Episode 407 || From The Bookshelf Files, Vol. 1
This week on From the Front Porch, we have a special new episode series for you: From The Bookshelf Files! Have you ever wondered about The Bookshelf’s origin story? You’re in luck! In volume one of From the Bookshelf Files, our Community Manager, Felicia Dilbert, interviews Annie about how she came to own The Bookshelf and what it's like to run this small, mighty business. If you have a business-related question you’d like Annie and Felicia to explore in a future episode of From The Bookshelf Files, please email Felicia here.
Call the Bookshelf at (229) 228-7767 to order your copies of Beautiful Healing Vol. 1: Seven Love Letters for the Truth Seeker’s Soul and The Beautiful Healing Journal written by our very own Bestselling Author and Community Manager, Felicia Dilbert!
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter and follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are... Donna Hetchler, Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle C, Kate O’Connell, Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, and Laurie Johnson.
Transcript:
Annie Jones [00:00:01] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South.
[00:00:25] "Coming back is the thing that enables you to see how all the dots in your life are connected. How one decision leads you another. How one twist of fate, good or bad, brings you to a door that later takes you to another door, which, aided by several detours, long hallways and unforeseen stairwells, eventually puts you in the place you are now." Ann Patchett. What Now?
[00:00:51] I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, we're launching a new episode series we’re calling From the Bookshelf Files. I'll be joined in conversation by fellow entrepreneur and Bookshelf community manager Felicia Dilbert. You'll hear us talk about The Bookshelf’s growth and the ups and downs of small business ownership. What life looks like at the Bookshelf and how it's changed over the last few years. And how ideas like our Reader Retreats and Shelf Subscriptions come to life. This week we're kicking things off with a little bit about the Bookshelf's origin story. But before we begin, Happy New Year! It is our continued goal for From the Front Porch to reach 10,000 weekly listeners. We are getting so close. We worked so hard toward that goal in 2022 and so much of that is thanks to everyone who has listened and left a review on Apple Podcasts. Here is one of my recent favorite reviews from July. Spark: Feels Like home to me. Came on here to write a review and saw I had already written one several years ago. Still love this podcast several years later. Look forward to the weekly download every Thursday morning on my commute to work. Great companion to one of my favorite bookstores. If you haven't left a review yet, all you have to do is open up the podcast app on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see 'Write a Review' then tell us what you think.
[00:02:12] Happy New Year, friends! We are kicking off 2023 with this series of episodes that we hope will answer some frequently asked questions that we frequently get, that I frequently get, about the Bookshelf and the book business. I could think of no better person to help me navigate these conversations than our community manager, Felicia. In addition to joining the bookshelves back in August, Felicia has always been a servant leader, entrepreneur, and grief recovery coach. Her books, Beautiful Healing Volume One, Seven Love Letters for the Truth Seeker Soul and the Beautiful Healing Journal debuted at number one on Amazon on their release date. Now, you can find her books, of course, at the Bookshelf. Just check the show notes for a link. During her interview, Felicia pitched this idea of having fireside chats about small business ownership. And I loved the concept and thought it would be really fun to bring it to podcast format. I get a lot of emails from hopeful bookstore owners and women entrepreneurs. So a podcast series felt like a good idea we could try in the New Year. I'm grateful she's here with me, helping host these small business inspired conversations. Hi, Felicia. Welcome to the podcast.
Felicia Dilbert [00:03:16] Hi. Happy New Year. Thank you so much.
Annie Jones [00:03:20] I'm so glad you're here.
Felicia Dilbert [00:03:22] Thank you so much. I am so thrilled to be here, Annie, this is such a great thing.
Annie Jones [00:03:27] Felicia, why don't you tell listeners a little bit about yourself and what brought you to the Bookshelf?
Felicia Dilbert [00:03:34] Absolutely. So I am from a little bitty town with about five stoplights in Pelham, Georgia, 30 minutes from Thomasville. I have a heart for family. I love the beach. But also I'm a woman of faith and essentially, Annie, I love helping women discover their true worth. And I do that through building community and just encouraging them and cheering each other on and confidence coaching. Also, grief is something that I believe everyone deals with throughout our life. We come to that crossroad of life and loss quite often, it looks different for everybody. And so I'm just grateful to have learned about these different gifts that the Lord has given me and also to be able to contribute to this wonderful, wonderful, charming, special place that you've created in the Bookshelf in Thomasville.
Annie Jones [00:04:28] Well, we're so glad you're a member of our team. Felicia was brought on board last August as our community manager. So if you are a Patreon supporter or if you've attended one of our reader retreats, you have gotten to know Felicia that way. She is responsible for helping the Bookshelf grow and helping sustain the current supporters that we have, the current community that we have. So she's here to help us build and grow and sustain, which I think are certain gifts that she brings to the table. Felicia, let's talk.
Felicia Dilbert [00:05:01] Yes, let's talk business, Annie.
Annie Jones [00:05:04] Let's talk business.
Felicia Dilbert [00:05:06] And what I love is you have created your own definition, I feel you've written rules for yourself. They're the spaghetti on the wall, like I hear you say.
Annie Jones [00:05:17] Yes, I say that a lot.
Felicia Dilbert [00:05:19] So what does business mean to you when you think of that word? What does that mean to Annie?
Annie Jones [00:05:25] Yeah. So I think part of the reason I have kind of written my own rules, as you say, is because I was not a business major in college. I do not come from particularly entrepreneurial parents. My parents are really wonderful and lovely, but they did not own their own business growing up or anything like that. So the Bookshelf business is something that I definitely think I strived for, but in some ways it also fell into my lap. And so there have been many moments in the last 10 to 12 years where I have felt ill equipped, unprepared. Yes, I bring (I hope) gifts to the table, but it can be a little intimidating to do something that you don't feel like you have tools or language for. And so even business books or business conferences can all feel a little intimidating. And some of that has gone away in the last couple of years, last few years, but I think when I initially hear the word business or small business or entrepreneurship, it makes me a little sweaty. If I'm being totally honest, it just doesn't necessarily feel like what I would have predicted for myself, given my personality or the giftings I thought I had. I see now ways in which my personality is well-suited to The Bookshelf-- in particular The Bookshelf, maybe business in general. But I think when you say the word business or when somebody says the word business, I immediately feel it’s maybe not for me. Yeah.
Felicia Dilbert [00:07:08] Yeah. Well, that's one of the things that I absolutely love about you, because you are so honest and transparent and authentic. And these are some words that I hear people say often thought leaders all over the world, different folks. Be authentic. But I truly feel that with you and the way you lead, the way that you go out to the beat of your own drum. I hear you saying, feeling ill equipped and unprepared, but then I also see you pivot throughout every day. Even Annie, seriously, I just wanted to take a peek at one of your posts because I didn't want to misquote it. But after a recent event you said so eloquently, "I chose to be excited. I was nervous. Of course, this was a big deal for our team." Speaking of a large event we'll talk about a little bit later. I want it to go well. And guess what, it went beautifully. But you talk about how you were nervous. You talk about even earlier how you felt ill equipped, sometimes unprepared. And I think even that just that really shines a light on who you truly are and it just speaks volumes. There is no mask on and off. I just think it's really authentic and I think that's a really cool way that you lead. So with that being said, how did it all begin for you? Tell me a little bit about the story of the Bookshelf..
Annie Jones [00:08:30] Yeah. So, first of all, I want to thank you. Authenticity is a value that is really important to me. I think that's true of a lot of millennials. I think that is a generational desire or value that we really place highly. I also think my personality makes it really hard to fake things. And so if I'm nervous, even if I am, as my mom always has said, "fake it till you make it," even if I'm faking it like I'm here, I'm professional, I'm going to do my job, my face might show a little nervousness. I've never been one to hide very well what's happening on my face. So I think that is one way my personality might actually be naturally suited. Transparent is the only way Annie B. Jones really knows. So, thank you, I hope that that is an asset. Okay. So the Bookshelf, this is a story I've told many times, but I do love telling it. Certainly the social media podcast version of the story is I was 13 years old, I saw the movie You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. And I fell in love not just with the romantic comedy genre, but also with a little bookstore. I did not grow up in a town with an independent bookstore. I spent my childhood and teenage years hanging out at Barnes and Noble and watching this movie and seeing the Upper West Side of New York and this quaint, adorable bookshop. I saw Kathleen Kelly leading Story Time, and I thought, I would love to do that one day. And of course, like I said, the social media savvy or the podcast version of that story is and then I owned a bookstore and it was happily ever after. But the reality is, of course, I was 13 years old and it was like one of those dreams that you tuck away that you think that would be cool one day and you don't really know what one day might look like. So I went to college, got my degree in journalism. I've always loved writing, and I chose journalism. And perhaps surprisingly to some people, instead of becoming an English major, I chose journalism.
[00:10:39] Graduated, moved back to my hometown of Tallahassee, Florida, and began working in my field, which felt miraculous at that time. I graduated in December of 2007, and there was like a recession in 2008, but I got a job in my field and I felt really proud of that. I felt really happy with that. And fast forward, I think around the age of 25, I had a quarter life crisis where I just thought, can I keep doing this? Like, is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? Do I want to do office work? Do I want to work as a writer? I was working at a legal publication in Tallahassee and I liked my work, but I just wasn't sure if that was all there was. And then the Bookshelf opened a little outpost in Tallahassee. So the Bookshelf has existed in Thomasville for over 30 years as the spiel goes. And they opened a second location in Tallahassee, right down the street from my and Jordan's house. And Tallahassee, as you know, Felicia, is not particularly walkable in a lot of areas, but we lived in midtown Tallahassee, and that is where the Bookshelf opened up a shop. I could literally walk to it. And I walked to work many days. And so, anyway, they opened up a second location. We were familiar with the Bookshelf in Thomasville. Like many Tallahassee Inns, we would come up to Thomasville for date nights and things like that. I emailed the former owner of the Bookshelf offering my services as like a storytime lady, as a volunteer, just telling her how excited I was that she was opening store in Tallahassee, in my hometown and in my neighborhood. And Katie is the name of the former bookstore owner. And she was really kind and gracious. And a few months later, she reached out to me and asked if I was interested in applying for their manager position, which I had never worked retail in my life. I say often I grew up in Tallahassee, so even my early experiences in work were all state government related.
[00:12:36] I never worked at the mall or anything like that and so I had never worked retail, but I sat down with Katie and her husband, Scott. I really liked them. I liked the mission of what they were doing. And I began managing the Bookshelf in Tallahassee. Yeah. A year later, they chose to close that store, and that was something I kind of gloss over. But that was really hard. And when they decided to close, they offered me the chance to buy into The Bookshelf in Thomasville. Katie was ready for a career change. And so we can talk a little bit more about the details of that, but that is how I came to the Bookshelf in Thomasville, and that was in 2013.
Felicia Dilbert [00:13:18] I love it. I love it. So when I was doing some research, when I saw this opportunity, the job and everything, I'm like, Let me find out about this Annie B. Jones a little bit.
Annie Jones [00:13:28] You did your homework.
Felicia Dilbert [00:13:29] I did my homework and I found a podcast interview by Jamie Tarrant, it was awesome. On her podcast Savvy Cast, I heard you talk about sweat equity. I really love how you were so transparent in saying there was not a huge amount of savings. You were so clear in. I worked. We saved. You mentioned this sweat equity. Tell me what that means. What did that look like for you?
Annie Jones [00:13:59] Yeah, that's a great question. And I always want to be really honest about how we came to own the Bookshelf. And I want to be honest for all kinds of reasons, partly because that's important to me. But also because I want people to know you don't have to have a lot of savings or come from maybe a wealthy background in order to own your own business. You can come at it from some really creative ways, and I am grateful to Katie and Scott for offering this opportunity. So here's what sweat equity looked like for me. I chose to come on board the Bookshelf in Thomasville in 2013. I had worked for a year at the Bookshelf Tallahassee. When I came on board, Katie told me that I could earn the Bookshelf by working. I think my official title was like co-owner. Katie was pregnant at that time. She went on maternity leave. She really taught me the summer of 2013 basic things like how to pay bills, introduced me to the community of Thomasville, made sure I got settled and people got to know me. Then it kind of was mine to run and she was there if I had questions. But really from that point forward, I began functioning as the operator-- at minimum the operator of the Bookshelf. And so I did that for five years. So my paycheck I got paid a little bit and then most of my earnings went into purchasing the Bookshelf. So we were given a total of what the Bookshelf would cost and then over the course of five years, I worked off that payment. Sweat equity was not something I was super familiar with. The best example I can use is a biblical one, which is the story of Jacob and falling in love with Rachel and he earns her by working for her father's uncle. And that story does not turn out great. I mean, I guess it really does, but he doesn't really get what he bargained for-- which honestly how accurate. We don't really get what we bargained for in small business either. So I did that for five years and in 2018 that contract-- that sweat equity contract was for five years. And so Katie and her husband, Scott, really asked us, okay, what do you want to do now? We had that opportunity at that five year mark. We could either walk away and lose the equity or we could buy the business at a discounted rate. And I also want to be transparent about this. I really looked hard for a financial partner because I did not have the capital. And so I wrote up a business plan. I mean, I did all the like nerdy Enneagram five things you're supposed to do.
[00:16:51] I wrote a business plan. I talked about my vision for the Bookshelf. I talked about what I wanted to do with it, how much I had fallen in love with the business and with the town. And I just didn't find a partner. That was super discouraging. And at that point, I think Jordan and I both thought, well, does this mean we should walk away? And then I think we just both decided, no, we'll take out a small business loan. And so we took out a small business loan with a local bank. I have worked really hard to almost pay that loan off, and I know that wouldn't be important to some people, but it is important to me. And so anyway, that's kind of how the financial aspect of buying the Bookshelf, that's what it looked like. The Bookshelf already existed, which is something I'm very grateful for. A lot of potential or curious future bookstore owners will kindly email me and I always want to help them, but my story is pretty unique. I did not start a bookstore from scratch. I didn't have to renovate a building. My challenges just looked different. And so, for me, this was the best way to entrepreneurship. It was risky, but not as risky. And I am by nature pretty risk averse. And so there were challenges, there were difficulties. I don't want to gloss over any of those, but for me, it was a great way to come into entrepreneurship.
Felicia Dilbert [00:18:25] Got it. I love that. I love that. And as I listen to you talk, I'm really thinking about some of my experiences and motivations with being an entrepreneur and being inspired to help other people and believing in beautiful healing. And I can relate to the gritty part of it of the nuance, like, how does this technology work? And let me sit here and figure it out the nuts and bolts, the things that make this. And that can be really discouraging. And so thank you for sharing about your desire for a business partner and how that just didn't happen. And your husband didn't give up and you had the support from Jordan, which is really cool to see. And I can tell with you all, you're so real and so that makes everything relatable for people. So thank you for your transparency. Seriously. I feel like a lot of things have that beautiful sort of tension with your experiences with the Bookshelf and how you built it. There's the gritty and the graceful. I think about our brick store, which is beautiful, but also the archaic at times. And Annie you're, like, but it's beautiful. It is a staple right here [Inaudible]. I mean, it is a part of Thomasville. It is a part of that experience. I just love it. Thank you. I'm learning so much.
Annie Jones [00:19:52] Well, I think you're right. It's not just small business ownership, it could be just your daily life, but everything is both. I think we've talked about that a lot just as a culture, especially since or during the pandemic, that there are really beautiful parts of the Bookshelf story and really easy magical parts of the Bookshelf story. And then there are also, quite frankly, really awful parts of the Bookshelf story, and brutal parts of the Bookshelf story, and hard parts. And so just like life encompasses both of those things, small business ownership is frequently both. You put it beautifully, it's gritty and it's graceful. It's both of those things.
Felicia Dilbert [00:20:33] Right. And I love the way that you lead our team, just the nuance and how even preparing for events like the Reader Retreat and your Shelf Subscription, the different things. Looking in your office at those different whiteboards and looking at the dates. And I remember you saying, "Do you see that it has a change?" That's okay. I mean, it's real. And so talk to me a little bit, Annie, about your first staff members, what was that like in the beginning? Did you have anybody? How did that evolve because there's like 10 of us now?
Annie Jones [00:21:11] Yes, you're right. That has been quite the change. So when I came on board the Bookshelf, there was a manager and there was maybe a part time bookseller. But I do not remember there being more than two or three of us. Listen, when you inherit somebody else's team, that is a really challenging experience. Right? I was 27 years old, which you just have to laugh when you when you think about it. I was 27 years old and I definitely think that I have natural leadership tendencies. We'll call it eldest daughter energy.
Felicia Dilbert [00:21:55] I can relate to that. Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:21:59] I certainly had some prior leadership experience like being the editor of the school paper or running a social club at my tiny Christian college. But I had never been a boss before. Never. Running your school newspaper and running a school club, that is all hard work. I don't diminish any of that. I don't look back on that and think that was easy. No, that was hard. But that was not the same thing as being a boss and managing a team. And so the initial staff was quite small and then became smaller, then became smaller, and then became bigger. Again, speaking as an can be socially awkward Enneagram five INTJ, trying to learn a team, hire, motivate, lead all of that is really hard. I love doing it. To me, it's one of the most rewarding parts of the job is learning what people's gifting are and helping them find their spot. But I was 27 when I started doing all of this and there were serious ups and downs-- honestly, probably more downs than ups. But over the years I was able to cultivate my own team and do my own hiring. And certainly there are pitfalls there, but that was exciting to begin to think about what kind of team do I want to grow? What kind of leadership style do I want to have? What kind of culture do I want to help create at the Bookshelf? And so, yeah, we have had over the years really hardworking, talented people who come to the Bookshelf. Retail is by its nature, transient. And so Olivia right now I think she is officially our longest serving employee.
Felicia Dilbert [00:23:53] Ooh, hi Olivia.
Annie Jones [00:23:54] Yeah, she has been with the Bookshelf four years, almost five, followed closely by Nancy.
Felicia Dilbert [00:24:03] Hey Nancy.
Felicia Dilbert [00:24:03] And so they have worked at the Bookshelf a long time. But in Thomasville and in retail, that feels fairly unusual. So over the years, we've had a lot of FSU interns and grad students, and we've had a lot of folks in Thomasville who were here for a season. Like they moved back home for a little bit and then moved away. And I could name you all of the people who played such important roles in making the Bookshelf what it is today. So the team started small, probably 1 to 3 people. I have distinct memories. My mom loves this. She loves me to tell this. There were portions of that early like 2013 timeframe where I would have to call my mom who lived in Tallahassee and ask her to come so that I could use the bathroom because I felt guilty about leaving the store unsupervised. And so she would come up from Tallahassee.
Felicia Dilbert [00:24:55] Sorry that I even laughed.
Annie Jones [00:24:59] You really should laugh. In our cute, quaint, small town, you could definitely leave the store unsupervised. But I do think that goes to my original attitude, which was one of excitement and one of fear. I did not want to run an existing business into the ground. I did not want to fail. And so if that meant having to call my mom to come so that I could go pee, that's what it was going to be. So we started off as two to three people, grew over the years and during a variety of seasons. The last quarter of the year is always busier, so sometimes we had seasonal help or during the summers we would occasionally have, like I said, interns from FSU or from Thomas University. And now through the growth we experience during the pandemic, we have grown our team to be about 10 people. And though those people do a variety of tasks where they run the online portion of the store, and then we also have four staff who run the in-store goings on in Thomasville.
Felicia Dilbert [00:26:09] Wow! You pivoted shortly thereafter with the pandemic and you gained your footing and you didn't let it stop you. And now your team has grown. I applied for the marketing manager role and I just had that feeling after stopping in here one day to drop off a couple of books and hopefully have a book signing at some point, right? I mean, it was just a genuine let me just stop in. I went to high school in Thomasville, so I had a chance to experience it back in '99-- dating myself. But I was like, wow, a whole new world. So with that being said, when did you kind of have the epiphany community manager, like how did that happen for you?
Annie Jones [00:26:56] Yeah, so that's a great question. So the Bookshelf team, we immediately knew after Olivia and I with the help of some part time staff who were able to come back maybe the summer of 2020. But for a couple of months there, Olivia and I were really just running the show and shipping out product and shipping out books. And when it became apparent that our online sales had increased and for the foreseeable future, we're not going to go back to pre 220 levels, we knew we had to hire more people, which is intimidating when you're a small business and particularly when you run a bookstore. I don't think I'm shocking anyone by saying this, but bookstores are notoriously low profit stores. There is not a huge profitability in books. And so I began working with a business coach in 2019. In 2020, I began working with a different business coach kind of late 2020, early 2021. And that certainly helped me kind of begin thinking proactively (because so much of the pandemic was thinking reactively) about how I wanted our team to grow. So I knew we needed a marketing manager and a few people interviewed. That's the other interesting thing about running a small business in a small town; hiring is really interesting. There aren't always a ton of candidates. You really have to trust that the right person is going to come around at the right time. So was hiring for a marketing manager. I interviewed a few folks, including you and including Caroline, and I loved interviewing you both. But it became apparent to me that there were two different skill sets there, and I thought the Bookshelf needed both. So Community Manager is not something I originally thought the Bookshelf necessarily needed, but I keep mentioning 2019.
[00:29:00] I feel like it is important to say that 2019 was a big year for me. It was the first year I really started to interact with maybe some other entrepreneurs, particularly outside of the book industry. So I love the book industry. I'm so grateful for the booksellers and the bookstore owners I know. They have inspired me in many ways. Maybe it's my liberal arts education, I just think it's also important to talk to other entrepreneurs and see how they grow their businesses and see how they manage their teams and how they grow their teams. And so community manager was something I had seen some of my favorite podcasts have or some of my favorite business owners have. And I began to realize that we could hire Caroline to be our marketing manager, to do the nitty gritty detail work to help navigate our social media. But we could hire a community manager to help with ideas and growth. And growth has always been mostly my job. So the thought of having someone else who could have an eye toward growth and sustainable growth, which is crucial, that became really exciting to me, somebody who could come on board and be excited and build camaraderie, not only among our team, but among our Patreon community or among our instore community. And so anyway, through the work of a business coach, through interacting with other entrepreneurs and small business owners outside of the book world, community manager became a position I thought we could really benefit from. And so that's kind of where your position came from.
Felicia Dilbert [00:30:49] Awesome. Thank you. I remember sharing with some of my closest friends in that circle, small, but they knew how excited I was about the potential of just being a part of the Bookshelf. First, they know how much I love books and how much I love to write. And then the alignment, that word kept coming up for me. And when I met you, you were just as delightful as you were on the podcast. Interview and the different things I saw online, you were just as consistent and even better. And so I'm like, wow, synergy. Wow. The interview was almost 2 hours. And when I left out, I said a prayer and I'm like, "Lord, have your way, may your will be done. Thank you for that opportunity. And so three weeks later, I could tell you had been very methodical and thoughtful. I could feel it.
Annie Jones [00:31:40] A lot of thinking.
Felicia Dilbert [00:31:41] And when you called me, I was waiting with bated breath, hoping, but I also knew in my heart that the marketing manager position wasn't quite my skills and I knew that. But I still leaned in to putting my name in the hat and applying because I call it the Lord was knocking on my heart. But one particular day I felt Bookshelf, the Bookshelf, the Bookshelf. So that was the day I went online, saw you were hiring and I'm like, oh, okay, I got you. And so it just melted my heart when you were thinking in terms of my gifts. And I remember you saying that. We share gifts and this and it's a match and I'm like, wow, that's the kind of person I want to work for.
Annie Jones [00:32:25] Well, I appreciate that. And I think that is important to note. So as much as we're talking about entrepreneurship and ownership and maybe the being a boss of it all, I also think that your perspective is valuable here could be outside of entrepreneurship, outside of small business ownership. But people who are applying for work or applying for jobs, there may be a job that you think you're not qualified for or that you think you don't have the experience for-- and I'm not saying this is true in every case. I can't speak for every business or every boss, but sometimes I think it's important to apply for things or interview for things even if they're just slightly outside of our experience metric or they're a little bit outside of our maybe what we think we are best at, because there may be something else that the interviewer might see in you that might be a better fit for something else. You just never know. And I think a good manager or a good boss is on the lookout for that. And it took me a long time to-- I think that was like in July I was going to market all this stuff, but I also needed to make sure financially I could bring on two team members instead of one. And then I also needed to see, okay, this is what I think makes sense, but I'm very-- I think you used the word methodical. That is accurate. I really want to go into things well prepared. And so it took me a while to make sure that it made sense. To some extent, it still felt like a leap of faith. But I think your perspective is valuable because it shows there's a boss or a manager on one side, and there's also someone who has to take the risk to apply, who has to be vulnerable in an interview or who has to be honest in an interview. And then hopefully if there's a budget, if there's room, a good boss or manager can kind of make that work and maybe see, oh, well, you know what, this might be a good seat for you. And I don't know that I'm always good at that, but I hope I'm getting better at it.
Felicia Dilbert [00:34:33] Absolutely. Yeah, I think you're spot on. And I think that's one of the things that you're very-- some folks may call it quirky. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but you're very unique and you trust yourself even if you may not think that you do. I saw the dots connecting when I realized that when I entered the store, it was purely I wanted to give from a place of inspiration and joy. And I come in and it's charming and I felt joy, literally, beautiful and captivated. And then when I left, the day that I dropped the books off, I remember thinking if I go back to work in some capacity, I know it won't be corporate, but I'd like to work there. I just remember feeling that. I think it wasn't difficult for me to lean into applying when I saw an open door because I remember thinking, I'd like to... And then I learned as well, don't get caught in the details of it. I remember thinking, okay, it's in Thomasville. And the gas was really still very high at the time, but I felt there's something here let me go see. And I think that speaks to the power of following your gifting in life and doing the things you were created to do. Because I had that capacity to have that joy, because I really do love beautiful healing and what I do on a regular basis. So my cup was full to have the capacity to check it out. I had the energy. I had the strength. So then to see how you have trusted yourself and been open to those different ideas that unite people, and the support that you provided in terms of the Bookshelf, local authors network and wanting to support local authors. I'm thinking about the different things that I wish I had had when I was writing. And it's difficult to be a writer and that creative. And there may not always be folks around that really understand why you want to write all night. So that's been really cool. I love how you said I just trusted that the right person will come around. I don't know about people that are doing that. I hope that we live in a world that they are. I trusted that you're open minded, Annie. The reason that you are open to learning from other entrepreneurs. Not that I hang out with a lot of negative Nellies, but I'm just saying. Who has time? I mean, but I do. I love it.
Annie Jones [00:37:06] Well, it's funny that you say that because it reminds me interestingly-- and I think that this is okay for me to share. But Erin, who now is our online sales manager, she interviewed for her position a couple of years ago. As we were kind of growing from the pandemic and we needed somebody to sit in that seat and to help Olivia and I move out of packaging and shipping and go back to our normal jobs. And Erin interviewed and she was phenomenal in the interview. And she was nervous that she might not have the time or the capacity. After the interview, I think we all get this way where in an interview we get excited or we say things and then we maybe have too much time to stew later.
Felicia Dilbert [00:37:52] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:37:53] And she either emailed me or called me and she requested that she no longer be considered for the position. And I also, as listeners know, as you know, I'm a person of faith and I thought I don't like that. And I prayed a bit and I thought, no, I really think Erin is the right person. And if she's the right person, then I think we can make room for somebody with a growing family or somebody who might maybe occasionally need to bring their adorable baby to work. I think that's the beauty of small businesses is you have a little bit maybe more flexibility than a corporate business might. I wish our corporations would be a little more mindful and understanding. But Erin is another good example of somebody who I really believed was the right fit for the job. And I wanted to do whatever it took to see if she could come on board. I never want to bully anybody or anything. I didn't want to force her into taking the Bookshelf role. But I picked up the phone and I said, "Look, if this is the decision you want to make, I will trust you completely. But I want you to know I would really love you to come on board and I think we can be flexible around this." And I'm so glad she chose to say yes. She is exactly the right-- we talk a lot about right seat on the bus, I think that's language for my business coach. But she's exactly the right person in the right seat on the bus. And we never know how long an employee will stay or how long their life circumstances will leave them with the Bookshelf, but I firmly believe she's right where she needs to be for now. And I'm so glad she took that risk. And I'm so glad small business allows us to be flexible to take some of those risks.
Felicia Dilbert [00:39:40] Yeah, I can relate. Because I remember thinking, gosh, I remember Annie asking in that interview, "Are you good with details?" I'm okay with details, but I do know that I get in the clouds. I do know that I'm an idea person. I'm a visionary. And then you said that in the call. You said, "Felicia, the marketing manager position is a career specific skill set, an implementer, but you're a visionary. And I believe both coupled together with the visionary and the implementer, this will be what we need." I was sitting there like, okay, thank you, Lord. And it helped me to see, like, the Lord and I are very cool; I talk to him very often. And I felt like he was like, "Hey, I made you the way I made you for a reason. I've been telling you that. So, listen, she's going to pay you to swim in your thoughts because that's what you do". But then to know as well the nature of what you do, small business, the beauty of it, there's space and capacity for those unique ideas and the other things. And so I just want to say if anybody's listening to this and they just want to know what it's like-- because I know there are people listening in thousands. And you have a huge following with From the Front Porch. I mean, you're so sweet and modest, but there are thousands of people listening and that is incredible.
Annie Jones [00:40:57] I try not to think about that.I try not to think about it.
Felicia Dilbert [00:41:00] And thank you for sharing your platform with me and you just being open to the idea. And it's just a true joy to work for someone that still imagines a world in which, like you often say, where people will live long and there will be good things. And like you said earlier, willing to make room. That those values [Inaudible] and sweet Suzy.
Annie Jones [00:41:31] Yes.
Felicia Dilbert [00:41:31] Suzy Butterworth and Mr. Butterworth, the values they instilled. I mean, it's just really lovely and it's a true joy to be here.
Annie Jones [00:41:42] That is exactly right. I think one of the questions you had alluded to maybe in your notes was, "Do you always listen to your gut?" And I think, no, not always. But I do try to and that is because of my mom. That is because my mom taught me how to do that. And them trying to make room or having a spirit of imagination. Yeah. Those are definitely things I think that Butterworth instilled for sure. So my parents may not be the stereotypical entrepreneurs, but I do think they bestowed upon me gifts and I hope talents that I can use in entrepreneurship, even if I didn't grow up in a house where my parents own a business or something like that.
Felicia Dilbert [00:42:26] Absolutely. And I believe that that is the beauty of family, that we all can be so different. But there are those special, special moments when you come across people and you know they've been raised by people that love them and cultivated the best they knew how. And so it's really, really, really awesome. Yeah. Good stuff. So what's ahead?
Annie Jones [00:42:52] Okay. We're going to turn our attention to small business woes and I think we'll have fun with it. It doesn't sound like a fun topic, but not everything in small business ownership is rainbows and butterflies, even when maybe on the Internet it looks like it is. And so we're going to turn our attention to small business woes. Felicia, if folks have questions that they want to submit, maybe they want us to talk about certain issues about small business ownership, where can people reach you via email?
Felicia Dilbert [00:43:21] Absolutely. Please send me an email at Community@Bookshelfthomasville.com
Annie Jones [00:43:27] Perfect. So if you have topics that you want to address, email Felicia, we would love to feature your questions on an upcoming episode of From the Bookshelf Files.
Felicia Dilbert [00:43:36] Okay. Well, this has been phenomenal.
Annie Jones [00:43:40] Thank you, Felicia.
[00:43:42] This week, I'm reading Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. Felicia, what are you reading?
Felicia Dilbert [00:43:47] I am reading You Can Heal Your Heart by David Kessler and Louise Hay. Second edition.
Annie Jones [00:43:55] From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram at @Bookshelftville and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website. Bookshelfthomasville.com.
[00:44:11] A full transcript of today's episode can be found at Fromthefrontporchpodcast.com. Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music which sets the perfect, warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
[00:44:25] Our executive producers of today's episode are Donna Hetchler. Angie Erickson. Cammy Tidwell. Kate O'connell
Executive Producers (Read their own names) [00:44:31] Nicole Marsee. Wendi Jenkins. Laurie Johnson.
[00:44:37] Thank you all for your support of From the Front Porch. If you'd like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the podcast app on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see 'Write a Review' and tell us what you think.
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[00:45:14] . We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.