Making Luck
10 years ago today, I finalized the closing on our building – it was truly an eyesore and in a run down block, but it was what I could afford. I had taken a day off from my FSU job and after the paperwork I took myself for a special coffee at Liam’s Restaurant.
I’ve been thinking a lot about our start, our 10 year anniversary this Fall certainly is cause for reflection, but also my beloved therapist of 12 years is retiring next month and I have been recounting to her what she wrought. I thought I might recount a few of them for you. It’s not that she said; “quit your job, open a yarn shop” but that at the end of each session she asked; “what could you do today that would be for yourself?” And it was always knitting, and then that led to “how could you have more of that in your life?” . . .
I also recently cleaned my office and came upon my little notebook that I took to therapy with me and also to the Small Business Administration meetings – something that jumped out at me was this note:
Lucky people make their luck because of their attitude:
- Maximize chance opportunities
- Listen to intuition
- Expect a positive outcome
- Takes quick control of a bad situation
Now, I’ve had a lot of situations in my life no one would call lucky (hence the therapist on board). On balance I would definitely say I’m lucky, especially in the world of Fuzzy Goat. I'm a "make lemonade out of lemons" kinda girl. We HAVE had tremendous luck, some top 10 moments where the stars aligned and we made the most of it!
- Driving by the goat farm just when my husband asked me what I would call my shop – the goat image just keeps on giving and a bit later The G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) took off 🐐
- Matthew McConaughey choosing the Fuzzy Goat story to feature in his series: Grits & Greenlights
- An affordable building available in the little town in which I wanted to open (I lived in Tallahassee, but at the time there were 4 yarn shops and I was their customer and didn’t want to compete)
- Southern Living magazine including us in their Christmas issue on Thomasville in 2017
- Having a yarn rep tell me, 18 months after opening, go to this yarn business meeting in Atlanta instead of using the $$ to buy yarn – that’s where I met my friend Janet Avila, String Theory Yarn Company (which led to Sarah Keller , Knot Another Hat = Good Vibes Yarn Tour) and met Retail Mavens, our business coach, that leads to all sorts of wonderful ideas for you all. quality of life for the team and makes sure that we are sustainable for years to come!
- Ritz Amphitheater developed behind Fuzzy Goat (partially thanks for Fuzzy Goat contributing a chunk of land and a lovely oak tree – the city could take care of the tree better than we could)
- New streetscape for our block of Downtown Thomasville
- All the amazing LOCAL craftspeople: branding by Fontaine Maury, amazing vintage finds, talented contractors and, Honeybee Fabrications making our bags and dyer, KnitWise Fibers making all sorts of yarn events amazing
- That the space next door was available twice – the 1st time covid broke out and I just couldn’t imagine taking that on, then a year later, we expanded our online sales and needed the space and it was available again!
- And there was that week during the covid shutdown that everyone who worked with me quit – all to get jobs with more hours. Within a week, we learned Melissa was interested and we sought out Madelyn and Carolina came back after the school she worked at closed down. This team created our own luck!
Impact beyond the shop
As we celebrate our #FuzzyTurnsTen year I wanted to tell you again what your support of our shop has meant - you know you are supporting so many makers who fill our shelves with their dreams.
And I know you know that you are supporting me in my dream - but I wanted you to know what Fuzzy Goat has meant to my family. When I started this endeavor I really felt pretty indulgent, I took time and resources from my family. Sure, my kids were mostly grown, but what I did still impacted them. But through our Fuzzy Goat and Thomasville experience it turns out my husband Mike found his calling developing and leading tours in this sweet town and he's never been happier. My oldest son Graham is part of the Liam's Restaurant family, the best job he's ever had thanks to friend and mentor Rhonda. My musician son Miles landed a tailor-made job at the FSU Music Library; he learned about the job because a lovely knitter came in to use her birthday coupon. And both of my sons met amazing women thanks to where they work. And my daughter Carolina has not only been working alongside me for years, and most impactfully, she met Natalie who took a learn to knit class with us; Carolina and Natalie have been married for three years. At Thanksgiving, I always feel the need to apoligize for not having cooked for 3 days and our larger house, but everyone around our table, are grateful to all of you for bringing us together. Those new faces are priceless.
You never know what other lives you are benefitting when you support a small business. You made so many good things happen for our family 😘.