09/02/2026
So let’s talk about the clothing store and some changes that have recently come about. Let me start by saying yes, I own the business. Yes, I have a direction I want to see it go, and yes, I have opinions. Shocking, I know. But despite all of that, I also realize something pretty damn important: I do not have the time to micromanage that business. I can’t stand in that store every day looking over everybody’s shoulder, questioning every decision and trying to control every little thing. That’s not running a business, that’s babysitting, and I have absolutely no desire to spend my days doing that. So that means I have to put faith in the people I have put into place to run the business, and let me be straight with you, I have faith that I have the right people in place. I believe they are more than capable of getting that business where it needs to go. Hell, sometimes I probably have more faith in them than they have in themselves. But that’s because I’m standing on the outside looking in, and I can see potential that sometimes the person standing in the middle of it can’t see yet.
A few weeks back, we had some serious discussions about the clothing store. We talked about the direction I want to see the business go, things I thought might be holding us back, things I thought we were doing right, and yes, things I thought needed to change. It was one of those straight-up conversations where everybody involved had to be willing to listen, but also willing to speak their mind. Those conversations can go one of two ways. They can either be productive, or everybody can get their feelings hurt and walk away mad. Luckily for me, the person I was talking with took it exactly the way I hoped they would. They didn’t just sit there and nod their head at everything I said. They fired back with ideas of their own. Some of those ideas challenged what I was thinking, and honestly, I’m perfectly okay with that. If I wanted somebody to just agree with everything I said, I could have bought a damn parrot and put it behind the counter.
I have a pretty simple theory when it comes to this business: as long as we are making money, taking care of our customers and moving in the right direction, I’ll butt out. That last part may be the hardest one for me, but I’m learning. Owning a business doesn’t mean you have to be the smartest person in every room, and it damn sure doesn’t mean every good idea has to come from you. Sometimes the best thing an owner can do is shut up, step back and let the people they hired do what they hired them to do.
So after those conversations, I sat back and waited. And you know what I started seeing? Things that gave me hope. Things that told me we may actually be heading in the right direction.
First came a team-building meeting. Yes, the famous team-building meeting that I was not invited to. Apparently they have decided they can run a meeting without Joe sitting in the corner eating donuts and offering unsolicited commentary. Imagine that. The girls sat down together, talked about what they thought needed to happen, came up with ideas and decided what they believed they needed to do to be successful. Then they came to me with a list of things they wanted me to do. Now, I didn’t agree that every single thing on that list was absolutely necessary, because apparently I’m still Joe and haven’t completely lost my mind. But I listened, considered it, and went along with it.
Then last week happened, and we had one of the best weeks we’ve had since opening.
Now before everybody gets excited, no, we didn’t set the world on fire and become the next Walmart. But the numbers were up, the morale was good, the girls were working well together, and most importantly, I started seeing something that matters more to me than one big sales week: potential. I saw a business that is beginning to find its identity.
This week they rolled out a new pricing structure. They lowered some prices and put together a system that is easier for the customers to understand and easier for the girls to keep up with. I thought our prices were already pretty damn fair, but I’m perfectly okay with changing them if the new structure works better for our customers and makes the business easier to operate and track. The goal isn’t for me to prove that my way is right. The goal is for us to find the way that works.
They are also in the process of rolling out some other new things, and I’m going to let them tell you about those when they’re ready. That’s important too. I want the people running that store to have some ownership in what they are building. I don’t want them to feel like they are simply carrying out Joe’s orders. I want them looking at that building and thinking, “This is ours, and we are going to make this work.”
A business owner can have a vision, money, inventory, ideas and enough opinions to fill three buildings. But none of that means a damn thing if you don’t have good people willing to take that vision and turn it into something real.
I can’t build the clothing store by myself. I don’t want to. I don’t have the time, and honestly, I don’t think I’m the guy who should be doing every damn job in the building anyway. My job is to provide the opportunity, give them the tools, make the hard decisions when they need to be made and then get the hell out of their way when they’re doing their job.
So yes, things are changing at the clothing store. Some of those changes came from me. Some came from the girls. Some of them challenged my thinking. And some of them have already proven that my way isn’t always the only way.
And I’m perfectly okay with that.
Because here’s the thing about building a business: the greatest compliment I can give the people working for me is not telling them what to do. It’s trusting them enough to let them show me what they can do.
I may own the building, I may pay the bills and I may still wander in occasionally and stir the damn pot just to make sure everybody is awake, but that clothing store is becoming something bigger than just another business I own.
It’s becoming a business that the people inside it believe in.
And when your people start believing in what they’re building, you better damn well pay attention.
Because that’s when a business stops being something you own...
and starts becoming something you built.
And if along the way I can be the crazy bastard standing in the doorway once in a while making Mrs. Caroline roll her eyes while her team builds something they are proud of?
Well hell...
I’ll take that job every damn day of the week.
