We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dallas Reeves. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dallas below.

Dallas, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Everyone tells you that being a business owner is hard, but the true impact of that statement doesn’t really hit you until you are one. Even now, I find it hard to explain the nuances of what makes being a business owner so difficult to someone that is not one. There’s something about going to a 9 -5 job, doing said job and then leaving, that holds a value I couldn’t see before. Was I happy working for someone else? I didn’t think so. Am I happy as a business owner? Some days, I also don’t think so! It’s easy to look at the negatives for whatever situation you are in, instead of the positives. We spend a lot of time trying to get to the end of the race and a lot of energy worrying about what’s happening tomorrow, next week and next year, when truly all we have is this moment in time, right now, right this second. I like the saying, “pick your poison.” Being a business owner is hard, but so is having a boss. Everything is hard, but you get to choose your hard and that’s the beauty of it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into the estate sale industry because I was ready for a new chapter in my life. Armed with a recent master’s degree in conservation biology and a passion for sustainability, I fell into reselling and eventually into investing in a business called Blue Moon Estate Sales. The model is simple. We help people sell the majority of the contents inside their home (and outside) by conducting and holding a professional estate sale on their property. We help people have peace of mind. We take all the hard work, the emotions, the stress and the anxiety of the stuff away from them and leave them with an empty home so that they can move forward.

What really sets us apart as a company, is our elevated and professional style of preparing and conducting our sales. We are very detail oriented, no stone is left unturned, and we truly value both the clients and customers that we build relationships with. We are very proud of our reputation of being a friendly, welcoming company that is genuine and transparent in the ways we conduct our business. My husband and I are also very involved. I’m the one you meet at our consultations and I’m the one you’ll see running our sales on the weekend. We are a small business with a small reliable team and we stay true to our values.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I didn’t get into this business and being a business owner because money was the most important thing. Money is important, but I got into it because I wanted to feel like I could connect with people and share a piece of myself and my own work and creativity. I wanted to help people shop secondhand in a new way. I wanted to run a business that represented sustainability. I think that people feel that from me when we meet. I genuinely want to do everything in my power to put on the best estate sale I can for them, but also for me, and whatever I have to do to make that happen, I will. I think that being genuine goes a long way. I’m transparent and honest. I don’t hold back because I don’t want to sugarcoat the truth during our consultations. I tell them what I see, if an estate sale makes sense and if we are the right fit for them. If we aren’t, I’m straightforward about that and I think that’s appreciated. It’s becoming harder, with social media and hiding our faces, to really engage and interact with people in person. I’m not perfect, but I try to be myself. Sometimes, I don’t connect well with certain people, or they don’t with me. And, you know what, that is absolutely fine. I like to work with people who feel an alignment with me, who trust my process and who feel comfortable allowing me to do my best work for them. I put my heart and passion into my business and that oozes into every part of it from my employees to my estate sale set ups to our events and I think people feel that little bit of magic.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I want to share a few books that I felt have helped support me in my time as a business owner. They aren’t traditional finance or business books. They are books about life, wellness and connection.

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin. This book is a really wonderful reminder of the hardships people suffer through and that at the end of the day, it’s not about what we’re going through, but how we go through it. It’s also just a great life book about how to face your own demons and get out of your own way.

Another similar book to this one that I found to be a great read was The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** by Mark Manson. This book really just helps you to stop blaming the world for your problems.

You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy. This was a great recent read that reminds us how much we truly aren’t listening to people when they talk. Instead of listening to respond, start listening to engage. Ask questions. Get to know the other person. We are always so eager to talk about ourselves and share our responses, but there is so much more that can be learned by really listening to what the other person is trying to tell you.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I think this is an important one to mention in my line of work. This book is about minimalism, but wait, you don’t have to be a minimalist to adhere to some of it’s values. I read this a few years ago and it helped me realize how much STUFF we accumulate in our lives because we think we might need it later or it has some inherent monetary value or maybe it was our grandmother’s and we feel like we aren’t allowed to let it go. This book helps you really build a new value system on what is truly important to keep and what we can let go of, physically and mentally. This allows space to breathe both in your home and in your head.

Lastly, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is a great read on our ideas and creativity and how we can learn to harness that magic in our lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bluemoonestatesales.com/southwest-nashville/
• Instagram: @bluemoonestatesalesnashville
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluemoonestatesalesnashville
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dallas-reeves-7b23b622a/
• Other: Read our 5 star google reviews at https://g.co/kgs/ZChH7nJ!

Image Credits

The photos were taken by me.