How can we take our passions and build them into a successful brick and mortar? In today’s episode, I have the honor of introducing you to Erika of Sophie May Boutique. Erika is sharing her journey from opening a boutique in her home, putting it on wheels in a tiny trailer, and now opening up her own storefront. We’re also sharing our thoughts on building a staff, developing a culture for your business, and some of the highs and lows we all face in entrepreneurship.

Make sure you’ve hit that follow or subscribe button on your favorite podcast player to get notified each week as we air new episodes!

Subscribe on Your Favorite Podcast Player

Apple Podcast App | Spotify | Amazon | Google Podcast

Connect with Quianna

Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Pinterest

Today’s episode is brought to you by The Green House, the resource garden for photographers and entrepreneurs. Check out the shop to grab free guides, tool kits, masterclasses and lots of education to build strong roots for your business!

Review The Show Notes: 

Taking Action To Get A Business Going (3:08)

Investing In A Tiny Boutique (5:25)

Erika’s Background Leading Up To CEO Decisions (11:45)

Building Your Staff (16:07)

What To Ask Potential Hires (19:00)

The Very First Hire (21:12)

How Collaboration Impacts Your Business (24:30)

Cultivating The Heart Of Your Business (29:03)

Establishing A Brick And Mortar (31:29)

The Highs And Lows Of Entrepreneurship (36:47)

Seeing The Bigger Picture (41:37)

Key Tip From Erika (43:39)

Connect With Erika:

Website

Instagram

Review the Transcript:

Quianna Marie
Do you have a big dream? Oh really, really big dream that feels scary and you’re not even sure where to begin. But you know in your heart that it’s possible. Well, I’m so happy you’re here today, babe, I have the honor of introducing you to one of my real life, friends, neighbors and role models that took a crazy little dream about opening a clothing boutique. She took this business from an online shop to her front room and turn it into a tiny trailer boutique on wheels popping up around town to a real brick and mortar shop right here locally in Gilbert, Arizona.

To know Erica is to know a forever friend that cares deeply about others, supports shopping local, and has a desire to make you feel confident in your own skin while wearing outfits that only amplifies your spark and personality from within.

Today, I’ll be chatting about kick starting a startup business, outsourcing and making your first higher developing a culture for your business and the power of community. Plus, we’ll be sharing more about the realities of the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, and sharing that our missions and the heartbeat of our business will always be louder than the mistakes are tough challenges as we grow and expand. Erika Hilligas is one of my first friends that I connected with here in my neighborhood in Arizona, and I’m so grateful for our friendship.

Erika not only celebrated my 100th Episode surprise lunch with us, but she’s been a great sounding board and the business bestie during this growing season for me here in Arizona, it’s my honor to introduce you to my real girlfriends making my network your network with a warm welcome. I’m proud to introduce to you, Erica, owner of Sophie May Boutique.

Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins, big or small by dancing in the kitchen photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast.

Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go. Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the party. Erika, I’m so grateful you couldn’t be here today.

Erika
Hi, I’m so excited to be here.

Quianna Marie
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this day for so long! I remember the days. This is only a couple of years ago where I would come to your house. And in your front room, you would have racks of clothes, like everything was like bustling. You had boxes of shoes, under your clothing racks. And like all over the floor, you had like desks that were just filled with clothes that needed to be steamed and hung up and tons of really cute accessories. Like you were just bustling out of your front living room. Right,

Erika
Literally!

Quianna Marie
so I would just love to know from you. What was that next step? Like what was it that happened that you realized, wow, I really have something going on here. Like what was the first action step you took after that?

Erika
Yeah, so I would say it was kind of crazy. So when I started the business at first, you know, you get all of your friends and family to purchase. And then you know, you kind of have a lull for a few weeks, and you’re like, oh my gosh, what did I do? I can’t believe I quit my job type of thing. But then I in our neighborhood, they started a farmers market. So I was like, You know what I’m gonna see if they’ll let me into this market and the market.

Renner was kind of like, sure if you want to come try. And so I went to the very first farmers market and I set up a tent, which was a 10 by 10. Space, and brought racks and the amount of people that showed up. It was just crazy. Then I had we sold almost everything. And so I think kind of pushing myself to do that allowed. So for anyone that doesn’t know our neighborhoods have a big plant community. So it’s basically its own small city.

So I think there’s maybe 15,000 residents. So a lot of them came to that first farmers market to see what it was about, kind of sold us out of our stuff. And then people in that neighborhood started contacting me like daily to come shop in our front room of my house.

I had people coming in all the time, which is kind of hard, especially when you have a family or you have pets. My dogs definitely were a big factor. And so we constantly had people scheduling appointments to come into my home. And then we started doing more markets as every weekend went by. I signed up for a couple of larger markets in the Phoenix Valley.

I just realized I couldn’t keep up and I didn’t have enough space in my house to put all the clothes in the room, we ended up having like racks of clothing and our spare bedroom in my office and our kitchen and the dining room. We were getting online orders like crazy. And so I think that’s when I knew that I wanted to expand. Maybe I knew I wasn’t ready for the brick and mortar. But I was ready to do something a little different. And so that is where our tiny boutique like came into play.

Quianna Marie
That’s amazing. Can you please share exactly how tiny your tiny boutique, your trailer came to life? Because I feel like I love that there’s kind of like this, like this bridge, right? Let’s kind of like, I wouldn’t even call it a tiptoe because this is a huge expense for you, right like this is that can you share your heart? And kind of like how you took that leap of faith to invest in your tiny trailer?

Taking The Leap of Faith To Creating Sophie May Boutique On Wheels

Erika
Yeah, so I’m not sure like if people understand I think a lot of times they don’t know what a tiny boutique means. So just to explain. Our tiny Boutique is basically a mobile boutique on wheels. So we travel around the valley. We go to markets, local coffee shops, wine bars, we do private parties, and it is literally a tiny house built on a flatbed trailer. But instead of it being a house, it’s a tiny store. So we have fitting rooms, air conditioning, racks of clothes, it is basically just a tiny store. It’s 200 square feet. And it is my pride and joy.

When we say tiny boutique, or we call her tiny or we say shop tiny, that’s kind of what we mean. I think that where that came to fruition was I was sitting on my couch, I’ll never forget this. And I was on Pinterest and I had started to Google and Pinterest mobile boutiques, because I knew I wasn’t ready for a brick and mortar because that’s a huge expense. And I just didn’t feel like I had the following yet. But I wanted to do something that was totally different and unique. And what I came across was a lot of mobile boutiques that looked like a food truck. A lot of horse trailers, which are great in their own their own way their own right.

There was a lot of them. And I wanted a mobile boutique that had a ton of natural light. I’m all about sensory, I feel like when it comes to Sophie Mae, so anyone that shops have, you may notice that we do really, really soft clothing. I love like you being able to like I love good smells in the store good touch, like I love a lot of natural light, just like a certain vibe in a certain feeling. So I started to Google, it was so crazy. I started to just like Google tiny houses. And I just had this idea of like, what if there’s a way to do a tiny store. So I started Googling it, doing research.

I think for like probably six weeks, I had spent maybe 10 hours a day looking just like always on my phone Googling, looking. And I came across like I came across a company in Seattle that built tiny homes on a flatbed trailer so people could move their tiny home around the country. And so I contacted this guy just reached out to him gave him a phone call was in the middle of nowhere, Washington, I told him my idea. He said, You know, I think we can probably make this work. And we went through the whole design together created a designing, but Sophie May, the tiny boutique would look like and he gave me the price. And I almost passed out.

I remember you and I went to a taco shop. Because I felt like with your energy. And just like I think talking with you was just a really big turning point for me. Because when we sat and we talked about the tiny boutique, I felt like I had talked to other people and they’re like, well, that’s cool. But like, is that really going to be something that you’re able to do? I feel as though when we spoke, you are basically like, I’ve never heard of anything like this. It’s so unique. It’s wonderful. It’s beautiful.

That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. And I think that was the turning point where I was like, Okay, I’m gonna do this, this is this is going to be so cool like, and I had when I went to bed every night for like those six weeks I dreamt of the tiny boutique, I dreamt of the hashtag shop tiny. So even just a bigger play on shop small to shop tiny, like really that small, intimate, small business.

There was nothing that I wanted more than this tiny boutique. And so my husband bless him, was so supportive and was just totally on board. He’s also a woodworker as a hobby and so he said, you know, I’ll do whatever repairs need to be done. I can do anything inside tiny I can do any woodworking. And so I think I just really, after our conversation, and then a conversation with my husband. Those were the two big conversations where I said what do I have to lose? Like worst case? If this doesn’t go well I can live in it.

Quianna Marie
I’m so happy you said that because I vividly remember that conversation thinking well okay, you have this beautiful home only in our neighborhood. And like it all just goes to crap. Like at least you can live with a tiny dream.

Erika
Exactly. With my five dogs.

Quianna Marie
Exactly. It’ll be fine. And I’m so I’m so grateful you mentioned that because it really only takes just one friend, one person one loving and supportive, significant other, someone that you can lean on to think oh, okay, if this was possible, like, let’s do it. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay, so I love this. So let’s keep going like rolling with the timeline of Sofia may here and how this all unfolded. So as soon as you opened up, and I think I remember the very first debut that you brought tiny out was actually for the farmers market. Right? Like you roll up to the farm.

Erika
It was like December 13, I believe. Cuz Taylor Swift’s birthday and so. Yeah. And you came with like your camera, but you also came with your, like the Polaroid? Yes, yeah, they still have the Christmas tree, where you took Polaroids of everybody showing up. And then I steal the Christmas tree with all the Polaroids on it. Because I also remember you showed up at my house when I first got it and took pictures of it there and empty.

I remember that first day, everybody came out, there were just hundreds of people that came to see this tiny boat, like, and like I just remember the Farmers Market was from eight to noon. But we stayed until 4pm actually got in trouble, by the way, but it’s fine. Because people were just chopping, chopping, chopping. And I remember I went home that night, and I just cried like it was it was so great.

Quianna Marie
So beautiful. And that’s the power of community and the power thing. So I actually would love if you don’t mind it take a quick little kind of step back. Because I would love if you would share just a quick kind of like intro to what your job was before this, because you are this full thriving CEO. And I think for anybody listening, sometimes you have to remember like, actually, a lot of us don’t have business degree. It’s like we don’t have this entrepreneurial. Like, we didn’t take classes on this. We kind of just, we knew we had a passion and we figured it out. Right. So you share a little bit about your background. And then like what led you to this to start making really smart CEO decisions?

Sharing About Erika’s Background – We’re Not All Born CEO’s

Erika
Yeah. So um, we moved here from Iowa four years ago, and for seven years back in Iowa after I graduated college, I did social work. So I was a social worker, and I was a behavioral health, interventionist. So basically, that means I worked with children ages, like five to 18 that were suffering with, like a lot of the kids I worked with, were struggling with like ADHD, odd, which is Oppositional Defiant Disorder, children on the spectrum. And so we’re dealing with some behavioral stuff, and then working with their families.

Then I also worked with adults with chronic mental illness. So some of my clients had like schizophrenia, severe depression. And so that was a crazy job. It was really, honestly, the best thing that I could have done in my 20s. I learned so much. That job challenged me mentally, physically, emotionally in every possible way. I am very, very passionate about mental health. And so that was a job that I loved so much. And I when we moved here, I decided that I did kind of want a break from mental health because unfortunately, when you are in the social work, field, burnout is really huge.

I went to Arizona State University, and I was an academic advisor in School of Life Sciences. So I was working with a lot of pre med students. I think they hired me because of my mental health background because I went from sort of working on academic classes to mostly doing mental health counseling. And then honestly COVID hit and I was working from home and I just had had this 10 year dream to open a boutique in Iowa every Friday when I got paid. In my town alone, there were four boutiques, I would go to each one. And they would the owners would always tells me Erika, you should own a clothing boutique. My closet is ridiculous. I had so many clothes.

When I moved here, I noticed that there just weren’t any clothing boutiques, not like there were back home in Iowa, which surprised me a lot. And again, my husband was so supportive. And he said, as COVID was kind of like nearing the end and they wanted us to come back to campus. I just I knew I wasn’t gonna go back. So I quit my job. I did take multiple entrepreneurship classes in college, I did one where we had to build and create our own nonprofit business.

But then I also took an entrepreneurship business class to create my own business. I think at the time I opened a coffee shop when I did that. So I did have have, like I did have a little bit I did take some classes in that because I think in the back of my mind, I always knew I wanted to own a business. But I don’t have a business degree, I have a social work degree. And so yeah, the process of starting my own business was wild, I did not realize how hard it would be. And I completely taught myself how to create a business, create an LLC, get all the licensing, make sure my tax like that I was paying taxes correctly, it has been a huge learning curve. But anybody can do it. If you just like if you have, if you have the drive and the passion, you can teach yourself.

Quianna Marie
Yes, I am so grateful for us to kind of open this conversation about this. And this is my heart behind the podcast is introducing you to my real life friends, the women that are like taking action, and I’m just I’m so grateful for you.

Erika
Thank you, I’m grateful for you.

Quianna Marie
So as your business continues to grow, you’re now juggling a full time staff with a handful of really incredible employees. And you know, you’re we’re working on hiring. And I feel like that’s kind of like that’s the goal, right? Like people want to expand and people want to grow. But what advice would you have for someone that’s ready to make that hire? But maybe they’re really nervous about that extra responsibility? And honestly, just fearful of success? Like, what did you have to crack? Or what mindset shift did you have to develop, to start hiring a whole team of staff?

Mindset Shifts For Growing Your Business and Hiring Your Staff

Erika
this one was really hard for me. So again, for maybe those that don’t know, we went from the tiny boutique to seven months ago, we opened our brick and mortar store. So I knew that opening a physical storefront location, I would have to hire more staff. I only had like one or two staff that was helping me out events, but they weren’t on. Like I didn’t have like a staff with like, like full payroll, like the whole nine yards.

I would say that hiring staff is a huge step. But it’s scary, because you know, you’re thinking about how much money it’s going to cost to pay staff, what it’s going to cost to pay into the taxes pay and to all the things that you have to pay that comes with, with having staff members. But what I would say is the biggest thing that I’ve learned from having staff, it is such a big, it’s worth the investment. Because once you invest in staff, huge, you seriously can grow so much. And you can grow in the way of not only like financially but you grow in the amount of stress that has been reduced.

The amount of stuff that has been taken off my plate, it took me a long time to it took me about three months to even like let my staff do certain things. Because it’s really hard to let go also as an entrepreneur and just trust that your staff can can do the things that you’ve been doing forever. But it’s just it’s done out of stress that it reduces and how much more you can expand and grow as a business with staff is literally priceless.

You can always follow a budget of what you can afford for staff. So for instance, if we’re not having a great sales week, I can cut back on staff hours, and I can work more. And it’s also nerve wracking hiring staff because they’re not as passionate about your business as you are. But it’s so important when hiring staff to make sure you ask the right interview questions to make sure you truly understand who you’re hiring, what their experiences.

Honestly asking out of the box questions helped me find the best stuff because what’s important, you can teach staff a lot of things but you can’t always teach them. In the retail world, you can always teach them communication skills, you can’t teach customer service skills. You can’t teach passion. You can teach them how to fold clothes, steam clothes, check someone out. But it’s so important to ask those like open ended kind of like out of the box questions, so that you really find the people that are meant to be a part of your circle and a part of your business world. If that makes sense. Oh,

Quianna Marie
absolutely. Okay, so I’m burning to know, like, can you give us one example? I know I’m kind of like throwing you on the spot here. What is something that you would ask to kind of like throw people either off their game? Or like truly No, someone like, do you have like a go to question or is it always kind of,

Unique Interview Questions To Get Your New Hires Thinking

Erika
It can be pretty random depending on who I’m talking to. But our last interview it was so fun. We went to decadent Macron which is right next to us. They have the like the best macrons and coffee. It’s so cute. It’s such a vibe. And she comes in and for anyone that knows me I’m pretty weird and just like silly. And so we just like asked her basically, like honestly like what her favorite hobbies are. That was a big one. But then we asked her, we asked her to describe like what her ideal client would look like, like shopping client, like what would make you the most excited and what would make you the most happy and like what kind of shopper that came in.

Would you be the most excited about it Her answer was so interesting. It was like, my favorite kind of shopper is basically a mom and a daughter that come in. And this is what got me. And she said, and they both find something. And they’re both so excited when they leave, because a mom and a daughter both found something that they liked. And she goes, and I’m talking like a 25 year old daughter, and maybe a 55 year old mom, they both come in, they find something they love, and they’re so excited about it. And I was just like, you know, what Toby made about? Like, cry. Yeah, yeah. Just like questions like that. But that one was a really cool experience. And then we just honestly talked about our love of dogs. We talked about, just like weird things that we like, think is funny, and just really personal.

Quianna Marie
Yes, I love that. And I feel like you’re absolutely right there. We learn this, right, like in different marketing classes and you know, strategy studies that you really can teach people the basics, you can teach them transactions, but what you can’t teach is how they say hello to people like how, how they carry themselves, and you know how they converse with others.

You’re not going to learn this unless you actually interview them and ask the right questions. So can you share with us who your very first hire was? Like, what was that process? And what were you thinking when you’re like, like, you kind of like had those white knuckle moments like, okay, I can tell here. Who was that first one.

Erika
Our first one was Chrissy, and she’s our store manager. Everybody knows her loves her. She’s the kindest soul alive. And she had been shopping Sophie Mae since day one, I also worked out with her at a gym. And she just kept saying to me, when you need somebody, I would love to work for you. She’s a stay at home mom, she was like I can give you as many hours as you need. And so we started hiring her for special events, farmers markets, big events in the tiny boutique.

Then when she filled out that like w two form filled out, we we got like a whole system on our computer for signing all the correct documents and setting up payroll. And that was the crazy experience. Like for me, the fact that I have employees and I have staff, I remember when I sent out you would think when you send out your first payroll, you would be like, Oh, that sucked. But I cried. I was so excited. I was like, I just paid my staff. Like I paid them. Like me, little me. I pay like I just paid like five staff members. What? Like how do i How did that happen? Who did it? Who am I? So she’s our first hire, she has been absolutely incredible. And I truly could not run so for me without her. Yes.

Quianna Marie
Oh my gosh, well, and I love how I noticed this pattern. And a lot of businesses and even some of the other conversations I’ve had here on the podcast where, you know, sometimes we think we have to, like, you know, go to indeed.com or like really like cast a wide net to find this like magical unicorn employee. When really, oftentimes our first hires are the people that are already in our inner circle the people that are already cheering for us. I love that you mentioned that because he’s already a huge shopper of SMB.

She loves supporting you from day one and you quickly grew a friendship and here she is she’s like alright, Put me in coach like how can I help you and that’s a beautiful reminder for anyone that’s ready to take that leap of faith hiring your team you’re like wait a second, like let’s take inventory of the ones that are already closed and that already understand the vibe already understand the culture.

Erika
Well and I think going back to what I said to about interview questions, so Chris, he has never been a store manager before she really hadn’t worked retail either. But we’ve learned together and we’ve grown together and I think what’s so beautiful is like I just knew that she was meant for this role because of who she is as a person and how much she believes in the Sophie main mission and what we’re about and just like I said you can teach those store manager skills but like the way that she makes our shoppers feel is what’s the most important Oh yeah,

Quianna Marie
she’s the best are like smiling face and she’s always wearing Sophia she’s just she’s adorable and and I love this so let’s okay let’s continue here because I I love your you mentioned the culture and the vibe and I love your heart for shopping tiny shopping local. And one thing I love about tiny is the she pops up I do bench and at these markets. I know locally here right here with our friend Jess with cork a crash like you are sometimes popping up there for collaborations and farmers markets and stuff. So I would love to ask you how has collaborating helped boost awareness for you and also uplift tons of other small businesses around us? Like let’s chat about that. So

Erika
I would say collaborate Dealing with small businesses is the most, probably the most important thing that you can do for your own business and for their business. So collaborating is so, so so important in the small business realm because it creates so much awareness. And honestly, like, you take my following, for instance, on Instagram, and then you take court crushes following on Instagram, and we just collaborate together, we’re just reaching so many more eyes and so many more people. And the beautiful thing about Arizona that I’ve noticed that I didn’t maybe notice back home in Iowa is the just insane need and want that people have here to support small.

I think that when you support each other, it just makes people want to come out and shop or, you know, especially if you do these collaborated like events, like you can go have a glass of wine and a cheeseburger with your friends while you shop. You can get some permanent jewelry at the same time. Or you can make a really cool custom cowboy hat. But you’re doing all these things and supporting these families that are not big box companies.

They’re literally like when you buy from them, they’re feeding their families, they’re paying their mortgage, they’re paying their their phone bill their car bills, like all of that. And I think being able to be a part of supporting other small businesses to just, it makes it all worth it.

Quianna Marie
Yes, I love that so much. And I I love the fun, even the fun events that you’ve been posting. Like there’s just there’s so much power in collaboration and in wordy and local. And, you know, and that’s the beauty of it. She like you mentioned is like expanding our network, right? Like you are literally like anytime you share a post and you’re boosting somebody, you are like you’re paying our bills like this is not just like oh, hey, great, like now I can buy another yacht or okay, you know, add another billion to my account like, this is literally allowing small business owners, their daughters to dance, you know what I mean?

Erika
Like well, and a lot of small business owners are hand crafting things. So one of my best friends is a cookie decorator and she’s so talented, but she’s hand decorating each and every cookie, we have people that are creating jewelry, creating hats, making candles, literally pouring their own soy candles. And so I think just continuing to collaborate and just share about how important it is to shop small and to shop local. It’s just I think it’s so important, especially today with like the economy to I think it’s so important to support each other.

Quianna Marie
Yes, and I also find too and this is almost kind of like going back to our roots here and like you know, you creating your culture and creating your vibe for Sophia Mei Li You know, I just it’s crazy to me that when you truly feel in alignment with who you are, who you’re serving, what you’re what you’re doing with your business, you’ll quickly be a magnet for other businesses with that same alignment too. Right And and I think that’s beautiful because just like you mentioned somebody getting permanent jewelry and getting candles like going back to your one of your employees for the question about you know, I really see a mother and daughter coming in and having that experience like they will also get a little matching bracelets with the permanent jewelry or they’ll pick up a candle or pick up a gift or another you know mother daughter duo or something like I just think there’s there’s so much power in when you truly feel like you’re answering answering your own calling.

You’re gonna find your tribe right and they’re gonna have even more ideal clients that will be like cross shopping with you. I just I just think it’s so beautiful. So okay, can you chat with us more because I feel like the thought of me like personally opening up a boutique. sounds insane because I literally every day I’m like, one day I wake up and I’m like, Oh, I’m like a Western girl like I love my turquoise. I love my jeans. I love my like Laney like my Lainey Wilson bell bottoms right and then the next day I’m like oh no, I feel like Sporty Spice today and then the next day I want to be like frilly in pink. So like I would love for you to share a little bit how you cultivated it just the heartbeat of Sophie May Boutique.

Creating The Culture of Sophie May Boutique

Erika
Right so I wanted to open a store for women with the idea in mind of the everyday girl. So I really wanted to embody in our style. What an everyday girl would need. So if you come to Sophie may because you have a brunch that you’re going to you can find something maybe you’re going on a date night, maybe you’re going to a wedding and you need like a special dress. Maybe you just want some really cute loungewear or you are going to waste management open and you want a cute golf outfit. Or you are really looking you’re going on a trip to maybe Mexico or Hawaii and you want some really fun swimwear or you want something to wear on your vacation or you just like you want your everyday outfit you want jeans and and graphic T and you just want what I’m wearing today.

You just want to feel comfortable but you want to still they’ll have the stylish and trendy at an affordable price. But you can find something you need for just like your everyday life, while still being trendy. So, nothing to fashion forward. Nothing too crazy out there. Just truly your everyday girl, if you’re going to a country concert, we have tons of Western, if you’re looking for that more boho fit, we also have that. So just it really embodies just again that everyday girl.

Quianna Marie
I love that you’re mentioning that too. Because like you have to have that vision, right? Like you have to have that that core fabric literally within your clothing shop. That kind of ties it all together. And, and I love I really would like to dive deeper into your experience, right? Like you mentioned earlier about the different senses.

Just your ability to create this experience, where it’s not just like laying on your couch, ordering clothing from Amazon, like trust me, we all have our little like, save for later, you know, but you know, cart going on, but like, but when you walk into some of you may and actually, we haven’t even mentioned this. So let’s like I think I might have a question coming up soon. But yeah, you officially have your brick and mortar store, right? So can you share about that, because I feel like you were able to absolutely establish that intimate shopping experience and that really fun memory for you know, young women and moms around our neighborhood and then in your tiny boutique. And then you’re like, wait a second, like, I need a brick and mortar. So when did that come into play? Let’s chat about that. Yeah,

Erika
so I think that was another conversation you and I had, we’re at a different taco shop. It’s still tacos. And I think I knew that we were growing out of the tiny boutique. We still have the tiny boutique, she’s great. But I think the problem that I was running into was I was doing these markets all the time. And I was getting a lot of okay, but if I need to make an exchange, where do I go? If I want to shop on a random Tuesday, like, how can I find you?

Shopping with Sophie May Boutique

I was like, well, there’s really no way you have to wait till our next event. And also just we didn’t have enough room for all of our clothing in the tiny boutique. And so I started working with a commercial real estate agent in the neighborhood who’s also amazing. And we started looking at different locations talking about pricing. And he just really knew this was a lot easier than the tiny boutique because we had grown so much that I felt more competent in it.

I just wanted, the most important part to me was finding the right location. So I wanted I knew I wanted to be in Gilbert. But I wanted somewhere that felt really special. And I remember I looked at a few places, I’d really fallen in love with the place that we’re in because the size of it was great. It’s 800 square feet, which just is another I wanted it to feel like an extension of the tiny boutique. So I still wanted it to feel like a shop tiny environment. You come in, it’s very personable. Somebody always talks to you says hi to you. Makes you feel really good. And so and I wanted Chris to do all the woodworking to kind of match it to the tiny boutique, which he did. He did amazing.

We’ve got the wood beams the shiplap walls, it’s just that whole comfortability vibe that we’ve we’ve been going for. But then there was an I guess we haven’t gotten into the name of Sophie Mae boutique. But there was a I had decided, Okay, I think this is right. But I talked to you. And I was like, I just I haven’t had that sign. Like I don’t have that sign that this is right. And this is the right location. And I remember right after we talked, I drove by, because I’ve been driving by this location, like every single day, like give me a sign, what’s my son? And they had just put up a huge mural, right on my building, like right on the side, a huge mural. And it was a picture of a girl and their dog.

For those that don’t know, so he may go to is named after my very first dog. And it literally it was the craziest experience. I pulled over. I was in tears. I was like, Oh my God, that’s like, I’m gonna cry now. Like, that is like 1,000% my sign. And it was honestly just, I don’t know, like it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Yeah. That’s so sorry.

Quianna Marie
I know. It can be so emotional. Sorry. If you’re listening. This is what happens. We laugh we cry.

Erika
Yeah, yeah, it was really, it was really cool.

Quianna Marie
Yeah, it’s so beautiful. Erica, and I’m so happy that you shared that and I think it’s funny to to kind of make it light hearted. I’m sure do people think your name is Sophie.

Erika
I do all the time. I just did a poll on Instagram and like 30% of the people thought I was Sophie. I literally will go to the grocery store and people will be like, hey, Sophie. I love that. Yeah,

Quianna Marie
I am such an advocate for those signs, right like, okay, like, you know, whether you’re praying to your God or the universe or you know, magic in the stars, whatever it is that you believe like, there are signs everywhere and we have to look for them and I They also think to like, there’s this feeling that you know that you’re in alignment, because you’re taking action for that, right?

Looking For The Signs

I don’t feel like the universe would have presented this sign for you, without giving you the opportunity for tiny first, right? Like, it’s like you agree, there are these these little stepping stones that you have to experience. But like, that would happen. If you still were just, you know, really running with your online boutique, like if nothing had actually come to the farmers markets yet. Right? Like, right. Yeah. So like, that’s a message. If you know, you’re, you’re hearing this thinking, okay, like, I don’t see any signs, or maybe you’re feeling lost? Like, you just have to take action, right?

Erika
No, I agree. Because all of these choices that I’ve made, like had I not made them when I did, I just think that everything happens for a reason. And if your gut and your heart and your mind are telling you, like you might have like voices in your head or like voices in your head, you might have like these voices that are saying, This is scary. What if you fail? What if it doesn’t go? Well? What if nobody wants to shop with you like, et cetera? But if you have this overwhelming feeling in your heart that it feels right, I’m just a huge advocate of just like, go for it. Because what’s the worst that will happen? I mean, honestly, yes.

Quianna Marie
Oh, my gosh, well, I feel like we’ve been talking, I feel like this conversation has been your like, express to success, right? Like this. Like, you know, you started with this idea. You have been a shopper for decades. And yeah, your store. But as we all know, like there’s there’s highs that are high, high, high, and there’s lows that bring us to the bottom, and then six feet under, and then we’re there, right? Like it’s there deep like we are, as entrepreneurs, we feel deeply. And so I would love if we can kind of kind of turn the conversation to sharing that duality, like sharing that, you know, business is hard. Like it takes work. It takes sacrifice and commitment, and lots of mistakes, lots of stupid mistakes.

Erika
times. Yeah.

Quianna Marie
So can you please kind of enlighten us on, you know, the highs and the lows and what exactly you do to get yourself out of some of these difficult situations, or sometimes they’re not even real things are just our own mind box,

Erika
I would say that being an entrepreneur and a business owner, especially in the first two years, is literally one day as a high, the next day is a low and I mean, sometimes minute by minute, like, one minute, I can feel like everything is going amazing. And then the next minute, I might upset somebody or something might happen. And I am in tears. And I’m like, what, how did I mess this up? How did they make this mistake? Why is nobody shopping today? It’s just constant constant ups and downs.

I think that owning a business is hard no matter what. But again, those first couple of years, you have to sacrifice a lot. And I think that also when you reach for the stars, and you you go for your goals, you will have a lot of people that you thought would support you and they don’t. And I think that was maybe one of my biggest realities and the hardest thing that I dealt with, or you might have people being upset with you because you don’t go to things anymore, or you can’t you’re not as easily accessible, because you’re trying to reach for those dreams, right? So on the personal level, it can be really hard.

It’s hard to find balance. I mean, there was a period where I opened Sophie Mae and I wasn’t eating well. I was like putting on weight. Like, I wasn’t sleeping, I was stressed out, I was crying all the time. I mean, that’s just like the harsh reality of opening a business.

My mental health wasn’t great either. And I think, for me, what has really helped, has been, first of all, truly believing in myself. Second of all, doing things that are really healthy for you, even when you don’t feel like you want to do it. So going on that walk, taking that hike, trying to have a well balanced meal, going to therapy if you need it, doing deep breathing, just kind of whatever makes you feel good. I love taking baths. So doing things like that, making sure that I’m also surrounding myself with the right people.

Growing A Business With Genuine Friendships and Support

So having the right people in your life and in your corner is also very important. You know that you’ve been somebody for me that I feel like when I’m really down, I can call I can say whatever you need to say and there’s no judgement. You’re just like, Girl, let it out. But I would say but then the highs are so great. Like, I mean, there are times where the highs have been like just absolutely life changing and you’re so grateful and I’m even in my lows, I’m grateful. I think it’s just a part of it.

I think that it helps you grow as an individual and a person. But those lows are so so so normal. And I think just normalizing the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur is really important and giving yourself grace to feel those lows was, but not get stuck in them. So trying to pull yourself out of the lows with positive self talk or whatever it is, that helps you get out of those moments. Yes,

Quianna Marie
I’m so happy that we are kind of bringing this to light, right? Because I feel like I sometimes I hate this word. What does that like toxic positivity, where it’s like, you know, you’re a superhero, you can do anything and like, especially in business owners, and in these women groups, we, we kind of radiate that vibe, right? Like you’ve got a sister like, Yeah, but like, at on the same token, or like the same flip side, or like I always say, like, the moon always has two sides.

You know, once I like one side is the Dark Side of the Moon. We have to share those moments, we have to be able to communicate that and remind people like, hey, look like these things. They come in waves and you know, like, but we always, always have to route in the greater vision, right? Like, this is this is tough. Now I have to make the sacrifice, I have to find this balance. I need to just drink some water today and put my iced coffee down and drink water

Erika
or knowing when to take a day off. Like I need this for myself. Like I can’t answer emails today. I can’t deal with it today.

Quianna Marie
Absolutely, yes. I’m so happy because I do i i want this conversation and any future conversations, you know, to just be reminding that it is tough. Like it’s not, you know, like, it’s for everyone, as long as you have that drive. So I’m so grateful. Oh my gosh, is so good. So what is it? Let’s say so, I know you mentioned you know, like getting outside, you know, get into therapy, but like what is truly the thing that gets you out of bed, Erica, like what is the thing that makes you realize this is so much bigger than me? Like yes, your dream is to have this super cute boutique.

I even see like I literally see tiny one day like, like a concert series just like traveling, traveling across the US. Like I cannot wait for that one day. Road trip behind you. So funny. Yes. But like, what, what is it that truly drives you for the bigger picture?

Erika
I would say that it is the emails and the comments that I get, like I got one two weeks ago and somebody messaged me and she said, I am so happy that I came into Sophie Mae today, I was having the worst day of my life. And your staff all made me feel so much better. She goes I got the cutest clothes, I’ve never felt more confident. I’ve been really struggling with self confidence. And I’ve just been having a really hard time and she said I feel really safe when I met Sophie Mae. And she was a new customer. So I feel like a lot of my oh geez know that I have people like I had a girl her boyfriend broke up with her first place. She wanted to go with Sophie.

She just sat in her hammock she didn’t even buy anything. But I think just knowing that it’s for me, it’s not just the material of the clothing. It’s truly the the way that you feel when you come in. Like I hope when people come in, they feel like even if you don’t spend money, we’re so excited to see you. There’s a safe space, you can come in, you can hang out with us. But if you find an outfit that makes you feel competent, that’s amazing. That’s amazing. And we want that for you. So I think that’s what kind of gets me up and makes me realize like, like what I want out of Sophie may so Sophie may continues to grow what I want that to embody and what I want that to look like, I

Quianna Marie
love that you’re sharing this and you’re being so vulnerable to share these stories. So in closing, I always love asking everyone that pops on, what is your key tip? What is something that you wish you knew sooner and something you’d like to share with other entrepreneurs?

Erika
Yeah, I would say entrepreneurship isn’t easy. But it’s completely worth it if it’s what you want to be doing. Um, I feel like even if you feel like giving up or you’re really tired, or you’re unsure of yourself, it’s just so important to just keep going. So keep working.

Keep posting on social media. Even if you feel like you’re not getting any engagement, just post just post just keep trying. Go to the events, pass out flyers, I mean, walk around, I’ve walked around to every apartment building and house in their day where my store is and just like said, here’s our grand opening. Here’s a coupon like literally hand delivered them. network with people network with other businesses, go to Events, be kind be supportive, like just keep that positive attitude and even when you’re not feeling positive. It’s okay to take that break and reset yourself. Um, but I would say like my biggest tip is just keep going. Just keep doing the things. Yes,

Quianna Marie
no, I love that. That is the best advice ever. And I I always tell people that too, right where it’s like, you just have to take action. Just start at the messy middle show up and be supportive of those around you right like and I always say this to like, for me in my world with, like, with photography and online education, it’s like, if you want to receive those comments if you want to receive those shares and those legs like you need to give them like, you need to also engage as well. Right? And, and I love that you’re doing that with other small businesses, you’re knocking on doors, you’re, you’re taking up space airtight, like you’re like you’re here, like you are a real person, you have a real store. And you just want to share that vibe and share that criteria.

Erika
Yeah. Thank you. Yes.

Quianna Marie
Oh, my gosh. So where can we shop with you? How can we hop online right now put some items in our cart to like, how can we support you?

Sophie May Boutique – Let’s Connect + Shop

Erika
Yeah,so our website is just Sophie Mae boutique.com. When you sign on to the or when you get on to the website, there will be a pop up that says join our mailing list or email list, and you’ll get a code to shop for 15% off. Granted, we do have a lot of like we have a neuro drop every Thursday. So sometimes we throw out different discount codes, the email, our Facebook or Instagram, you can find our link on our Instagram and Facebook pages.

But you can also just type in SophieMayBoutique.com, you can visit us at our storefront location, which is very a police station off of limestone and record in Gilbert. And then you can also shop our tiny boutique. So on our website, we have all of our events listed. So it’s the start of market season. So almost every weekend, tiny will be traveling to all these different markets, which markets are my favorite.

The vibes are just amazing. And there’s usually anywhere between 60 and 150 other small businesses there. So there’s food trucks, there’s just like tons of small businesses, and you can get all the best stuff or honestly just enjoy your day walking around and supporting others, even if you don’t have a big budget to spend. We also have a rewards program that you can sign into online. And that rewards program that just allows you to earn points for gift cards. And then you also get a $25 gift card on your birthday just for having a birthday.

Quianna Marie
I love that. Yeah. Thank you so much, Erica, I cannot wait to see you. I can’t wait to pop in and come shopping. And it’s just it’s just truly an honor to know you to have made this connection here in our neighborhood and to see see your success like to see this growth in you. And you know, it’s so funny. I just recorded a podcast with Christie hydrogel. And we were just chatting about how you know, gosh, like we’re so lucky. We’re so lucky to have this community of women that are supportive and like, Let’s go like the sky’s the limit.

Erika
I agree. Well, I’m so grateful for you too. And you’re a huge part of Sophie me.

Quianna Marie
Thank you. Oh my gosh, but I love you and hope you have a beautiful day.

Erika
You too. Love you too.

Quianna Marie
Oh my gosh, that was a good one. And I’m so thankful you joined our conversation today. Please make sure to follow along with Sophie may boutique. I love being on their email list to receive upcoming announcements for upcoming events and even love their discounts and perks for joining their email list and make sure to check out the show notes or visit Sophie Mae boutique.com on and all the socials like go check out Sophie made boutique everywhere.

Your Erika is out there, baby. She’s rocking the cutest styles shopping small and collaborating with other local businesses. If you’re ever in a need to grab tacos, and hash out some crazy ideas, please reach out. I’d love to help support you and remind you to feel the fear and do it anyway. Be careful though, because if we hang out, I’m going to make you do some tough things.

So there’s your warning, but please reach out. Thanks again for listening it would mean the world to me for you to share this episode. If it’s in your ear and you enjoyed it. I’m sure three of your friends may need to hear this too. Taking a screenshot to share on social media or simply sharing a quick link to add to your besties playlist would mean the world to us.

Remember to shop locally as often as possible and to never forget that your dreams are on your heart for a reason. Start small and just keep going. We’re cheering for you can’t wait to connect next week. Okay, love you. Bye. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly featuring Sophie May Boutique.

Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast. I’d be honored if you show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on dancing!