well, well, well…

It appears to all be coming together. The paperwork is filed, the shipments are starting to trickle in and I have painted a small portion of a wall, progress! I’ve forgotten how tedious painting can be, I’ll be sure to integrate alcohol into the mix next time. It’s been a while since I’ve taken pride in a space. Painting the walls and actually making the effort to not carelessly splotch on the floors, baseboards and ceiling shows a lot of maturity. Speaking of completely normal and attainable life milestones, I’m moving into my first legitimate one-bedroom apartment. That’s right, one bedroom…all by myself… one bedroom, no roommates, actual room separation, just needed to brag a little. Considering all of my former residences should appear in the hovel hall of fame, this is kind of a big deal for me.

Surveying my kingdom

It’s a strange thing being a fledgling business and all. I don’t know when exactly I start to gain some legitimacy, but it’s kind of exhausting convincing potential brands that I am indeed a real person, and I do intend to sell their products in a legitimate manner.

I have a sign! Can’t get more legit than that

But I suppose I am partly to blame as well for appearing like a scam artist. I’ve shot off dozens of emails to brands with products that strike my fancy, and maybe a handful has actually replied. The rest ask me all sorts of questions, such as, what’s my store’s name, address, phone number, website, any social media platforms I participate in, and any specific products I’m looking to carry. I mean geez, it’s like they don’t want to take a blind chance on an anonymous person from the internet or something. How am I supposed to catch a break!? All of these questions spook me and I recede back behind the dark veil of the internet, never to be heard from again. But in all seriousness, I’m very grateful to the distributors, landlords, parents, real estate agents, bank tellers, licence bureaus and everyone else who has taken a chance on me so far. Quite a boon for me and my humble beginnings!

xx

I spy with my little eye a key that opens the door to my very own store!

It’s about damn time. So I finally have a home, and on Lakeshore to boot! Who would have thought? Isn’t she beautiful? I don’t care who you are or where you’ve been, this is arguably the most magnificent building anyone has ever seen, no?

I decided to broaden my Toronto-centric location search and move further West to the Port Credit neighborhood of Mississauga. My brother and sister-in-law bought a condo in Port Credit last year. When I heard this news I thought, what the hell were they thinking? Mississauga? What? But look at me now, Mississauga bound and pretty happy about it! No stranger to jumping into things I know nothing about, I think I might be pretty happy here. All the people I’ve observed on the street seem quite leisurely and content.  Everyone I see is either jogging or in an intimidatingly large group of cyclists in aerodynamic outfits. It’s aspirational in a way, I’ll never be jogging or cycling among them, but it will encourage me to not be as sedate and slovenly as I would be normally, don't want to bring down the community morale. 

Now all the real work begins! I think I’m thinking too much about paint colours and furniture placement and not enough about what is actually going to be SOLD in the store and how I’m going to pull that off. That’s my business acumen shining through. Guess I better get a move on, I've got a lot of paint chips and wood finishes to mull over...

xx