Episode 424 || From The Bookshelf Files, Vol. 3
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another episode of From The Bookshelf Files! In this episode series, Annie and The Bookshelf’s Community & Public Relations Liaison Felicia Dilbert talk about the ups and downs of running a small business. Today, it’s all about ideas and creativity in small 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.
Discover new details about Annie's delightful journey as the owner of The Bookshelf in the feature article "A Reader's Delight" published in Southwest Georgia Living Magazine here.
Felicia Dilbert is the author of Beautiful Healing, Volume 1-Seven Love Letters for the Truth Seeker’s Soul, and The Beautiful Healing Journal. You can purchase both books from The Bookshelf, in the store or online:
What does creativity mean to you? To learn more about Felicia’s Creativity Playshop mentioned in today's podcast, click here.
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.
This week, Annie is reading Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen. Felicia is reading Feeding The Soul by Tabitha Brown.
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...Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Donna Hetchler, Kate O’Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing] Annie Jones Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“My job as a director is to protect the writer’s vision... I work to guard it and enhance it by constructing a safe, creative environment that fosters the best ideas, including those no one had thought about before.”
- James Burrows, Directed by James Burrows
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week, we’re back with the third episode in our 2023 business-minded series, From the Bookshelf Files. I’m joined in conversation by Bookshelf community liaison, entrepreneur and author Felicia Dilbert. Throughout this year, you’ll hear us talk more about the business-y side of The Bookshelf: our store’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 years, and how ideas like Reader Retreats and Shelf Subscriptions come to life.
Today, we’re talking about ideas and creativity in business. Before we begin, don’t forget: One of the best ways to grow From the Front Porch is by word of mouth, and your reviews of the show are so helpful for that. Here’s one of my favorite recent reviews, from Megan:
A wonderful discovery! I knew about The Bookshelf in Thomasville for years before I found out about this podcast run by the owner! Through the pandemic this podcast helped me reconnect to my love of reading and provided me with some of my favorite new books. I especially like the new “from the Bookshelf files” episodes where Annie and Felicia talk about running a small business!
Thank you, Megan, and you’re in luck, because Felicia’s back on the show today! If you haven’t left a review of the show 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’ and tell us what you think. Your reviews really do help us grow the show and, as a result, grow our small brick-and-mortar business. Thank you!
Now, back to the show. Back in January, we launched our From the Bookshelf Files series; you can go back and listen to episodes 407 and 415 if you want to hear me talk with Felicia about The Bookshelf’s origin story and small business woes.
[00:02:15] Now, Felicia and I are back to talk about ideas and creativity in business. Hi, Felicia. Welcome back.
Felicia Dilbert [00:02:40] Hi, Annie. Thank you. And Meghan, thank you so much. Yay!
Annie Jones [00:02:45] Yes. Wasn't that fun feedback? It's always good to hear from listeners and to see their reviews and to know that new episodes series’ like these are working. So, we're glad to have you back. What are we talking about today?
Felicia Dilbert [00:02:59] Thank you. Annie, we're talking about creativity and ideas. And what is a business without ideas and creativity?
Annie Jones [00:03:09] That's right. Yeah.
Felicia Dilbert [00:03:11] So, when you hear the word creativity, what comes to mind for you? You have a picture in your head or an experience?
Annie Jones [00:03:18] Yeah. I think, for me, two things come to mind. This is a kind of metaphor that I use at the Bookshelf all the time, and I've used it really ever since starting at the Bookshelf, which is the idea of throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. So much of small business and so much of creativity is trying something, and not all of those somethings work. And the small business success, I think, is identifying which pieces of spaghetti have stuck to the wall and which are worth pursuing. So, that's the kind of mental picture I have. And then the other thing I have is just from my childhood, just conversations with my family, with my parents. I have really creative family members, but I remember as a kid not being the world's most artistic kid. I was a terrible drawer. I was a terrible painter, I was terrible in art class, and everything I created never really looked like I wanted it to look. And I remember my mom told me, well, you might not be artistic, but you're creative. And I think that was an important designation for me because I think I might have thought, "Oh, no, if I'm not artistic, then I can't be creative." And that's not true at all. Creativity exists and manifests itself in a lot of different ways. And so, I'm grateful I had an adult in my life who, first of all, didn't pressure me to be artistic. That was not my skill set. I didn't need somebody being like, "Oh my gosh, you're so artistic." No, I wasn't. And I needed a grown up, to be honest with me. And my mom was like, "Yeah, you're not artistic, but just because you're not artistic doesn't mean you're not creative. Just because you don't draw a great stick figure or paint a pretty picture doesn't mean that creativity cannot exist for you." And so, I am grateful. When you say creativity, those are the things that come to mind and that experience from my childhood. And then also in business, this idea of throwing spaghetti on the wall, having all of these ideas, but also being able to narrow down which ideas are worth pursuing.
Felicia Dilbert [00:05:20] Absolutely. I love it. And I can relate to admiring artists. And I remember being in art class whilst little and where my friends could just paint really well, color really well. And that was a coming together for me. My pictures weren't looking like that and I was coloring all outside of the lines. I guess that was a hint or a nod at creativity, then I'll take it. But I agree with you that it's so much more and it can manifest in different ways. My mom and dad were both very creative people, and I sometimes think it can be in the genes because my dad was a general contractor for 30 plus years and I was his caregiver, the main caregiver, the last two years of his life. And we really had a chance to bond deeply. And there was a room my father had the opportunity to design and build the dream house. And so, my husband and I, we asked [inaudible] stayed with them and we did. And it was a special time in my life. I am so grateful I had the capacity to do it. But there was a room, I called it the Blue Suede Room, and I have to show you a picture. But dad really got a chance to geek out in painting this room, this incredible color. And it literally looked like suede, like paint, blue suede. And I called it an aviator room because it was navy. But also he would get in there and his spirit would just sore and he would watch movies and laugh. And I felt like that was a time when we all forgot that he was sick, even himself. I thought of it as that. I don't even think I ever told him. I thought of it as an aviator room. Where that his heart was just flying. It was really, really beautiful.
Annie Jones [00:07:07] Because I think place has a really important role in creativity, right? I think where we sit down and write or where we carve out space to read. One of the things that I hope about the Bookshelf as a physical space is that it inspires creativity. So, I think there are places in our homes or little nooks that we have created that really do lend themselves to creative thought or to resting easy. And so, yeah, it sounds like the aviator made a room certainly qualified for that.
Felicia Dilbert [00:07:40] Absolutely. And I don't even think the dad knew that was happening in that room. And I think that kind of speaks too to that playful part of our spirit, hopefully, that we all will always have our inner child that wants to play inside. But he just would go in there and listen to his music and lose track of time. And that happens when we get all creative, I think. When I walked into the Bookshelf the very first time, I just remember it was just enchanting. And I thought about the colors and the energy and the music and all of it. And so, I think that's a part of what really drew me in. So I always have thought when I think of you in the way that you decorate the store, in the way your office is decorated, just the special touches, I know it speaks to the southern living style Annie that you probably of course get from shop mom.
Annie Jones [00:08:33] Yeah, for sure.
Felicia Dilbert [00:08:34] But it feels so creative in here. So, does it feel like a playground to you when you come to work?
Annie Jones [00:08:41] Yeah, I think so. I think and maybe like your dad, that wasn't necessarily intentional. The Bookshelf already was definitely a creative space in Thomasville. The previous owners had done such a beautiful job with it, but certainly my call and mission was to at least partially make it my own and tweak it a little bit to come into a business and to try to build on top of what other people had already done and created meant really delving into kind of my own personal creativity, my personal taste. And then now I really hope that it's a place where not only our customers maybe feel creative or feel inspired, but where our staff feels creative and inspired. So, when our staff comes into the bookshelf, is it vibrant, is it alive? Is there fun music playing? Is there are there things that are working in that space that are going to encourage them to exercise their creative muscles through creating in-caps or through crafting the next store newsletter or what have you? Because, for me, place plays a big part in that. And so, I guess my assumption was always, well, if it matters to me, surely it matters to other people. And if I want a pretty space to create or a beautiful place, even when my office was downstairs where Olivia's is now, my parents came in, my aunt and uncle came in and they helped me paint. Because just working in a closet, which essentially that little office is a closet sized space, that's fine. Anybody can work in a closet, but kind of making it pretty, making it beautiful, making it a place where you could kind of take a deep breath and maybe light a candle. I know Olivia sometimes will light a candle in there and get to work. And that brings me a lot of joy because I think space matters when we're trying to do creative work. And so, not only do I want the Bookshelf to be a vibrant breath of fresh air for the customer who walks in, but I want it to be a vibrant space for the employees, for the staffer as well.
Felicia Dilbert [00:10:41] Absolutely. And I love that the whole time that I've worked under your leadership, I see how the environment continues to have that sensory experience of variety. Like an indie bookstore day, we had the opportunity to make dessert, make cookies from this awesome book. And so, our shoppers come in and they're excited and they're eating cookies, and then you're passing out hot dogs. And to some it could feel so random. But that's what's so beautiful about community and about your way. You just really encompass this forward way of thinking and that is in alignment with who you are. I hope that you always do. And so it's, hey, we're having hot dogs, and it's a festive day.
Annie Jones [00:11:32] Which makes no sense to anybody.
Felicia Dilbert [00:11:33] They did. They made sense to me. And I know I knew they were from Billiards. But it was so funny to see people walk in and just kind of be looking. And I'm like, but that's what you get in Thomasville. You get a big ol hug.
Annie Jones [00:11:46] And I think if you're confident in your ideas or in your storytelling, I mean, I think so much of what the Bookshelf does is storytelling. The reason I wanted Hot Dogs at Independent Bookstore Day is because of a childhood memory I have of shopping with my parents and getting a free hot dog. That doesn't make sense to any customer. But when the customer comes in, I either have the opportunity to tell them the story and then there's buy-in or I don't have the opportunity, but a free hot dog is funny and it's silly and it allows customers to be funny and silly. We're coming off of Independent Bookstore Day, like you said, and one thing I mention to Olivia in our one on one meeting today was I think when the staff is happy, customers are happy. And so, when the staff is having fun and making cookies and teasing each other about who's going to win or when the staff is competing in a March Madness style competition, that energy, that creative energy that has the staffers excited trickles down to the customer. And so, even if they come in and they're like, "Why is a bookstore having cookie tasting? Or why is the bookstore giving away free hot dogs?" I think they just immediately feel like, okay, sure, this is fun. It's a little bit like going down the rabbit hole with Alice. It's like, okay, we trust you because you guys seem like you're having a good time. So, we'll trust that this is fun and thoughtful and we'll go with it.
Felicia Dilbert [00:13:10] Absolutely. And I really feel like it's welcoming them into delight. I know that for sure. On a regular basis, throughout my day, I come across all sorts of people. All of us do. And folks are not living in a delightful space out here in this world, Annie. Out here in these streets. So it's really special. And that's the word that comes to mind.
Annie Jones [00:13:37] It's a great word. I agree.
Felicia Dilbert [00:13:38] It was interesting and it's always delightful around these perks. And I love how folks will start to use that word after talking to you and I didn't use that word a ton before I started working here. But it is truly delightful. And so, I think folks get a chance to really encounter that in a way where they're like, whoa, I feel good all of a sudden. And they don't know that they have just begun their experience with delight.
Annie Jones [00:14:02] Yeah, that's a great point. You mentioned the word earlier. You mention the word play or fun? And that's something I've been thinking about a lot in my own life over the last couple of years. I am not necessarily by nature a stereo-typically playful person. I take my work really seriously. I'm an eldest daughter and I take my work really seriously. And so, playful is not always maybe a word that comes to mind when I think about Annie B. Jones, but I do hope I am a person who can be delighted. And I think that goes into playfulness and fun. And I want the Bookshelf to be a fun place because there are so many spaces that are not. And you're right, not everybody is going around the world with a spirit of what could delight me today. And I hope that even those people, when they come in the Bookshelf, maybe sense a shift and feel like, oh, maybe there is something in here that's going to catch my attention, or maybe there is something in here of interest and a value maybe that will inspire me to play or to be creative or to have fun.
Felicia Dilbert [00:15:11] It definitely is a space I notice folks come in and they linger. I remember when there was a Borders bookstore in Tallahassee.
Annie Jones [00:15:18] Oh, yeah.
Felicia Dilbert [00:15:20] I used to go to that store and just something about being in a bookstore, the borders felt so progressive like Book City. Okay, I'm not going to Book City, I'm going to Borders. I just still appreciate the independent bookstore vibe way more. I definitely know a small business and I know what it means to have an independent bookstore, but it's just the vibe. It's just different. And it's off the beaten path. And I think it's really like that too. So, I think the delight just adds to it. That's what makes people drive down to Tallahassee.
Annie Jones [00:15:56] I hope so.
Felicia Dilbert [00:15:59] Yes, that's right. And from all over the world, you have people coming from all over the world.
Annie Jones [00:16:03] Really exciting.
Felicia Dilbert [00:16:04] Yeah, it really is. It's awesome. I just wanted to mention that something that really carried me through, like what you mentioned about playfulness and fun, and I'd like to share that with anyone listening is that playfulness and that fun side of things can really lighten up really tough situations and grief and all of that. With my pop, he was dealing with dementia, and as helpful as that word is, he began to play like I'd never seen him play before. And he remembered fun times. And there's a lot that comes with the word dementia that is devastating. And I'm not making light of that at all, but I have some precious memories of us just getting in the car in my little Mini Cooper and going around the block and just being like, "Yeah, it's a gorgeous day." And he was never that way before that. And so, it's amazing what tough things in life, when we kind of frame it with play and just kind of flow, it can also be very healing for us as well.
Annie Jones [00:17:09] That's a good point.
Felicia Dilbert [00:17:10] Yeah. It's that delight as well I'm working on, just remembering to carry that throughout my day in different ways and stay in that happy place. Yeah. So, Annie, let's shift a little bit and talk about one of the most major creative things that you have going on and congratulations on your features [inaudible].
Annie Jones [00:17:33] Yeah, so fun.
Felicia Dilbert [00:17:34] Yeah, absolutely. And I will make sure there's a link in the show notes to check it out. But Reader Retreat. So, creativity. Let's talk about it.
Annie Jones [00:17:45] Yeah, absolutely. Reader Retreat is definitely one of those spaghetti thrown on the wall, let's see if it sticks, and it stuck instantly. Some ideas that come to you when you're an entrepreneur or when you're in small business, you immediately know, oh, this is a flop. I think I have mentioned this on the podcast before, but it bears repeating so that you know that not every idea, even if it's a good idea, sticks. When I very first started the Bookshelf, I wanted to have a Stanley Tucci day. And Stanley Tucci is the actor. He is in The Devil Wears Prada. Now he has written a book, a beautiful book called Taste, that I really like. But at that time, he had published a couple of cookbooks. So I worked with the staff and we made little face masks on popsicle sticks of Stanley Tucci's head. And I thought it'll be like the free hot dogs. It'll be quirky and weird, but people will love it. Well, nobody came. Nobody did love that. And that was an idea that I thought, okay, we don't need Stanley Tucci Day.
Felicia Dilbert [00:18:41] Oh, gosh!
Annie Jones [00:18:46] And do I stand by Stanley Tucci Day? Of course, I do. I love Stanley Tucci. But not every idea, even when it's a good idea, is going to stick. Reader Retreat was different because immediately we sold out of our first retreat and I thought, "Oh, so this is spaghetti that's going to stick." So, the idea for Reader Retreat honestly came from two different places. First, it came from my personal aversion to summer camp. And I've mentioned before my belief that summer camp is a cult. And so, I just feel like what could I do that would create the fun summer camp atmosphere from, for example, Lindsay Lohan's The Parent Trap.
Felicia Dilbert [00:19:28] Yeah, I always wanted to go to that.
Annie Jones [00:19:31] Yeah, It's like, what do we do that would be like that? But for introverts or for readers or for people like me who think they like camp, they like the idea of camp, and then they get the camp and they hate it. So, how can we make it fun for that kind of person? And then years ago, I saw that somebody-- and of course now I've seen these all over the place. But at that time it felt like a pretty novel concept of a writer's retreat. And I think it was a bookstore, but now it might have been a university, I can't remember. But anyway, they had a retreat and almost a camp-like atmosphere designed for writers. And I've seen that many places now, but I think the idea is growing. I've seen a couple of other businesses kind of utilize this concept, but I didn't at that time see a retreat for readers because writers the whole idea was to get together and to use it to write your book or use it to write your essays or what have you. What could readers do besides sit and read together? And, well, you could do a lot of things. You could listen to an author. You could sit and have a dinner party with a favorite cookbook. You could just meet other readers and connect. I mean, I think Bookstagram shows us how much readers long for connection. And so, Reader Retreat kind of was born in the summer of 2019. And we only intended to do one that summer just to try it, and it wound up being so successful and it sold out so quickly we did two-- one in June and one in July. And I think most listeners know, of course, then the pandemic hit and we did not bring them back until 2022. And now hopefully we're going to do three this year. We've already hosted our February one. Our June retreat is coming up, and we are soon going to be selling spots to our September retreat. So, these are things that were designed partly because of my own desire to have a summer camp that didn't feel like summer camp. And partly because I saw in our customers and in the online community a desire for gathering, a desire for connection, and how could we create that and bring people to Thomasville. I always want to bring people to Thomasville, so that helps too.
Felicia Dilbert [00:21:35] Several things stand out. Okay, so let's decode the creativity of this. I'm excited. The fact that you said, "Well, you can do a lot of things," you saw that and you believed that and you love reading, obviously. And so, you just were like, oh, now why isn't this happening? Of course, we can. And I think that that's the power of not only taking that creativity, but also taking it and doing something with it. And now I'm so grateful that in summer 2019 you didn't doubt your way out of that, Annie. Because so many women have come to Thomasville, invested the money and have a great time, the reviews speak for themselves, the repeat registrations, all of it. It speaks to as well how excited you were when you were talking about just this idea of the Lindsay Lohan camp experience. I didn't really watch that movie at the time. I remember it being on TV, but I remember thinking like, "That seems fun." You know what I mean?
Annie Jones [00:22:33] Right. It does seem fun.
Felicia Dilbert [00:22:36] Yeah, and she was like a twin in it, I think. So it was like, oh, yeah, that's cool. I remember it. If I was going to summer camp, I'd like to go to that. And so, it's cool how all the feels were there and you were like, yeah, that would be great. And you took something that meant a lot to you. And now women are getting together and congregating and you see the new trailer that is rolling out, right?
Annie Jones [00:23:01] Yeah. Maybe we'll post a link in the show notes to that video as well. I think one thing that sticks out to me in talking to you is how many of these ideas have to do with what lights me up or gets me excited or we have other great ideas that the staff has really stood behind. I can think of things that Olivia has created because she lights up and she gets excited. And I think when interested bookstore owners or other entrepreneurs, when we talk together, I think sometimes the conversation is, "Well, how do you know what to do for your store?” Or "How do you know what to do for your business?" And I don't know that this is always true, but I think sometimes the question is as simple as what do you want to do? Because if you believe in it, if you believe in free hot dogs, if you believe in a summer camp for introverted readers, if you care about it and you get excited about it and it delights you, well then it could really succeed. Because I think so much of creativity and ideas and moving from idealization to implementation is, are you excited about it? Like, is it something that you can get behind and that you are delighted by? And if it is, I think other people will buy into that enthusiasm. I've seen that at the bookshelf, but I also see it in me as a consumer. Like, what do I buy or what experiences do I purchase? Well, if somebody is excited about it, I think that's why Instagram influencers exist. If somebody is excited about something, you buy in. And even if it doesn't maybe at first glance makes sense, if it makes sense to you, then I think there could be potential for buy-in.
Felicia Dilbert [00:24:47] Absolutely. And I think that the giddiness and the excitement and joy drives out fear. I know for me it does. And I believe creativity is God's gift. I really do. And when we just think about keeping it simple and thinking about the fresh, organic idea that may come in your mind and you're like, "Oh yeah, maybe if. I wonder if." And that's kind of how it starts. And then, like you said, being excited and bringing other people along. Before you know it, you got sold out Reader Retreats.
Annie Jones [00:25:21] And look, again, I got real excited about Stanley Tucci, and nobody came. I think it's important to use that example of some ideas have your excitement, and they also have the excitement of the consumer. And when you're running your own life, you can have a Stanley Tucci day and invite all your friends. And that's fine. When you're a business owner, you do have to think, okay, do I want to spend the time and the energy doing another Stanley Tucci day that nobody's going to come to? No. Instead, Reader Retreat was-- it sounds cheesy but it feels like where your ideas and your excitement meet the consumer's excitement. And I think that's where the business success lies.
Felicia Dilbert [00:25:58] Absolutely. And that's why it continues to work, because it really is a Reader Retreat. I don't have to think a whole ton about what are we doing? It's a reader retreat.
Annie Jones [00:26:09] Yeah, I'm going to go and I'm going to talk to readers and I'm going to sit and I'm going to listen to Keila and Olivia sell me books, and I'm going to go laugh with Hunter on the podcast. I think people know now what Reader Retreat is, and I think people long for connection, they long for community. I think they also really want rest. I mean, it's frequently women, but so many of the people who come on the retreat, they are hard working people who want a break. They want a minute. They would like a true retreat to sit on the porch of the Marriott or to walk the streets of Thomasville in the morning to grab a bagel at Empire and to sit and talk about books. Like, that is rest and respite for people.
Felicia Dilbert [00:26:52] I love how you begin to really say that blatantly for women that I think we all have this innate feeling within us that we don't want to miss out or just as human nature if you're missing out. But the Retreat is structured in a way where anyone attending has that permission. You don't have to come do anything we have to do. But rest, do what you need to do right here in beautiful Thomasville. Awesome. All right. So, in general, Annie, when you start to dream and think about your business, what does that look like for you? Is it sporadic on the weekends? Are you at the beach and you've got your books and you're doing your thing. What does that look like for the owner of the Bookshelf?
Annie Jones [00:27:36] I think, interestingly, I've talked before on here how introverted I am by nature, but much of my creativity is rooted in conversation and in community. My first few years of running the bookshelf that was almost entirely ideas exchanged back and forth with my family. You mentioned the beach. I have very fond memories of going to Saint George Island with my family and we all drag our beach chairs down to the Gulf and we sit and we were reading and we would brainstorm ideas together. Like I said, my family is very creative and we always have loved brainstorming together, whether it had to do with church and theology or whether it had to do with, in recent memory, the Bookshelf and how to grow it or what to do with it. So, that is one way. And now that has kind of morphed. My family still definitely plays a role in the Bookshelf, but remember years ago the Bookshelf was just me and a couple of other people. Now the bookshelf is me and a wonderfully creative staff of 10 people. And so, a lot of those creative ideas maybe still percolate with my family. My family is just my safe space. And so, true creativity I think is most prevalent when it can happen in a safe environment. I think the James Brooks quote at the top of the episode speaks to that. I'm very safe with my family and so that is where brainstorming can occur. But now I love brainstorming with our staff, and we at the beginning of this year had a managerial work day retreat. Retreat Is probably too generous of a term. We did not retreat. We did not rest. We stayed in my house and brainstormed and white boarded ideas together. And it was so great to see other people's ideas, things that had been percolating for them. And so, that's why I say creativity for me, especially when it comes to the Bookshelf, (this is not necessarily true with my writing or something like that) I have found that the best ideas come from rich conversations in early years with my family and now with the Bookshelf staff. Dumbledore's Army was an Olivia idea that she brought to the table. We brainstormed together our summer reading program that we're going to launch for kids. Olivia and I talked about it. Then she and Caroline brainstormed it, and now they've created something wonderful. Indie Bookstore Day was almost entirely staff run. The hot dogs were my only contribution. And so, the staff's creativity and having conversations and having enough staff now to get to brainstorm together is really exciting to me. And so, when I think about vision casting, which I've always loved that phrase, I think about doing it in community with the bookshelf staff, with my family, and I've been honest about this on here as well, with a business coach, with a couple of (to borrow the term from Laura Tramain's most recent book, The Life Council) my business besties, with my mastermind group, with women who are in different industries than I am, but they're leaders in their field or they're thinking creatively. Talking with them is always a sure fire way to get me excited about a new idea. So I find, despite being introverted, that talking to people and interacting with people I trust is a great way to get new ideas for the store.
Felicia Dilbert [00:31:11] Absolutely. And the power of collaborative genius and just throwing the ideas together and being a part of it, I think that's amazing. And you're right. Great things can come through just connecting to conversation and like minded joy, you know? So, it's great. Side note, I hear people talk a lot about masterminds and this is best as I understand exactly what that means. What makes that work? Because sometimes I look at Instagram, there's a lot of stuff going on. Not to compare what you're doing to that, but what makes it work?
Annie Jones [00:31:49] I mean, I think you really have to find the right group of people because I don't think every mastermind is successful. And I also think you have to identify what do you want out of it. So, for me, the last thing I need and many of the women in my mastermind, the last thing we need is like one more thing on our calendar, one more commitment. But when I have a business dilemma, when I have an HR issue or when I have an idea that I think is a good one (Annie five star books is a great example), I thought I had something there, but I took that to my mastermind group, and they were the exact women. None of them, by the way, work in books. I really wanted a mastermind group that was different from a book-selling perspective, and they were really the ones who encouraged me to do paid Instagram reviews, page book reviews. They were really the ones who encouraged me to pivot a little bit, and I'm so grateful for their expertise. So, I think masterminds work best when it's a group of people that you trust and you all have the same mission. I know some masterminds meet every month. We don't anymore. Like I said, many of these women are in the throes of running their own businesses, their own practices, and also many of them have children, and so we don't get together a ton. We get together once every couple of years in person, and then we're on Marco Polo text and boxer threads where we're just letting each other know, "Hey, I've got this issue." The other day, I can't even remember what it was, but I knew the other women in my mastermind group would not maybe have a perspective. So, I directly texted another woman and I was like, "Hey, you've done this before. What do I do about this?" And it was so helpful to just have somebody who I could kind of run an idea by and trust them about, about what they would do.
Felicia Dilbert [00:33:42] That's awesome. Okay, so shop mom does an incredible job with the window displays and the table arrangements, as well as Aunt Lisa. I can feel it when they've been around. You know what I mean? It's just beautiful. So when you connect with your mom, what does it look like when you connect with her? The mom-daughter connecting and all of that. Does it naturally come up where she might mention, "Hey, I'm thinking about this idea for Rose show for the window display." Or is it more like Susie is so awesome, sweet I can't imagine her calling to say, "Hey, let's have a window display meeting." She's so creative, though.
Annie Jones [00:34:28] Yeah, thank goodness. My mom and I really do. It's such a gift. We work really well together, and my mom knows what I like and don't like, and she knows that I hate a meeting. And so, mom has gotten to the point where for window decorating, she will text me and she'll say, "These are the ideas. What do you think?" And 99.9% of the time I'm like, great. It reminds me of planning our wedding, like planning my and Jordan's wedding where all I really cared about was the food and that it felt like a family reunion. And then I told my mom because at the time I had a job was right out of college. And I said, you take this and run with it. She likes to say that she did take it and run with it. And she did a beautiful job. She did a beautiful job, truly. But one time she did ask me about pumpkins and I nixed pumpkins. I don't remember this at all. Our wedding was in November, but apparently, I think that's what's so good about certain mother-daughter relationships, is she knows what I like and she also knows what I don't like. And I am comfortable enough with my mother. And this isn't the case in every relationship, right? But I'm comfortable enough with my mother where I can also say, no, I don't like that. It's one of the reasons we do market really well together. I think I've talked before about how we go to market every year. We used to go twice a year. We may return to that, but since the pandemic, we've just gone in July. And it would be hard for me to go to market with anybody else, mostly because I get angry and short tempered and my mom loves me no matter what. And we just can talk to each other in a way. My mom, as you know, is very friendly. I literally will grab my mom by the shoulders and be and say don't look at anybody, don't make eye contact. We're going through the showroom and I don't want you stuck anywhere. And so, the way that we just work together is a real gift. And I think that you can see that so much of the table displays rely on the products that we find at market. And so last July, when we were thinking about what we wanted to stack for the holiday season at the store, I've been obsessed with the 2019 adaptation of Little Women for forever. But it finally occurred to me, oh, what if we did like what would Marmee gift her little women? Or what would Jane Austen like? Kind of this very literary but homespun kind of Christmas. And so, mom and I took that and ran with it. And then she comes and she helps with the displays. And now we have staffers. Nancy and Olivia are both really gifted at displays. And so, mom teases that sometimes she feels like she's out of a job because a lot of the staffers have become really good at doing displays. But displays come out of that initial kind of brainstorming with my mom or us sitting on a couch together. We don't brainstorm window decorations anymore. Mom really does kind of run that show. But for market, we sit in a hotel room together and we talk about what do we want to see this year and what color scheme will work. And it's just such a gift to be able to work in tandem so well together. And like I said, I'd be hard pressed to find another person to go to market with because of my own grouchiness around market. And my mom is so good about loving me anyway.
Felicia Dilbert [00:37:49] No, it's true. I mean, I loved Marmee decor and home vibes. Yeah, I think that a lot of people loved it, I mean, and connected with it.
Annie Jones [00:37:59] I think so too. Having that language, having that tie in. Because not all of our gift products at the Bookshelf are books specific. Because I really want to think outside of maybe your typical bookstore box when it comes to merchandising, but tying it into a literary reference that everybody can kind of grasp and hold on to. A few years ago, we still sell them in the store. We sell those bandannas, but we decided to call them Jo March bandannas because at the time that 2019 movie had just come out and I think the bandannas sold even better because we had this literary tie in. And so, that's just another thing where you can think outside the box. You can think outside of the bookstore box, the bookshelf box, as long as you can kind of give your customers a point of reference. Everybody understood Jane Austen or everybody understood Marmee. And I think our customers really did like this past holiday season because of that.
Felicia Dilbert [00:38:57] Yeah, it's almost like adding another dialect to the language because everybody already speaks the language of literary, all the things. But then it's like, 0h, now we're camping out on Jane Austen. Yes.
Annie Jones [00:39:11] Yeah. That gives people something to be excited about.
Felicia Dilbert [00:39:14] Absolutely. Awesome. Well, Annie, I am just always grateful to have a chance to really talk with you and learn more about what goes on in that mind and how you come up with the different things that you're doing around here. And thank you so much for the opportunity to be a part of the podcast series.
Annie Jones [00:39:31] Well, I love talking about business things. And I know our listeners and especially our Patreon supporters really love any kind of behind the scenes glimpses that they can get. And so, getting to talk about what goes on to table displays or what goes into brainstorming ideas like Dumbledore's Army or Reader Retreats, I love getting to talk about that because I think it's so neat. Just like I love people to know that Erin packages are online orders, not a robot. That's something I frequently feel I say. We're a business of people, not robots. I also want people to know everything, every event, every display, all of that has been done with such thoughtfulness. And it's not just thoughtfulness on my part. Every single member of our team is thoughtful and intentional and creative and fun, and so it's just a joy to get to work together and watch those things come to life. I hope people enjoy kind of getting a peek behind the curtain to see how it all happens.
Felicia Dilbert [00:40:28] I just have to say that since I've been working with you all, I've had just brain exercise, I guess you could say where my creative juices flow a lot more. They just flow way, way more than before I started working. And I think that working here and having my own business and working by yourself is one thing, right? When you're with folks and your part and you're thinking about different parts of things, that brain just gets going. And so, I did just want to share that I am going to be kind of playing around with an idea of having a play shop. And I would love to just help people that might be interested in tapping into their creative thinking more. I can share that link below later. And if you guys are interested, just check it out.
Annie Jones [00:41:13] Yeah. The link can go on the show notes and you can help people start to maybe exercise their own creative muscles.
Felicia Dilbert [00:41:20] Yeah, there we go.
Annie Jones [00:41:24] This week, I'm reading Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen. Felicia, what are you reading?
Felicia Dilbert [00:41:30] I'm reading Feeding the Soul by Tabitha Brown.
Annie Jones: 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 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. Our Executive Producers are…
Donna Hetchler, Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle C, Kate O'Connell
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Laurie Johnson
Annie Jones: 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. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to: patreon.com/fromthefrontporch We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.