Life + Business + Creativity

with Whitney English

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Gingham Home & The Meeting House

Helllooooo. It’s me. Long time no talk, but what’s new? After almost two decades of entrepreneurship, maybe it’s time to face the facts: I’m a sporadic blogger at best. If blog posts ever start appearing here regularly, start asking questions. I will have been kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a much more focused robot, who’s not cooking and teaching kids and trying to keep the wheels on this good ol’ life.

Seriously, though. I do wish I was better about writing.

I’m writing this post because a friend challenged me to at least TRY (die trying, I will), to document some of what’s happening with the new business and life. I feel like every time I update it sounds like SO MUCH, but really it’s not–it’s just because the updates happen so few and far between. At any rate, here goes:

  • Because people always ask, YES, I’m still doing consulting work for Day Designer. I love Karen and the team at Blue Sky (the company that acquired Day Designer awhile back), and look forward to trips and meetings with them. We just got back from the Go Wild conference in Austin, which has got to be one of my favorite girl-time trips of the year. Good people, those women are. Love them.
  • The Meeting House – WHAT, you ask? The heck is that? Good question. I’m so glad you asked. It’s a building in Carlton Landing, Oklahoma, that our good friends just purchased. There’s a lot of heart behind this, and I could write so much more (and should, good golly), but for the sake of time, I’ll give you the elevator pitch: we’re partnering up to open a bed and breakfast in the Meeting House building, and we’re going to call it The Meeting House (rocket science, this naming thing). Goal number one would be to get the rooms for rent open first, goal number two is delicious coffee and goal number three is wine. We’ve talked with all the officials, filled out all the applications, and I’m doing some design work on it! Oh, and my sweet husband started an instagram account to document these adventures at themeetinghousecl.
  • Gingham Home! We launched pillows! 100% linen, buffalo check, hand painted by yours truly. Gonna be honest here: sometimes, I wonder what I’m doing with this. This is 110% dream chasing, following my gut, doing research, sourcing, partnering, dreaming. Lots and lots of dreaming. Lots and lots of ideating. There is absolutely, positively a vision for what I want it to be, and I’m pouring lots of prayer and bootstrapping in that direction to make it happen. The pillows are available on Etsy! We’re currently sold out of pink, but have a few more on order (along with another surprise or two)! And as always, if you want to keep up with my adventures here, I’m instagramming over at Gingham.Home.
  • Design Work – I’m really excited about this. I haven’t rolled out anything just yet, but in order to help finance some of the other projects we’re working on, I’ve cleared some of my schedule and will be taking on a few new consulting clients beginning in July. I’m still working out the details on packages (my current clients pay me monthly, and I want to offer new clients a few entry price points). Trying to figure out what that looks like, but it will be business coaching, branding, interior design, and a combination of all three of those things, when required.

And on that note, I leave you with two images: one, the Gingham Home pillows, available on Etsy!

And two, the inspiration board for The Meeting House!

Question: if I just blogged like this–no editing, very little organization, all bullet-point on potentially kinda boring progress stuff, do you think it would be ok?

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Starting Something New…

I just did an Instagram live about some changes that are happening in our lives over here. I’m not totally comfortable getting into the details just yet, but I did want to take a minute to tell all 48,000 of you* (mind-boggling, by golly), a little bit about what’s going on with me.

But first, let’s talk about Instagram, right? I think most of the following over there came, and stayed, because, like me, you love planners. (Thank you, you are my people.) Lots of you followed me when @thedaydesigner was still really young, and Instagram was still really young, too. It’s been a super fun journey, but those days have changed. I covered some of this in my live video, but basically, I feel that the proverbial photo bar has been raised. For businesses, or brands or bloggers, or influencers it is expected for photos on Instagram to be beautiful. (Not that I’m putting myself in that category or saying that I expect that of anyone in said category, just that: let’s be honest, people love following pretty photos. It works.) And in contrast, I’ve heard from some users that the stories feature is reserved for authentic moments.

None of that bothers me. It’s cool, right? Whatevs. I love the creative challenge of learning how to take better photographs. But watching Intsagram evolve left me wondering what my role in all this was. Maybe this is a weird question to ask, but I sort of wondered what I had to offer anyone? (Isn’t that a question we all ask at some time? I’m normal, right?)

Not that I got an answer, but I’ve had some time to stew on this, and it’s taken me a while to figure out what to do with these observations. In case you haven’t noticed, my posting slowed drastically in the past year. This was for a few reasons. One, we started homeschooling our kids. Even though they’re involved in a part-time at-school program, learning how to home school was a course of education for me alone. If I was going to pursue the homeschool venture, and do it well, I didn’t have time to be worried about what to post, or keeping up with a story for an entire day. My phone, gladly, often became lost during my day, and as I became absorbed in living the story that was happening around me, I forgot to post.

Another reason I stopped posting was because I ran into an inspiration shortage. And like all things in short supply, the price increased. My time is at a premium with three kiddos running around, and I didn’t want to sacrifice a moment of it to be on my phone. Additionally, as the volume in our house has increased, I’ve lost some bandwidth for my internal musings. Sad, but true, and it’s a truth I’m ok with. I love the volume in our house, and I know it’s only a season.

Last fall we tweaked a few things within our company structure, and thankfully, those allowed me to spend a full school year with my kids. As we near summer, however, we’ve got a great sitter lined up to help with the kids three days a week, and I’ve decided that I want to dive into project mode. I want to attempt a few things that I hope will be inspirational and encouraging for some people around me. And if I’m honest: I’m a creative, and any place there’s an opportunity to post a visual, well, it’s an itch I want to scratch. I love learning and dabbling and messing with this stuff—IF I have time to do it and it doesn’t take me away from my family.

All of this I’ve committed to and announced with one caveat: come July 28th, I’m back in homeschool mode. All creative projects and work associated with them must stop. Unless there is a shift in our family lifestyle before then, for any unforeseen reason, I’ll be back where I feel like I’m being called: my dining room table, teaching my kids.

OK, so all that to say. What are my summer projects? Well, stay tuned, and I’ll tell you more. I had to get this off my brain first. :)

*you = precious, amazing, awesome instagram followers

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Guest Post: Unconventional Business Advice

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A guest post by Rebecca Smith

I get asked for business advice a lot. And I’m a little unconventional in my answers at this point in my life. I’m not going to tell you to hustle or work harder. I’m not going to point you to three webinars and two books that changed the course of my business. I’m most likely going to share these two things with you.

And they aren’t popular bits of information. You won’t hear these in business school, unfortunately.

Be ok with where you are!

I think it’s sad that in our culture, we are constantly asking everyone about the next thing. After graduation, we ask where our teenagers are going to college. The day after engagement, we ask our love birds when the wedding is. As soon as the honeymoon is over, we ask when the kids are coming. And while we are still pregnant with our first, we get asked when the second will be coming. It’s a never-ending cycle that forces us into discontentment about where we currently are.

This can translate to business so easily. Your business grossed six figures this year? When are you going to reach a million? You’ve hired an employee? When can you hire another?

Let me lift a weight of expectation off your shoulders. You don’t have to always be thinking about the next big thing. It’s ok to sit and enjoy the present in its fullness. Goals are good. But reaching our goal is not the goal. Enjoying the process of getting there is. That’s what matters. Wake up and be content TODAY. Be thankful for the size of your business, the ages of your kids, and the status of your home. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow with any of it.

Where you are in life and your business is enough. It is so so good. Of course, it would be great if everything continued to grow and mature, but if we miss the highlights and the moments of today, then it doesn’t mean anything. And we won’t be content even when we reach our goals. Enjoy the very second you are in.

Be the turtle.

You all know the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. They are racing and the tortoise is convinced he is going to win. The hare laughs in his face and races ahead, leaving the turtle in his dust. But, soon his hustle makes him tired, he gets cocky and sits down for a rest. Meanwhile, the turtle keeps his slow and steady pace and ends up winning.

This is my life motto. I want to be the turtle. I want to keep my head down on my own work and my own business and work steadily. I don’t want to work so hard and so fast that I need to take an extended break just to rest back up. I want to work from rest.

I don’t need to keep tabs on other people’s businesses. I don’t care what they do or how fast they grow or what opportunities they are given. My responsibility is to steward Better Life Bags well and I can’t look at other people while I do that.

So, be the turtle. You’ll look slower than others and people might make fun of your pace, but you know the secret. The turtle wins in the end. Crawl on, dear friend. Crawl on.

  

Rebecca Smith is the CEO and Founder of Better Life Bags, a custom handbag company that hires women with barriers to employment in the Detroit, MI area. She, her husband, and their three kids are intentional city dwellers—choosing to live in the same low-income, under-resourced community as their employees. When not working or designing new bag designs, you can find her snuggling with her kids, reading a good book, or listening to loud worship music. You can read more of her writing at RebeccaSmithOnline.com or hang out with her on Instagram @RebeccaSmithOnline.

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Guest Post: Holy Hustle

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A guest post by Rebecca Smith

The other day I saw a webinar advertisement on how to achieve the “dream entrepreneurial lifestyle”. Lots of beach vacations with a Mai Tai in hand. Million dollar revenue. Even more vacations. Free nights, weekends, and a late start to every day. No hustle. Because if you’re hustling, then you’re doing it wrong.

And I was sad. Because it’s a false perspective on what owning your own business is like. And I’m not sure it painted an accurate picture of what God desires from our lives and businesses.

Since when did hustle become such a bad word? Since when did we all buy into this idea that we can have everything we want while barely working for it? Since when did we think that laying on a beach would be the best way to bring about economic and heart change in the people and communities around us?

It leads me to ask the question—why did you start your business? To meet your own needs? To achieve your own selfish goals? Or to work on behalf of the oppressed? To stand up for injustice? To provide a way for the under-resourced and uneducated to show their God-given value?

If we can take Isaiah 58 at its word, then read verses 10-12 and think about the power your business could have:

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”

Now maybe that sun-scorched land will give you a tan. And maybe it includes an exotic drink. But those are all by-products of spending yourselves on behalf of others. They are ways that He will satisfy and sustain you as you seek to bring real change to lots of people through your business.

I’m not saying the beach vacations don’t come. We are leaving this week for a long weekend in Florida. But the beach vacations and the million dollar revenue aren’t the end goals for me. They are not what brings my heart peace and rest. They don’t signal that I’ve made it in this thing called “business”.

They are ways that God is “strengthening my frame”. So I can come back and keep running hard.

Sure, it’d be nice to answer emails in a bikini on the beach of Hawaii, but it’s also nice to walk to work with earbuds in knowing that your work today is going to make a difference in the lives of people.

I’m also not saying that running your own business doesn’t lend itself to a better or “free-er” lifestyle. It’s absolutely amazing to be your own boss. It’s the best knowing that if your child throws up at school, you can go pick him up and watch movies for the rest of the afternoon—no guilt. It’s amazing to get to do something that feeds my creative cravings and perfectly fits my innate personality.

I just think there is a danger when we give up the hustle. I think we have set up a recipe for failure when our goals for running our business are free time, sun tans, and lots of money.

And I don’t even have time to get into what happens to our customers when we give up the hustle by jumping into pools of money that we are collecting from them. If we care deeply about our customers—which we should—then the “4-hour work week” lifestyle includes the idea of ripping them off and not returning to them the value that they deserve and paid good money for.

If exchanging our lives for people is not the definition of hustle, I don’t know what is. But it doesn’t have to come with weary hearts and tired minds. Holy hustle can do just the opposite. It can set our hearts on fire. And that fire can spread to others who choose to hold up their banners and join together in an effort to make real change.

I would like to try a Mai Tai, though. Maybe I can sip it here at work while I knock out my emails and pick spring fabrics. I am my own boss, after all. There are perks.

Rebecca Smith is the CEO and Founder of Better Life Bags, a custom handbag company that hires women with barriers to employment in the Detroit, MI area. She, her husband, and their three kids are intentional city dwellers—choosing to live in the same low-income, under-resourced community as their employees. When not working or designing new bag designs, you can find her snuggling with her kids, reading a good book, or listening to loud worship music. You can read more of her writing at RebeccaSmithOnline.com or hang out with her on Instagram @RebeccaSmithOnline.

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