My biggest accomplishment is our marriage, a “work in progress” even at 55 years of marriage and onward & raising two seemly different children!
Both were a challenge in their own way, causing Dad and I many sleepless nights and questioning if we were doing the best we could.
I always had a business. Simultaneously I was room mother for Lauren and Allison,, brownie leader ,I did volunteer work at the University of Chicago, and we entertained a lot & I did selling or bookwork in Dads business 1 day a week. I was under the impression everyone did this!
One of my happiest memories was when Lauren was an infant. On Thursday nights I would get a babysitter , (Nancy who came a few times a week while I was at University of Chicago, Mothers aid gift shop, Ort meeting , or had an activity) ! I would take a cab to Belmont & Central work with Dad until closing 9:30. Then Dad and I would go out to dinner, often at Sabatinos on Irving Park road. Who could have know when Lauren& Mike moved to the area, Sabatinos would still be an excellent restaurant, and we’d spend many occasions there, like when Lauren announced she was pregnant the first and second time!
First I had the flower business then the wearable Art (coats) both creative and relaxing to me & both successful, by following my gut feeling, & taking some chances!
I started the flower business by going to the wholesale market buying several bouquets of flowers , wrapping them in newspaper with a big red bow and giving them to several friends who gave me feedback! Eventually I had 40ish customers a week for “Every Bloomin Week & Event. Customers got a fresh bouquet to their house every Friday (this was way before the stores carried flowers) I had a partner in the business, but we weren’t great partners. When Dad sold the store I did the book work for I was concerned about having a free day, so when my dear friend Helen suggested I get a line to rep. like her who had several, I thought I could do that and went to New York with Helen to secure a line! I meet a nice couple . He was an artist who decided to become a business person.
When he didn’t call in a few days to let me know if He would give me the line I called him and YES I got it! It was wonderful and successful for awhile I did flowers by then events & reping coats at the same time! Just to give anyone reading this a business thought: People like Helen and many others took there lines to boutique after boutique, intown and out. Since I was so late in getting into this…I decided to go to Jacobson’s Headquarters’ who had many stores in Michigan. Dad went with and it was a wonderful outcome, so don’t be afraid to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!..I had nothing to lose and everything to gain! Suffice to say this was a very successful line and sold it to high end stores like Bendels & Nordstrom’s , I Magnum & many more. I doubled back and also sold to the boutiques in town and out of town as well.
When Dad decided to close his stores and was going to have another career…I Knew for sure that I could count on ME to land on our feet….when Dad chose Insurance, I did everything I could to support him and before long Dad was really really successful! We travelled with Allstate Dad won many awards and since I always asked him during our dating days “What would you do if you weren’t going into your father business” He always said I don’t know. Now we knew how successful he would be on his own! Only lately do I realize I always was “in business” and that being in business was my career! In retrospect, I feel very good about where I started and where I am all these years later. I have been very luck in a business I knew nothing about my next move, always believing, the energy of the earth would get me to where I needed to be! Its 28 years later and I am still working with some of the same manufact & master distributors I started with selling to some of the same departments.
**I hope at this point my cherished grandsons will recognize me, as someone to learn from, knowing you have to work hard, trust yourself, & most important lesson “its not about the money”, but getting yourself in the right place and making enough to afford YOUR choices’, whatever that is.!
I am most thrilled that Dad and I have been able to travel and have been able to expose our family to doing that. I am most grateful that I found the way to acquire points through my business as an” afterthought ” after my commission was agreed to! These points have allowed us to do many, many things!
