We were lucky to catch up with Misty Solis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Misty, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

Hobble Creek Barn Boutique has been around since 1995. I (Misty Solis) purchased the boutique in 2019 right before Covid hit hard. A week before I was supposed to open my doors I got a phone call from Mapleton City letting me know that I would not be allowed to open and they couldn’t give me an answer to when I would be allowed to open. Two days later I got an other phone call from my day time job letting me know that they were shutting down due to Covid and didn’t have an answer to when they would be allowed to open again. I remember talking to my husband about how I took the loan out for the business, couldn’t open my doors, got laid off from my day time job and had no clue what I had got our family into.

I sadly was not able to open up for over eight months. I stayed positive, kept our loyal customers in the loop and kept busy with strategy’s of how I could keep everyone safe once we were back in business. Thankfully I am now open and couldn’t be happier with the grow we have had. Covid has taught me so much about running a business during a pandemic and showed me that I can conquer anything that comes my way!

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

It all began with an idea in 1995 of how to help small businesses get their name out there and help them grow. We started out in a beautiful barn up hobble creek canyon and since then we have grown into the historic Mapleton memorial hall. Our loyal customers love its antique vibe. When you walk in the doors you just feel at home. We are a seasonal craft boutique with four shows a year. Spring, Mother’s day, fall and Christmas. We continue to find talented hand crafted vendors from all over the state and even out of state. With a wide range of hand made sweets, art, décor, clothing, jewelry, baby items, bath and body products, pet treats, hair accessories and more. We always have at least one youth vendor at each show. Its so fun to see what their imagination can come up with and help them make a little money with it. Helping people become entrepreneurs and provide for themselves is a blessing on its own.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Before I became the owner of Hobble Creek Barn Boutique I had a small bath bomb business. I owned it for about 2 years before I became a vendor at Hobble Creek Barn Boutique. I immediately fell in love with the idea of being a big time business owner. I started to join every craft show, event and farmers market I could get my hands on. When you own a small business your vendor friends become your family. They are all so sweet and helpful. I knew this is exactly where I wanted to be. When I heard that Hobble Creek Barn Boutique was going to be for sale it was almost like fate.

I purchased the boutique in 2019 and kept my bath bomb business as well. I ran them both for about two years while working my full time day job. After about two years of working all three I knew that it had become to much for myself. I knew I needed to pick and choose where my time could be spend. I decided to close my bath bomb business down to continue to grow the boutique. Since then I have been able to put so much more time and effort into Hobble Creek Barn Boutique. Not only helping it grow but helping so many small businesses grow.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are a few things that I like to pass on to all my vendors. When I was learning about opening a business I took FREE classes at SBDC. Which stands for Small Business Development Center. They are run threw UVU and offer many free classes to anyone. I learned a lot from them ranging from social media tips, how to make a brand for your business, how to become an entrepreneur, tax write offs and more. I highly recommend anyone who wants to own a business or who does own a business to take their classes. I also encourage all my vendors to talk amongst each other. I hands down have learned more about owning a small business from all my vendor friends then any class I have ever taken. And lastly there are so many wonderful Instagram accounts that teach you how get more views, costumers and social media tips and tricks. I personally think people think you need to have some kind of business degree to be a business owner but you definitely don’t. There is an abondance of free information out there.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.hobblecreekbarn.com
• Instagram: Hobble Creek Barn Boutique
• Facebook: Hobble Creek Barn Boutique
• Yelp: Hobble Creek Barn Boutique
• Other: [email protected]