Catherine: Generations of Giving Back: The Heart Behind Monkees

This episode of the podcast collection, we will be interviewing a small boutique owner Catherine. She was inspired by her grandfather who opened a hardware store after he returned from WWII. She always knew she wanted to give back to the community after seeing how her father and grandfather had been helping people in their business for so many years. She wanted to create a team that would help her achieve her goals of owning her own business. Monkees is a small boutique located in downtown Fredericksburg and she is the buyer/owner of this store. Our questions will mainly focus on how she was inspired to be the owner of Monkees and what shaped her to have a drive as an entrepreneur and business owner.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hi, welcome back to the podcast. Today we are here with Catherine, the owner of Monkeys, and we were with Skye, Parker, Sammy, and Abigail. So Sammy is going to ask the first questions.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

What motivated you or inspired you to begin your journey as a business owner or an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Well, hi, thanks for having me on the podcast. Um, so what inspired me to become an entrepreneur is actually the short answer is my family. So I kind of come from a long line of entrepreneurs. So I'd say it's kind of in my blood. My great-grandfather had a butcher shop in Roanoke, Virginia, and where I grew up. And then my grandfather, after World War II, came back and opened a local hardware store and ran that till I was in, I say junior high because I'm from Roanoke, but middle school is I think how most people would think of it. Um, and then when my dad um graduated from college, he was in the military for a little bit and then settled back and also was part owner in the hardware store. So from a very young age, I saw the joy of owning your own business and what that could be like, and the pride that they had and the ability they had to give back to their community. So when I fell in love with fashion and working at a local boutique in college, it's my brain sort of segueed very quickly to maybe I could own my own store, you know, like my grandfather and my father had, um, but within the passion of um, you know, clothes and helping women look and feel their best.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

And when you realized that you wanted to own your own store, how did you start off collecting your resources?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Oh boy. So that's so hard. I mean, that's I think the hardest part for any entrepreneur because when you have that spirit and that desire to own your own business, it's um you really you have the drive and passion to find it. It was not an easy process. I worked here at Monkeys of Fredericksburg for you know almost five years under the previous owner as the manager and buyer. Um, so I really got a feel for it. But when she said she was gonna sell it, I thought, you know, I I really want to buy it. And so I started trying to go to the bank and you know get a loan. And I was young, I was early, mid-20s, late 20s. What was I 27, 28? And um, you know, so I didn't have the collateral, and it's just really such a long process to get a formal loan. Um, so I ended up actually with a mentor who helped and co-signed on a loan for me. And then I did have some family assistance. So finding the funds to get set on the path to actually pursue your dream, I I think is one of the hardest things. And I I know that your question was not what advice would I give, but I would say if if you're listening and you really want to own your own business, to not take the first no as the answer, to keep trying and keep asking and keep talking about it with people. Because the person who helped and co-signed on my loan, while I'm not able to actually say their name on the podcast, I would have had no idea that they would have helped me if I hadn't just kept talking about the passion that I had for what I wanted to do and how I didn't want to see the store sold to someone else. I wanted to continue it on.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

Would you say that the person who co-signed on your loan and everything was the person who believed in you first and helped shape your confidence in a way to help you continue building your business?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

That's a good question. Um, that person was very um, very much a mentor to me, but I was not extremely close with them. Um it was a little bit more of a um business venture for that person, if that makes sense, um, as far as what they would receive in return for assisting with that. Um because you know, if someone's gonna help you like that, obviously they're not helping you for free, if that makes any sense. I would say the person who um most believed in me, while there were a lot. I mean, my father for sure, he's always been my biggest cheerleader, obviously, and my sister, who I'm extremely close with, she was there for every call when something failed or every, you know, joy. Um, and she even surprised me and came up when I bought the store. So I would count her as a very high, but my husband for sure. Um, we met in college and got married right as we left college, and so he was with me through all of it. When I walked in on my lunch break um and handed my resume to the owner the first day, and he saw me do that and he knew how much I really loved it. So when I came home crying that the store was gonna be sold and I wasn't gonna buy it, he just really was like, We're not taking that as an answer. You're we're gonna figure this out. And through all the no's, he really, you know, helped me keep going and and still to this day, obviously he's my biggest supporter.

unknown 5:34

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 5:36

Then as a young entrepreneur, would you say that when starting off, were you more motivating of yourself or or were other people more motivating to you?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I I think the true answer is that I was motivated. Um, and I don't want that to sound conceited, but I think if you're gonna be an entrepreneur, you have to be self-motivated. You can't do it for anybody else, or you'll never make it. Um, you know, it's it's just too hard of a thing. So I would say I was self-motivated. It's what I really wanted to do, and I really loved employing and love currently employing um such wonderful women who work for me and helping the ladies in this town, you know, dress and look and feel their best. And I don't know, I just really love it. So I hope that's not too conceited to say I think to think I self-motivated. Obviously, there, like I just said, there were lots of people behind me cheering me on. Um, and some of my best customers, ladies that you know I met when I started working here, who I mean sent flowers and were I just incredibly supportive of when I bought it.

SPEAKER_04 6:46

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

We're gonna move on to Parker's with the business side. Hi, this is Parker. Um, do you remember there being any obstacles that you face along the way?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Well, how much time do you have? Well, I think the most, like the one that sticks out in my brain, y'all, is I bought the store in July. And my one of my best girlfriends, sorty sister of mine, she lived right across the street and she was opening the store at that time we were open on a Sunday. I'd owned it for a month, and she calls me on the phone and she said, It is raining inside the store. And I I was like, I don't understand your words. Can you just go give it? Come on, one more time with that. And so, what had happened is they were putting a new roof on the building, and they did not put the temporary roof back on, and we had this massive rainstorm, and my entire ceiling was raining and flooded the whole store. And it was the first day I'd really said, I'm not gonna go into the store, and I was on the couch with my feet up. I was like, oh no. So that was sort of my welcome to um being an entrepreneur mom. Nope, you're not gonna do that. You're gonna get up, you're gonna go to the store. And so walking through that process of an insurance claim and then trying to reopen after, like, literally justifying the store, I would say it was by far one of my biggest challenges. And then it would be hard not to mention the pandemic because obviously we closed and I had to um make a business decision as in my employees' home, and I'm so thankful that there are lots of options for unemployment for them. So certainly wasn't sending them home without assistance that was coming to them in different ways. But I ended up working, you know, every single day while this door was technically closed, trying to sell the spring merchandise I had um in 2020 as fast as I could to get it out and then to cancel everything I could. So probably those would be my two biggest challenges. But um, sales in general and fashion and um retail is fraught with ups and downs, you know. It that's just kind of the nature of it.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

But how did your definition of success change once you actually became an owner?

SPEAKER_00 9:13

That's that's a very good question because going into it, I felt like success was only about money, and that sounds horrendous. You know, I look back and think, wow, what a greedy thing to say. But I really did. I thought um I was gonna become the top monkeys because we're franchised our other monkeys, and I'm gonna, you know, work hard and make make all of this money. And then once I really got into it, I realized it was way more about just the passion of the people. And um obviously making money is important to keep the store going and pay the bills, so it's not like that left, but it just took a back seat to more of um how the store could serve the community. And then also, you know, I realized I needed to be closed on Sundays for my family. I think kids really changed my perspective of the business and kind of made it where it was like, oh, this is great because I can have a job, but I can also step back and still be at the pre-K, you know, donut night or donut morning, or I could go to the, you know, the Valentine's party and be at the Thanksgiving turkey feast. And so that definitely changed the level of I felt like success was being able to have both of those two things um and employ a staff that could handle the store when I stepped away and actually experienced some of those life things that I was worried I was gonna miss out on. So I think that's kind of how my um definition of success changed.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

And then last one for the business side, are there any um mindsets that you believe are most important to be a successful business owner and to start a business?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Well, we've talked a lot about um trials and different things like that, and I think just um not giving up and not, as we said, not taking no for no is the first answer you're gonna get when you try to find funds to start a business. Don't take that as the answer. Keep keep looking. So, resilience, I guess, is really you know a word that I would come up with if I was gonna say you need to be resilient as a business owner because it's never gonna go exactly as you've planned it. And there will be factors that you have no control over. Like I don't have control over when it dumps 12 inches of snow on the ground, as none of us do. And that drastically changes sales and our mindset for a whole month. That you know totally changes how we handle and manage our inventory in that um timeframe. So, you know, being resilient and being willing to take things as they come and think on your feet and get ready to pivot and make a move and in a positive way. Okay, well, that didn't work. Let's move forward.

unknown 12:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

Um now I'm passing it on to Abigail to talk about the team environment.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Okay, my first question for you is how did you decide when it was time for you to hire your first employee and kind of like keep hiring new employees to keep your business flowing?

SPEAKER_00 12:23

So when I first thought the store, I was the manager, obviously. So that was a really hard decision to decide that I couldn't do what the owner needed to do and what the manager needed to do. Um sometimes it's hard to admit that you're not able to be in two places at once and you're not a superhero, you know, you need assistance. And so I um after many years decided that it was just time, and so I started um looking and hired a manager, and that was one of the best things I did is sort of pass off certain things. Obviously, I was still watching and you know, making sure that things were taken care of well, but it allowed me more time to look at um more of the in-depth owner side.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

And then um, how do you keep your team aligned with your original vision as the business evolves?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Well, that has not been a problem with the team I currently have because each one of these women view the store really as their own, and that's such a blessing because um it can be really hard to say, you know, that that's not how it's done, this is how it's done. We're gonna treat customers like family and friends, we're not gonna be rude to them. Um, you know, we're gonna go above and beyond. If they say they want, you know, to go to lunch, we're gonna give them lunch recommendations. We're gonna call and get that um uh lunch reservation for them. You know, we're gonna call and let foodie know they're coming, that kind of thing. So I haven't had a problem with the current team that I have. I I do try to keep in great communication with everyone. So sometimes it looks like a morning phone call, a morning stopby, maybe just a text message if my day is kind of out of control. I'm just trying to keep up with you know what's going on, what do you need from me? They probably get tired of hearing that, but that's the question I ask a lot. What do you need from me? You know, these are the things I'm doing, what can I do for you? Because I think the last thing you want is to be the owner who's just off in space and missing that the team is really floundering and could use you know assistance with, you know, maybe a new shipment or a customer or something as simple as they ran out of Windows, they can't put them in the windows. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

And then kind of going off of that, um, what has your team taught you? Like what has what have they taught you um as a leader? What do you learn from them?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

I love that question. They've taught me a lot. I mean, this team has taught me a lot. Uh not even just about leadership, but just as being a person. I mean, they are just such incredible loving women. Um as far as being a leader, they've taught me just to lead with my heart more. I think business is so ruthless sometimes, and people say, oh, cutthroat is business. That's not how I operate. And when I have tried to operate like that here, and I have, it's always failed. So my team's taught me just to be myself, just lead with my heart and um listen and make sure that I'm doing what I would want done if I was the person in that position.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

I love that. Alright, we're gonna switch it over to Sky.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Okay, so these are my last two questions. Um what is one piece of advice you would like to share with undergraduates to help them start a business or succeed in their life journey? And I know you mentioned one before that just so I know we did kind of talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Like you mentioned, I I think being resilient, not not taking no as the answer and continuing to push forward because you're gonna deal with adversities, you're gonna deal with struggles, but you gotta love what you're doing. So if you want to own a business, just to own a business to make a whole bunch of money, I I think you're gonna fail out of the gate. You have to have a passion behind what you're doing, you have to care about it, you have to want to do it, you gotta want to show up. Because I mean, sometimes it's only gonna be you showing up and you need to be there. What part of your business are you most excited to reinvent next or um I think the part that I'm most excited to reinvent and and add on to we have a really great e-commerce um program, like you know, website, but I'm always interested in sort of navigating that um further and getting a bigger reach. So one of my goals within 2026 and 2027 that we've started is sort of try to really get our website to push forward and get out there to more people, um, not only in Petersburg and Virginia, but throughout the entire country. Oddly enough, we do have a lot of really good customers that live in other states that just found us randomly and then they fell in love with you know our collection and what we have. So I think that's what I'm most passionate about is just continuing to help women look and feel their best, and um you know, we help people dress for the happy occasions and even the sad occasions, and we're just trying to be there. So just meeting new people and bringing more people within um our area and outside of it into the monkeys world.