Today Sequin Cinderella Boutique turns 3 and I find myself sitting here wondering where those 3yrs have gone. In some ways it feels like I have been here my whole life and in others it feels like it was only yesterday that I opened the doors.
I remember when I first decided to open, I thought… I will give myself three years and if it isn’t working by then I will give up. It seemed so far away at the time and the thought of being successful seemed a million miles away. Now I sit here 3yrs on with a thriving business and I wonder how the thought of giving up ever entered my mind.
Whilst I can honestly say that I love what I do, I won’t lie and say its been easy or that I have loved every day. I have many a day were I have total break downs and I literally want to burn the place to the ground. I have days were I actually hate the place, I have quiet days, I have stressful days, I have days were I am up to my eyes in paper work and bills and numbers, I have days were I never want to see another dress again in life… And then there are the good days, the great days, which most definitely outnumber the bad. The days were my customers fall in love with an outfit or the days were I go home with the biggest smile on my face after being run off my feet… the busy days, the chaos, the excitement, that’s what I love the most. Recently I even had the honour of winning RSVP Magazine Boutique of the year and the JCI Top Ten Outstanding Young Person award. Receiving recognition like that really makes all of the hard work worthwhile.
It is so crazy to look back over the process of creating the boutique, from the day I got the keys right through to the opening day. I know I have shown you guys before but I attached some pictures below so you can see the transformation and to show you that if you have a clear enough vision and ambition, anything is possible!
So without getting into a million cliches and corny “Miss World” speeches, I would like to thank all of my customers from the bottom of my heart for making this possible. Thank you for the best three years, for allowing me to do something that I love and for supporting me on this crazy little journey – heres to many, many more exciting years to come!
Nicola xx
To celebrate there will be 20% off in store and online at www.sequincinderella.com for the week! Just enter code – 3rdbirthday – at checkout.
This was what the building looked like on the day that I got the keys.
And this is what it looked like on my opening day! What a crazy transformation.
The inside was in bad need of repair. It was also split into two separate rooms so I had to knock through to make it one big room. It is so crazy to look back and remember it like this. Seems like a completely different building.
Demolition Day – This was the day when it all started to get very real. It was also a little scary as I had no idea what to expect or how things were going to end up but it was very exciting to see it starting to take shape.
Amazing what some plaster and paint can do!
The finished product!