Today I am proud to say churn celebrates nine years of business. Nine years since we opened our doors to the public on a cold Fall day hoping our love for homemade ice cream and coffee could be shared. Nine years of buildouts, lattes served, coffee poured, ice cream flavors created, catering events completed, and above all, nine years of getting to know our communities. It has indeed been the most challenging nine years of my life, but I can attest I would not trade any of it. I have made a lot of mistakes, but I have also had a lot of successes, and today more than ever, I am excited about our future.
As I have said before, I could have never imagined churn would turn into what it has become, and I am forever grateful today and always. To the faces I see often in the shops, to the employees who have been with me for years, to the vendors who make so much more possible, thank you, we would have never made it without you.
To celebrate, I will share with you some of my best lessons thus far:
1. Do not take it personal.
I know that sounds strange coming from a small business, but the amount of awkward you encounter as a business owner, from the vendors, to the customers, to the employees, to the reviewers, you must never lose your own sense of worth; your own sense of value. My hopes are if you venture to open a business, it crushes it. If it doesn’t though, my hopes become that you are aware you are still awesome, you still deserve applause for having the courage to try, and you still have the power to live your own dream.
2. The only thing for sure, in life and business, is change.
When we opened back in 2015, we barely remained active on Facebook. Today, a large amount of our time and resources get dedicated to social media and online presence. The idea of ordering ahead was crazy back then, and even more so was the idea of ordering and getting ice cream delivered to your door, but today we have an app (churn ordering), online ordering through our website (www.churngetsme.com), Doordash and UberEats partnerships, making it possible to get delivery, whenever you wish. Business is no longer within four walls, it’s the ability to do more. Embrace change, adapt to it, or survival becomes much more tough.
3. Learn from others, be humble and ask for opinions and comments from those who think differently.
One thing I do, always have and always will, is ask customers and employees about churn issues/policies/interactions. I will never undervalue conversations with those who we are leaving impressions on the most, and encourage you to do the same. I take all conversations seriously, and do my best to make the best changes based on the information received.
4. Document, document and document some more.
Take notes, pay attention, seek action and be proactive in all dealings with business. No matter how intelligent you are, or how well you like to recall from memory, document business dealings. Document involvements with vendors, customers, employees…There is no fault in using the help of pen and paper, and at some point, you will be very happy you did.
5. Try, Fail, Try Again.
Each business, each business decision, can easily yield good or bad results. You must implement knowing you can easily be making the wrong decision, but it’s wise to at least try. The real test is not the implementing, but how to handle /fix it if it fails. Make a contingency plan. Be honest with yourself. Go in planning to easily solve anything intended, and no matter what, don’t let a mistake crush your path. No matter how great you are, you will make them so acknowledge them, fix them, and move on.
Churn in so many ways has made me who I am today. I love the dream, I love the chase, but above all, I love the unknown that is thrown at me every day. If you have a small business, I hope you are crushing it. If you are thinking of going into small business, I wish you nothing but success. If you are a supporter/worker/visitor of mine, I can never thank you enough.
As we enter year nine at churn, I wanted to take a minute and introduce you to my next passion project, a luxury consignment shop that will be located in Aspinwall, PA. It is called Feroce, partly as a throwback to our Italian exchange daughter for a few years, and reminds you to be fierce daily. (www.feroceconsignment.com) Our grand opening is November 2, 11am-5pm, and we welcome all of you to stop by. Clean out your closet, update your looks, let’s collab soon! Our doors are open for selling. If not Saturday, visit us another day. We will be creating an online showroom through social media (@feroceconsignment), and will be open daily Wednesday & Thursday 12pm-5pm, and Friday & Saturday 11am-6pm from November 2 on. Our address is 405 Freeport Road, Aspinwall, 15215, right by the Waterworks! See you soon!
xoxo,
Kelley
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