We recently connected with Karissa Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Karissa, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

I have been a part of a family business for 8 years. The things that work well with a family business are having the ability to play to your strengths given your family knows you best, being able to work along side those you know well, know how to interact with, know how to be transparent and honest with. And ultimately, being able to spend time regularly with those you love most.

MY personal pros: I was able to raise my children in the work place instead of utilizing day care in their early years. AS a new mom, this was a huge advantage to witness m children grow up while also devoting time to my career.

The pitfalls: There are times when personal can cross over into business negatively. you may be mad at a family member outside of work, and that can follow you into work. There can also be a blurred line of professionalism at the work place if you are used to being able to speak or act a certain way in private with a family member. You have to remember where you are and what setting you are in.

I very much hope my children can follow in my family business. It is a way to foster a close relationship with family, optimize spending time together, sharing in interests and success.

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 was formerly a cosmetologist who worked in the industry until getting a call from my mom who asked me to partner with her in a boutique. We started in 2015 as a second hand boutique and consignment and grew our business into a specialty boutique, coffee shop, and cafe.

Swallows Nest has become known for unique finds. We currently specialize in refillery items that you can buy in bulk, package free, organic, clean, and sustainable. We also own a coffee roastery and supply our customers with our own roasted beans while also serving it in house. The cafe portion of our business was founded in the heart of covid. Myself and my mom, Deb (the other owner) created the menu ourselves. I was the original chef before passing the baton. We place a high expectation on quality, serving fresh ingredients, all house made.

All around we are known for being a “one stop shop” where customers can stroll, sip, and savor. WE focus heavily on hospitality and giving back to our customers in any way we can. Deb and i are also known for being very involved in our business, trying things ourselves first, before asking any one else to jump on board!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn the way of employee management before COVID. Things have changed in people’s lives drastically, as has our ways of life. When managing employees, i have had to focus more on teaching instead of expecting, keeping mental health challenges in mind post pandemic, we have had to unlearn what we assume of employees and be more transparent. Society was locked in, unsocialized, and out of customer service for so long that i believe we all had to re-learn how to interact with each other and our customers.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

We ventured into the rental decor business providing decor for things like weddings, parties, and events.

We ran this business for 3-5 years before deciding to sell. WE had no experience with this type of business and truly built it from the ground up. We found that, in this business, clients were very hard on items, we were losing a lot of inventory due to damage or misplacement. After going through COVID where many people were having to cancel or reschedule weddings, a lot of business was lost. With the inconsistency of event seasons during those years, we ultimately decided to sell and get out of the industry.

To sell, we hosted a time frame for any and everyone to view our inventory and by bulk lots.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://swallowsnestwashmo.com
• Instagram: swallowsnestwashmo
• Facebook: swallowsnestwashmo

Image Credits

Chimera Creative Works