Laurie Roe's Blog

New Career

Monday morning I was offered a position with Liberty University as Event Coordinator for the Recruitment department. I was thrilled to accept this position. Of the various positions I had interviewed for, I felt this was really the best fit for my skills and God-given gifts. I'll begin July 30.

As Event Coordinator, I'll be responsible for coordinating two major on-campus events which occur multiple times a year. The first is a multi-day event known as "Campus for a Weekend," which runs Wednesday-Sunday two times each semester. Prospective students, parents and youth pastors will come for the extended weekend to experience first-hand the university. Similarly, "Friendly Fridays" is a one-day event for the same group of people but on a smaller, more condensed scale. This is five times a semester and every other weekend in the summer. I will have my hands full!

I'm excited about this position because in addition to really loving events and details, I absolutely love the idea of being involved in young people's lives during the crucial time of selecting the right college. I have jokingly said that I am young enough to relate to the teens while being old enough to re-assure parents... there's alot of truth to this and I trust that God will use my experiences and heart for others to encourage and equip our "customers" to make the right decision. In addition to interacting with students and parents, I will also work with practically every department on the campus in preparation for the events, which will be a wonderful way to be immersed in the culture immediately and get to understand what makes this university work.

Secretly, I have always wanted to be a tour guide... I thought I'd be a great tour guide for the Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, but that never panned out. Well, dreams really DO come true because in my "down time" I will give tours of the University! In fact, I'll be "housed" in the Visitor's Center - a massive plantation house - and get to work with some great people that really know Liberty. And, no need to buy any new clothes, they have polos or "uniforms" for us to wear! Seriously... what more could I want? I can't even wear my Petite Boutique clothes because I'm STILL post-maternity! God is good, and takes care of even the most minor details of our lives.

Changes for the Roe's

As I hear our little 8-month old waking up from his nap, I am reminded of the changes we have experienced these last 12 months. Some good, some not-so-good, and some downright insane to even mention! In business, and perhaps just in our culture all together, there is a belief that change is good because it produces growth. Sometimes, however, you feel like you have grown enough, or at least too quickly. And while I'd love to grow in height, well... that's just now how it works!

Some change isn't fun or appropriate to talk about. To that end, we have experienced change as it relates to the business which I've chosen not to blog about. Perhaps after I've processed it all, and worked through more of my emotions and grief, I'll have the ability to shape it into a story that makes sense and will mean something for others. But for now, I'm taking a pause from writing about Petite Boutique - which is what this blog has been about for so long - and I'm going to tell you what's going on with my family.

My father was in a terrible car accident in February. He was hit head-on by another car, breaking his right leg and crushing his left ankle. He is convinced the airbags saved his life, and for that, we are grateful. Three months in a hospital bed in their family room, five surgeries, a terrible bout with Merca Staph, and lots of heroine acts from my mom later... he is doing much better but still far from recovered or walking independently.

This accident, combined with the closing of the store and having an infant, allowed us the opportunity to re-evaluate what is important to us in life, and where it is that God wants us. After a series of events, and alot of prayer, we have decided to move our family to Lynchburg, VA to be near my parents, so we can help out with my dad. More importantly - we want our son to know his grandparents. Jeremy's parents are in CA, and we hope that by being near one set regularly, we'll be free to visit his parents more often.

In addition to the move to VA, the door has opened for Jeremy to pursue his life-long dream of becoming an attorney. He has been accepted into the Liberty University School of Law, and will begin his three year tenure there mid-August. Throughout the process of making this decision, we have come to believe that law is God's true calling on Jeremy's life. He had planned to go to Law School after studying Journalism in college, but a good job after graduating led to 10 years in marketing, and so on. I have never seen him so excited about an adventure. I will write more about Liberty and the Law School in a separate post. Suffice it to say, however, we feel as if there could not be a better time in American history to study law from a Christian perspective.

Since Nashville is what I consider home, my heart is very sad about moving. It is not a sadness about the future, but a sadness about leaving the past. Therein lies the conflict of change, I suppose. However, I am learning that just as one door closes, another one opens - I do not consider it a coincident that the same afternoon I turned in the keys to Petite Boutique is the same afternoon Jeremy learned he'd been accepted into Law School.

I have been interviewing for several jobs in Lynchburg, and while I don't see the full picture right now, I'm sure God knows how to pull together experiences in publishing, retail, and self-employment.

I will close this post by sharing about a book I'm reading, "Shattered Dreams," by Larry Crabb. As I've been reading through this book, one image has stuck in my head. He explains that our lives are like a big puzzle, and God is the only one that knows what the finished puzzle looks like. There is no box which contains all the puzzle pieces so we can know what to do with the pieces. Our life experiences are like pieces of the puzzle, and we only get one at a time... you can see where I'm going with this. It's easy to put together the corners of a puzzle, but there are these random pieces that you keep trying to put in place and you just can't figure it out. Then eventually, you get a conglomerate of pieces together and this mysterious piece fits perfectly! Of course, when all the pieces are in place, the picture is complete... and it's usually breathtaking.

As I try to put together this puzzle of my life - which really is puzzling me - these last 3 years pursuing Petite Boutique are like that random puzzle piece. Yet, I am trusting that when linked with other pieces in the puzzle, I will finally say, "Aha!! I get it, God! I finally get it!"

Overcoming "Grim"

"Grim. This is grim." Those were the words of our attorney last Tuesday afternoon. I jokingly said, "I appreciate your optimism." He said, "These are words of realism."

Grim as it may feel right now - and, grim as it may be - there have been a few highlights worth sharing.

For starters, just after my last post, I got an email blast from my friend Donna VanLiere, who is the New York Times best-selling author of "The Christmas Shoes." The e-blast was announcing her newest book's release, Finding Grace. I'm sure it, like her other books, will be turned into a TV movie (her first book starred Rob Lowe - seriously, who is this lucky?), and because I love her writing and also new the premise of this newest book, I decided I had to have it immediately. Within an hour, I had called Borders in Brentwood, learned they had the book, gotten Carter in the car, and had successfully gotten to and from the store, returning home book in hand. I had to email Donna that night and let her know I'd cheated and read the first and last chapters. I finished the entire book being reminded of the unique plans God has for our lives. (sometimes you have to be reminded of this) As Donna says - what may appear to be "Plan B" to us, is really "Plan A" to God. With God, there is no plan b. I'm really not trying to promote Donna by saying this: You should go get the book. There are some great laugh-out-loud scenes coupled with tear-jerking moments that warm your heart. But most importantly, hers is a message of grace. True Grace that she had to uncover the "hard way."

Another highlight was a great evening with some girlfriends Saturday night at The Yellow Porch. Five of my friends who always, always, ALWAYS make me laugh out loud gathered to offer up a heavy dose of laughter. They succeeded, and I lived to tell about it. While on the surface we may have had a night of laughs, there was a pretty serious political discussion mixed in with it, and I found myself enthralled with the downright intelligence of my wonderful girlfriends. I think combined, we could probably all six run the country.

I'm still trying to get more "loose ends" tied up with the store. While we are not physically open for business, we do have a company that has taken our last few assets and will be auctioning them off for sale on April 23. You can check the auction out and if you'd like to buy something, you're welcome to do that too.

So, despite the attorney's grim forecast, I'm choosing to move on, believing this is still God's Plan A for me.

Emotions Run High

From what I read, it appeared as if pregnancy would do a number on my emotions. And, indeed, there were a handful of times my emotions overcame me during those nearly-forgotten 9 months; but nothing prepared me for the emotions I would feel closing a business. Many books exist on how to open a business, I have yet to find one that discusses how to close one. And how to deal with the emotions of closing a business - well, you might as well not have emotions because I don't really think anyone wants to talk about them.

I've asked a family friend/counselor for a good recommendation for a grief counselor. Grief is what you go through when you close a business. Grief is rarely discussed - at the death of a loved one nor the death of a business. And yet, grief is a natural emotion, a Biblical process, and a human experience. I wrote an article once for a women's magazine about the process of grief after I went through a relationship break-up. Of course, that was 17 computers ago and so I am not sure where that advice is now, but boy, I'd love to re-visit that article and take some of my own advice!

The store was opened for the last day this past Saturday - March 28. I worked from the very start of the day, and was the last one to leave at night, after all the penny-pinching women had come to dig through our racks for the last time. It's like darts through the soul when women complain about the price of something when it's so far below what I paid for it!

The most common question right now is: What's Next?

It's typically followed by one of these statements...

Are you just gonna be a stay-at-home mom?
As if to imply "just" means you get to rest all day!

Will you open up another store somewhere else?
Since the economy is doing so well and we decided it was simply our location that caused our sales to drop 65%!

Is someone coming to buy your leftover clothes?
Because that's exactly what TJ Max does, right? Yeah, they spend all their time going to boutiques going-out-of-business for their goods.

What's your next venture going to be?
Implying I have enough money and energy to actually venture somewhere!

Granted, these are all natural and normal questions, but when someone's grieving, they aren't received very "naturally."

So, to answer the question, "what's next?" here goes: We don't really know. We have a lot, lot, lot more debt that assets presently and so now we begin the negotiation process of figuring out how to pay for a business we just closed, a business we never saw a dime from, and a business we will be paying for years after it is a far-away memory for our customers and employees.

But for now, it's all pretty raw. And so, this short, little "business widow" is going to have good days and bad days throughout her grieving process. She's going to focus on finishing these negotiations well. And until there's a firm answer on how much money is due and a plan of how to pay it back, she's gonna enjoy "just being a stay-at-home-mom!"

Closing Up Shop

After 25 months of business, Petite Boutique is closing its doors. Simply put, the economy has trumped our novel concept, creative branding, and tireless efforts to clothe the shortest of stylish women. Our business started exceptionally strong, but since November of 2007 we have been fighting a nasty bug called a "recession," and despite frequent visits to our "business doctor" and lots of pain killers (reducing inventory), vitamins (focusing on our core customer), steroids (renewed business credit), and eating lots of fruits & veggies (re-vamping marketing), we are forced to give up the good fight. 

We are very sad about our decision, but the bottom line is that we are not able to sell in one week what we used to and need to sell in one day. Women have stopped spending money -- at least "our women." So, in the end, when Lori and I, along with our incredibly faithful husbands, made the decision to close the doors, it became easy -- as we had taken all the meds prescribed and still found ourselves running a business with rapidly declining sales. 

As a friend reminded me, it's important to think about the wonderful dividends that the business produced. These are non-monetary dividends, of course! Here's a few that come to mind: 

1. We employed a total of 9 different women over 25 months, plus a cleaning crew and two seamstresses. 
2. Nearly 2,000 petite women joined our mailing list.
3. We dressed some of the most amazing women -- from politicians to musicians to teachers, lawyers, healthcare professionals, CPA's, bankers, stay-at-home moms, and so many more!
4. We have laughed, cried, and laughed again with some of our customers -- both the ones we saw regularly and those we saw only once.
5. We have seen customers get married, become parents, become grandparents, get new jobs, pass the bar, go on first dates, go on blind dates, fight cancer, beat cancer, and the list goes on.
6. We have seen women come into Petite Boutique with absolutely no confidence about their bodies, only to leave with their heads held high and an armful of clothes -- that fit!

I could go on, but I'll stop at that. Needless to say, we're sad, but we also know that none of this has taken God by surprise. While we're not sure what these next chapters of our lives contain, we are confident that He, who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it.

Our liquidation started this morning at 10 am. We plan to -- and need to -- liquidate the entire store, so if you're in the area, please stop by. For all you non-petite women, we have furniture, office supplies, and lots of other great stuff!

I'll close with the notion that it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. ... I'm sure in a few years I'll believe the same is true for owning a store ... we can only hope!

Retail Sales Report from The Tennessean

The national retail statistics came out yesterday stating that overall, retail sales were down 1.2% vs. a projected .7% drop. When you're about to enter the "busiest time of the year," a drop in sales isn't what you want to see.

But, our retail sales have been consistently declining all year. I am commonly asked the question, "I hope this economy isn't hurting your business...?" (it's posed like a statement but meant to be a question, I think). There's no polite answer to this statement/question. I want to look at these people and say - ARE YOU CRAZY? HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS? Not only are sales down, but we're still a new business, so we've not even reached the point where we know what steady sales are suppose to be!

Wendy Lee from The Tennessean wrote an article about the state of retail right now. She and I conversed yesterday about what we're seeing in our store, so take a moment to check out her article.

There's alot this article doesn't touch on that I think is important so over the next few posts, I hope to address some of my thoughts and observations. (provided I don't go into labor!)

Voting: Ecomonic Freedom?

It happens every time I go to vote.

Without fail. I step up to the desk, show my ID, am led to a voting "cubby" and left to make a decision that will contribute to the entire country. And when this happens, I get this large lump in my throat, water fills my eyes, and I have to resist the unbelievable urge to cry. My mind immediately goes to the many citizens of countries around the globe who will never have an opportunity to vote, will never have a say in the way their lives are run, and will die slaves to the leaders of their countries.

I think voting is the most American thing we do as Americans. It is the act of freedom as personified as it gets. And yet, there are citizens of America who actually don't register to vote.

As I was driving to the pre-voting location this afternoon, I was listening to an interview on NPR about the economic crisis. Specifically about the money given to banks so they can "get our financial sector back on track." It was depressing, listening to the interview, and I found myself shaking my head thinking, "what is happening to America?" Then, as quickly as that thought went through my head, I pulled into the parking lot of the library where I was to vote, and there were people every where. People coming and going, people talking, people walking, people letting other people go in front of them. In the library, there was an energy, a sense of purpose and passion echoed through the long line of voters. And as I watched one by one, each citizen go to vote, it struck me that America is very much alive! She is alive in the hearts and lives of each and every citizen that cares enough to exercise the freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the right to vote.

It doesn't really matter who you vote for, though we all have our preferences... what makes America and Americans strikingly unique is this: even when the world seems to be crumbling down on us, making us wonder what's next, we resiliently emerge to let our voices be heard, to remind ourselves and each other that we live in a land of freedom. It was freedom our ancestors fought for, and freedom none of us wants to relinquish. It is not freedom found in institutions or governments, stocks or bonds. But it is this freedom that allows our economy to work, to function, to fuel itself. And based on the zest of voters today, this freedom is very much alive and well!

Humor, Brevity and Blogging

Jeremy has "suggested" my blog entries are too long! Of course, when you go 4 months without blogging, there's alot of catching up to do! I've been absent from the blog world for for these months because quite frankly, there's been very little good stuff to write about... so I opted to not write! For those of you that know me well, you know I tend to focus on the positives not the negatives. But at the nudging of several people, they've encouraged me to write about the business side effects of our economy, and how it's truly impacted the small retail owner. The list is endless... it can be depressing... and it is, unfortunatley, far more real than most people would imagine. So, over this next week and a half, I'm going to do my best to use humor and brevity to explain what we've seen this past year as the economy has changed so much, and some practical things we can all do to help keep "main street" alive.

In the meantime, Baby Roe is due at the end of the month, but could technically come anyday - so "they" say. ("they" is anyone who sees me and has the courage to ask if I'm expecting twins because I'm so big. When you're short, there's not alot of options for looking anything but enormous when you're pregnant!) It's a boy, and we're planning to name him Jonathan "Carter" Roe. Jonathan is after Jeremy's dad and Grandpa and Carter, which we plan to call him, is in honor of my maternal grandfather's grandpa. Lots of family naming here in the south!

Now is the Month of Maying

This morning I've been thinking about the song, "Now is the Month of Maying." Do you know it? The song is about the wonderful natural developments the month of May brings to everyone - blooming flowers, green grass, love budding, bagpipes playing. In essence, the song is saying - Go away winter, because spring is finally here!

I think in our business we're sort of in a "maying mood." From a sales perspective, we still feel the coldness of winter, despite the warm weather and the bright sun. But from a business perspective, we are in the anticipation mode of new greatness coming after the hard work of 18 months of business.

Paula, our wonderfully wise consultant, has diligently met with us each Friday as we've hassled with business decisions and asked tough questions: where can we get the absolute best bang for our buck in advertising? How can we get more really good customers? How can we reduce our overhead? Which vendors give us great margin? Which vendors give us terrible margin? It's forced us to buy less and sell more. Spend less on advertising but get more customers in the store. Train our employees better so they are more equipped to help us carry out our vision. And the list is endless. 

The biggest decision we've made as a result of our discussions with Paula is to hire a part-time store manager that will work in the store 4 days a week. Since we've opened the store, I've been functioning in this role and for anyone that knows me, and knows what I've been doing for 18 months, it is not my dream job.  Sitting between 4 starch white walls in the back of a 2225 square foot retail establishment, calling vendors to tell them they've messed up our orders, or listening to ridiculous advertising pitches, or getting on my hands and knees to go through damaged goods ... this is NOT my idea of fun. This is not to say being a store manager is not a fun role for someone, but when you are wired the way I am - full of ideas and creativity and the need to be with people every moment of my day - sitting in this office is not "fun" for me. Fortunately, with some creativity, we've figured out how we can hire a store manager so I am free to be out and about, developing relationships with people, opening new doors for Petite Boutique, spreading the word about who we are and what we do, and in essence, finally acting as the true leader of our business.

There is a part of me that feels like we need to live in May for a while -  anticipating greatness, welcoming in new life, the newness of a new season, and the music of a new song. Though I'm not naive and know that shortly after the beauty of May comes the heat of the summer... 

Finding Balance

For the last several weeks, Lori and I have been meeting again with our wonderful consultant, Paula, from the Tennessee Small Business Development Center. (for those of you that are new to this blog, you can read about how she helped us start our business). I am still blown away at Paula's expertise on basically every topic in business. I have decided I want to be like her when I grow up.

Now that we've passed the one year mark in our business, we've been struggling with trying to figure out how we work less in our business and more on our business. For the first year, Lori and I have spent considerable time figuring out how to make our business function - and that has meant working in our business each and every day. (Keep in mind, Lori is a full-time CPA so she's worked alot of hours!)

Paula to the rescue! She's helped us better define our own job descriptions (imagine this - we both wear multiple hats that take us away from focusing on actually growing our business) so that we can figure out what we are presently doing that we could delegate to others. This partly means our present employees taking on more responsibility (which fortunately, they have all asked to do), outsourcing some of the tasks, and possibly hiring someone to do something we have yet to figure out!

It has been tremendous work, but we are diligently working with Paula each Friday. After we figure out roles, who's doing what, etc., then Lori and I have to focus on doing what we're "suppose" to be doing rather than what often times bogs us down. Two of the top priorities for me as CEO is a policy manual (we're talking the heavy duty stuff that explains exactly how things are done in our business) as well as a communications system. I also wear the hat of CMO, buyer, and as of today, store manager. Sometimes I get confused trying to figure out who I am today - or even at this moment - but obviously, the goal is to have all of this figured out well before October 30!