I bought a music store. People who don't know me have asked, "What prompted you to do that?!" Some are incredulous, as if they think I suddenly made an impulsive move and decided to sell sheet music. I feel like kidding them, "Well, it was between the music store and a hog farm."
Those who know me see it as the natural progression that it is, and friends and family have been incredibly supportive and happy for me, even as I have all but abandoned everyone but Scott and my kids. And maybe even them. I have lost count of how many times I've forgotten to pick up or take one of my kids somewhere over the past couple of months. They are good sports. Every one of them has picked up the slack big time.
The genesis of the music store idea was, of course, a long time ago. In fact, when Heather Simonsen opened Kaysville's first music store 15 or so years ago, her daughter was one of my violin students. Heather and I talked about how we both wanted to eventually run a store. Araceli was a baby, Ruby and Golda were tiny. It wasn't my time, but it was hers. She ran the store for 12ish years, and then sold out to Bountiful Music. When the Barfus family approached me about buying the store several months ago, I knew it was my time. Granted, it's not ideal timing. Tziporah is still little, I'm teaching preschool and ballet and 12 violin students, Ruby is a senior, I'm helping Mom with Nana, we have Frank, Freestone is going to Ballet West six days a week, sometimes twice a day. The list goes on, right? My plate is full if you put it on paper.
However, it's funny. The past two years, I have purposefully created space in my mind and my life. It really all started three years ago when Nana needed a lot of attention, and I decided I would try to help my mom with that. One of us or both of us would go to Bountiful every day to check on her, and I decided I would clear time to help with that. (Make no mistake, I still only carry a fraction of my mom's load. She is an incredibly admirable and caring daughter. I'm proud of her.) I worked diligently exercising my "No" muscle. I could have been exercising my body at the gym, but I said no, as much as I wish I had the desire to get fit. I said no to a lot of things. Helping at the school, joining the PTA, donating my time to things I'm not passionate about. Last year, I pulled my kids out of their music lessons for Ruby's senior year. As much as I loved their teachers and their music, I was craving space in our lives.
I knew that something would come along that would be the right thing to fill that space, and I wanted to make sure I was mindful enough to keep it free for the right thing. Life with seven kids can feel like a ground skirmish. It's us against all the things that demand our attention, and it's an active battle to fight off most of it, but fight we do. So when the music store fell into my lap, I was ready for it.
That said, the last couple of months have been a blur. Every week is a new challenge, and the learning curve is incredibly steep. The process of transferring the business over to me was long and arduous, involving business loans and paperwork, inventory and POS systems, hiring and forms and government agencies and documents. Throughout all the training and the mounds of paperwork, I had to learn a thousand details, and fast. How do you string a guitar? What is the difference between a B-flat clarinet and an A clarinet? Which publisher goes to which piano method? Which cork grease does Mr. Hendricks, the Davis High band director, want me to carry? Because if I carry something he doesn't recommend, it will sit on the shelf. Just so many details. There are 16,000 different items in our inventory library, and I am becoming very familiar with most of them.
My sleep is completely different now. It's like my dreams are just massive downloads of information into my brain as I try to take in all the new information. Last night I dreamed I was doing inventory on endless stacks of nail polish on a balcony with my kids and Scott. A band went by and I said, "What? Is the 4th of July parade today?" Every night, all night, I'm going over in my dreams how to do an invoice or make a PO. The dream last night was so telling, because everyone but Scott and my kids was off on another balcony, and I was unaware of the holiday. And then, in my dream, I was thinking of running to the end of the parade route so I could give the band kids a coupon to the store. My poor, overloaded brain is utterly consumed with conquering all this new knowledge.
I do love it. When we finally closed the sale, the day after Lauri's daughter got married, no less, I stood in the store in awe and delight. It was all mine! When the money from the sales started going into my own new bank account, it was thrilling. All day long, I love vanquishing problems and creating solutions. Late at night, though, I despair over the fact that the next day will bring a new set of puzzles to solve, will begin with a new zero balance on the sales report, and will take up more resources than I have, leaving less than nothing for my family. It's daunting, for sure.
Fortunately, I am old enough to take it in stride with the perspective that I will get it all under my belt and life will come into balance again. In the meantime, my family has been stellar. Scott is right there with me, designing logos, researching printers, taking care of life details. My mom, Emily, Marlene and Nikki have just absorbed Tziporah into their lives. When she's not with them, she's at the store helping me, and miraculously, she does well there. My dad went over the sales contract and protected me from every possible negative outcome. I loved seeing him in his lawyer mode. He's so good. Bruce and Scott have been working on the new space (we're moving the store to a bigger location in the King & King Law building May 1). Yesterday, Scott and Bruce worked all day on a new wall. Nikki gave me a design plan, and I'm trying to implement it step by step. Things have fallen into place. Scott and I had dinner with Jonathan and Petrina, our good friends. Jonathan has been a close friend since junior high. He retired from a high-powered career in mergers and acquisitions and he and Petrina run an organic farm in Snohomish. The night we went to dinner, I was in the process of negotiating the sale of the music store, and he gave me the precise advice and information I needed.
Ironically, with my world expanding exponentially, I have become a one-note bore, as I'm sure I was at the dinner. A few weeks ago, I drove a carload of Dance Company girls to the U for a thing. I eyed the girls and zeroed in on Amy Abel. I said, "Amy, sit right here. Tell me everything about the trumpet." All the way to Salt Lake, Amy educated me on all things trumpet. When Araceli and Ellison came to the music store, I peppered Ellison with questions about what band music to carry, which mallets are better, and which keys on the store piano are sticky. If you know anything I don't know, I will corner you.
All the time, I say to myself, "People do this." People restring guitars, people choose POS systems, people grocery shop at 6 am in twenty minutes before their first violin student so they can teach before getting 7 kids to school and teaching preschool so they can get to the music store and email 10 new suppliers with tax ID information and four industry references so they can bring in inventory ASAP. People figure out what to have for dinner. People pass out on the couch at 9 pm so they can take a two-hour nap before picking up their teenagers from friends' houses. Ha ha. I have gained a whole new appreciation for working parents. I should have understood the dynamic before, but I didn't. At the end of the work day, I am so mentally depleted, I want to curl up in a ball. But then I have all the stuff I used to do during the day, like laundry and doctor appointments, a thousand tiny details. And nobody has seen me all day, and they all need me. I totally get the working parent guilt, because there's never enough of you to go around. I come home and some poor child has made dinner, Scott has straightened up, a neighbor has brought one of my kids home, and I feel bad that it wasn't me. At some point in the future, I'll have this down better. People ask me, "Don't you have employees?" Yes, I have two really good ones, but manning the store is the tip of the iceberg, especially when I'm on this steep climb of a learning curve. I toggle between being euphoric about my new venture and being terrified.
Last night at 9 pm, I dragged Xanthe, Ptolemy and Tziporah to the music store to look for some baritone solos. I know, random, like 90% of my quests these days. They ran barefoot to Kaysville Theater to get popcorn and happily ate it next to a row of cellos, out of a trough I made from a ukulele box. They were happy. I was happy. We made room in our lives for happy, and it came. It came in a big way.
Tziporah posing for an Instagram @mainstreetmusickaysville
The new location. I have this picture at the checkout so all the customers can visualize where we're moving to.
Lauri Barfus and me, the day we finalized the sale. She has been the best mentor and teacher.
Temporary logo that Scott mocked up. It is good, but it bugs me that it's not a real note notation.
Looking a little shell shocked.
I visited Dan Prier at Peter's, again, to ply him for information, like I do everyone. I love Dan. His big Prier smile makes me miss Peter.
Since I'm not available to pick up Araceli from school anymore, she just walks to the music store.
More Instagrams. Now I can't even look at Instagram for relaxation anymore. It's just another marketing chore, but it's creative, so I enjoy doing it.
Some of the dozens of pictures I have of things I have to learn.
Slide cream? That's a new one.
Freestone feels the same way I do. This was five minutes after he said, "I'm not tired! Why would I be tired!?" I don't know...3 dance classes a day plus 23 consecutive performances of Sleeping Beauty in February?
The ukulele classes have been a big hit.
My dad the lawyer going over the contract.
Another way that Scott is my personal secretary. He went to the Apple store and bought all the hardware I needed. t was like Christmas!
"Do you guys have..."
Switching out the 5 to a 6, staying open later.
Steve Butler, our ukulele teacher.
Chop monster. Tee hee. I love band people.
Do we have a fitting just like this one?
The IT guy importing the massive CVS file from Bountiful Music's system to my new POS. Can I tell you how grateful I am for his expertise? Thanks to him, I have 16,000 items and 20,000 customer names in my system, no glitches.It's delightful every time I scan a barcode and it works!
LAuri and me outside the Bountiful store the day of the sale. She sent a cute email to all her customers calling me a "Darling of Kaysville" and announcing my new name, Main Street Music.
Which Piano Adventures are we running low on today?
Nana Ruby, I love her. She is so happy about the store. She said, "I hope Circe uses up all of her dreams!" I know what she means.
She sat down at the piano, but she cna't remember how to play anymore. It's heartbreaking because she is such an accomplished musician.
BC Chicken, a Greek restaurant, is right next to the store. It's dangerous! I'd be getting fat, but I never have time to eat. I took one bite of this falafel three hours after I got it, but I had to spit it out because someone called and it was someone I had to talk to.
The ukuleles are here! The ukuleles are here!
Those who know me see it as the natural progression that it is, and friends and family have been incredibly supportive and happy for me, even as I have all but abandoned everyone but Scott and my kids. And maybe even them. I have lost count of how many times I've forgotten to pick up or take one of my kids somewhere over the past couple of months. They are good sports. Every one of them has picked up the slack big time.
The genesis of the music store idea was, of course, a long time ago. In fact, when Heather Simonsen opened Kaysville's first music store 15 or so years ago, her daughter was one of my violin students. Heather and I talked about how we both wanted to eventually run a store. Araceli was a baby, Ruby and Golda were tiny. It wasn't my time, but it was hers. She ran the store for 12ish years, and then sold out to Bountiful Music. When the Barfus family approached me about buying the store several months ago, I knew it was my time. Granted, it's not ideal timing. Tziporah is still little, I'm teaching preschool and ballet and 12 violin students, Ruby is a senior, I'm helping Mom with Nana, we have Frank, Freestone is going to Ballet West six days a week, sometimes twice a day. The list goes on, right? My plate is full if you put it on paper.
However, it's funny. The past two years, I have purposefully created space in my mind and my life. It really all started three years ago when Nana needed a lot of attention, and I decided I would try to help my mom with that. One of us or both of us would go to Bountiful every day to check on her, and I decided I would clear time to help with that. (Make no mistake, I still only carry a fraction of my mom's load. She is an incredibly admirable and caring daughter. I'm proud of her.) I worked diligently exercising my "No" muscle. I could have been exercising my body at the gym, but I said no, as much as I wish I had the desire to get fit. I said no to a lot of things. Helping at the school, joining the PTA, donating my time to things I'm not passionate about. Last year, I pulled my kids out of their music lessons for Ruby's senior year. As much as I loved their teachers and their music, I was craving space in our lives.
I knew that something would come along that would be the right thing to fill that space, and I wanted to make sure I was mindful enough to keep it free for the right thing. Life with seven kids can feel like a ground skirmish. It's us against all the things that demand our attention, and it's an active battle to fight off most of it, but fight we do. So when the music store fell into my lap, I was ready for it.
That said, the last couple of months have been a blur. Every week is a new challenge, and the learning curve is incredibly steep. The process of transferring the business over to me was long and arduous, involving business loans and paperwork, inventory and POS systems, hiring and forms and government agencies and documents. Throughout all the training and the mounds of paperwork, I had to learn a thousand details, and fast. How do you string a guitar? What is the difference between a B-flat clarinet and an A clarinet? Which publisher goes to which piano method? Which cork grease does Mr. Hendricks, the Davis High band director, want me to carry? Because if I carry something he doesn't recommend, it will sit on the shelf. Just so many details. There are 16,000 different items in our inventory library, and I am becoming very familiar with most of them.
My sleep is completely different now. It's like my dreams are just massive downloads of information into my brain as I try to take in all the new information. Last night I dreamed I was doing inventory on endless stacks of nail polish on a balcony with my kids and Scott. A band went by and I said, "What? Is the 4th of July parade today?" Every night, all night, I'm going over in my dreams how to do an invoice or make a PO. The dream last night was so telling, because everyone but Scott and my kids was off on another balcony, and I was unaware of the holiday. And then, in my dream, I was thinking of running to the end of the parade route so I could give the band kids a coupon to the store. My poor, overloaded brain is utterly consumed with conquering all this new knowledge.
I do love it. When we finally closed the sale, the day after Lauri's daughter got married, no less, I stood in the store in awe and delight. It was all mine! When the money from the sales started going into my own new bank account, it was thrilling. All day long, I love vanquishing problems and creating solutions. Late at night, though, I despair over the fact that the next day will bring a new set of puzzles to solve, will begin with a new zero balance on the sales report, and will take up more resources than I have, leaving less than nothing for my family. It's daunting, for sure.
Fortunately, I am old enough to take it in stride with the perspective that I will get it all under my belt and life will come into balance again. In the meantime, my family has been stellar. Scott is right there with me, designing logos, researching printers, taking care of life details. My mom, Emily, Marlene and Nikki have just absorbed Tziporah into their lives. When she's not with them, she's at the store helping me, and miraculously, she does well there. My dad went over the sales contract and protected me from every possible negative outcome. I loved seeing him in his lawyer mode. He's so good. Bruce and Scott have been working on the new space (we're moving the store to a bigger location in the King & King Law building May 1). Yesterday, Scott and Bruce worked all day on a new wall. Nikki gave me a design plan, and I'm trying to implement it step by step. Things have fallen into place. Scott and I had dinner with Jonathan and Petrina, our good friends. Jonathan has been a close friend since junior high. He retired from a high-powered career in mergers and acquisitions and he and Petrina run an organic farm in Snohomish. The night we went to dinner, I was in the process of negotiating the sale of the music store, and he gave me the precise advice and information I needed.
Ironically, with my world expanding exponentially, I have become a one-note bore, as I'm sure I was at the dinner. A few weeks ago, I drove a carload of Dance Company girls to the U for a thing. I eyed the girls and zeroed in on Amy Abel. I said, "Amy, sit right here. Tell me everything about the trumpet." All the way to Salt Lake, Amy educated me on all things trumpet. When Araceli and Ellison came to the music store, I peppered Ellison with questions about what band music to carry, which mallets are better, and which keys on the store piano are sticky. If you know anything I don't know, I will corner you.
All the time, I say to myself, "People do this." People restring guitars, people choose POS systems, people grocery shop at 6 am in twenty minutes before their first violin student so they can teach before getting 7 kids to school and teaching preschool so they can get to the music store and email 10 new suppliers with tax ID information and four industry references so they can bring in inventory ASAP. People figure out what to have for dinner. People pass out on the couch at 9 pm so they can take a two-hour nap before picking up their teenagers from friends' houses. Ha ha. I have gained a whole new appreciation for working parents. I should have understood the dynamic before, but I didn't. At the end of the work day, I am so mentally depleted, I want to curl up in a ball. But then I have all the stuff I used to do during the day, like laundry and doctor appointments, a thousand tiny details. And nobody has seen me all day, and they all need me. I totally get the working parent guilt, because there's never enough of you to go around. I come home and some poor child has made dinner, Scott has straightened up, a neighbor has brought one of my kids home, and I feel bad that it wasn't me. At some point in the future, I'll have this down better. People ask me, "Don't you have employees?" Yes, I have two really good ones, but manning the store is the tip of the iceberg, especially when I'm on this steep climb of a learning curve. I toggle between being euphoric about my new venture and being terrified.
Last night at 9 pm, I dragged Xanthe, Ptolemy and Tziporah to the music store to look for some baritone solos. I know, random, like 90% of my quests these days. They ran barefoot to Kaysville Theater to get popcorn and happily ate it next to a row of cellos, out of a trough I made from a ukulele box. They were happy. I was happy. We made room in our lives for happy, and it came. It came in a big way.
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| Nikki's design, Bruce's execution. The new store is going to look so good! |
6 comments:
Hey!!!! I'm back!! And you're amazing! You bought a music store holy cow!! lol Well, you will do amazing things. we are coming down next week so I want to stop and see it! And I'm going to have to go back and read all your blogs from the last year because I haven't read any or done any blogging for a year! But I'm back full steam and so happy about it! :)
I am so excited for you what an accomplishment. We love having Tizzy so don't worry about her. The shiplap looks so good!
Congratulations! The music store really does seem like a natural progression for you.
Just checked your blog to see how you are doing and as usual you are doing wonderfully! I love that you dove into this, already an accomplished swimmer. The Kaysville music business is in excellent hands. Congratulations on another amazing adventure! Love you.
Congratulations!! SO excited for you! Someday I hope to visit your store!!
I'm so happy for you and for your new adventure. You have tackled this new project brilliantly. I know it will be grand success.
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