CHANGE

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” - Allan Watts

Change is inevitable. Whether you like it or not, change has a way of knocking at your door when you least expect it. The hardest part for me is figuring out what to do in those moments. My first instinct is to run and hide. Why? Unexpected changes tend to feel like a gut punch that I need a little time to recover from.

So here I am, coming out of my hiding place, ready to deal with the recent change we have had at BVTC. One person has reduced their role in our store, while family members have stepped in to help out when they can. It is a literal juggling act right now managing people’s schedules just to try to keep the doors open. It is STRESSFUL.

There is another change hanging out on the fringe as well. It requires a considerable amount of time and money. Both are running low as of late. I am, by nature, an overthinker. I try to see the choice in front of me from every angle before making a decision. I would love to say that being that way pans out for me. Turns out, overthinking is, well, not that helpful. It can cause you to procrastinate in dealing with things which is where I find myself currently. I need to decide YES or NO, and I need to do it now. If I say no, the world moves on like nothing ever happened. If I say yes, then I will need to readjust my life a bit. Personally, professionally and financially. The yes would be an investment in myself and for everything going forward in my future. Is that tangible enough to alter life right now? At this moment…I don’t know. I fear making the wrong choice for the environment I am in and the world is in right now. What I need is to reflect on the quote at the beginning of this blog… Plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.

THE BLACK SHEEP

Have you ever heard the saying, “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” I have been thinking about that quote a lot lately. As a person, I don’t dramatically stand out from others. But it is in my nature to push against the norms of things. You can find me comfortably wearing black while everyone around me is in white. I have zero problem wearing jeans and a t-shirt to my son’s soccer game while all the other moms are wearing their athletic wear (not dissing athletic wear). I am learning to be comfortable in my own skin, my personal style and tastes. As far as style, I know I will always be just a tiny bit messy. Whether my hair is a little unkempt or my shoes are just a touch off with my outfit for the day. It is always something. I have learned throughout the years that the hardest part of being is accepting yourself for exactly who you are. And to quiet the self-criticisms regarding what everyone else is doing that you are not.

The same applies to running a boutique that does not look (or act) like the traditional boutique. We are quite literally the black sheep! Our walls are dark to give the ambience of warmth. All the metal and glass in the shop bring in an airy feeling. When I was designing the store, I did not follow retail guidelines. Every decision was made by how it personally felt to be in the space. Do I feel a sense of comfort in here? Do I feel drawn in? Is this authentic? The last question is the kicker. Are we being authentic. The answer is yes…but it is not easy being authentic. We are not the norm, and it feels like you are sitting on an island all by yourself at times. In down times, it is hard to not ask, “what is everyone else doing that we are not?” Doubt can creep in such as “should we cave and change?” What if we end up being this fantastic store that no one knew about? Can Billings accept a store that does not bow solely to current trends? Will it accept unique products from all over the globe and not just Montana? These questions bring an uneasy feeling. Lucky for me, I was able to meet up with another business owner this week that also has a business that is not considered the “norm”. Her knowledge and outlook on business and life helped me realize that I created BVTC for a reason, and I need to have confidence in that reason. She was like seeing the light at the end of a tunnel. It is not easy figuring out how to draw in your people…but I am confident we will.

PERSONAL

I started this blog because I wanted people to know about the personal part of running a business. The good, the bad and the ugly of it all from an owner’s perspective. Now, I find that I hold back what I want to say because I don’t want it to come across as too personal. What if someone doesn’t like what I say? What if they don’t like what I am doing with BVTC? How will it affect my business? But how can it not be personal when it has taken blood, sweat, and lots of tears to get this store going?!? For us, BVTC’s uniqueness is because we have made it a more comfortable and personal experience for people. Personal is a core tenet of BVTC.

Unless you are a business owner, most people have no idea how hard it is to open and run a small business. Especially in the retail environment we are currently in. Customers do not realize that while the costs are going up in their households, they are also going up for businesses. I am constantly on the search for new, unique products/vendors. It has become increasingly difficult because they either want you to spend a fortune to carry a few of their items, or they are flat out charging retail for their products and calling it wholesale. The frustration is real for both customers and us business owners. Lately, there has been announcements of local businesses closing their doors. Panic starts to creep into my head a bit. Thoughts of “what happened?”, “did something go wrong or were they just ready to be done?” bounce around in my head. It is the nature of retail, established businesses close and new ones open. However, the recent ones are more prominent in our community. That hits a little harder for a newbie business like us. If they didn’t make it, can we? What does it take to make it in this retail environment now days?

All I can say is that we will continue to be as authentic to ourselves as possible with this little store we created. If there is some retail formula to all this…I am not sure it is working for people anymore. Perhaps there is something to being more personal? Repeatedly, we are told how warm and inviting the store environment is. Comfortable, homey, and unlike other stores are words we hear often. When you walk into BVTC, it IS personal to us. A dream gets to be realized. The connections we get to make with customers who are finding us for the first time are quite frankly awe-inspiring. As a business owner, I feel honored and humbled every single time someone steps in the door. For me, personal means connection. I think we need more of it these days. So, to wrap it up, we will keep making our business personal. To us, that connection is vital.

GRATITUDE

Our Grand Opening celebration was fantastic! We met so many wonderful people and had a successful day businesswise. We couldn’t have asked for anything better and are extremely grateful to all of those in our community (and family) who have and continue to support us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

CELEBRATION THIS FRIDAY!

We are so excited for our grand opening this Friday! We are still working out some details but a few ideas we have are inspired by the products in our store. I just found an Icelandic trick for champagne that I am excited to try, and we will also honor the Dutch and English culture by having food or drink related items as well.

Our giveaways are what I am personally excited about. Fischersund has graciously donated bags to our grand opening event, and we plan on adding some treasures to those bags. Ten lucky people will receive a free swag bag…however, attendance is required to get one! We will also have a sale going on both Friday and Saturday, as well as special markdowns on certain selected items in the store.

We will have a ribbon cutting ceremony at 3pm with the Billings Chamber of Commerce and then the festivities begin! We hope to see you all there!

GRAND OPENING - MARCH 22ND

Our Grand Opening celebration will be Friday, March 22nd. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be at 3:00 pm. We will have free drinks, food, and giveaways that day from 3 to 6pm, as well as a Grand Opening sale that Friday and Saturday. We are excited for everyone to come check out our store, Brass Velvet Trading Co.!

Pushed Back the Grand Opening

Hello all! We have decided to push back our grand opening to March 22nd. It began to feel like something I had to get out of the way, and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. I want to make sure the store looks the way I want it to first. We need a bit more time for that.

Grand openings are a business tradition. Almost everyone who owns a business has one. I know that I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that the event is special and honors the business that we have created. I truly believe we have something unique in BVTC. It has a place here in Billings and I hope through our grand opening others that can see that as well.

Grand Opening

We invite you to join us for our grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for our store, Brass Velvet Trading Co. at 4 p.m. on February 9th, 2024. There will be prizes and giveaways as well as discounts for new and current customers. There will be drinks (alcoholic and nonalcoholic) and hors d'oeuvres for everyone in attendance. Please join us on our special day!

FRIGID

It is crazy cold here in Billings, Montana. Due to that, we are SUPER slow at the shop, so we are trying to finish the expanded part of the shop. We bought a tufted bar from the 1960’s and intend on serving refreshments to customers that come in to shop. Some of the refreshments will be non-alcoholic drinks in honor our oldest child. He is cresting two and a half years sober. I have brought in an NA called Hiyo that I am excited for people to try. After you drink it, you feel super relaxed. The drinks are made from a proprietary blend of mushrooms (drink does not taste like mushrooms) and that is where what they call “the float” comes from. I have tried it a couple of times myself, and I can say that yes, it does relax you and you do get a float type of feeling. There are no aftereffects like alcohol or other stimulants either which makes this a great option for anyone wanting to try it. We have a few other ideas we are considering for customers and are excited for this part of the store to be completed!

Stay warm everyone. Looks like it is really chilly everywhere. My cousin from Tennessee let me know that it has snowed there, and it is pretty darn cold for them right now. While I sympathize, it was not -42 degrees (with wind chill) like it was here for a few days. This type of bone-chilling weather is simply miserable…

Been a Minute

It’s been a minute since my last post due to the holidays and a delightful thing called Influenza A. Ugh…

Long story short, I white-knuckled it through the holidays just waiting for them to be over. I am normally not this way, and it is not an ideal way to spend the holiday season when you have children. Perhaps, it was stress and being overwhelmed with the needs of a new business. Or perhaps, it just didn’t feel like Christmas this year. Not sure, but I really hope this next year brings some peace into our lives. We had so much tragedy and heartbreak surround us from the beginning to the end of 2023, I am not sure I could endure another solid year of it.

I am really trying to focus on gratitude. Being thankful for what I have and who I have in my life. But I am quickly realizing just 3 days into the new year that I also need to focus on boundaries. Within and outside of myself. I am not a resolution kind of person. Never really have been. I hate setting myself up for failure, so I like to practice more realistic goal setting. I don’t know if the middle-aged thing just naturally makes you attune to life around you, but for me, it is. I really try to tap into the themes of the day, week, month, etc. For example, if I find myself in constant situations where I feel impatient (getting stuck in traffic, lines, etc.), I take it as a hint from the universe that I need to slow down and practice patience more often. So, 3 days in, here I am again, trying to pay attention to the universe’s message for me. Do the hard thing, Jodi. Say the hard things, Jodi. It is okay, and it will be okay.

I know it sounds cliche, but I am looking forward to the newness of 2024. I have hope that good things await this year, not only for myself but all those around me. If you are reading this, please know that is my hope for you as well.

Cheers to 2024!

Time

We received some terrible news yesterday. A local family we have been acquaintances with for years lost their youngest son in a car accident. I cannot fathom the pain and loss this family feels right now. My heart aches for them. I made sure to tell my oldest son last night, that no matter how old our children get, they are literally a part of us that happen to be walking around on this earth. Losing a child would be equivalent to losing a piece of you permanently.

Earlier this year, our family lost a dear friend/family member in a similar way. My husband and I were on our way to Las Vegas for a soccer tournament for one of our youngest children when we were told the devastating news. I will never forget the helplessness I felt. I could not be there in that moment for my oldest children. No words could console the excruciating pain they felt. Nothing that we could say or do would take back the fact that he was no longer with us.

Through painful times like the moments above, it is normal to do some soul searching. It is also normal to ask, “what do I need to change?” For me, the answer is to be more present in the time I have with my family. The business can be quite needy and all-consuming at times. Recently, my 13 year-old and 9 year-old told me that they feel like they don’t ever get to see me. Those words hit hard. Up until that point, I thought I had been handling my extremely full plate pretty well. I guess not. The truth came out of the mouths of babes.

I will spend some time refocusing my priorities. We are not guaranteed goodbyes to our loved ones, and no day is promised to anyone. Not only will I be more present for my family, but there will never be anything prioritized above them. They not only need to hear that, but they need to feel that as well. You don’t know how precious time actually is until it is taken from you. Hold your loved one’s tight today.

Dreams

In my previous post, I mentioned that we used to be a vendor in a multi-vendor marketplace. I worked part time as an assistant in a law office and would refinish mid-century modern furniture and create home decor on my days off. The hours spent stripping, sanding and staining furniture felt like meditation to me. I absolutely loved it. Then life hit…and boy, did it hit us hard and repeatedly. My focus moved from what I wanted to what was needed from me. Time slipped by and before I knew it, I was walking away from our vendor spot. We needed to be able to spread our wings, and that was not going to happen where we were at.

Opening this shop has been a dream of mine for at least 20 years. I have been keeping track of ideas for years and years, and earlier this year plans began to unfold that would allow me to finally realize all those ideas. Problem was…how on Earth would it all fit together? I love furniture, but I love art too. And shoes. And perfume. And jewelry. You get the idea. How could we make it all work together? I scrolled through endless Google searches trying to find something like what was in my head. Nada. Zilch. But I did find two words in my search that changed my mindset from “how” to “when”…lifestyle boutique. Viola! That’s exactly what I want to create. Somewhere interesting, full of character and charm, and a place that stands out from the crowd. Our goal with Brass Velvet from the get-go was to make it an experience for customers. And how do you create that unique experience? By evoking the five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. And that is exactly what happens to you when you walk into our store. It is visually appealing, smells divine, there is always good music playing, we encourage our customers to familiarize themselves with the products, and lastly, we have some Icelandic salt out to try out. Honestly, as a retailer, the taste one is the toughest sense for us to figure out. We have a non-alcoholic bar in the works, so that should fulfill the taste sensory experience.

Brass Velvet is a dream that has finally came to fruition, and a labor of love. It feels like we are juggling 100 things at once ALL THE TIME. But, for me anyways, when a customer tells me how cool my store is or is simply in awe of the store, it fills my cup. It keeps me going through the no-customer days. I know in my gut that we have created something special and unique. The dream of Brass Velvet has been fulfilled, and now I am dreaming of roots and wings…

Welcome to Brass Velvet Trading Co.!

Welcome to Brass Velvet Trading Co.!

This is where we will share personal insights, stories, inspirations and well, whatever else is on our mind. We want to offer a glimpse inside the life of a business owner. The good, the bad and the ugly. So here we go!

Let’s start with the W's…

Who: BVTC is a family-run business. We are literally a mom-and-pop shop. Why the name Brass Velvet Trading Co.? Well, in both fashion and interior design, brass and velvet have been used for centuries. The word long-standing comes to mind. And that’s what we endeavor to provide to our customers. Goods that you will want to keep for years. Goods that last.

Where: We are located in beautiful Billings, Montana. Our store location is at 111 Moore Lane.

What: We are a lifestyle boutique which means we offer a variety of goods for several aspects of your life such as home goods, self-care items, artwork, furniture, jewelry and of course, apparel and footwear.

Why: For several years we had a booth in a multiple vendor marketplace. We sold refurbished mid-century modern furniture, artwork and a variety of other furniture. An opportunity opened up for us to have a storefront and we leaped at the chance. Our son has a passion for apparel, footwear and accessories so we decided to create a lifestyle boutique!

So, that’s BVTC in a nutshell! Our hope is that our shop grows roots in our community and becomes a staple of Billings, and we hope that you stick around and follow us along on our journey!