Last weekend I finally got to see the fruit of some pretty big dreams and hard work. As I've talked about a lot on social media and at the Making Monday parties I've been putting together and working on opening a store front here in York, SC. I've talked about how it has affected my blog and it's
brand and shared a little bit of how big of a blessing this is.
Well Saturday Nov. 15th 2014 I officially opened my doors to The Studio at Flying King Ranch. It was a bigger event than I thought would occur and it was so beautiful to see how trusting the Lord makes your plans so much better!
I was lucky enough to have a professional photographer/friend capture the day and now no matter how business goes I will always have proof of the beautiful grand opening!
Incase you've missed it, Flying King Ranch is where my husband, Reed, works. We moved here about a year and a half ago for him to fulfill one of his dreams of being a land manager for almost 5,000 acres. He has loved the job and the life that came with it from day one but I took a bit more convincing. If you where around the blog last year you saw lots of heavy hearted posts, social media posts that attempted to hide bitterness and some other ugly things come out of my heart. I didn't have friends, couldn't find a job, and just overall didn't feel like I belonged here.
But thankfully the Lord worked on me and taught me more about trust than I knew there was to learn. He constantly gave me chances to pursue His desires and I learned that even when I thought the plan was certain that it could change from what I had in my head. I learned to just keep walking and He will lead me in the direction I needed to go.
As I realized that it wasn't so much a "job" that I needed but to be more trusting in the pursuit of what the Lord laid on my heart I was given the opportunity to open up a shop. I was approached by the Ranch owners and asked if I would help them use some of the buildings on the ranch and to create a "destination" of sorts. Talk of this started in late August after my ETSY shop more than tripled in sales and I was finally able to start contributing to our finances. I felt confident enough to start writing down my vision and to discuss it with the owners to see if we were on the same page. By the beginning of October I had a meeting with the owners and land managers (yes, one was Reed) and we discussed logistics, dates, and names. And some how the Lord spoke through me and allowed me to so deeply impress the owners that the final words of the meeting were "go for it! Run with it, you obviously know what you want and have a good plan set a head of you."
Never in a million years did I expect a successful business woman to look at me at the age of 24 and say, "go for it, run with it!" She trusted me to fill out the plan I had laid in front of her and that was the most encouraging thing that has ever happened to me.
So I ran for it. I moved forward faster than I thought possible and at times really freaked myself out because I felt so lost in all of the movement! But by the end of October I had the space cleaned out, set up, and ready for inventory. I had contacted friends and family and asked for their support by allowing me to use their creative work as inventory. I wanted the shop to be a place that highlighted creativity and that gave encouragement to artists that maybe haven't totally figured it out yet. I received so much work, and it was all amazing quality I couldn't believe that I had a shop and that it was filled with beautiful things that people would actually buy! God blessed this shop by totally giving me the words to speak to the artists, and giving them the trust to allow me to control their work for a while.
Right now the shop has over 10 artists all located within 4 hours of the ranch.
So the shop was open for 2 weeks before the Grand Opening and I was lucky enough to have time to figure out the quirks before the flood gates opened. I rearranged multiple times, met some amazing people that visited and encouraged my vision. And before I knew it Nov. 15th was here and I was freaking out! I couldn't sleep, didn't really eat and just felt like I had so much to get done. But again I was reminded that within 1 month I had taken nothing but a dream and made it a reality and it was all because I was willing to walk the way the Lord showed me.
At 11 am November 15th we had the first couple walk through the door and make a purchase. Then we had over 50 people come and made over $800. Each artist made at least 1 sale and we had lots of empty spots to fill by the end of the day.
So now I am a store owner, still figuring out what that means and how to get more customers, and keep up the inventory. I don't know how long this will last but I do know I will soak it up. I'm going to keep walking and praying and listening to the Lord. I'm sure if He can turn a 24 year old that didn't know what she was doing in to a "business owner" He can help me make it through the rest :)
If you are ever in the York, SC area please come visit me! I would love to show you around and brag on some of the work in the shop.
To end it all, that was an unbelievable beginning.
