As we get to know our sellers’ stories, they often tell us what they’ve learned along the way. We’ve been sharing some of their most sage pieces of advice in our weekly series, Wise Words. For this week’s edition, we spoke to Josie Lee of RIRE boutique in Sacramento, California, whom you may recognize from our new TV commercials.
Here’s what she had to say:
“You can tell when someone is being genuine and when they’re not. It shows through. When you ask someone how they are, you should really want to know how they are.”
“Invest in quality things you need for your business instead of trying to save a couple of dollars. You’ll end up having to re-buy things and spend more money in the long run. In that way, it’s kind of like clothes. Invest in quality, instead of just buying a bunch of cheaper things.”
“When I get overwhelmed, I think about all my employees who depend on me now for a part of their livelihood. That pushes me to keep going.”
“It’s good to be transparent with your employees. Mine know everything that’s going on — how much we’re making and how much everything costs.”
“My best piece of style advice is to wear clothes that make you feel confident and comfortable.”
“Learn to say no. In the beginning I was a pushover. The first time I said no to something that didn’t make sense for the business, it was very empowering.”
“Praise your employees in public, but if they do something wrong, talk to them about it in private.”
“Co-opetition: work with other businesses. Even though it’s the competition, community-building is important. And it’s great to bounce ideas back and forth.”
“Every woman should own a nice pair of dark denim jeans; a nice v-neck, white T-shirt; a black leather jacket; and a good-fitting bra.”
“Be nice, but stand your ground. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with business inquiries, customer support, and even with your employees. If you don’t agree with someone or you don’t want to work with a company it’s less stressful to quickly and politely decline than to wait it out and waste everybody’s time.”
RIRE Boutique, a Sacramento fashion staple since 2012, sells an evolving line of unique dresses, tops, accessories, and artisan jewelry. It was one of the first shops to open in Sacramento’s East Sac Mercantile (a collection of small local businesses under one roof), and has since expanded to its own stand-alone space in Midtown Sacramento and another store in Davis. It uses Square Point of Sale, Dashboard, Customer Engagement features to help it take care of business.
