We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katy Lemieux a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katy, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

My most considerable risk was, of course, launching a Kickstarter to start the store. I had no other job options besides the freelance writing I had always done, writing grants for nonprofit arts organizations and as a theater reporter for over eight years. I knew how public the campaign needed to be, which meant I could fail massively on a stage for all of my friends, family, and colleagues to see.

What makes a risk worth taking is considering realistically what the other side looks like. What does success mean in this scenario? I never wanted to push something on people they had no interest in. This has always annoyed me about multi-level marketing, this desperate attempt to convince people there is something that will change their life if they can only commit to it. It felt dishonest to me, and I knew this risk had to be correctly positioned so customers would know that the store was for everyone and not just some people. That they are not part of our “downline.” They are people we want to serve because we need them; if not, how can we ever hope to succeed?

I reject the idea that you only have to show someone how great the product is to convince them they need it. By its very nature, the bookstore needs to stand for something more than that if I ever hoped to have people make our indie bookstore THEIR indie bookstore, where they can find things they already love and enjoy, where they can engage with the art and ideas that matter to them.

Risk is excellent, but risk + ego is a deadly combination. Instead, risk + confidence is the model I prefer. Confident that I have assessed WHY I am taking a risk. Is it for my ego? To make me feel important? Then, no, this is not the right way. If I am honest with myself, I will have my answer to inform my next step.

Katy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Talking Animals Books features books, of course, as well as a variety of events and unique gift items. Talking Animals is the only independent bookstore in Grapevine, Texas, one of the country’s largest retail hubs and the Christmas Capital of Texas. We feature many festivals in town where Talking Animals has been proud to participate.

Talking Animals was formed through a viral Kickstarter campaign to purchase, renovate, and stock the storefront located directly at Main and W. Worth St in downtown Grapevine. Katy Lemieux and Valerie Walizadeh, owners, were brought together by a mutual love of books and bookstores and a desire to make positive changes in their community.

We hope we continue to grow our reputation as an inclusive, unique destination for all readers, thinkers, artists, and curious people!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I have always believed in quality over quantity, which contradicts the common understanding of algorithms and SEO practices. Saturation is the key, I get it.

However, I am a person who gets bored easily, and over-saturated content tends to become background noise. I knew that whatever I put online, in any regard, had to be unique, dynamic, and engaging. This was something I started doing years ago with my social media.

Over the years, I have used those platforms to practice my writing when I wasn’t working as a writer. So many folks have reached out to me over time: people from my childhood, old coworkers, high school classmates and teachers, old neighbors, boyfriends, and acquaintances.

None of these were people I necessarily expected to read my work, but I was surprised to see how many had. The feedback was usually the same: something to the effect of how I wrote about motherhood was entertaining. No matter what kind of relationship it was, this person kept up with my work because it interested them.

It would be years before the amalgamation of these relationships could become transformative. My writing blog, social media, and published work reached people from varied locations and readerships. This became valuable as I considered the first steps in forming the bookstore. This required years of work creating, sustaining, and valuing authentic connections with other people. The genuine support for the bookstore outpaced any actual beliefs I held in common with these people, but we all believed in the power of reading and human connection. Which had been my impetus for using my social media for genuine, interesting content that traveled with my followers.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Our store was meant to open on February 2, 2023. Days before this, a major ice storm hit Dallas-Fort Worth. But just before the storm arrived, I tested positive for Covid, my first and only (thus far) case. I was devastated knowing I would miss our opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The next day Valerie flew out for a planned trip to California to see family. My plan was to work through the weekend setting up the store so that Valerie and I could hit the ground running on Monday, then open to the public on Tuesday. I was panicked; the store was in disarray, shelves were strewn about in boxes, and nothing was ready. Our books were en route when the orders starting dropping like flies. I cringed as each shipment returned to warehouses in Indiana, or if we were lucky, Fort Worth. Nothing was getting to us any time soon. And I was not getting out of bed any time soon.

There was not enough time to get the store ready, without either of us physically able to do it. Meanwhile, my neighborhood moms group sprang into action. Their families packed into 4-wheel-drive vehicles and arrived at the store to put it all together, assembling shelves, weeeping, collecting trash. My friends fielded a reporter who dropped by to get audio for an upcoming story, and they facetimed me in my bed, where I gave foggy instructions before I let myself fall back asleep. The relief in that support allowed me to rest that weekend, when it had the potential to be much worse.

I was laying in bed convelscing when we decided to postpone the opening and the ribbon-cutting to the end of the month, which gave us time to “soft open” the store and get to know our way around running this business. The makings of a disaster became another testament to the prevailing power of friendship and community. I think all of us Texans who experienced the 2021 ice storm know how real this need has become. I am eternally grateful to those friends (really family) who came through for us during a crisis.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.talkinganimalsbooks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkinganimalsbooks
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talkinganimalsbooksGV

Image Credits
Talking Animals Books