Some seasons come easy — full of energy, ideas, and momentum. Others, well…feel like you’re trying to sell teak in a thunderstorm. This year has been one of those slower ones. The kind that tests not just your business, but your patience, your faith, and your reason for doing what you do in the first place.
Foot traffic has been unpredictable. Sales that once came steady now feel like they require a cosmic alignment. The conversations among other dealers echo the same tone — a shared uncertainty, but also a shared hope that things will turn around.
I’ve learned that owning a small vintage business means weathering cycles — the boom months, the quiet ones, the in-between stretches that make you question if you’ve lost your touch. But it’s in those dry spells that the whybecomes clear again. I still love the hunt, the history, the craftsmanship. I still get excited loading a new piece into Jolene, cleaning it up, and giving it a second story.
This business isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s not a straight road, but it’s still a beautiful one — filled with lessons, laughter, and people who remind me that what I do still matters. Maybe the sales don’t always show it, but the stories do.
So, if you’re out there feeling the same way — stay the course. The storm always passes, the phone rings again, and the right customer finds the piece that’s been waiting for them all along.
Shop the story. Live the style.