My husband and I had an opportunity that caused us to take a giant leap of faith and move us both out of our comfort zones. We decided to combine both of our dream businesses and house them under one roof – his a coffee roasting business, Straight River Coffee, and my coaching business of Living Well. We just held a grand opening event to kick it off. Coming out of a busy season, here are ten reflections after a GRAND opening!
Starting a small business is hard work! Lots of planning, preparing, physical labor, and lots and lots of time, but oh…is it very rewarding. Hard work is worth the effort!
Stepping out of your comfort zone is where growth happens. Neither one of us has done anything remotely like this before. Simply put, we had no idea what we were doing but felt like we were doing what we were supposed to do. In other words, walking blindly by faith trusting that God is leading. It was stressful at times, energizing at times, and always uncomfortable. But with that comes growth; growth in faith, in ourselves, and each other!
Everyone has a story! One of the favorite parts of this journey has been meeting new people. Everyone has a story – ups and downs – and we get the privilege of hearing them! We have had the privilege of praying for a precious couple in the midst of a fearful health journey. We ran into them weeks later outside of the store, and heard their procedure was successful! What a blessing to be able to share in their journey!
God is faithful. To be honest, there were high levels of stress at times. Having no idea what to expect for numbers, wondering how much product to prepare, figuring out a grand opening that was fun but “socially distant”, financial stress, it was…a lot of stress. When it became too much we discovered we had taken our eyes off of God and instead focused on our circumstances. We both believed this was something God wanted us to do. Our eyes needed to stay on Him and not on our inadequacies and the circumstances around us.
God provides what we need. Now that we are on the other side of things, we see how perfectly God provided for us. Weather was good, friends and family came to help, goals were met, and people showed up! Why did we stress out? God always provides what we need, maybe not always as we expect, but always what we need.
A project with your spouse is fun and you learn more about each other. We’ve been married for 34 years and been together for 37. You’d think we’d know each other as much as one could! And we do know each other well, but we have never worked together like this before. We had to maneuver through new territory! It requires patience and grace. But it’s good – and nice to know there is always something more we can learn about each other even after so many years!
Community is awesome! Our community has been amazing! They have been so encouraging and welcoming, excited to have a new business in town. Certainly nice to know we are not alone! We all need community and it’s one of the things we will be striving for with both of our businesses!
Feels good to help others in your success. We feel strongly that it’s important to give back, however that looks. We are supporting two phenomenal organizations, Rachel’s Light and Bar None Youth Ranch, both who also give back to the community. We need to support each other and do what we can to help others succeed.
Busy is good for a season but balance is necessary for the long run. We were running at full steam for quite some time. You’ve been there too. We can do that for a time, but not for the long haul. It’s important to care for ourselves as well, taking time to fill up, however that looks for you. Now that we can take a breath, we see how important it is.
Life is an adventure! Don’t miss your opportunity! Have you talked yourself out of an idea? Have you let fear stop you, thinking those thoughts of “it will never work” or “I’m not smart enough” or “what will others think”. Those phrases are so common in all of us at one time or another, but it’s not something God says to us – actually the opposite! The thought of what we would have missed even in just these past few months if we had let our thoughts stop us (and they were definitely there!), blows us away. We would not have given this up for anything. We don’t know what tomorrow brings, but we do know the One who does. Let’s live life to the full! We don’t want to miss it!
