2018 - A Year in Review

2018 – A Year in Review

I’ve realized that over the last few years, I haven’t made enough time to take a step back and reflect on what the year has brought us. As you likely also feel, it is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and the “what should we do next?” that we quickly move on as if our accomplishments never even happened. This year we wanted to change that. So, we took some time to look back on 2018 and all that it brought us.  It’s been a year of achievement, growth, growing pains and more and we wanted to share some of the highlights with you whether you’ve been with us since day 1 or are just joining our journey.

 In 2018, we were really focused on growth. We spent a lot of time getting involved with other business owners to grow the Chic community and create bonds with other female owned businesses in our area to build each other up. We have loved the relationships we have made through a variety of events. The Femme Obsessed event back in May was a great event that helped us build relationships with AMAZING women in the Twin Cities including the founders of Pursey Handbags, Sara Schultz (behind This Fem and The Merry Hour), Suzette Babb of Zetter & Co. and SO SO SO many more. It was truly a pivotal event for us in our growth and mindset as a business. It finally helped us level up and realize our potential as a boutique, women-owned business and community builders. We also grew our relationship with Socially Handcrafted and held pop-ups with them a few times through the year (they’re amazing!) We’ve also collaborated with fellow Minnesota boutique owner, Two Three Four (a children’s boutique) which has been so fun. She has the cutest stuff for the kiddos. We have loved building relationships with other independent boss babes and have been blessed with their genuine excitement for each other and getting sh*t done!

 We’ve also had a pretty big year of accomplishments. While the sales growth was important and amazing, we look beyond that to the growing of our following on social media, a growing and involved VIP group, our first magazine feature and some personal growth and development. We are members of an organization called The Boutique Hub that provides boutique owners a community to learn from, socialize, collaborate and so much more. The Boutique Hub held their first Boutique Summit in 2017 and we just weren’t quite at a place where we could afford to attend. Our goal for 2018 was to be able to fund the trip (on the business) and attend as boutique owners. We were incredibly blessed to attend as VIP’s when Krista actually won a VIP ticket through The Boutique Hub Facebook community. We were SO excited and with a little extra saving, bought myself a VIP ticket, plane tickets to Dallas and we were on our way. The Boutique Summit was another crucial event for us that gave us invaluable insights and connections in the boutique community. There are so many amazing boutiques and boutique brands across the world and we are so fortunate to be in that community and have learned from them during our time at summit and virtually back home. Shoutout to our girls, Alex from The Boutique Baton Rouge and Serena with The Custom Studio (she made our cute #staychic tees for SBS) for being our new friends and boutique besties throughout the summit and beyond.

 In addition to the Boutique Summit, The Boutique Hub puts on an annual awards segment called The Boutique Awards. We tried going for the title in 2017, but didn’t quite make it past the finals. This year, we were determined. We wanted to be named, “Minnesota Online Boutique of the Year” so badly. With lots of encouragement to our followers and some AMAZING family, friends, customers, coworkers, friends’ coworkers, etc. we landed enough votes to win the title. And on top of that, we were RUNNER-UP for “Minnesota Overall Boutique of the Year.” I’ll never forget Krista calling me as I was getting ready and telling me the news. “Did you see the e-mail?!” I was literally in the bathroom jumping up and down in a towel and crying the happiest of tears. We continue to be incredibly humbled and grateful for the support we received from the Chic Avenue community and it’s just been so amazing holding that title! I’m still shocked!

 On more personal notes, Krista and her husband, Brad have settled into their new home in Apple Valley, celebrated their 8^th wedding anniversary and their older son started Kindergarten. They also spent lots of time chasing their twin two year old ladies around and training them to take over Chic Avenue Boutique someday. The biggest news in my world was getting engaged to John after nearly 5 years of dating! Yay! We’ve been excitedly planning the wedding and spent lots of time in 2018 traveling and attending the weddings of friends and family. We also all took a trip to Disney World with our parents and Krista and Brad’s kids which was a blast! 

We are so grateful for this year for many reasons. Experiences, growth, even the stressful parts. We love Chic Avenue Boutique with all of our hearts. It has been such a dream come true to grow something we’re so passionate about alongside each other. We look forward to 2019 and what is to come (hint: Las Vegas buying show, Jill’s Wedding, The Boutique Summit 2019, defending our boutique awards title and more). Look for more blogs in the future to keep you updated on what’s up in our world!

Thank you for taking the time to reflect with us and for all of the support you have given us over the last three and a half years. We look forward to helping you #staychic for many years to come.

 Cheers to 2018 and to an outstanding 2019 ahead for all!

  Stay Chic,

 Jill