Hi…. I’m “Contessa.” I’ve been blogging as Contessa since 2010. I opened a garden and gift shop in 2008 and began blogging two years later in 2010. Necessity had brought me to that decision. I was enjoying the fulfillment of my dream, but even though my store was charming, I had to figure out how to bring shoppers in the shop door.
There is joy is in this journey, and the struggle is part of the joy. The final destination is not an end, but another beginning of another journey. And so it will continue. My personal joy and the rivers of pleasure that God intends for me to experience, have been planned perfectly since the day I was born.
“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of Joy; At your righthand are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11) My Lord gave me this promise.
In 2008 social media use was peeking. Instagram and Facebook were tugging at me, and I frankly didn’t really know how to use these tools. I was very new to this, but I had heard about WordPress from an intern that I hired to come to work with me during my first six months in business. I began by purchasing a WordPress account, with a one year subscription. Then I had to learn how to use the tool to populate the WordPress site. Prior to this, I had been operating my own home-based gardening business for three years. I was serving one client/household at a time, right in my own residence community. And by word of mouth, and the visible signs of my gardening efforts, that had been just enough to keep some momentum going to bring in new clients. I advertised in the community newsletter, word spread and before I knew it, I was recognized as the community gardener of choice. I was selected and approved by the condominium association to serve our residents gardens as an approved gardening vendor and the community website listed me among several other approved vendors as Parkfairfax “contractors.”
My gardening business was actually my first attempt at owning something that was my own. Gardening sustained me for three years, but I had always wanted and dreamed of owning a small retail shop, so in between my gardening gigs, I visited thrift shops, attended auctions and quietly searched for a storefront that I could rent to open up a shop. I saved, worked hard at maintaining good credit, researched online sites for merchandise, began attending Small Business Roundtable meetings and made reliable and knowledgable contacts at the Small Business Development Center, an arm of the local Chamber of Commerce. This org was built by local leaders who had either previously owned small businesses or they were retired bankers, civic leaders, and lawyers who gave their time to prospective business owners like me, mentoring and helping to lead us in the direction of business ownership. They assisted me in writing a business plan and so I was then ready to find space to lease.
I had been discreetly searching for a spot to begin my dream for over ten years. I finally found a vacant location, signed a five-year lease, and began moving a few pieces of garden furniture, antique furniture, and “antique smalls” of my own, into my new building suite. I look back on it now, and it was such a small beginning.
I needed to purchase furniture to set up an office, purchase a business computer system, order and establish credit with vendors to be able to buy their merchandise. Things began to roll along and each day I put one foot in front of the other and watched my dream shop materialize. I was proud of my accomplishments, and I believed in what I was doing.
Once in…and open for business, I began contacting vendors from previous relationships at a thriving business where I had worked part time in addition to my gardening adventure. That previous part time job, gave me enough knowledge and confidence to venture out on my own. I made an attempt to purchase that store, but the negotiations lasted three years and eventually broke down. It was time to move on. Lessons learned. My best advice if you are trying to purchase an existing business is to hire a lawyer. Eventually it became clear to me that stepping out on my own was my true “calling.” The Lord was by my side all the way. The confidence I had gained working in a large shop gave me what I needed to step forward into the reality that I was was choosing for myself.
Searching for retail space can be very challenging and I knew that I needed a formal business plan in order to have the research needed to present to a building owner, so that I could secure a building lease. I had no fear. In fact, that was the very reason I had taken that position working in another shop so that I could gain experience to venture into my new dream.
I searched for so long to find a place to launch my own business, and the day I finally found it, was very exciting. I put down a $5k security deposit on the building, and the day I moved in, I paid $2500 for my first months rent. All cash. My own brick and mortar store had become a reality. My official name was Contessa’s Garden and Gift, and I was now a retail business owner. I applied online for an LLC on my own, through the State of Virginia website, a four hour endeavor. I then applied for a business license through my local city government office of Alexandria, VA and applied for a name for my store. All these things had to be formally accomplished prior to opening my front door.
The storefront I chose was in a trendy growing community called Delray. I opened my doors on March 1st, 2008. Little did I know…..that combining a gardening business and a retail shop was going to mean that I had bitten off slightly more than I could chew. I thought I could continue serving my gardening clients in my neighborhood, about one mile away from my new store. Within two weeks time I realized it was going to be either the gardening business or the retail store. But in my mind and heart….I did not put the idea away of gardening again. My home was in Parkfairfax about one mile from my new shop. It’s a known fact that starting a business from the ground up requires hours of one’s own “sweat equity” and a ton of very hard work. I literally worked every day for six months from 7 am to 7 pm, and then at 7 pm, after closing my store, I would work until the midnight hours to unpack, price, display, clean, balance my books and go about setting up new accounts with over thirty nationwide vendors, so that a flow of new merchandise could be timed appropriately to arrive each season for my new customers. All of this was part of my huge dream of shop ownership. I’d achieved my goal. Tears of joy and gratitude came. And my creator walked with me day and night. I never walked alone. I was on my own, but he was always there with me giving me support and encouragement.
Social media was the best way to reach my audience so I chose WordPress as my communication vehicle and began photographing with a digital camera and posting new arrivals of merchandise every day. I was so pressed for time as a sole proprietor, that I posted mostly pictures in the beginning. I was trying to win my audience by “wowing” them with daily photography posts. Within a year I purchased an Apple iPhone and my digital camera became history. Technology was moving fast and I had to learn very quickly to keep up. I was writing by now and my content was very important to catch my customers interest. During this time in my adventure, each store visitor signed a contact roster when they came in to visit. My contact list grew so rapidly I hired a student part time to come three days a week and enter my new contacts into my customer contact database. It worked and became successful enough to put me “on the map” so to speak. A local newspaper featured my store which really helped. I taught myself how to navigate WordPress, how to use an iPhone, take digital photos and upload them, and the rest is history. I was now on social media and it really helped me grow my business.
It’s now Jan 2024. I have closed my store and once again I am back to my first love…. Gardening. I’ve been gardening once again since 2018. My posting on WordPress has taken on many new topics related to my gardening projects, my Yoga practice, my Etsy selling activity, spiritual reflection, seasonal liturgy studies, cooking, recipes and sharing my faith based beliefs and highlighting the profound relationship I have with my creator, nature and my gardening. endeavors.
Now I believe God is calling me to write and to share with others, about my faith journey. And…..the “love of my life” is encouraging me and politely “pushing” and attempting to stretch me, in his own loving way, to become the author and the person he knows…..and I know….has the skills and gifts to achieve my newest dream. Amen!
I believe I am being called to write about gardening and nature, my yoga practice, and to share with all my readers about my faith journey… and how it has led me to this important calling in my life? I’m praying about this and I know the Lord will bring me to his plan and path for his greater glory. I wait…and I pray….I am still… and I trust.
I have had a wonderful long life with so many blessed experiences and plenty of real life barriers, and a few mountains to climb. But I am confidant that I have an amazing opportunity to share how I have come this far, and how my creator has led me and changed my heart and my life. I feel chosen to share with others….so that I might make a real difference in others lives, as it relates to their future spiritual paths and their calling from their God.
Thank you for hearing the introduction to my story. I have great hope, and I am anxious to proceed. Let us together experience the joy of the journey in the pages that unfold in this book.
“Contessa”