I have leanred what hard is

I am a HUGE blog slacker! But I have been a busy human! I am one year old now! OH and the things I have learned. In one year my store has transformed from a little ghetto to a pretty cool hot spot for shopping! I have so much more inventory,more brands, more selection, and pretty much just MORE! I am so proud of it now. To be honest when I started I knew absolutely nothing about retail! And I am not claiming to be anything of an expert now but I can't even describe how much I have learned in the last year. I have learned that this business is SOOO hard! I never imagined the overhead that goes into owning a retail store let alone two! I used to think that when I went into the Buckle and bought a pair of $150 pair of jeans that I was getting hosed. But now I know that those jeans cost the $100 wholesale and they have to pay for the space those jeans were sitting on, the lights for me to see those jeans, the heat and the air to keep me just right the temperature, the sales person to tell me how cute they look on me, the huge computer software program to ring those jeans up on, the receipt paper to print my receipt, the bag to place my jeans in and not to mention the 3% to the credit card company to run my debit card! Whoo, I know now I probably needed to pay them MORE for selling me those jeans! I also have learned that unless people have payed for all those things they are going to continue to think they are getting hosed for purchasing things from me. I have learned that I can roll out a red carpet hand a person a $100 bill and I still can't make them happy! I tried at first to make everyone happy really hard but I learned that is IMPOSSIBLE! Inevitably someone is always going to be pissed at me! I have learned that there are a lot of mean, mean people in this world. I have learned that when it comes to people and their money it brings out the absolute worst in them. I have learned that having employees is really HARD and is an ongoing battle to keep things going smoothly! I have learned that there a ton of thieves in this world (which I still don't understand). I have learned that clothes are really expensive even when you are buying them wholesale! I also have learned how strong I really am! Despite all these really hard things I am still standing. I cried alot during the first few months because of those really mean people, but I have learned that alot of stuff I can just roll off my shoulders. I still get my feeling hurt a lot but crying about it doesn't pay the bills or make people any nicer. I have to pick my battles and when to let things or comments slide. I have really learned what hard work and dedication are. I have learned that I love my husband more than ever to help me through this journey. I love my kids even more than ever! I learned that being away from them for 14 hours a day is really hard! Being a stay at home mom is hard I know but not getting to see your kids is even harder! I have learned a ton about business, taxes, accounting, mounds of paper work, and how important it is to shop those little local shops than the big chain stores. Please, please shop LOCAL! It helps your communities economy so MUCH! I now know how hard it is to own my own business but everything that has been hard has made me a stonger more informed person on how this world really works! I am proud of what I have learned in one year and hope to just keep learning. If you read this please be kind to your local business owners! They really are trying to make you happy, and I promise they are not getting rich off of you or stealing your money, they are probably in more debt than you can imagine! And if you haven't been into Covet lately come in and see how much we have changed! Mention that you read my blog and get 10% off your entire purchase!