The Tiniest Boutique

Treasure Tree existed in our dining room for 3 long months. After that, The 400 square foot office space that we rented “just to get it out of the house” turned out to be the next defining step in our journey. What was intended for storage quickly turned into the tiniest boutique I have ever seen. There were so many people wanting to stop by and look, why not make it cute?!

When I say that there was very little inventory in the beginning....there was enough room for a couch and a huge dresser in this tiny space. There was a small changing area made of curtains and plastic piping. It was perfect. Things were changing quickly, and I made the decision to quit my full time job and set hours so that people could come and shop!

There were days that several people stopped by to shop, and there would be some days where no one would come. At this point, it’s still uncertain as to how things are going to play out. Every Saturday we would bring clothing and fixtures outside to help draw attention, and each week we saw more and more people. It was definitely not an overnight success, but there was enough progress happening to stick with it. The little victories were celebrated. And when I say little.... I mean, I took customers cash when they paid and put it in an envelope and I did this for an embarrassing amount of time, until a customer saw my struggle and said “hey, I have an old cash register if you want it....” 😅😅 OMG YES. But the victory was that there was a NEED for a cash register. That’s big!

After a few months- the couch had to go, we had to bring in more fixtures, and we resorted to using the hallway in our office complex for storage. It got to a point where I needed help with incoming shipments and customers. I went 4 months paying cash to friends and family to help, which was a huge mistake. If someone is looking to open a business, my first piece of advice is hire an accountant. From day 1. My second piece of advice is to pay your taxes monthly or quarterly, because if you don’t- that first year you MIGHT shit a brick. Don’t be like me... because that was a mess. 😂 But the victory is that we were growing! This was now a multi-person operation!!