Take the Leap!

Dearest Friends,

As I begin this new blog, I want to share a short bit about my vintage shop, how it came to be, and why "taking the leap" is so important to me.

I graduated college in December 2009. Look at me, all green and full of dreams. (I miss my long hair)

After graduation, jobless and homeless, I moved back into my parent's house (definite motivation to take some chances). I applied for jobs. Fought with my mother on a daily basis. And was all around miserable.
As I applied for job after job that I wasn't particularly interested in, it hit me that maybe I needed to create my own job. One that fit me, my interests, and my need to be my own boss. I had always had an interest in vintage, thrift stores in particular. I loved the hunt and all the random and unique things you could find. Bam. Vintage store! I knew about Etsy but had never perused it. One day I decided to explore further and realized this was the perfect avenue to launch my biz!

So there it was, I was going to start a vintage clothing store, my mind was racing for days as I tried to plot everything. Get a business name, tax ID number, inventory, packaging... sooo overwhelming.
One trip on the Ohio Turnpike between Maryland and Michigan changed everything. It seemed to all come together. I was listening to the Decemberists' "On the Bus Mall" when I heard "paid in palaver and crumpled old dollars" and it hit me. Palaver. I had looked up the word before and knew that it meant idle chatter or gossip and knew I wanted to use that word and since I love alliteration, I knew I wanted the other word to be a "P". Prose was chosen after much deliberation. Other options were "Pipe & Palaver" and "Pale & Palaver" but one implies tobacco and the other mundane colors, neither of which I wanted to promote in my shop. Prose seemed to fit perfectly as it is much the opposite of Palaver. Prose is ordinary grammar and structure while Palaver is gossip, idle, free-flowing speech. A perfect match.

I returned to Michigan, filed for my DBA and tax ID number, started gathering vintage items and packaging supplies and bam, my first items were listed on Etsy in May of 2010.

The first dress I took pictures of, originally in my backyard with mulch and a sappy tree (sadly, those pictures have been deleted)

So, what does this all mean to you? Well, I'm hoping by sharing this short little story with you, that you are pushed to take a leap! And go for something that you might think is impractical or too difficult, just do it! I am so happy that I have my shop now. It is a constant reminder that I am living my dream. One of my friends recently asked me "what I would do if I knew I could not fail?" My response was to play the lottery, simply because I have already started what I would do, my shop!

I'm encouraging all of you to take that leap! Whether it be to try something new and different, quit your job, move to a new place, or whatever else you can dream.