For some time I've had a good building, funny enough a building wherein I sold many a lemon meringue pie. It was our specialty, but "Corner Cupboard" was not a lemon. At times it was a challenge, yes, but it had very good moments and overall was a great place from where to serve the frothy, tartly sweet slices.
I still don't know whether Corner Cupboard was gaining or slowing when I decided to stop serving food. People were losing jobs and homes left and right of us in 2011, but even as we noticed some customers weren't coming in as they used to, new traffic was flowing too.
What I do know for certain was that my expenses were always rising, especially so at a time I knew for certain I could not raise prices. In my location especially that would be pushing the boundaries. As well, in my personal life, I was anticipating entering a new territory that had nothing to do with selling food for money.
Grand-babies were coming, and I was ready to help. The best excuse had arrived to stop serving food, because if most of why I did the Corner Cupboard was really "for the love," I now had something I would love even more.
It IS so easy to love the babies, even if they are a new piece of very hard work. As you know, babies change everything. For awhile they take all precedence and you wonder if you'll ever have a moment to do anything for yourself again. When grandparents volunteer to help, it sometimes feels like parenting all over again.
But they do go home in the evenings, and you get weekends off and sometimes you even get bonus days--days to ponder and not squander.
Lately I have been pondering a lot about not squandering the historic building that housed Corner Cupboard. It's a great place with loads of potential, but the fearless entrepreneur has yet to come along to take it on. This will take time, and better times, I think, but it occurs to me that I can re-invent Corner Cupboard to suit my life TODAY if I just use my imagination.
I can have this good building NOT go to waste. Who's to say I can't break all the rules of what has been traditionally expected of small businesses for decades on end? An era is an era, and eventually they do come to an end.
Merchant or consumer, we are being advised at every turn to cut back, stop wasting, trim costs. It's the mantra of the new day, even as it remains ingrained within us that "it takes money to make money" and that to boost the economy people have to spend more.
A conundrum of the times, with a predictable conclusion: We all gotta do what we all gotta do. Being both a merchant AND a consumer, I really get this as well one end as the other. It is the platform from which I will "change up" Corner Cupboard. It'll be a shop for the people, formulated by me, so that it works for me and it works for the people. Like any business, it will have its range of appeal. It will make some people really happy and for others, not so much.
It will have its limitations, but within its limitations it's going to be as good as my enthusiasm urges me. I am thankful for the enthusiasm God gives me and my prayer is: "Keep it coming, keep it coming." I know enough to know if you get things right, the people then will also keep coming.
At this time and place in my life it feels better than ever when I don't waste a good thing. Re-homing, re-purposing and donating things to worthy causes are all great ways to not waste and not add more footprint. But who of us doesn't often self-chastise with thoughts like "I should have never bought this," or "If I could have even half the money back I spent on all this 'stuff" I don't want, I would start all over and be so much smarter." And who of us wouldn't rather see our sons and daughters learn from our mistakes than from commission of their own?
I don't know why I ever had to have this historic building that isn't easy to find a new taker for, but I have it now. I have it still. If I don't myself care for the impersonal way of selling online, it remains a wonderful tool for lots of people, a great way to recoup or profit. But most people don't have a historic building that SHOULD be playing a part in a well-meaning venture to recoup, re-purpose, regain some assurance that not all has been wasted.
This is a new day!
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