When a corner turns..
It’s fair to say that the ‘shop renovating’ journey - were it a shape - would have many sides. So many. So many corners have been turned over the course of the last two months, but after every one a whole new heap of things to do is spawned. Finish a ceiling? Clean the gold paint off the floor (not entirely my lack of prep, more the fact spray painting gets everywhere. Get the paint on the ceiling upstairs? You have a lot of walls to paint.
The upstairs loo (not for use by public) is still in all its inherited (ie awful) glory. The small kitchenette has a fridge, but looks as though Jackson Pollock has been cleaning his brushes (he has not. I have… badly).
I’ve been storying about the shop reno on instagram and yesterday was the first time I let myself actually talk about just how knackered I am (and anxious!). It’s a really strange thing this small business ownership… it’s consuming which is both a great, and rubbish thing.
Thinking back to first getting the keys I was so naive about how long it would take to get things right. Things have changed and developed as I’ve gone along, and I wouldn’t change the time I’ve had to enjoy the process. But I would have had some sort of magical power that saw a gold hallway = bad plan. And that painting a whole two floors alone is bloody hard work.
I cannot wait to throw open the doors for two days next week. But then they are shutting again until the formal launch on the 17th. Give me a chance to fine tune and order in anything I’ve forgotten. I have one very large delivery due this week (which I ordered so long ago I cannot be entirely sure what it contains…) and then things are ready! Ready to open, ready to greet you into the shop, and ready to launch our workshop side of things.
Most important lesson I’ve learned? Trust my gut. Who I work with, what I stock, and that it’s alright to push back when people ask you if your job is a hobby…. it can be fun of course, but no one starts a business as a hobby. Oh, and another lesson, no man has ever been asked if his job is a hobby, it’s a firmly female thing.
That’s a few lessons actually.
And a hidden feminist rant.