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The Business That Refused To “Scale" with Rebecca D'Emic · The iDesign Lab Podcast

• 0:00
  Voice Over: This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design.
• 0:06
  Voice Over: Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles.
• 0:09
  Voice Over: Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott.
• 0:17
  Voice Over: iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends.
• 0:31
  TIffany Woolley: Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast.
• 0:34
  TIffany Woolley: Today we are talking with a true Bocretone success story.
• 0:38
  TIffany Woolley: Rebecca Demick, the woman, one of the women behind Elegant Child, was started with her mother's dream, grew into a 20-year family success story.
• 0:48
  TIffany Woolley: It's a business built on style, service, community, and relationships.
• 0:54
  TIffany Woolley: Rebecca left a career in pharmaceutical sales to join her mom.
• 0:58
  TIffany Woolley: She became a mother herself and helped evolve Elegant Child into a well-loved South Florida institution.
• 1:05
  TIffany Woolley: She's also a passionate community leader and supporter of Place of Hope.
• 1:10
  TIffany Woolley: Today we're gonna go behind the boutique to hear the story of Rebecca, her family, and her business, and what it's really like to build something that lasts.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:21
  TIffany Woolley: It's so fun to have you here.
• 1:23
  TIffany Woolley: Obviously, we've known each other for a really long time.
• 1:26
  TIffany Woolley: And uh elegant child coincided with the birth of my first child.
• 1:32
  TIffany Woolley: And there was just something immediately very impactful about just the aesthetic and somebody who appreciates design and a designer myself.
• 1:41
  TIffany Woolley: The whole thing was curated in such a beautiful way of you know being so sweet and just like you wanted to be in there and you wanted everything in the store.
• 1:53
  TIffany Woolley: So tell us how it all began.
• 1:54
  TIffany Woolley: I still feel that way today.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: I love being in there.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um so it started when I was a little girl, actually.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um, my father was a pastor.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_04: We were living on the west coast of Florida, and my mother, we didn't have much money growing up, um, but my mother always had a real eye for design and fashion.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_04: So she would actually go garage sailing for us to wealthy neighborhoods, and we were always the best dressed kids.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_04: I had a brother and sister um at church, and people would always comment, where did you get their outfits?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, from the shoes to the ruffle sock to the matching headband, she, you know, made sure we looked um beautiful.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_04: All through garage sales, all through garage sales, you know, and she really just had an eye.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_04: She fied brand new clothing with the tags on it, you know, for wealthy homes.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: And um, one day there was a business owner that was at our church.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_04: It was a church plant, so it was growing, and we were meeting in office buildings at the time.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_04: And um, he had a vacant uh unit attached to the building, and so he offered it to my mother to start something to help us bring in some more finances.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_04: So she opened up a used children's clothing store, and she would take us all with her every Friday and Saturday morning.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_04: We'd all go garage sailing, help her bring the stuff, and she always, you know, made sure it looked perfectly, yeah, ironed it, you know, made sure everything had a great aesthetic look to it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and the store became very successful.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_04: And about five years later, she ended up deciding to bring in new Easter dresses.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: And so it became a new and used children's clothing store.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_04: And she ended up getting an offer for someone to buy the store.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_04: So she sold it, moved 15 miles across town, and opened up another store called Duck Duck Goose.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_04: And um, it was more new clothing this time, about half and half new and used.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then my dad got called to be a pastor in Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_04: And that was um when I started high school.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_04: So we moved up to New York.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, she sold the business.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um we kind of planted in New York, and then a year or two later, she got Antsie again.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_04: Such a calling decided to open up now a brand new, all new high-end children's clothing store in Oyster Bay called Puddle Ducks, and we had customers like Sarah, uh Jessica Parker that would shop there.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_04: And it was a beautiful boutique.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_04: She brought in a lot of uh brands from France and just kind of grew with the business.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_04: And then um my parents ended up moving back to Boca, which is my home base, that's where I was born.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and they they moved here to help take care of my brother's child.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, at the time, his wife was struggling with postpartum depression, so that kind of brought them back to the community.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: And sure enough, she got antsy again and decided to open up um Elegant Child in 2006.
• 4:27
  TIffany Woolley: And it's such a success story because I remember like literally walking in, there was the one bay, and like a you know, a year later there'd be the second bay.
• 4:36
  TIffany Woolley: Like it's right, just we used to only go up to size four.
• 4:38
  TIffany Woolley: I know.
• 4:39
  TIffany Woolley: It just kept going and growing.
• 4:42
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 4:42
  TIffany Woolley: So when did you feel that same call?
• 4:46
  TIffany Woolley: Like, was it part of your childhood, obviously, from the thrifting and you know, your mom always being, were you helping at the stores on the weekends?
• 4:54
  TIffany Woolley: And were you?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, she she always gave my sister and I um like a little part of the store.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_04: So I would invest my own money in the books, you know, and pick out the books and resell the books.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_04: And my sister did teddy bears.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_04: And so we were always kind of involved in the business.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_04: But when I went to Auburn University, I studied marketing and I was more the business side and not as much of the risk taker that my mother was.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and my sister ended up, she ended up opening a boutique in Park City, Utah.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_04: But I really wanted to go in the corporate world.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know, I was drawn towards that, so that's why I went into pharmaceutical sales.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_04: I loved sales and marketing, but I really didn't want to go into the family business.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_04: That wasn't attractive to me at the time.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, until I was in the corporate world and I did enjoy it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: I had success there, but it's, you know, very different.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_04: And then I gave birth to my first son, and just for fun, my mom would say, Oh, watch, Jack, you just come spend some time in the store.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_04: And it was like you said, it was just a happy place to be.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: I got to get dressed up, see other women.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_04: And it was just like a little freedom for me a couple days a week to go just go help out in the store.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_04: And then, you know, I had my my daughter 16 months later, and then they were getting a little bit older, started preschool, and then I really got into the business.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_04: And and she was getting older, and we kind of made a plan that she would start to phase out, and I would continue to take on more and more responsibility until we are here now.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I basically run the whole store.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: We do all the buying together.
• 6:20
  TIffany Woolley: I know I love watching that from a distance on social media.
• 6:23
  TIffany Woolley: Oh yeah, that's all you're buying trips.
• 6:25
  TIffany Woolley: And and it's always fascinated me how great of buyers that you really are.
• 6:32
  Scott Woolley: I mean, like it's so buying trips, where are you going?
• 6:36
  Scott Woolley: How are you?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_04: We try to keep it diverse because um what do you mean by that?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_04: All over.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_04: So we try to Europe twice uh every two years we try to do a trip to Europe.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll either do Playtime in Paris or the best show I think is Pity Bimbo in Florence, Italy.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oh wow.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_04: And it's it doesn't always work to do a lot of the buying there because a lot of the the brands aren't set up to import to the US.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_04: They don't have the landed prices, so it's it can be a little challenging, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: But it gives us great inspiration and it just keeps it keeps us in tune into what's happening in children's fashion.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um and gives us a global.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_04: Just children, yes.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_04: I love playtime and pity bimbo.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_04: Those are all uh children's brands, and we go to fashion shows, and it's fun and exciting, but also just keeps our finger on the pulse of what's happening in fashion.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but twice a year we do New York, Dallas, Atlanta, and now there's a new local market that's opened up in Boca Ratone that we go to called the Forum Show.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: They're they're trying to grow it and build it.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_04: We also do the tiny swim show.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: Uh right now they're meet, they're having it's a one-day show at the BRIC.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um so this is, I think, the third year I want to say.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um I hope it grows.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I hope it it gets bigger and bigger.
• 7:50
  TIffany Woolley: Well, and it's so amazing that by the time you joined Elegant Child and you your mom landed at Boca happens to be such a fashionable area and just such a draw on beauty and design and curated lifestyle, everything.
• 8:05
  TIffany Woolley: I mean, yeah, like Elegant Child just fit right in there.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_04: It's been great.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_04: We feel like we've grown with our city.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: You know, like you said, we started off just going to four, and then as our customer base grew, because as you guys are seen at customers, it really changed.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we grow with our customers, but also the demographic of Boca Ratone has just dramatically changed.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_04: Very young.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_04: It used to be extremely seasonal.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_04: Mostly grandmothers were our um demographic.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_04: And then the the mother market really grew where people were buying their whole wardrobes instead of just picking up something here or there.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_04: So we went to more everyday clothing than just specialty.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: We still do that, we try to do that well in baby gifts.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_04: And you do.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: But um, yeah, but the buying is fun, and that's something you know I've learned from a little girl watching my mother do it.
• 8:51
  Scott Woolley: But our So there's there's four or five different shows in the United States that you go to, and you said twice a year.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_04: So there's So each season, each season.
• 9:01
  Scott Woolley: So that's like 10 trips.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:03
  Scott Woolley: So that's a fair amount of travel away from the store.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_04: We we try to cram it all in.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_04: We usually are gone one, two nights max.
• 9:11
  Scott Woolley: Right.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but that is very different.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: We see boutiques that will go to one market and spend a whole week there.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_04: But um, I would say my mother and I are both very good decision makers, which helps us.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: And we always just buy what we both love.
• 9:26
  TIffany Woolley: I was just gonna say, what's your secret?
• 9:29
  TIffany Woolley: We both love it.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_04: What we both love.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_04: If one of us is like, uh, we move on and we don't dwell, we don't, you know, it's just like, do we love it?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_04: We buy it.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_04: If if I love it, I'd be happy to give it as a gift.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm praying and hoping that other people share my same love, you know.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_04: And um it, you know, we we do it fast.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_04: We we don't we we are loyal to brands, but we don't hold ourselves hostage to a brand.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_04: So if a brand gets stale or they're not changing or bringing things, new things to market, we we say, you know, we gotta just write what we love.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_04: We gotta stick to that.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_04: Don't force yourself to write something that you're not in love with.
• 10:07
  Scott Woolley: Do you go with an agenda, or do you go with like a pre, you know, determined, okay, we want to go after we're looking for this, or or are you going just kind of finding things, seeing things for the first time, saying, I want to buy this?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_04: We always hope to find something new.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: I was gonna say, you're definitely hunting for new.
• 10:25
  TIffany Woolley: I feel like you're you're constantly bringing new things in.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_04: That's true.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we don't go with like what I would say what differentiates us from other boutiques as we've watched them buy, is a lot of times they'll say, and and many times it's buyers working for an owner.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_04: So they they have to go by you have to spend$10,000 at this, and it's very number-driven.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_04: We're not like that.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_04: So we will go and we do have set brands that we know are big for us, like Myerel and Angel's Face and Tutu Dumont, certain brands, like we know there's a need that brand is still hitting with our customers.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_04: We definitely want to set up an appointment at this showroom to see what they have, to see what they have for the season.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: But um, the way we think about it is we need to make sure all of our categories are hit.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_04: So do we have enough boys dress shirts for holiday pictures or a special occasion?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: Do is our baby department, do we have a wow baby gift that we know are we can have for our customer?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: And do we have something that is under$50?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we try to make sure kind of each niche is is hit, you know.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_04: Each time.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we need to have fresh toys, you know, we need to have casual wear, we need to have legging sets for girls, you know.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_04: So we we and we keep all pictures of everything we buy.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_04: So if we get done with, you know, a couple markets, we still have one more, we're like, okay, we have to keep our eye out for Christmas pajamas.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we did not hit this yet.
• 11:50
  Scott Woolley: So so when you're going to market and you're buying, are you buying like a full set of inventory for the store, or are you buying a few items, see how they do in the store, and then placing more orders for those as they sell?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_04: That's changed.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_04: So that's been very interesting to see how it's changed.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_04: When we began, there were two buying seasons.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_04: It would be in January for the next fall, and it would be in July for the next January.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_04: So you'd buy July for the spring to arrive in January.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_04: And it was six months out, and you committed to all your goods six months in advance.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_04: It all would arrive between January and March, and that was it.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_04: And you just had to hope that you bought what would sell.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_04: Well, with the And you had bought enough.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_04: And uh I would say I mean it's a good thing.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_04: So that's a lot of that's a lot of pre-planning and it used to be 90%.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_04: You could not reorder.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_04: They cut to what you bought.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_04: But as the introduction of Instagram social influencing trends changing rapidly, I'm sure you see that in design.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_04: Like you can have a trend that blows out because it got too big and it's overdone already.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_04: And you don't have a six-month lead time, you know.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_04: So, and that's how women's clothing has been for years.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_04: So now the children's market is mimicking more of the women's buying, where you have several different drops of a season.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they're now I'd say probably 50-50.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_04: We can get merchandise reordered.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we know certain things that, okay, that's that's gonna be a sellout for sure.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so we'll order a little more deep, but we really try to protect.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I'll just say this.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_04: We're a brick and mortar store.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_04: That's our that's what we want to do.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: We want to give great service in a brick and mortar environment.
• 13:36
  TIffany Woolley: Small business mentality.
• 13:37
  TIffany Woolley: Like we do culture almost.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_04: But don't you have an online presence?
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_04: We do.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_04: We were we were forced, thank God.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_04: You know, he he took our store.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_04: What do you mean you were forced?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_04: Through COVID because in 2020, when we had to shut our doors, you know, we could not have customers in the store because of what the city said.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we had to keep our business going.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_04: So my mother and I would go in there, I'd I'd do homeschooling with my kids in the morning, and then go over with my mom.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: We'd go inside the store, started posting things on Instagram that we could ship out to other places around the world that were on lockdown or around the US.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_04: We came up with like creative art supply baskets, things to keep kids busy at home.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, thankfully for us in Boca Ratone, just like our real estate market can attest to, you know, so much of New York and California was completely shut down for much longer than we were.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_04: And thankfully, to DeSantis, our governor, he got us open very quickly.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_04: And we saw a lot of stores that we loved and worked alongside go completely out of business.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, but they ended up shopping with us um through Instagram.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_04: Their customers ended up coming to us through Instagram.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_04: So we don't have an online shopping cart because we don't order deep.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_04: We we usually order one of each style, and that's really to protect our customers.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_04: So when you go to the boker's home, every little girl isn't gonna show up in the same dress.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're gonna be unique, just like I want to be unique.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: Just like Tony is unique.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_04: So you know, you don't want to be able to do that.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_04: So we have had to adjust a little bit, knowing, like especially with our maybe our fall merchandise, that we have a lot of New Yorkers that will buy shop with us through Instagram.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll order a little bit deeper there.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_04: But um, it's all still by personal touch.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll post on our story what has arrived that day, which I would say drives probably 20% of our in-store customers.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_04: So our locals that can't make it in, they'll say, Allison Steve.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_04: I do it's one of our great regulars.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_04: You know, she'll say, Oh, I need this outfit.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_04: You know, can you put that on hold for me?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_04: And then I'll message her back, sure, Allison, I've got your card on file.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_04: She'll come in, pick up her order, and then maybe pick up a few more things.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_04: But that way she gets it before it sells out.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_04: And then, same with our out-of-town customers, we'll send them an invoice from our register, but it's all personal.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_04: So I'll tell them, Oh, this is running a little small.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_04: Do you want to add these boots with it?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_04: I got this really great bag, you know.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_04: So we want to keep the service level up.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_04: We want to keep the personal touch, which then goes back to helping the buy.
• 16:04
  Scott Woolley: It really kind of businesses.
• 16:06
  TIffany Woolley: It went it's probably the like, in my opinion, what I see on social media, probably the most like successful like shopping experience online.
• 16:17
  TIffany Woolley: Oh, thank you.
• 16:18
  TIffany Woolley: On a social media, like in a personal way.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:21
  TIffany Woolley: I mean, it is easy, and I feel like there's a lot there.
• 16:25
  TIffany Woolley: There's a lot to see.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_04: We try, you know, we've got great girls now, young girls that help me post.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_04: So it used to just depend on me, you know, keeping that going.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_04: But um, so we have a great team.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_04: So, how did that evolve?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I just want to jump on one thing you said because this is uh such a word of wisdom from my mother.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: She has always told me you can always make more money.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_04: So people have always said, like, can you open a shop in West Palm?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_04: Can you do one in Miami?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_04: Can you go online, you know, on a line shopping hike?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: And she's always like, Rebecca, it's the work-life balance, you know.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_04: And she really supports me being a mother to my three children.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_04: And she just has always said, we can always make more money.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_04: But is that the best thing?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_04: Is that the right thing?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so we've intentionally not done that.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_04: Be and she fully supports me being there for my children who now one just left the home, but I still have two at home.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm really thankful for that.
• 17:19
  TIffany Woolley: And um well, and I feel like that philosophy is really what is so beautiful about Elegant Child.
• 17:26
  TIffany Woolley: It's not a mass pretty, like you said, so thoughtful that your kids aren't gonna be, you know, like the next one at each of those little daddy-daughter dances and all those little things.
• 17:36
  TIffany Woolley: Like they really are individual.
• 17:39
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 17:39
  Scott Woolley: And that's because you're so present in the business and not spread too thin with too many irons in the very well-oiled machine with a phenomenal reputation and name that you could very easily, you know, exponentially multiply and have one in Aspen, one in in the East in East Hampton, one in, I mean, sh stores all over.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Lord willing, you know, that's he might change that our path.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_04: You know, when my kids are out of the house, I do think there's there is opportunity.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_04: Like I do think about that.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_04: Tremendous, you know, the name that we've built and the reputation, you know, that there is a way to scale it.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_04: You know, or franchise it too.
• 18:22
  TIffany Woolley: Well, and I feel like our generation does think of scaling a lot differently too, but the fact that you can do it on your time and your terms is a really successful, small, community-driven business.
• 18:34
  TIffany Woolley: Thanks.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we take it one day at a time.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I know my mother's getting older.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we just we're just enjoying it.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_04: And and like you get to work with your daughters through their music.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_04: That is such a joy to be able to work with my mom.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it keeps us, you know, talking 10 times a day.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_04: You know, this, this, this.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_04: We're not in the store together, but on all the buying trips, we're together brainstorming what the next year is gonna look like for the business.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_04: But we really just try to take it, you know, one day at a time.
• 19:00
  TIffany Woolley: So, what does one day look like every at Elegant Child each day?
• 19:04
  TIffany Woolley: Because you have a great culture of women who work there too.
• 19:07
  TIffany Woolley: They're always so polished and polite and part of the experience.
• 19:12
  TIffany Woolley: But they are they're the one who make up the story.
• 19:15
  TIffany Woolley: Right.
• 19:15
  TIffany Woolley: I know.
• 19:15
  TIffany Woolley: So, how did that, you know, evolve over time and it became that way?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, we um we try to, it's very important for us to create a warm environment, a loving environment.
• 19:29
  Scott Woolley: Um, for the Which has kind of gone away in retail.
• 19:32
  Scott Woolley: Oh, in so many ways.
• 19:34
  TIffany Woolley: What they're doing is so special because of it.
• 19:36
  Scott Woolley: It's well, it's a very unique experience when you walk into your store compared to.
• 19:40
  Scott Woolley: I mean, I think That's our goal.
• 19:41
  Scott Woolley: I don't think it's a good idea.
• 19:42
  TIffany Woolley: But it was a special day when I would take my kids there.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_04: Like it was an event.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_04: You know, people bring you know, grandmas bring their granddaughters for their birthday, or fathers will bring their daughter to pick out the dress for the father-daughter day.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_04: Like an event.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_04: And we get to share in that.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_04: So it's super happy.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_04: Like it's it's not women feeling self-conscious about their bodies in a dressing room, you know, trying on a bathing suit.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_04: It's yeah, it's a joy.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_04: New babies, birthdays, you know, graduations, first communions.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's it's it's a pleasure.
• 20:10
  Scott Woolley: It really is.
• 20:10
  Scott Woolley: And well, it's a pleasurable experience for customers.
• 20:13
  Scott Woolley: I mean, I've only been to the store I don't know, a few times.
• 20:16
  Scott Woolley: But every time I've gone, my background is was retail with all my grocery stores, which were very unusual.
• 20:22
  Scott Woolley: Every time I've walked in, I've always said, wow, that's a really well and I've said to Tiffany a few several times.
• 20:28
  Scott Woolley: That was that's a really well-run shop that cares about the customer.
• 20:33
  Scott Woolley: And the and the the experience the customer has because it's warm and inviting.
• 20:39
  Scott Woolley: Great.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_04: That that's our goal.
• 20:40
  Scott Woolley: And whenever we're hiring, this has disappeared, I believe, it I feel in retail.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think it's it separates us with separates us.
• 20:49
  Scott Woolley: Yeah.
• 20:49
  Scott Woolley: Um, and that when we're hiring, you know But it's you've designed something, the way in which you run your business, which is very unique.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_04: Which I have to credit that to my mother.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that's that's who she is as a person.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_04: She is warm and loving and generous.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_04: And so she has you know taught me that and and lived that example out before me in our home and in the business since I was a little girl.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, I thank God for her and her very so you two go to these shows.
• 21:15
  Scott Woolley: Have you ever gone to the show or on your way to a show saying or planning to go?
• 21:21
  Scott Woolley: Because I think you should do this.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 21:22
  Scott Woolley: This I'm gonna reach out to the organizers of the show because they must have panels, you know, where they're they do, yeah.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_04: Talks that we have, yeah.
• 21:32
  Scott Woolley: Two of you, or at least one of you, should be on some of those panels because I think you'd be a great inspiration and help with people who are running their businesses.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if well it's a it's like we'd be open if we if we definitely but sometimes you have to reach out and let them know that you're open to it.
• 21:49
  Scott Woolley: Yeah.
• 21:50
  Scott Woolley: I've done it many times, and some of the times I've done it.
• 21:53
  Scott Woolley: I I had some well, I had someone do it for me, but reached out saying, Hey, Scott would would love to be on one of your panels to talk about.
• 22:00
  Scott Woolley: Various subject matters.
• 22:02
  Scott Woolley: We have one that we've been invited to.
• 22:04
  Scott Woolley: It's in this month down in Miami.
• 22:07
  Scott Woolley: And I said, I'm not talking.
• 22:08
  Scott Woolley: Tiffany's gonna talk.
• 22:10
  Scott Woolley: So she'll be our panelist on at this event.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh fun.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: But I think design.
• 22:15
  Scott Woolley: It's yeah, it's design.
• 22:17
  Scott Woolley: It's it's about designing a business and running a business and starting a business.
• 22:21
  Scott Woolley: And it's I guess about 30 different people.
• 22:23
  Scott Woolley: There's four different panels during the day.
• 22:25
  Scott Woolley: And a couple hundred people that will be in the audience at all talking into the audience gets to ask questions.
• 22:32
  Scott Woolley: How did you build your business?
• 22:34
  Scott Woolley: What were the heartaches you had?
• 22:35
  Scott Woolley: What were the problems you had?
• 22:36
  Scott Woolley: You know, mom having this problem.
• 22:38
  Scott Woolley: How did you solve that problem?
• 22:39
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 22:41
  TIffany Woolley: There's always ways of growth.
• 22:42
  TIffany Woolley: As your mom said, you can always make more money.
• 22:45
  TIffany Woolley: It's keeping that balance and the being adaptable.
• 22:50
  TIffany Woolley: Being adaptable, which obviously you were, you mentioned through 2020 and COVID.
• 22:56
  TIffany Woolley: How did like the mom influencer thing impact your brand or in any way?
• 23:02
  TIffany Woolley: Like I would think it would grow it exponentially, but did you actually seek that out in any way?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_04: No, we didn't.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_04: We did have um a big influencer that was local that was just shopping with us.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: And so we had a season where she was posting all our bows in her daughter's hair, and we just couldn't keep bows in it.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_04: It was just, you know, and um the brand was hidden.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um it ended up backfiring a little bit because then she ended up getting a brand deal and you know, and then posting it through her own socials.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: So we don't usually well, we never have paid influencers to post on our behalf, but we do have influencers, some close friends of mine, that will shop with us and then give us a shout-out naturally so it's organic, and then we'll repost them and kind of do like a shared love for one another.
• 23:53
  TIffany Woolley: I feel like that's so it like was so organic, but it grew so big in my opinion from a distance.
• 24:00
  TIffany Woolley: I mean, I felt like I was seeing elegant child posts all over, which I felt like it's was such a huge accomplishment.
• 24:08
  TIffany Woolley: Oh, thanks.
• 24:09
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, like wild.
• 24:11
  Scott Woolley: You have an interesting business from a standpoint, how I look at it is that your core consumer, customer, you only have a short period of time really with them.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 24:24
  Scott Woolley: They leave us because their kids have gotten older or the kids are now dressing themselves, or because you're not really into the teenagers or but there's always babies being born.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_04: So you don't like ground, we've got a junior's department and a women's department now.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_04: So they can find something.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, it's a good thing.
• 24:40
  Scott Woolley: But you're so but you're constantly having to find or bring in a new audience of consumers.
• 24:47
  Scott Woolley: That's right.
• 24:47
  Scott Woolley: Has that been a challenge?
• 24:49
  Scott Woolley: Well, that is building your business over 20 years.
• 24:52
  Scott Woolley: So you've done it well, evidently.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_04: Keeping it, yeah, keeping keeping the new customers in.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um I would say a a big part of what helps us with that is the drive-by.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: So we are located in downtown Boca Ratone.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_04: We take pride in our window displays, we keep them fresh, constantly changing.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_04: But every day we get people that say, I've been driving by your windows for years and I'm finally pregnant, or my daughter's having her first baby.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_04: I finally get to shop here.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_04: You know, um, we do a little bit with some of the uh nurturing your newborn and river tots programs in Boca Ratone.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we'll go visit a class and introduce ourselves, give out free samples.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we try to support all of our local school auctions, um, local charities, just to be involved in the community so they know where they are.
• 25:37
  Scott Woolley: Do you ever mark it to the hospitals and the newborn?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, one time we did a little um flyer at my own OBGYN and just said, hey, we'll we'll give a 20% discount if you put this in the new mom's bag.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's so you know, we didn't see a huge you know return from that, but you never know.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_04: It might just be an advertisement out there.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 25:57
  Scott Woolley: But I think a lot of it is word of mouth.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_04: It's word of mouth.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's what we survive on word of mouth.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: That's why the experience is so good.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_04: That's right than we have a signature gift wrap we use intentionally.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the tall.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it used to be the tall.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_04: It's not the tall anymore.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_04: They discontinued it.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_04: So now it's the it's the polka dot.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_04: The polka dot.
• 26:16
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, but we what is that?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_04: What do you think?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_04: So we used to have this reversible, it was nobody else had it.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_04: Beautiful a toile print.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it was pink and white and blue and white, and then they changed it to a brown and a blue and brown and pink.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but we always, when someone's buying a baby gift, we offered a gift wrapp it for them and we make it wow, because we're also thinking this is gonna make an impression at the baby shower.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're gonna remember how this looked, and we want it to be a signature.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_04: We want people to know, oh, that's from Elegant Child.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's you know, to have that feeling.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so now we've our supplier, we've been forced to go to a polka dot, which is still beautiful.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_04: But um we uh do we do intentionally offer to gift wrap?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: So even though we lose money on that, you know, that's part of kind of how we would that would be one of our marketing strategies.
• 27:03
  Scott Woolley: Yeah, I wouldn't say you're losing money on that.
• 27:05
  Scott Woolley: Strategy.
• 27:05
  Scott Woolley: Yeah.
• 27:06
  Scott Woolley: You're gaining more customers.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_04: And it's a service.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_04: Nobody does free gift wrapping anymore.
• 27:10
  TIffany Woolley: No, I can't even get boxes at normal.
• 27:12
  TIffany Woolley: And the monogramming service you offer as well so you don't have to.
• 27:16
  Scott Woolley: You can't even get bags in store in money store.
• 27:19
  Scott Woolley: You gotta buy the bag.
• 27:20
  TIffany Woolley: I know.
• 27:21
  TIffany Woolley: It's crazy.
• 27:21
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, it is crazy.
• 27:23
  TIffany Woolley: So when you set up the store, I mean, what goes into designing?
• 27:29
  TIffany Woolley: Like you said, your windows are important.
• 27:31
  TIffany Woolley: I know from visiting the store, like it's like the little gifting areas, more like the toy stuff.
• 27:36
  TIffany Woolley: She like how like what was your process in setting all of that up?
• 27:40
  TIffany Woolley: And like by the register, there's like the gifty things, like yeah.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_04: I think um I love doing that.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_04: I used to hate doing that.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_04: Actually, when I first joined the business, I I just didn't feel confident doing it.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think as a newbie.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_04: And um, I've grown to love it.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: And now it's my favorite thing, you know, because I think as a buyer, I'm when I'm buying, I'm seeing like something come together, like dislike you're talking about, like designing.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm I'm thinking as what is gonna be a great gift or what is gonna be a good look?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_04: And it includes everything the shoes, the accessories, the outfit, you know.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_04: So when I'm then merchandising in the store, I'm thinking about how is the customer that's overwhelmed, you know, come in there and let's make it easy for them to put the gift together.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: So the the baby outfit with an elephant is gonna be on display by the beautiful stuffed elephant with a book that's about mother and baby elephant.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so it'll make it easy one for our staff to help get the gift together, but then also for the customer that prefers to shop on their own can kind of see visually what makes sense.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um that's kind of how we do our merchandising.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we keep it by so each department is designed kind of by style.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll have our our more neutral color European vibes together, and then we'll put our more traditional classic preppy looks together.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_04: Because usually a buyer is different, you know, so there is different, yeah, I guess aesthetic.
• 29:08
  TIffany Woolley: Does that answer your question?
• 29:09
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:10
  TIffany Woolley: And then do you buy a same amount for boys and girls, or do girls definitely I mean, I feel like even now it's hard.
• 29:18
  TIffany Woolley: I have friends who have boys, so I'm like, I don't even know what to buy them for a birthday gift now that they're older.
• 29:23
  TIffany Woolley: Like it's like, yeah, like girls, I just feel like it's so much easier to shop for between the little bags and you know, it goes back to we buy what we love.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_04: There's just not as much out there for boys.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_04: You know, there's not as much money in boys, and even we adapted our big boys' room.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_04: Half is women's now and half is boys.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_04: So we found a sweet spot with boys for Johnny O.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_04: That's a great classic performance um brand that is a winner in our market.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_04: And then we've got a sporty brand and we've got it kind of classic, but it's just mothers are buying less for their boys.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_04: They're more in like play clothes, you know, um where the girls they want to get dressed.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_04: They do.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and the mothers are living through their daughters vicariously and with all the accessories you can so cute too.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_04: So, I mean, there's just even at market, like if you look at the brands that are out there, the few cute there used to be this boys' brand that was born out of the Hamptons called Hatch.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_04: And I wanted uh everything for my boys, but yeah, it only lasted about five years.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_04: So why there was nothing wrong with the brand, it was gorgeous, gorgeous fabrics, gorgeous quality.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_04: The brand only lasted the brand, yeah.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_04: Cause it just people don't spend as much on boys.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_04: It's not as fun.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't feel as fun when you don't have the frills and like all the extras.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, there are some cute boy stuff.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_04: Anything that's cute out there, I feel like you bring it.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you bring it up.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_04: We have, but there's just not as much to choose.
• 30:50
  Scott Woolley: Well, there's a lot of other reasons why brands don't last from a management standpoint.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there could be more to that story.
• 30:57
  Scott Woolley: You know, and the biggest concern I know that brands have, which is a question I want to ask you, is that be it coming from retail?
• 31:03
  Scott Woolley: The season ends for you.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: They have good sales.
• 31:06
  Scott Woolley: So, you know, spring is over, now you're going into summer, or summer's over, you're going into fall and winter.
• 31:12
  Scott Woolley: What are you doing with all your summer stuff you got left over?
• 31:14
  Scott Woolley: Is that that's gotta be a little bit of a stressful aspect of the business having inventory that the season's now coming to an end, but I've still got four thousand to five thousand dollars worth of inventory.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_04: How do you yeah, that's another secret?
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_04: But um I think I can share it.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but something I've learned from my mother never hold dead merchandise.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_04: Correct.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_04: So you and we've seen actually this the well, one of the stores that uh bought one of our stores, that's where the owner went wrong, is she could not let go of the merchandise.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_04: And her money just sat there and sat there, and it was dead.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_04: It didn't sell, it took up the space to show the beautiful new arrivals, and she just couldn't let go and she ended up going out of business because of it.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_04: So um, that's one thing my mother has always said.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_04: So we do, we don't do sales.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we're not a sales-driven store.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_04: So throughout the year, it has we've every once in a while, we've tried it over the 20 years, and it only frustrates our customers that just bought it the week before.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, it's and so why do we want to cause them to be upset?
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_04: So we don't do high bumps like a lot of boutiques.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_04: We we keep our prices as low as we possibly can.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_04: We don't inflate for sales.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but at the end of each season, we start it, we do a couple weeks at 25% off, a couple weeks at 40% off, and then we do a blowout, 50% off.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_04: Everything has to go.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_04: We bring out everything,$2,$5,$10.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's really a whole different customer.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's not our normal customer, it's customers that basically just come in because they're there, they know they're gonna get a good deal way cheaper than we paid for it.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: But we just gotta get it out of there.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: And then we donate everything at the end of each season to place of hope.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_04: So um that's been a new thing we've added the last couple of years.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_04: So it doesn't hurt as much.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it's a write-off degree, too.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_04: We know it's going to a good place, and that's a fun thing.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but we do that's been interesting to have to figure out um with the the benefit of we call it the great migration, you know, everybody moving to South Florida after 2020.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_04: We saw a huge, you know, 25% increase in sales, and we had to buy toward for that to because we just we could we could not have enough on the shelves, you know, to keep to keep the store posting on Instagram that's right to a dramatic swing.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_04: But now it's evened out.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_04: You know, over the last three or four years, it's not that our sales have declined, they just went back to a normal growth rate.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_04: So we had to scale way back on our buying.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_04: But that's why the change in how this uh drops have been have helped us.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll we have bought less and then been able to reorder or add in new things more in season.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_04: So based on how the sales are.
• 34:04
  Scott Woolley: How much of your time, or do you spend any time in your business, your mom or yourself, on a spreadsheet?
• 34:11
  Scott Woolley: A spreadsheet in terms of see, I love it.
• 34:14
  TIffany Woolley: That's my way.
• 34:15
  Scott Woolley: You know, I from a spreadsheet where I'm going is is you keep track of your trends and your statistics of what sells their mind.
• 34:22
  Scott Woolley: So each year you can look back and go, Well, we sold this amount of this type of product, so we don't want to order more.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_04: You know what?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_04: That's why I originally So it's all in your head and you're Yeah.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_04: That's what prevented me from getting in the business because I only thought that way coming out of business school.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and it just overwhelmed me.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_04: And my mother too was just buying on the slide, just creative, what she loved, what worked for her, you know, in her real life, real world experience.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_04: And it would stress me out.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_04: I couldn't, it was like I had to get used to that.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_04: And um, now I've adapted and we just and that I think is um why it's really important for me to be in the store.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I'm in the store five days a week.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, it it ebbs and flows during our high season or not, but I'm really in there, you know, so I'm understanding what's working, what are the customers asking for, what has failed.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_04: And we do see that.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_04: So be it it's nice because our sale always happens right before the buying season for that season.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: So, example, our spring and summer merchandise all just went on sale.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: And a week later we went to the markets to buy for next spring and summer.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_04: So you know so we look and we're like, oh, that brand lost its love.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_04: Or or this one, we really got burned here.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're not they're not shopping for that anymore.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_04: So it's fresh in our mind.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_04: Then we go to market.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_04: So we are, you know, watching that, but in a not as so like detailed spreadsheet way.
• 35:46
  Scott Woolley: Well, it's interesting how people do run their businesses.
• 35:49
  Scott Woolley: I got a really, really dear friend who started a clothing line, blew up, became enormously successful.
• 35:56
  Scott Woolley: But he had a situation he didn't pay any attention to the inventory that he was making, was selling so fast, he was over making, seasons were changing, and he was being left with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of inventory at the end of each season, and it started to add up.
• 36:14
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 36:15
  TIffany Woolley: What was the item that like surprised you the most that didn't last or didn't work out?
• 36:21
  TIffany Woolley: Like, has there been one that you're like, God do you remember that dress or that brand?
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_04: I would say um more um a style because after COVID, I mean, I really feel like everything's pre-orped.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: So true.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: You know, athleisure came into the mind.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_04: And everybody wanted just casual sets.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_04: And so we that's probably an area that we had to adjust to really quickly.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_04: It was like, okay, people are done.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_04: They want to get dressed again.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they want their kids looking cute.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, so that was an area probably we we saw we had too much of that go to sale.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, all right, we gotta scale that back, you know.
• 36:59
  TIffany Woolley: And probably people don't come to you necessarily for like the bum around clothes always.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_04: We still have it.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_04: There's definitely still a market for it, just not as heavy.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_04: Like at one point, you know, it was 50% of the big girls' department was casual wear, where now that's adjusted, you know.
• 37:15
  TIffany Woolley: So and what about the toy market?
• 37:17
  TIffany Woolley: I find that so interesting because I I was like a baby doll connoisseur through your store for Hawaii.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_04: I would I know that's how we need shopping the Corolla.
• 37:26
  TIffany Woolley: We still have a lot of it.
• 37:27
  TIffany Woolley: They're timeless.
• 37:28
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, we haven't parted with many of them at all.
• 37:31
  TIffany Woolley: But how did you navigate even that to now?
• 37:34
  TIffany Woolley: I know you spring, what are those toys in?
• 37:36
  TIffany Woolley: Nitos.
• 37:37
  TIffany Woolley: Nitos and all that.
• 37:38
  TIffany Woolley: We've been dealing with that all morning.
• 37:39
  TIffany Woolley: And like how you have to limit them, and like how do you navigate?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're a the nito's are a love hate.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_04: The only reason I even brought them in is because my son Henry was like, Mom, you have to sell these.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_04: He saw them in a catalog, and I was like, all right, because we've actually sold those for probably 20 years, and they just were in the toy room, but then they went tick-tock tickets.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_04: They went viral.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: And um, but I really don't like them because it really just frustrates people.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_04: So the first couple orders we got, they sold out completely instantly.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_04: It only made customers mad.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_04: It was all online, it wasn't our normal customers.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_04: And that was like, wow, I'm making my loyal Tiffany Woolley upset that they missed out in 30 seconds.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_04: So I've kind of just let those orders.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_04: I still have some coming through the holidays.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_04: But I actually don't love that because I don't like making people upset.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_04: And that your people pleaser like me.
• 38:31
  TIffany Woolley: Yes, that's so true.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but our our toy market, that is one good thing about the customers, you know, they grow through us.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_04: Corolla dolls, number one seller.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_04: Still, I just placed an order two days ago.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they're timeless, you know.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: So LaTeX van, wooden doll houses, you know, the ride-on cars from France.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we try to keep it classic, timeless, wooden.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we're not trying to compete with Amazon.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we're trying to, you know, something that someone can come in and get a wow gift.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_04: It's more of like um And all the we don't want them to have to go someplace else.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so the books, shoes, all those things, they're not really huge money makers.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we lose money on shipping, but it's so they can just get everything done with us.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's all part of it.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_04: Because we still have grandmas that come in and buy for all 14 of their grandchildren.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_04: We bag everything, we ship it out for them, so they don't have to go anywhere else.
• 39:23
  TIffany Woolley: They don't want to deal with the baskets and all that good stuff.
• 39:26
  TIffany Woolley: And they know it's very unique too.
• 39:28
  TIffany Woolley: And then you've moved into moms, like things for which is fun.
• 39:33
  TIffany Woolley: Us, yeah.
• 39:34
  TIffany Woolley: That was just a pop-up.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_04: We did that um I have probably 10 years ago now at the little fireplace in our front room.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we were at a we were at swim show in Miami, and they got this show there called the Cabana Show, which I love.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's boutique, high-end driven, like all really unique things.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_04: So we just went over there for fun.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_04: And my mom's like, I've got an idea, which I always love when she says that.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_04: And she's like, Why don't we do a woman's pop-up?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_04: So that was really her brainchild.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, she's like, Why don't you do this, Rebecca?
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like, you just buy what you love.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_04: And we brought in uh a few bags, slippers, some pajamas, just really things I wanted.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_04: So it didn't matter if it sold or not, I would gift it to my friends for Christmas if it didn't do well.
• 40:14
  TIffany Woolley: Right.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_04: We had a goal in mind of like, let's say if we did$5,000 from this women's department, that would be a success.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_04: It like tripled that.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_04: We reordered as much as we could.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_04: Pop up inside your store.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_04: Inside your store.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_04: Just for it was just for the holidays.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_04: And the customers loved it.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_04: And they were like, keep it going, keep it going.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_04: So then we ordered for resort and spring season, and the department got a little bit bigger.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_04: And so we moved it out of the front of the baby department and we put it all the way back in our women's department.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_04: And um, it started growing and gift items, you know, just things you could pick up that again were easy, teacher gifts, Mother's Day gifts, things they would want to buy for themselves.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_04: Because if a customer is shopping like this for their children, they're definitely shopping for themselves.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, for sure.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_04: You know, um, jewelry, Annaback jewelry, just really unique things that you couldn't find at the department stores.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um and then it kept growing.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_04: And so then, and then we found out our boy moms didn't even know it existed.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_04: And now it had been like three or four years.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_04: So that's when we moved it into our middle room.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_04: And we use that front table a lot of times to display the candles or different um hostess gift or things.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_04: But it's still, we keep it very edited.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_04: Again, I only buy what I would want to wear or give, feel good about giving to someone.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_04: So that way, if it doesn't sell, I'll repurpose it.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_04: You mentioned there's no pressure to buy, you know.
• 41:35
  Scott Woolley: You mentioned Amazon a few minutes ago.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 41:38
  Scott Woolley: Have you ever considered looked at doing an Amazon store?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_04: Nope, because we're brick and mortar.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_04: So trick, they're sticking to their philosophy.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_04: Because you can always make more money.
• 41:50
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 41:51
  TIffany Woolley: And I think that is true.
• 41:52
  TIffany Woolley: You always can.
• 41:53
  TIffany Woolley: So community obviously is a huge part of elegant child.
• 41:58
  TIffany Woolley: And I when I think of you, I think of community too, because you are so well loved and respected, and you do give back to the community.
• 42:06
  TIffany Woolley: How do you balance all of that?
• 42:09
  TIffany Woolley: And how important is that for you?
• 42:10
  Scott Woolley: Because you've jumped into place of hope in a very big way.
• 42:14
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_04: I'm so thankful.
• 42:15
  Scott Woolley: Because I feel which kind of a I've kind of look at it as in in the last what four years or five years, it kind of has just become something.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, good, good, good.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I feel very thankful to God that He has, you know, helped me design a life by his leading that have allowed my worlds to intersect.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_04: So I believe in my faith, I'm a Christian, um, that uh anything that God has blessed me with, I need to use to serve and love others.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and that is also my mom's belief.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so I've watched her do that since I was a child.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_04: So, place of hope, um, Carly Altier from The Seed invited me to an event, I think in 2017.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I was going for fun.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, ooh, I'll get dressed up the night out.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_04: I love that.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_04: I ended crying hysterically after I heard these stories of what was happening right here in Boca Ratone.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_04: And it had been around for a while in Boca, and I had never heard about it.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like I know what's going on in Boca.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_04: Like I've lived, I've lived here for a long time.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_04: I have a business here.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_04: Like, how had I not heard of Place of Hope?
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_04: So I went out and did a tour on campus, and um, they said I could help by getting on a committee.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: We were having a brunch at Royal Palm.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, oh my gosh, all so many of those women are customers of mine.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um I could serve that way.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_04: I don't have time.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_04: I did not have time.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't have a lot of financial resources personally, but I have a a large community of women that I come in contact with every day because of my business.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_04: Because of my three children, you know, that are at different schools.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so I could help this way.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_04: So I jumped on a committee and I love inviting people to things.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_04: I am very social that God has made me that way.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: That I love being with people.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_04: I'm an extrovert.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but then the store, women come.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I've met my best friends through the store because we are relational.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_04: And a lot of times women will come that are brand new to the community and they will just kill some time there.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_04: They're a little lonely.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_04: Some have postpartum depression, some just want to talk, you know, and we care.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_04: I care.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_04: I love people.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_04: I really do love people.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_04: I I we try to hire people that also love people and are good listeners.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_04: And um, so it very organically was a way, and place of hope is unique in that they allowed me to serve and get involved in a way that with my giftings of what I had to offer, which was my point.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_04: People who are listening, explain what so place of hope is a is a nonprofit that now has has also kind of adapted to what the community needs are.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_04: But when I originally got involved, our Boca Ratone campus was for 18 years and older, kids that were already in the foster care system, but now when they turn 18, they don't have government support.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_04: And that's usually the time when they need the most support.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_04: That's when they're gonna repeat the cycle.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_04: That's when they they don't know how to go to school, they don't know how to get a job, they might get pregnant.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_04: You know, a lot of it's a really tough time when people are trying to find their ways in that 18 to 20.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_04: So Boca Ratone changed its campus to provide housing and meet the basic needs for that age group.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_04: And um emotional support, counseling, life skills, and and housing was the most basic and food.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um and now they help single mothers in need as well.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um they've really grown and adapted.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_04: They're doing a lot.
• 45:42
  TIffany Woolley: They have um multiple campuses.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they're providing for needs all throughout the community from the surplus of things that have been given to campus.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_04: They've and they've always been, you know, they give, they've been given land and money before they build.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_04: Now they're building the most recent thing on the Boca Town campus, is a child care development facility because these young adults have multiple children sometimes and they they want to work, they want to make their lives better, but the child care is$20 an hour.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_04: So they can't afford for their children to be cared for.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_04: So now Place of Hope is saying, oh, we can meet that need.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_04: And they have beautiful donors in the community like yourselves who have given so much to build this building and will provide child care while the moms go to work or are going to counseling or, you know, doing the things they need to break the cycle and not to live there forever, but to move through and be able to start their lives successfully.
• 46:31
  Scott Woolley: So you learned about it in 2017.
• 46:33
  Scott Woolley: 2017.
• 46:34
  Scott Woolley: And today you're extremely involved.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it happened very organically.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_04: You know, um, I served on some committees and then they asked me to be on the leadership board, and then they asked me to be the president of the leadership board.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_04: So I did that for two years.
• 46:49
  Scott Woolley: And then um What is the leadership board?
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_04: It was um basically helping all the volunteers, you know, uh organize our meetings and figure out how the new women could get involved and serve on committees and meet the needs of what was happening on campus.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_04: And then I was honored to be asked to be a part of the executive board.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_04: So now I I go to board meetings once a month.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm less involved in the the events.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_04: I still support them, but um now I'm I've it's I it's been the most rewarding thing ever.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of times it takes a whole day to like drive up to Palm Beach Gardens to go to the meeting, and I'm like, oh, do I have time for this?
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_04: I I get there and I I hear the clinical studies, I see what's the the nitty-gritty, what's going on, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so glad I had this meeting.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_04: And then I can go back and be like, you know, to the women that are just coming to the events or just, you know, they don't know, they don't hear the stories of like lives are being changed.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_04: This is such a need to all these case studies came in today.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_04: These kids are just the worst kind of abuse, um, human trafficking right here.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's it's unbelievable.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_04: It really is what's happening.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_04: Unbelievable.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_04: So I can serve at my business, you know, just by talking about something that I'm passionate about.
• 48:01
  TIffany Woolley: So and how do you balance all that?
• 48:03
  TIffany Woolley: Because I feel like that's my biggest struggle to diving in even more, is because I am a people pleaser by nature.
• 48:10
  TIffany Woolley: So yes, my like if a client all of a sudden I'm I need to come in and I might have like an event plan, I will go for the client.
• 48:18
  TIffany Woolley: Like I end up doing that, and then whatever my idea was to try to get further involved falls to the wayside.
• 48:24
  TIffany Woolley: Like I have, and then obviously then my kids.
• 48:28
  TIffany Woolley: How do you find the balance of juggling that between?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's really hard.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I do, I mean, I've I've learned it just in my own personal growth in life that because I'm a yes person by nature, that's not that's not healthy.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_04: No, you know, things suffer, you know.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I don't want my kids to suffer at the good of, you know, like I have to, I have to keep my priorities in line.
• 48:53
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_04: And um, so I've had to be more thoughtful.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_04: And for me, I pray, you know, I'm not so quick to say yes.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, I ask God, like, is this the best thing for me?
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_04: Does this make sense?
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_04: How is this gonna affect my children, my business?
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_04: You know, how does this work in?
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_04: Thankfully, a lot of times they can be the same thing.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I can be with my friends, doing something doing the fashion show at the Boca Ratone, which is my club.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_04: So I get to enjoy that.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_04: I get to be with my friends, I get to be serving place of hope, and we're using elegant child fashion.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's like that's like nothing better.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that's true.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm looking for things that work together in synergy.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_04: I I do have to say no.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_04: I I tell Lisa McDowell and you know, she asks me all the time to do things, and I'm like, I love you, but I can't I just can't right now.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_04: You know, maybe the season will change, you know, and and you of course I've made mistakes and I things have suffered with my children when they were younger when I was saying yes to too many things.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_04: And so then I have I'm frazzled when I get home and I didn't think about dinner ahead of time.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_04: And so you learn the hard way, and you're like, oh, that was a fail.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_04: All right, I got happy.
• 50:02
  TIffany Woolley: I think I've had too many of those times too, where I'm just like, who who won here?
• 50:07
  TIffany Woolley: Like I wasn't my full self there.
• 50:09
  TIffany Woolley: Um that's great, but that's it, it's true.
• 50:12
  TIffany Woolley: I mean, I like what you said about that.
• 50:15
  TIffany Woolley: And then speaking of your the next generation, like your children, do you see them, you know, continuing this pattern, maybe your daughter?
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_04: Or you'll see, Lord willing, you know, if it if elegant child is still going, I could see Julia doing it.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, when she was little, she was super involved modeling and she would always go buying with us.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_04: So she really understands the buying process.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_04: Now she's 16, just wants to be with her friends.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_04: So she's taking a little step back.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, I hope she goes to college or whatever she wants to do after high school and finds what she loves.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I I pray that Elegant Child is still available so she can have a beautiful work-life balance.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_04: I know she does desire to be a mother one day.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_04: So I hope I can provide an atmosphere like my mother has given me because it's a beautiful blessing.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_04: I don't take it for granted.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_04: I thank her all the time.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_04: She created, she designed, she really did that I could benefit from, you know, in a beautiful way.
• 51:16
  Scott Woolley: So you've been an entrepreneur building a business, helping grow a foundation.
• 51:21
  Scott Woolley: What advice would you give to another entrepreneur like your daughter or someone else?
• 51:27
  Scott Woolley: Pursue a direction like that.
• 51:29
  Scott Woolley: What's some of the things that you've learned along the way that you think could be helpful?
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_04: Listen to those wiser than you.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_04: It's so hard, right?
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um yeah.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_04: Take be open to um changing, be be adaptable, really listening, you know, to people that are wiser than you.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I think for me personally, it's seeking God.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_04: You know, really, um, that's just the number one thing in my life.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_04: So I have to, I have to give glory to him because I really am that's how I start every morning, um, getting re-centered, remembering what's important to me and asking him to help me do the best I can with what's right in front of me.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_04: I want to do the best I can in my work so that he that people will see his strength through me.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I that's the same thing I ask in my parenting, in my relationships, in my friendships.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_04: So for me, I would say that if there's any success, that's where that's where it comes from.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and then you know, I've had great, great people around me that have I've learned from and watched what they've done.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't know.
• 52:41
  Scott Woolley: Is your mom your mentor?
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_04: Of course, yes.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_04: And my father.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_04: And my father, because he's been in the the church world, but he's an entrepreneur.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_04: He was a church planter.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_04: So and he's really a people person and and he loves people.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_04: Both my parents love people, but my mother tends to be an introvert.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_04: So she's never in the store while the store is open.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_04: She's there before or after hours.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um, she's very outgoing.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_04: No, she's that's she was the only one in there.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_04: She's the only one there in the VM.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_04: But she used to talk about you.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_04: I have this amazing designer customer.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_04: She's so fabulous.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_04: She always buys the Corolla dolls for her kids.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_04: So cute.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_04: But uh, she gets drained.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_04: You know, she she needs then her time to recover when she gets home.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_04: But um, so both my parents, I think, have set very good examples.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_04: And working hard because it's really hard work.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_04: It is hard.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_04: I think that's what I would say to somebody that was gonna start a business, because I've seen lots of women start a business for fun.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_04: You have to love it.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_04: And my mother and I have I thank God for her because I have wanted to quit and say, let's just sell the business.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_04: I am done.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_04: This is too much.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_04: And she's like, no, no, Rebecca, just it's just this time of year.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_04: And then she's like, This is too much.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_04: We gotta, and I'm like, mom, you say this this time, you know, this is just we gotta, you know, and so far we've never wanted to quit at the same time.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's like a real marriage.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_04: But you guys know, being your own entrepreneurs, like, it is hard work.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_04: Work, it's hard.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_04: So not for the faint of heart.
• 54:05
  TIffany Woolley: No, and you get the good, you you know, you take the good and you take the, you know, the struggle.
• 54:11
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, that it's it's 24-7.
• 54:12
  TIffany Woolley: Exactly.
• 54:13
  TIffany Woolley: I was listening to it's a great Charlie Kirk passed away, and you know, it was last year, and we they asked him something about, you know, a quote that he was like, this too shall pass.
• 54:23
  TIffany Woolley: He's like, I heard that, you know, and I just thought, like, I need to think of that more because he was like, you can use it in your highs.
• 54:30
  TIffany Woolley: That's right.
• 54:30
  TIffany Woolley: That this too shall pass with humility and being humble and you know, being kind, yeah, it's not always gonna be here.
• 54:39
  TIffany Woolley: That's right.
• 54:39
  TIffany Woolley: And that also when you're down here, this too will pass.
• 54:43
  TIffany Woolley: Like so, I thought that was such a you know, something we all could remember a little more frequently.
• 54:50
  Scott Woolley: Yeah.
• 54:50
  TIffany Woolley: But I also wanted to ask you, or I got a fun question I want to ask you.
• 54:54
  TIffany Woolley: Okay.
• 54:55
  Scott Woolley: If your 21-year-old self walked in the door right now, what do you think the most surprising thing that she would be thinking about where you are today?
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_04: I have 21-year-olds.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_04: So oh my gosh.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_04: I think I would be so happy to see what a balanced life she has.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_04: Because it always it hasn't always been like this.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_04: And I've learned so much and I have gone through a lot of hard times that have helped me understand the best way to spend my time.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_04: And I really I love my life.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_04: I love my life.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_04: I I I'm so thankful I wake up appreciative.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_04: I am trying to I more than ever have I lived in the present moment.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_04: I am type A, I'm a planner, I think far out.
• 55:44
  TIffany Woolley: That is the gift.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_04: And I have really learned to come to appreciate the present.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_04: So, and I did not have that as a 21-year-old.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_04: I had my whole life planned out.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_04: And it did not go like I planned.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_04: Thank God.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_04: Thank God, because he had such a better path than I could have written myself.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_04: So, and who knows what's gonna happen in the future.
• 56:01
  TIffany Woolley: Oh, that's that's what I'm that's what I was gonna ask you, is about where we see the future.
• 56:04
  TIffany Woolley: I know you we as your mom said, you can always make more money.
• 56:08
  TIffany Woolley: And and I feel like you did answer before that that opportunity is still out there.
• 56:14
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_04: I think right now, until while my kids are home, I see it kind of going the same way.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, but our our bokeh of retone is changing.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_04: So I I am, I love knowing what's going on in the city and all the growth that's happening.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_04: And I just who knows.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like who knows what's gonna happen.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_04: But for now, while Henry, he just started sixth grade.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_04: So I feel like I've got five or six more years while he's still really around, you know.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_04: But who knows?
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_04: I I love new things, I love challenges, and I love growth, you know.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_04: So maybe I don't know.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_04: Well, who knows?
• 56:50
  TIffany Woolley: Well, it sounds like the future looks bright no matter what, right?
• 56:53
  TIffany Woolley: That's right.
• 56:53
  TIffany Woolley: It's a win-win, whichever way it goes, because it's gonna be good.
• 56:57
  TIffany Woolley: Well, thank you so much for this conversation today.
• 57:01
  TIffany Woolley: And joining us on the iDesign Lab.
• 57:04
  TIffany Woolley: What a beautiful success story of family and business and community.
• 57:09
  TIffany Woolley: Thank you.
• 57:09
  TIffany Woolley: And thank you for supporting the shop.
• 57:11
  TIffany Woolley: Oh, we're all these easy.
• 57:12
  Scott Woolley: So before we we end the show, why don't you let our listeners know more about where they can find the store?
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_04: How they can Federal Highway.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_04: So we are downtown Boca Ratone, um, one block south of Palmetto Park Road on Federal Highway.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_04: We're open Monday through Saturday, 10 to 6.
• 57:28
  Scott Woolley: Instagram website.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_04: Our Instagram, newly designed, because we were hacked about six months ago.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_04: So we're rebuilding, so please follow us on Instagram.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_04: It's elegant at elegant childboca Ratone.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_04: You were hacked.
• 57:41
  unknown: Yes.
• 57:41
  Scott Woolley: So you lost your account?
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_04: We lost everything instantly.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_04: It was shut down.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_04: We had one weird thing happen on our story, and I screenshotted it and sent it to my mom.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Did you accidentally do this?
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_04: Like in your pocket or something?
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_04: And she's like, No, I have no idea what.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_04: Like five hours later, completely shut down.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: We appealed it through Instagram, didn't get a response.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_04: It was just something appropriate inappropriate was posted on your account.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_04: And so to protect our customers, they just you they completely shut it down.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_04: So we had no way to communicate besides an email to all of those followers that we were organically built over the years for so long.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so now we have a new Instagram, Elegant Child Bocker Town.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, you know, I've put it out there personally.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_04: We emailed about it, you know, we have tried to share it with our customers.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_04: Our customers have been so amazing.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_04: So many have reposted it for us.
• 58:32
  TIffany Woolley: Oh sure.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um doing these things, getting the opportunity to be here with you guys, you know, and share about our business.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_04: All those things really help.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_04: So thank you.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_04: I appreciate that.
• 58:40
  TIffany Woolley: And shop small.
• 58:42
  TIffany Woolley: Shop small, yes.
• 58:44
  TIffany Woolley: Yeah.
• 58:45
  TIffany Woolley: Thank you.
• 58:45
  TIffany Woolley: Thanks, Tiffany.
• 58:46
  TIffany Woolley: Thanks, Scott.
• 58:47
  Voice Over: Thanks for being here.
• 58:48
  TIffany Woolley: Thank you for listening to the iDesign Lab Podcast.
• 58:52
  Voice Over: iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW group production in association with the five star and TW Interiors.
• 58:59
  Voice Over: To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWinteriors.com.