For the first time in my life I can honestly say I know what a true friend is and how valuable it is to my well being and existence on this planet. The Little Hat Company not only brought amazing business opportunities but brought to me my best friends. I know without a doubt that they will be there when I turn forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, and if they live longer till we are in our nineties. We have just been through the high highs and now the low low's of starting a business and there they still are laughing, crying, and moaning (back aches and flo visits). I have never felt as fortunate in my life as I do now. We come clean with each other and we support each other.
In the beginning of Little Hat it was me with the help of my mom and sister to meet orders and deadlines, but it quickly grew beyond my capabilities. Someone from the time Sue and Barb came on board we quickly swelled up to having 19 part time employees. We'll talk about payroll and compenstation/insurance in another chapter. Here was my method of bringing people into the business. Whether it was right or wrong I hope that I can give you an insight of what path you want to take with your business. Work from your gut, that's what I do. The only difference now is that I am going to educate my gut first before making any major decisions.
Word quickly spread about LHC company and I literally had people calling or approaching me in the store that I didn't know wanting to be a part of this new company. I had no capital and no way of paying Sue for all her immense time and energy so I gave her 30% of the company. We formed a partnership LLC with members. She was given sweat equity for all of her endless hours of hard work and good faith. The next people to come in all made some small wages but were also given much smaller pieces of the pie. I said yes basically to anyone who asked. That was red flag #2. The positive piece was that each person that came to the company had their own amazing talent that added to the exciting story of the business. The negative piece that it made it much more difficult to navigate around personality conflicts.
All people are good and all people do good. I believe this with all my heart and Sue thinks that sometimes I get too carried away with this notion. Here is the real piece of knowledge I would like to pass on to you - I paid a lot of money in counseling to not only hear these coming words but to own them. We are not meant to get along and work with everyone. Certain people mix like oil and water - "they were never meant to mix" So do yourself a favor and the people you are considering to bring into the company- if your gut is saying it's not a match than most likely it's not. It's okay to say no in business.
Cherish the people that do work in your business and work with you to grow support and nuture your dream. If it is truly their dream as well let them in to make decisions and grow your business in ways that you didn't know were possible. Sue created our connection with Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, Cathie facilitated our creating hats for the commissioning event of the USSNH, Deb created the most amazing styles and designs of hats for children and adults, Barb was able to sell ice to Eskimos, Amy took magazine quality photos, Kim Frank became a merchandising genius, everyone found a niche and they were able to do what they did best. Kris became the pied piper of music class and families instantly began looking forward to her classes. I'll never forget her first music class when it was her, myself, and another mom waiting for it to begin and I felt bad for Kris that not more people had shown up and then suddenly no joke a line of at least 2o parents and toddlers started filing in in South Berwick, Maine.
When you start a small business you put a lot of seeds out there and you never know which ones are going to take hold and grow. In the famous words of "Woz" - dude everything is going to be okay you have the greatest people surrounding you. Linda was right and I feel so fortunate to have her as one of my closest friends. Did I tell you she has to be the most organized person in the world?
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