Yours No More

I’m supposed to be sad. I’m supposed to be embarrassed. I’m supposed to be disappointed. But what I am is nothing short of relieved! We recently made the decision to close our Yours For Your Day rentals business. We started the business back in 2014 and had big plans to grow it to a very large business that we could someday sell to help fund our retirement plans. We dreamed about having the day-to-day operations run by capable hired hands so that we could just focus on the big picture and I could jump in and act as buyer when there was a need for new inventory (because hey, that was the fun stuff!) But that’s not at all how it ended up panning out.

I Failed

I failed at least on some levels with “Yours”. I didn’t invest the proper amount of time during its infancy. I stumbled my way through the first year, trying to research and learn as much as I could about running a business and it began to build slowly. I got out there and tried to be sure that people in the wedding industry knew we existed even though I dreaded the mandatory networking! And then we purchased our home in the mountains and our house needed a lot of work. Work we were prepared and excited to do ourselves. But that meant a focus on the house rather than the business. Throughout the year of home renovation, the business carried on. We fulfilled orders as they came in but the house was definitely what dominated our time. And that time was challenging for us. We hadn’t yet started to really build our relationship with God and we didn’t have prayer to sustain us. We trudged through with the house projects and dropped everything to deliver and pick-up vintage furniture and decor from weddings over each weekend during the summer months. It was hard and every time Warren was pulled away from his desk to work on the house or handle the rentals, he wasn’t nurturing his own consulting business which by the way, is what paid the bills!

Last year, as the house projects were slowly completing and we began to see a light at the end of the tunnel, I made a commitment to dedicate more of our resources (physical, mental, and financial) towards growing the business to what we envisioned it to be. And it began to work, leads and booked orders started to increase, but the amount of work and then time I needed Warren’s help also grew.

Finding Faith

All along, there were issues with the company that were tugging at my thoughts. Issues about whether I could really do this. I began to feel a tremendous amount of pressure; we had already invested so much! Self-doubt crept in and I started to beat myself up about whether I could truly make this rentals business a success. I was determined and luckily by this time a little over a year ago, we began to develop our faith. We found an amazing church and a church family filled with genuine people we began to develop friendships with. I at least now had my God to go to for guidance through prayer. I first asked God to help me to discern the direction I should take with this business. I then began to thank God for whatever He was already working on to get me to the right place. I dug deep for patience and tried to remain vigilant in watching and listening for His guidance. Warren and I kept doing what we were doing; juggling house projects, his business, my business and life! I was growing tired. Tired in body, mind, and spirit. But I kept praying and waiting.

Proverbs 19:21 – Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

The doubts and questions I had about the business persisted so I knew I had to start listening to them. No more just pushing through. This could be exactly what I’ve been praying for. Was I smart enough to take heed? Quiet enough to let God instruct me on the next move? And then just last month, one development after the other began to unfold until finally, I had what I had been asking for. You see, the leads were picking up and the rest of the year was starting to look busy for the business. And that freaked me out! By this point, even though we were planning to hire staff to help with deliveries, I knew what more leads and more booked orders still meant for Warren and I. It meant that we would still be busy overseeing all of those deliveries, it meant being readily accessible for every delivery going out in case a truck broke down or a crew member didn’t show up. It meant us making deliveries when there were too many for just the hired crew to handle. It meant more time away from Warren’s business and more work that I had just grown too tired of completing. Schlepping furniture all the time is not easy for a mature woman such as myself!

When we were approached by our office/warehouse manager about a possible rent increase and the need for us to enter into a 12 month lease (we had been in a month-to-month lease), I just knew what God was placing on my heart! It was time to close the business. But there was something else He had been placing on my heart. It was the need for me to develop another path in life. One devoted to doing something bigger and more life-giving than running my own business. I have been pulled over the past several months to serve more and give more. And I don’t yet know what that all means. It could be starting this blog initially but I don’t think that’s all there is to this. And here’s where I need to dig deep again for patience. I am a control freak; something I’m working really hard to curtail. I’m trying to allow God all control and when I am able to do that, it is an amazing feeling! So much peace, so much relief. I’ve been telling people I just need to be “still” for a period of time and allow God to unfold His plan for me in His time. It’s tough, I want to sit and brainstorm about a good cause to get involved with, perhaps a job to bring in a little spending money each month, a way to assist others, do more for my church, and on and on. But I need to stop and just be still. I need to let go of what my future has in store for me because God already knows what that is and I just have to trust in Him!

Prevailing Purpose

So that’s it, that is where we are at. We are currently working to sell off our inventory and vacate the warehouse so that my “stillness” can truly begin. This blog will be a nice way to do something that does not demand much but keeps me focused on my faith. And we are excited for our future. No rentals business means no wedding season. No wedding season means we have our summers back. Because the house projects are nearly complete, we can afford to take time away to travel again! We traveled so much in the early years of our marriage and we loved it! So we’re looking forward to whatever is next for us. For whatever God has planned for us. No matter the challenges, the accomplishments, the failures; none of it matters because we have so much more in Christ, always.

Failure and Success

So yes, in the grand scheme of things, I failed. I failed to make this business grow to what we had planned. But I’ve succeeded in so much more. I succeeded in taking on the challenges of building a business. I succeeded in growing a business, at least to some degree. I succeeded in creating a strong reputation in the industry of taking care very good care of our clients. And I succeeded in knowing when it needed to be over. But my greatest success is being able to allow God to speak to me, to hear His guidance, to feel his gentle nudges. And for that I am so thankful and my heart is full and my decision to close the business feels right! And that’s all I can ask for. Thanks so much for reading!

In Christ,
{Shelley}