Second Hand Stories | First Hand with Small Business Owner Christen Lawrie from Childrens Orchard and The Closet Trading Co

Grab your coffee, tea, wine, or mocktail and pull up a seat, and let's chat. Unfiltered - because that's when the greatest connections happen. When a group of women gets together, lets their hair down, and shares their purpose and passions that's when ALL the magic happens.

If Brené Brown says vulnerability is our most accurate way to measure courage then our guest today is both BRAVE and FEARLESS. Our guest today,  Christen Lawrie, believes you have earned the right to hear her open up as she shares her experiences and feelings on family, life, running 3 small businesses, and the pursuit of the good life here in sunny Santa Clarita, California.

A little bit about Christen in her own words
 " I am a registered nurse who became a bit burnt out a few years ago. My family and I have some goals and dreams that we just weren’t able to reach on our W-2 jobs. Our faith has always informed what we do, and so looking at income options, it seemed the best way forward for our family, and to make a bigger impact in our community was through business ownership. The opportunity to purchase Children’s Orchard came up in 2019 and we made the leap for the first two years, I worked at the hospital and ran the store with my husband. I would go into the store at 5 AM before a shift, scrubs, and all then run to the hospital work my 12 hours and come back to the store to finish up whatever loose ends there were for the day. That became unsustainable, and so we made the decision to be “all in” with our business. We have always wanted Children’s Orchard to be a refuge of sorts. To use the space as a safe place for kids and families, as a place to provide needs and also joy. We are still in the process of figuring out how to do that more, but that’s the heart behind what we do.

Then, in 2022 we purchased two additional businesses- The Closet Trading Company.
Our goal now is to utilize our business resources as a platform to contribute to our community- we’ve partnered with a local organization, Saving Innocence, to support their work in rescuing kids from trafficking.

Stay tuned- we have BIG plans in the works!"

Fair warning - you might walk away from today's conversation admiring Christen's courage to show up to our interview and be seen.

Her energy is infectious and it's a vibe I'm so proud to have in our community, Santa Clarita, CA.

Show Notes & Links:
The Closet Trading Co- Woodland Hills, CA
https://www.theclosettradingco.com/pages/woodland-hills
Store Phone: 818.912.6025
Insta: thecloset.woodlandhills

The Closet Trading Co- Santa Monica
https://www.theclosettradingco.com/pages/santa-monica
store phone: 310-396-5013
insta: thecloset.santamonica 

Children's Orchard Santa Clarita
https://santaclaritaca.childrensorchard.com/
Store Phone: 661.222.2901
Insta: childrensorchardsantaclarita

Questions? OR if you or someone you know might be interested in sharing their story with this space please email me at info@scvconnected.com
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Until next time...it's worth it to be ourselves and to connect with others. Don't make it awkward - go talk to your neighbor, have a little fun, & stay connected! 

Transcript

Listening

to the SCV Connected podcast with my mom Kelly O'Keefe



I'm here today with Kristen Lowry from Children's Orchard is how I reached out to you. Yes, but little did I know. There's so much more. There's so much more. 



But how did Children's Orchard come into the picture and then all the other, all the  📍 other things. Yeah, fun story. It's been in the community for 25 years. Oh my gosh. I know.

So we have like, Third generation shoppers at this point.  Which is really cool. My husband and I have lived in the Valley for 16 years. My husband grew up here actually, so a little bit longer than 16 years and we, have four kids. We homeschool them. And at one point I was a nurse and my husband was actually a local pastor, so he pastored a church here for 15 years. 

And it just became harder and harder really to make a living that way. So we actually looked into business and tried several different like frozen yogurt. Pizza shop. We looked into all these things. My husband actually managed Vincenzo's for a while. When he was, was really young. Yeah. And so he was like, let's do a pizza shop. And I was like, I know nothing about pizza . So I was still working at the hospital.

I worked at Holy Cross.  And this shop, this little shop came up, children's Orchard on the business for sale, you know, so have you ever been there before? Were you going to the place a lot? Yes. Okay. I was like a religious customer. Nice, okay. Yeah, probably kids. Yeah. I mean, I mean, get it every week.

Really? Yeah. I would go in, take some things that we had outgrown or toys or whatever, see if I could get a little bit of store credit. Get the next size up, .  I was a huge fan. Okay. Followed them religiously. Every sale. I mean, they knew me, my name, I knew them by name, name, . Oh. Like it was, I was a huge fan.

So when it came up for sale, we were like, oh my gosh, let's, let's just try and let's see, and it just worked out pretty smoothly. Everything just fell into place and so we wound up purchasing it in 2019. So we've been the owner since then. Wow. So  is it a lucrative business? Like, walk me through all of this.

Okay. I'm so fascinated. We do go to Children's Orchard. Okay. And I wish I had found it sooner, but my kids love it. Yay. They just, yeah. Cuz there's like American girl stuff. Yes. There's everything and. Don't feel guilty. Cause I'm like, well we brought stuff in already. Or usually I'll bring the stuff when they're not there.

yes. You know me, right? I know. You're like, I do the same thing. I'm like purging when they're not around and I hide it and stick it in the back of the car.  Do you just get so much stuff from the community? Nowadays we're always purging  so what happens to all the stuff that, what happens?

It's a really great question.  So, I mean, to unpack it, it's not actually a super lucrative business. Our margins are really tight and part of that is just business in California. Okay. It's tough. It's a tough state to do business in. It's so expensive.  And when people bring a basket into to our shop, like we pay our employees to look through it, so, There's so much that goes into so much. It's not just volunteers, it's no paid staff it's paid staff. It's a for-profit, you know, it's not a non-profit. So I'm trying to think what were the other questions. So we get a ton of items, like so many. In fact, when we first bought the store, we would have days where like, , 80 different people would bring in tubs of, oh my gosh.

It just, yeah, like our front was completely filled. Our back room completely filled. You could not walk anywhere because that's how much stuff gets brought in. Oh my goodness. . So I, I forget when, but a couple years ago we moved to like a reservation system. Yes, I'm very familiar with that. . I know.

Okay. Which made people really upset, but honestly it was like, it was getting to be a safety thing, right. For our. I could see that it was just, we were overwhelmed with the amount of stuff, so that's not a problem. We get plenty in. Okay. That's good. That's good. And we do get amazing, amazing products in sometimes that you're just like, I'm so thankful because it's not going to a landfill. Right. If someone's not gonna use it, someone  📍 else will.  And then, I don't know if people know this, but we pay cash back to the community.  You could choose cash or store credit.  And so I  📍 think it was last year we put back into the community 160,000 plus dollars. Oh my gosh. Cash.  📍 Wow. That's not counting store credit. Wow. So it's really neat if you think about the model of the store just inherently gives back to the community. Yeah. And that's a whole range of families. So we serve a lot of maybe lower income families.

That really kind of depend on our prices and our deals, right? In terms of clothing, their kids like, just very practical. And then we also have maybe families who aren't struggling, but they're very environmentally conscious. Oh, for sure.  Right. Clothing styles change so quickly, and then it just goes into the landfill.

Yes. Yeah. I, I had talked to someone at some point in the community who was like, yeah, I was trying to convince my wife to come to your store because everything we don't use, she just tosses. And I was like, oh yeah, just because like, as when you, that's what you do, you're like, you can't imagine to tossing it, it's perfectly fine.

Right. . I think another side of that is like, as a mom, I didn't realize how much I would accumulate. I mean, stuffed animals alone, let alone clothes and shoes. Yeah. And then if you have generous friends that give you hand me downs, it, it really does become so much. Yeah. And then when you go to like, declutter the thought of putting it in a trashcan means it's going into the earth and right. How does that break down?  So it does feel so much better to  bring it to Children's Orchard and get. , that kind of thing. Mm-hmm. . And then, I mean, kids have so many spirit days and so many different things in sports and it's just been such a blessing for our family to go there and get, like, whether it's soccer equipment or you know, a new, 4th of July dress I think we went for 

Absolutely. I mean, think about that T-shirt that you're gonna need for school. Right? That they're really just gonna wear once. Right. Because next year it'll be too. Yep. So come to us, get it for a fraction of the price, and know that you're not contributing more to all of our environmental crises.

Okay. So was there a point where you had to leave your career as a nurse. So I spent two years doing both. Okay. And. It was nuts. I do not recommend this and, and I like, I don't really know how I even cope because it was too much.

Yeah, and I mean, opening your own business, you kind of know you're gonna have to give it. So much of your time. Yeah. You're gonna eat, sleep and breathe this business. But then you also have four kids. Yeah. And you are a nurse? Yeah. Oh my. Like you're not superwoman. No. How did you I'm really not. I'm I, I cried so much.

You do? Yeah. Okay. I just spent a lot of time crying. You're human. Totally human. Okay.  And, and honestly I had to ask. For help. Like we hired a babysitter and I would ask her, like I'd leave her a list of, can you get these math problems done with  my youngest and all that kind of stuff.

So you kind of have to figure things out to make it work. But I would, so I worked to seven to seven at the hospital, like 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM and there were so many days where I would get up and I would get to the store by five. So I could. For, you know, almost like 90 minutes. Mm-hmm. , I would push it to the very last moment.

I know I have to leave by this time, or else I won't make it down to Holy Cross. Oh yeah. And then you know, I'd get there in my scrubs and then at the end of the day, sometimes I'd have to. Come back to the store after my shift at the hospital. Wow. In my scrubs. So we did that for two years.

And my gosh, it was, it was a lot. I lost some hair ladies watch your cortisol levels had to rebalance that. And so at that two year mark is when we really sat down and we. , we either need to be all in in business, or we need to seriously consider not having a business, right?

And so what do we want for the future to be? And it was really scary because. Business has a lot of, advantages. Mm-hmm.  so we can, you know, things like cell phone and intranet. The business pays for those things. So there's some expenses that we're covering, but it wasn't like we were making a whole bunch of money.

Right. And so leaving the nursing field was kind of this I'm not gonna get that paycheck every other week. Are you sure? I really didn't want to, I really, my husband is more entrepreneurial. I don't know if you listen to like, how I built this.

So he's, he would take the risk totally. I am not, so, I just, I'm a little more risk adverse and I prefer a little more security in my life.

 But it really did feel like, you know,  what could it be if we just decided to go all in with business? Okay. The potential.  really is quite a bit bigger, right? Not that it's guaranteed, right? But then you also think, well, what if you don't try? Right. So you had to go for it. Had to go for it. Okay. So we quit my, I quit my job officially, and then a couple months later we got this amazing opportunity to buy another business.  Called the Closet trading company.  So this other opportunity is a luxury women's resale.

So it's kind of the same concept as Children's Orchard, where we bring things in from clients.  A much,  fancier level , so we're selling things like Chanel and Dior and Louis Vuitton. That is so cool. Yes. So are you in really fun, you're in Santa Monica doing this? Yes. So are, do you get like celebrity assistants that like drop things off?

Yes. Oh, that's so cool. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Okay. We get a lot of stylists. We actually work with a lot of major influencers as. Really? So we have two locations. We have Santa Monica, the Closet Trading Company, and when we have Woodland Hills, my gosh, can you do, is there anything online? Like can I go online and find a Chan Snow Personal?

Yes.  Cool. Some gorgeous things right now. You should totally okay. I know. I'm so. Styling session or something. I don't know for sure. So both of our stores offer free styling services. Our girls are amazing. Wow. They'll put a look together for you. It's really fun. Okay. So I'm gonna make a girl stay out of it.

Yeah. Bring some girlfriends and we'll come. Yes. We usually have bubbly on hand so you can have a little bubbly while you're shopping. And it's, it's a really fun store. So same thing, like we're bringing items.  people aren't using or sometimes they've never used so. Right. That's crazy. Brand new with tags.

Yeah. Like never used, for whatever reason and more often than not really, and sometimes like bags will be brand new because, like one time it was a client, it was like an old boyfriend had given. A very generous, like beautiful gift dress. Oh, stop. That's so funny. And, and this client didn't want it anymore because they weren't together and she was like, sell it.

I just, I don't want it. Like, and never used it. Wow. So gorgeous. My gosh. Designer bag, brand spanking new, like amazing. So, Yeah. I see how neat it is that you have both ends. Mm-hmm.  because they both, I mean that compliments Yeah, for sure. So if like maybe Children's Orchard isn't making as much, the profit margin over here must be huge.

Yeah. The profit margin at the other stores is a lot better. . Okay. But rent, probably still the cost of doing business in California. Okay. Still huge. So when, when we talk, you know how in covid it was all about small business, small business help, small business. Yep. It really is true. It takes a lot for a small business to be profitable and like they always say, two to three years of owning your business before you're profitable.

Yeah. And COVID set everyone most every. Back to the very square one. Wow. So a lot of small businesses are starting over. So anyway, like that's my little soapbox plug. Yeah. Wait, so then what did you do? Your small, what did you guys do for during Covid? Well, I mean, did we have people in the store? No, we couldn't.

So we were closed. Wow. We were, you know, non-essential.  So the stores were closed. That scary. And it was so scary.  I mean, the government did provide assistance and things like that, so we were able to stay open, thankfully, thankfully. It, it's, you know, we'll see, we'll see how it all shakes out, but I think a lot of small businesses are still recovering.

Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah. So if you can think about, you know, I know it costs more to go buy a candle at, um, like one of my favorites, Maison on Main Street, shout out . Hi Kathleen. Oh, I love her. But she has a beautiful gift shop where she sells beautiful things, candles and all. It's cheaper at.  it is. Right. But I want Kathleen to stay open.

Right. So I buy my candle at Kathleen's . 

so  I love getting to know you. I love like putting a face behind. Yeah. Like the logo, the storefront. Okay. So you have three businesses. Mm-hmm. . What's next? Like are you gonna be acquiring even more? I think I heard rumblings of a nonprofit.

Yes. Okay. So my husband, so when he left pastoring full-time, we actually joined a nonprofit, it's called Novo. , and so what we've really been working towards is partnering with a nonprofit called Saving Innocence. They're actually local they're in LA County. They rescue children minors out of sex trafficking. So crazy. Yeah. It's crazy that it happens close to Santa Clarita. Yeah.

In our little like bubble. Mm-hmm. , I mean, just living in the United States, like we're so blessed and so, yeah. It's just crazy to think that sometimes we think things like child trafficking. No. That happens there. Not here, but I know. Wow. It's, it really is.  Like my, we, we've had meetings with the directors mm-hmm.

 To talk about different things and opportunities and I mean, you come away really kind of having night. Wow. It's very real. 

It's like horrifying what's happening. And it's kids that are, you know, the kids who are at risk, like maybe their parents are working really hard and so they're not around a lot. And you know, things happen. So anyway, we really want to see more justice for those kids. Okay. Um, oh, and I'll get all worked up.

Oh, I'm gonna try not to. Oh yeah. No, it's hard not to. Especially Yeah. As moms. Ah, oh my gosh. Seriously, right? Yeah. Like, ugh. I went to a talk where we heard a survivor share her story, and I was just like, it's devastating. Oh, devastating. So, one thing that we. Really like to do is in all of our stores, all three stores, we have lots of things that come in that aren't maybe up to the par of what we would put out on the floor for our shoppers.

Okay. Because as a resale, it's different than thrift, right? Mm-hmm. , you're going through it, you're making sure it's a current style, that it's clean, that it's gently used. Okay. If it's more used, we try to like price it at a dollar, you know, . Right? Right. Um, so we do our. There's a lot of things that are still totally wearable.

That might be just an older style or whatever. Right. So what we would like to do is actually open up a shop for saving innocence. So like a thrift store? Yeah, a non-profit. Where. , it can kind of serve a multipurpose in terms of the money that comes in would benefit the organization. Mm-hmm.

Saving Innocence. But it could also provide a place for their graduates to have some on the job experience. Maybe a little bit of training. Mm-hmm. . Cuz as you can imagine, if you've lived like that since you were 11 Right? You have no concept of what a normal. . Oh my gosh. No. Yeah.

Right. Like you don't know how to dress yourself. Wow. For like normal life. Like, there's so many facets aside from the actual trauma. Mm-hmm. , that you just, they would not know cuz they would have no reason to know because their whole life they've been earning money doing something else. Oh my gosh. So Novo break this down.

Like how does, , it's an international missions organization. Okay. And then Novo's gonna then partner with saving, I. Yeah, so we're on staff with Novo. Okay. So we technically would partner with Saving Innocence. Okay. So Novo's kind of like an umbrella.

Okay. Um, for us and really. Even legally, I mean, they support us. They are amazing at caring for staff. So they offer all kinds of resources to their staff and we get together and have conferences and things like that. Nice. Okay. Um, which is great. So they're kind of like the overarching organization. And then we have our own nonprofit.

5 0 1 three C three C. Yes. Yeah, . I and so we have our own, and that would kind of be the umbrella that partners with saving innocence. That is a great idea. We're still like, it's still in the talking phases.  But that's the goal.

Do you see that happen? Before 2024 or that's like the next couple years. Yes. So if it were up to my husband, we would open tomorrow. and I was like, time out. Right. Hold on here, . Um, we'd have like another shop and the thrift shop. Yeah. So are your kids getting older? Can they like start working?

Yes. You'll see my kids in Children's Orchard all the time. Oh, stop. Okay. Yes. My 14 year old son works there. So cute.  He'll be talking to women who are like, you know, older women and Yeah, he's, he's like, so where are you going? Are you taking a trip? Oh, like, he's so cute. And my girls work there as well.

I'm just so in awe of all the things that you do that you have planned. I'll have to connect you with the, uh, RISE Foundation. I was just in here speaking with them and they are,  a nonprofit that's local. Mm-hmm. And they work  directly with the social worker. So have a warehoused where they'll store items like that and the social worker can come shopping. It's. Guest facing in the sense of like, a neighbor could just walk in. Yeah. But, I think that's great idea.

That's so neat that there's more of these kind of secondhand stores with causes popping up. Mm-hmm. , like the closet on Main Street, I think that helps single women's outreach. Mm-hmm. , there's, um, the Assistance League. Yes.  So, yeah, I guess there's a huge market for that. I, I know it's really great. I think.

Thrifting in and of itself is kind of like a sport. Like there are some people who are very devoted to thrifting. Yeah. And so when you can open up a place and there's no shortage of stuff, right? Like no, we all have so much, like I think every week I can donate right more and I still am fine. so it would be really great to just tap into that thrifting market, but have it obviously benefit.

Yeah. These. People who really need our help. Is there one segment of everything you do you're more passionate about or, oh man, that's a really great question. I'm, I don't know. I don't know. I love, I'm kind of, my personality is like, I love all the things. Okay. So I can never pick a favorite because I just love them all.

I could see how you would love like certain aspects too. Mm-hmm. , maybe Children's Orchard, if you started that first. It has a special place in your heart. Yes. But then you probably meet people along the way. Affect you differently too, or Absolutely. I love, I call Children's Orchard the little shop that could, oh, because it really , some covid was rough and so, oh man.

I'm like, I'm just, it's a little shop that could, I love it. I love what we can offer to our families that come shop with us, so I love that part. I love our other shops too, because it's so fun. Cause when do you get to like, talk to stylists and 

in my normal life, at least it's, Chanel is not a part of my normal life. So , I'll just throw that out there, . But how fun. It's almost like playing dress up. Yes, it can be really fun. And then I love actually, in terms of like running the businesses, my favorite thing honestly is marketing. Really. I love it. I think it's so cool.

I think there's business enough for everybody. Mm-hmm.  and I love sharing like, Fun businesses that I love. I love Instagram. I love, yeah. So do you do it for all posts and For both. Okay. For all your businesses.  I mean, it's a lot.  But at Children's Orchard, we've always done pop-up events, so I will invite vendors like whether it's.

Makers or bakers or treats or whatever, coffee carts to come out and do a pop-up event and it's totally free.  You do not have to pay a space fee it's just fun. Yeah. You know? So you like partnering with different Yeah. People in the community. That's so cool. What would you say to someone that is maybe a female wanting to go into business, like maybe another woman another.

Oh, well that's, that's really, I feel like you could write a book on this kinda stuff. . I'm like, how could I narrow it down?  I think so. And you probably know when you are working for yourself, you are working harder than you will ever work. Yes. And there is no Geek Squad. There's no it department. You are it, you're everything.

It's you baby . Yes. And um,  and you can almost like work nonstop. Yeah. Because honestly, I can do everything for most everything from my phone. So I could work, I work all day long. Before I came in here, I was in the car, I was making a reel. Oh my god. You know, I like made two drafts. I bought an ad like from my phone. So I would say, but if, if you have something that you feel like is a felt need in the community, go for.  Like, why not?  So we were, I was talking with a friend of mine actually, who, cuz we homeschool, there's like a felt need for like a hybrid, like a cottage school. Mm-hmm. . I could drop my kids off for two days, but keep them home for the other days.

But I really need these kinds of classes and the, and I'm like, there are so many families like that. And my friend would be amazing at running a school like that. Oh my gosh. Like, just do it. Yeah. But just know going in, it's so. There's gonna be tears so hard, but it's so worth it. Like the winds are high.

Yes. And the lows are low. . Yes. So one of the things that I love doing is listening to podcasts with entrepreneurs. Okay. Because every one of them, no matter how many billions they've made, right? They all have had sleepless nights. Aw. They've all come close to bankruptcy. They've all lost everything and had to start over, like, oh my gosh.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Every single one. Wow. So if you wanna go into business, and this is not MLMs, this is like. Business. Business. Okay. You just have to know that it's gonna take a lot of hard work and you should probably plan on at least two years before you quit. . . If it hasn't been two years yet, don't quit.

Oh my gosh. And I heard somewhere some, someone said, don't quit on a bad day. Yeah. Right. Don't quit on a bad day. Yeah. And figure out time. Make margin. So I'm not naturally a planner. I. Huh, . I'm just, it's just not me. I know. Um, I kind of like fly by the seat of my pants and Yeah. You know, sponsor spontaneous

Yeah. That's ki I'm kinda like that too. Like inspirational spark with this. Yes. This is like my creative baby, so to speak. Yes. Slash business. And I'm like, oh, I am a planner. I'm an achiever. But then sometimes it's like, Creatively, something will spark and yes. And so if that's more of you and you're going into business, just know you're gonna have to develop some tools.

So I've had to really work hard and be intentional. Okay. About developing tools? Just simple, like I have a planner now. I write it down. . Okay. Yeah. Which before I never would have, but it you just, There's that book. Um, what Got you Right? Good to Great. What Got You Here Won't get you there.  That's, so just think about that, like, okay, what would you need to really get there that maybe doesn't come naturally to you?

Because there's gonna be those things.  How do you create margin with family? Like with kids not being on your phone? Yeah. Like how I mean, or is it a constant struggle? Constant struggle? Oh my gosh, I love how real you are. It is. Constant struggle. I have a basket by the door. Mm-hmm. . And I do my best to plop the phone in the basket.

Okay. And inevitably, the moment I do that, somebody calls me . Oh man. Yeah. But it, I think it, I mean it's, it comes in waves and you just have, it's a learning curve. Right. So you and I, I tend to be very open with my kids, so I always apologize, especially cuz now I have teenager.  And teenagers will tell you, oh man, when?

When you are messing up . Like, well, you told me to get off my phone, but you're on your phone. Oh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. My eight-year old. Yep. , you said, no phone time for this family, like activity or family day. And you're like, Ugh. Yeah, totally. And so then I just own it. Yeah. You know what, buddy, you are right.

I did say that and I am on my phone and I apologize. Mm-hmm. , I'm gonna put it away now. So I think as long as. You know, kind of honest about Right. I'm not perfect either. Right. I'm also working on it. I'm sorry For sure. You know, but yeah. Phone is a, yeah. Is a struggle. It is. Cuz you can do so much from it.

 Wow. Okay. So we were not alone. I'm so glad. Gosh. How do you develop, like community? Or does your businesses inherently provide that, since you have employees mm-hmm. , do you ever. It gets lonely sometimes. Do you mm-hmm.

have other entrepreneurs or small business owners that you meet with or? I actually am working on that. Okay. Because it was something, so, Maison actually on Main Street, that sweet little gift shop. Aw. Um, boutique. It's gorgeous in there. She's done an amazing job. Kathleen has been super sweet and she actually hosted a popup for the.

Trading company. Aw. Which was very fun. We brought some things out, like people got to shop her things and our things. It was so fun. And, we're getting together for lunch and I just thought, I need to do more of this. Because I think. You know, everybody says this, men in business and women in business is a little different because I think as women and moms 

we, we have the constant running tally of, oh my gosh, the kids need this and then I gotta do this, and oh my gosh, groceries and oh my gosh, dinner and Oh, yep. Right? Yep. And then you also have to perform well at your business, right? Stuff. Yep. . Oh, for sure. And then you have to be a wife. That's intentional.

And so, how do. Do all the things.  So I, I was like, oh my gosh. It would be so fun to have like a lunch bunch.  Oh, that's cute. Women in business or something. Even if it was once a month. because I think community has been really hard. I have wonderful friends, like, don't get me wrong, my friends are,  amazing.

And I love them and I'm so thankful but there is kind of that little, if you don't, if you don't own a business, it's sometimes hard to relate. It is. Yeah. Right. For sure. And when you're talking, like, I love talking with Kathleen cuz she had all those covid experiences and like, how do we figure out marketing and oh my gosh, the algorithm, you know?

Right.  Just all those things. For sure. It's so fun to relate, like, oh, you get it .  Definitely. Oh my gosh, it's so important. So maybe like, I'll have lunch bunch with you. Yeah, let me invite it. Let's do little lunch bunch. That's so cute. It's  📍 so neat to see all that you're doing in our community. Wow. It's been, it's been a wild ride for sure but I guess that's kind of where God has us and yeah, I love making new connections and it's, it's been really fun to Do your kids wanna go into business? I, at least one of them does.

Okay. She's hysterical. she's like on the ball.  She is like organized and together and with it. She works at the store. She's only 13. But she talks about her future real estate portfolio. 

We just had a real estate agent in here. So  what qualities do you think someone needs in order to go into business? Do they need to be the achiever?

Do they need to be Oh, Uh, like attention to detail or mm-hmm. , I think you need, I think you need it all. I heard someone, and I honestly forget who it was. It was an entrepreneur on, I think, the how I built this podcast, but she talked about you hire your weaknesses. Mm. I've gotten that advice too. Yes. Hire out the things that you don't feel like you're good at.

and don't worry about paying someone to do it. Just do it. It's worth it. Yes. Yeah. So we've experienced that. I think we're so, I am not a detailed person. I am very big picture, broad strokes. Mm-hmm.  creative. I can decorate a shop window, but I will not remember to pay taxes. So, right. So something came, you do not want me to do that

 And so for us it's been like, okay, so how can I hire that person who can help with the details? So we actually hired , um, director of operations for our company. Nice. And I'm looking for a personal assistant. Nice. If anyone's listening, right? Yeah. You're really good at details, .  You can DM us. That's good.

So I think hiring your weaknesses is probably, or just knowing what they are. Right, right. Just so true. Be self-aware. Right. And you can't do it all. There is no such thing as having it all. It does not exist. Right. Yeah. No. It comes at different seasons. Yes. 

You cannot like, oh, I, you cannot have a clean, beautiful, rainbow organized fridge, house, whatever, and run all this. Yeah, no, it's true. Yeah, because you know who does the Rainbow Organization,  staff, paid. Staff. Sorry. That's my, that's like my new pet peeve. Every time I see the rainbow organization, , I like that you're very,  honest and just lay it out there.

Yeah. You don't pretend to have like the rainbow colored fridge and then Oh no. The flourishing business and. Be the most amazing mom, like you're saying. Yeah. Mm-hmm. , sometimes something's gotta give. Yes. Cuz you're only one person. Right? I have the same 24 hours as anyone else, and so you have to make the call.

What can you live with? Right? My garage is horrifying, , but that's, that's the choice I'm, I have to make at the moment. I cannot organize my garage.  But you're making what I need to get, making such a difference. And I think that is so important to say that it doesn't discount you if you're not gonna have the rainbow fridge or the super clean house.

You are still making such an impact in this world. And my gosh, hopefully. Yeah, no, you are definitely. Yeah. So I think yeah, if you're going into business, maybe have some perseverance. Okay. Yes. Um, be able to like get back up again when you get knocked down. Yes. Think outside the box. , right? Yeah. A lot of things you can just, we call it MacGyvering all the time, like just MacGyver it.

I don't know.  What do people do be before Google and YouTube? I'm like, I'll figure this editing thing out. You know . Yes, exactly. Just every, you, you wind up being a jack of all trades, I think. Mm-hmm.  because, Sometimes you don't have the money to hire out. Right. So you do have to figure out Google Ads by yourself.

Right. . That's so true.

Where can people find you though?

So we're on, all three shops on Instagram. Okay. We're pretty active on all locations, so we have the Children's Orchard, Santa Clarita. Okay. And you can shop our stories, which is really fun. We'll send you an invoice if you see something on there you like, oh, really? Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm.

It's really fun. I know the stories put things like new fines and grape finds. Yes. They'll put it up there, but I was like, oh, for sure. It's gone by the time I get there. But no, we can purchase, you can DM us. Okay. It's so great. It's something that we are still getting better at. Mm-hmm. , but we started to do it and it's been really successful because like you said, sometimes you're too busy to just run down Yeah.

And get it. So if you dms an email. , we'll just email you an invoice. You pay right from your phone. So cool. Super easy. Okay. And then you just come and get it whenever you can. Oh my gosh, that's great. Great. Okay. I love that. So that's really fun. Okay, that's Children's Orchard, Santa Clarita. And then we have the closet dot Woodland Hills.

Okay. And the closet dot Santa Monica are the Instagram pages for those. And you can also shop from those as well. 

Thank you so much. I'm definitely gonna connect you with Rise Foundation. Oh, I'd love that. Yeah. Yeah, we've, we've been able to host foster families kind of as one-offs. Okay. So a few times someone has reached out and said like, one time there was, , a family of six kids, their parents had passed away.

Oh my God. And their foster family was like, We have nothing. So they came in and they did a shopping day at Children's. It was so fun. We love getting to bless people. Okay. So as long as people reach out and you know, we can vet them in some way. Yeah. We're happy to help. Rise will also be the vet that,  puts the social worker in touch.

I love that too. Oh my goodness.  📍 I'd love to be connected. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I loved getting to know you and just a huge shout out to Children's Orchards. Yes, thanks, Kelly.

No problem. Thanks for having me anytime. Oh my gosh, this is so good. 

Thanks for listening to the SCV Connected podcast with my mom, Kelly O'Keefe.

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