day be able to turn my passion for travel
and shopping into some form of business…
In two weeks, Stef and I will be heading back to Thailand for
the third time in the last 12 months on a buying trip/holiday and couldn’t be
more excited! The trips are always a complete whirlwind and are extremely
overwhelming, but we really do have the best time! Days are very long and crazy
HOT. As soon as we get off the plane we hit the ground running. We shop all day, from early in the morning to
the wee hours of the night (when things really start to pick up in Bangkok!)
trying to fight the jetlag. We always manage to relax too- usually on an island
for a week in between shopping! I know, I know-Living. The. Dream.
7 – What’s something
that sucks about running your own business?
Having to be responsible all of the time. You can’t call in
fake-sick and you have to deal with a LOT of crazies. It can be stressful and
hours are often long.
8 – What are some of the pros and cons of working
so closely with your best friend?
It’s been mostly positive so far because we usually see eye
to eye on things! We both share a deep love of all things vintage and have
pretty similar taste. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses and have
learned to respect each other and work off of each other. We also realized
early on that we don’t always have to talk, and that silence can be a very good
thing. It is sometimes hard staying focused on the business-side of things and
not getting carried away with the friendship-side of things-there is a fine
line! We have found a pretty good balance, but we always have a box of wine in
the fridge for those days when things aren’t running so smoothly!
9 – It must be a lot
of work. Who is your biggest support?
It is a lot of work, but because I’m passionate about it, it
often doesn’t feel like work. My husband, Derek has definitely been my rock.
The past year has had its’ ups and downs, especially financially and I’ve had
to rely on him big time. I hope that he knows that when his dream comes
a-knocking, I will do everything in my power to let him chase it!
10 – Have you ever
wanted to throw in the towel on the whole thing?
Never. Not even for a second.
11 – You have started
a different business before. Tell me about it.
Oh lord. After managing Para Mix-a boutique in Osborne
village for 6 years, I had hit a wall. I hated going to work, I wasn’t being
challenged and I knew it was a time for a change. I think deep down I have
always known that I would one day open up my own shop. I guess you could say I
got the business gene from my parents-both of which own their own businesses.
At the time I didn’t know what kind of shop, and I really didn’t care, I just
knew that I needed a change. When the opportunity arose to start a restaurant
with my boss at the time, I jumped on it. We spent the entire winter creating
recipes and building the business from the ground up. We opened the doors of Kawaii Crepe in
December of 2009. The idea was great, but I literally worked myself into the
ground. I was working 20 hour days, I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating and I
never saw Derek or my family. It’s all kind of a blur…
12 – When did you
first start to question whether that was the right thing for you?
I should have known in the very beginning. There seemed to
be a trust issue between my partner and I, we butt heads often and there were a
lot of secrets (mostly about recipes) that I was not allowed to know, which, looking back, was INSANE since I was
running the kitchen and had money invested in the company.
13 – How did you come
to realize that you were going to pull out, after all the blood, sweat and
tears that you had put into it?
After a long two months I knew my heart just wasn’t in it,
and neither was my body. My business partners and I decided that I needed to
get away, so I got on the next flight to Thailand with two of my girlfriends
and didn’t look back. While I was overseas I got an email from a friend of mine
who told me that her friend had been hired at Kawaii while I was away, to
change all of the recipes that I had a huge hand in creating over a years’ time (at this time I was still a partner and
had money invested as well)! I was beyond livid, drank a few too many mojitos
on the beach, and made the decision. I couldn’t deal with the sneakiness and
the bullshit.
A few weeks into the trip Derek showed up and proposed! I
knew then for sure that I needed to start a new life with him and leave Kawaii
behind, so I did. There was one super awkward meeting when I returned home, I
sold my shares and have never looked
back. I don’t regret opening Kawaii, because I learned a lot-about running a
business, about partnership, and I learned a lot about myself.
14 – Who supported
you through that time?
Hands down, Derek. He was completely incredible. I can’t even begin to go into details, but
he went way WAY above and beyond a boyfriend’s duties. It really blows my mind.
My family was incredible as well. They always had my back, and it meant the
world to me. Also my friends were amazing. They could tell I was beyond
overworked, and volunteered their time to wash dishes, prep food and clean. I
will forever be indebted to all of them.
15 – Do you remember
your last day working there? How were you feeling?
Ha, I really don’t! I don’t remember anything of the last
few weeks before I left for Thailand. I remember crying on my daily 5 am walk
to work and having tears freeze to my cheeks in the -30 temperatures. I was
broken.
16 – What was the
hardest part about leaving that place?
Ha, not a whole lot. No that’s not true, knowing how much I
had put into it, and that I would leave with nothing.
17 – How did you
recover from that exhausting time in your life?
I chose not to work for a few months. I was a zombie and I
needed to give my body time to recover.
I ate a lot too (I had lost a substantial amount of weight due to
stress) and just relaxed to the max.
18 – Why is your
current business a better fit for you than your previous?
Oh goodness, there are 8000 reasons. Most importantly, it makes me happy and I’m
good at it!
19 – What advice
would you have for others who are looking for their dream job?
It sounds cheesy, but my advice would be that if you have an
idea, even if people think you are crazy, just try it! Obviously do take family
and friends opinions at high regard because they will be the ones to have your
back, whether things go good or bad. I would rather fail trying than regret not
giving it a go. Hold your head up high
and work as hard as you can to make your dream a reality. There will be bumps
in the road, but you will be stronger because of those bumps in the long run.
Also, get every
last detail in writing. You’ll thank me for this one later.
20 – At the end of
your life, what difference will finding your dream job have made for you?
I hope that I can say that I did something that I truly
loved and did it well. Quality always comes first. My parents never pressured
me to go to school and it never felt right for me. I learn things better hands
on. They respected my decisions,
supported me, loved me unconditionally and I hope to one day do the same for my
kids. I hope they will see that hard work truly does pay off and that you really
can do anything you put your mind to! Even if this isn’t my lifelong career, I
will always have amazing memories of a time where I felt I was living my dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment