We recently connected with Jamie Craig-Sells and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

I opened my first boutique in 2004 at the age of 25, I was young and inexperienced however it was my dream and I was willing to make that leap, Today at 45 I’m still living my dream job. Currently own a boutique in Durango Co and recently opened a boutique in Mesa AZ. At 25 yrs old I had so much to learn about business and life. The boutique was a success but I wasn’t ready to commit to what it took to be an owner and I sold the shop 2 years after starting it.,I then decided in my 30s to really make it happen this time and give it my all, I had settled down and was ready to be the owner I knew I could be, I started small, A side street location with lower rent and a little space, but it was a perfect starting point, I believe you have to start this way and grow, if there is no growth within a couple years it may not be the successful business you had hoped. The first 2 years were very inconsistent and I had days I wanted to throw in the towel, I had a great support system between my husband and little boys and my folks and my husband folks they never let me get to down on myself they pushed me to keep my head up. And that’s what I did! After 5 years I had outgrown my small space on the side street, I made the scary leap to Main Street downtown in a beautiful spot but the expenses double so it was a risk, however in order to scale up or grow you have to make these risks. You have to prepare for the rent increase, the higher utilities, bigger payroll, There has to be a good strategy in place when making a move like this. And I felt I had covered all bases and was ready for Dolce Boutiques next level! Very exciting to make moves like this, After 10 years I made the decision to grow my business in another state, and let me tell you I’m still learning everyday what that is like, It is so exciting some days and then some days I ask myself “ what the heck I was thinking!” But had I not done this new boutique it literally would have haunted me forever as to what it would or could have been like! Taking risks, and growing is such a crazy ride. But I won’t have any regrets! It’s hard work, sometimes I feel I’m missing my family and I have to just stop and breath and find balance. I just have to remind myself what my priorities are, and never let the stores consume me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I grew up knowing I was meant to be in the fashion industry, I was able to get a great job running a fast paced salon when I was 19yrs old and from there I realized I not only loved fashion but loved running a business, it was an amazing opportunity to learn all it entails to run a business, So after a few years of this I was ready to go out on my own and open a business! And I knew exactly what I wanted to do, a women’s clothing boutique.. and that is what I have been doing ever since. Going to Market two times of year in Las Vegas, buying for each season, knowing what women will want to wear, and then selling that to them, This is what never gets old. And even better than that is having women come in to the store and making sure they walk out feeling beautiful. it’s so fulfilling seeing women shine in the clothes I picked out for them.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

About half way through my career in owning a boutique emerged e-commerce, This turned brick and mortar upside down! We were up against something that forever changed our world. I never embraced it, And still to this day cringe thinking about what we small brick and mortar are up against, I tried to keep up with the fast paced e-commerce and this new ever changing social media madness. For about 2 years I tried the online store and yes I did make a little extra revenue from it but it just wasn’t me, I have a strong belief that boutiques are not supposed to be selling online. I made a tough decision 2 years ago to take my store offline and be a true brick and mortar boutique. I have had some feedback from this, most just wondering why I would choose less revenue and to go a different direction than almost every other boutique. My answer seemed to please most all of my customers, I need to know that my customers have “real experience” with me or my sales associates. They get to try on and play dress up for hours and learn what really works for them, They get to build relationships, they know what they are walking out with, they found a little gem in this store that not everyone around the world can see online and have. Only brick and mortar boutiques can do all this. Ultimately I made this decision to make my customers feel special, and I plan to continue this way as long as I can. I’m trying to learn this social media marketing as we speak, it’s been quite a challenge as I just don’t like it, I have accepted that change is inevitable and I can’t be left completely behind. I will not be selling online but hope to be able to market my store in a way that it will bring more and more new customers. Customers that want an in person, real experience… so look for me on social media as I give it my all to grow in that world.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

So I have been asked numerous times how hard it is to start a business and how much money it takes. I have never been afraid to talk real numbers and be open and honest in what it takes. For me my boutiques were rather small investments financially, I mean that’s all relative but I would always tell people that were asking, “ if you can buy a $50k car, you can be financed for a small business.” Now I’m just saying for $50k I could easily open a store, that doesn’t mean any bank or an investor will just loan you that amount of money for your business. Sometimes this takes some planning and proving to the bank that your business should succeed and is not a super high risk. It’s alway somewhat of a risk but that’s all part of the game. With a strong business plan, and real desire to succeed then you are ready to roll. Again starting small is really important don’t get in over your head, I have watched a lot of peoples business fail, because they started with expectations that weren’t aligned with what they really had. For example when doing your numbers, let’s say my store should make $3k a day at 30 days that’s $90k a month… well let’s be real that would be really nice to project numbers like that, However what needs to happen is you use your bottom line numbers for projections. So let’s say I know I have to make $500 a day to break even. Then those are the numbers you use to get your monthly/annual projections. And even still you may not have days you even hit that breakeven number, Those are “real” numbers don’t be fooled by comparing what another business do, there are so many factors that have to be weighed in. It’s almost like you need to take the worst case scenario numbers for the first couple years, You don’t want to have false expectations, I have seen it happen so often. I have been very strict with my money, Brick and mortar retail is so tricky right now. I am very proud to say that in the 11 yrs I have been open at Dolce in Colorado I have never had to get a loan or line of credit. And I plan this for new store Desert Dolce. I used my initial $40k to invest in the business and have made that amount work! It’s been very scary and challenging at times, especially during Covid. You just have to be incredibly smart with your money, it’s important to know when you are ready to grow and not to go big to soon. The initial capital can be the easy part it’s the rest of the road that can be very tricky. If getting that first initial money keeps failing then be sure your plan seems solid, banks and investors need to have confidence in you, Keep trying don’t give up but also be sure you are listening, Take advice from business minded people, there may be a important reason you are getting turned down. It took me a couple tries on getting financial help the first go around. So don’t get discouraged…

Contact Info:

• Website: Iheartdolce.com
• Instagram: @desertdolce @dolceboutiquedurango