I started off my garage floor 10 years ago, and I am now back on garage floors! But guess what – it was the right move for me and START. I used to feel like I was always failing, but looking back, I now realize that I was learning, growing, and being positioned where I was meant to be. To any entrepreneur, there are a ton of lessons in this journey. With our 2025 STARTplanners coming soon, I wanted to share this blog to show you more of the heart and behind-the-scenes work it has taken over the years to keep this passion alive.
So with this post, I wanted to share, teach, be transparent, and help layer in some of my reasons and thoughts about START and its journey.
The Warehouse Now
This is where the START Warehouse is now, at my lake home in the detached garage. I have a Home Occupation Permit so we are now shipping out of my garage warehouse for the online business side. For those of you who don’t know, STARTplanners are primarily once a year, but our quarterly, undated planners are available at any time so you can get started with our system! The rest is online with courses and digital resources.
The Beginning
I think that to explain this fully, I want to start from the very beginning. In 2015, almost a decade ago, I started START. My business partner and I bootstrapped the startup with no cash. At the time, I lived in a neighborhood that was in no way equipped for online sales, but I had a burning desire to create a planner. I did just that. To be honest, it was a tool that I even needed. It was created from my kitchen table, garage floor and even my now 10-year-old son, Silas, was often crawling around with me while I was in the living room working.
I’ve realized that our world is struck with business, but not always intentionality. This might not make sense to you, but money was not my motivator when I created START. Back then, I created it to educate, inspire, and help pave a path for others, and even today, that is still my goal. Looking back, I was so unhappy in other sectors in my life, that I poured myself heavily here. I always say there are two motivators in life. One is purpose (a desire), and one is desperation (a need). With START, it was nothing more than pure purpose for me to find my way and make a mark on someone’s life more than a wife (at the time) and more than a mom.
Here was the garage where it all started. Showers were used for storage to make it work!
Our First Leased Space
When the business could support it, we made the move and leased our first space. When you lease a building, there are pros and cons for businesses, versus buying. Our first space was 1000-square-feet and we ended up having two part-time employees here. The business continued to grow so much that we were outgrowing the 1000-square-foot space, so we went vertical like in the picture. At this point, we were in a position to start weighing the pros and cons of leasing bigger versus buying our own warehouse.
Purchased A Warehouse
We decided to purchase a warehouse, which we called START HQ. This space was 3500-square-feet – yes, 3.5 times the space! We renovated the front of the building to bring it up to date, and in the back, we slowly started investing in commercial-grade shelving units. This drastically helped increase our “floor space” too.
We were able to accept even bigger shipments and ship out thousands of planners.
Co-Leased the Warehouse
I knew out the gate we (aka STARTbrands) could not afford to lease the entire space at START HQ, so out the gate, we found someone to co-lease some of it. Love.Grow.Clothing was the perfect fit and leased out part of our space, which helped to control overhead and allowed us to use the space at a higher capacity. They were amazing co-tenants and overall an amazing business. I saw a husband-and-wife duo start and grow (pun intended), until they found themselves moving to 30A, with their business still thriving there.
Surviving COVID
Okay, let’s transition back to STARTbrands and STARTplanner. In 2020, COVID happened and the world, in all essence, shut down. Summer was extended and in-person school was canceled. To layer in something personal, I also moved in the middle of COVID from the Country Club Home that I was renovating (which was right by this warehouse), to 3 exits up on the lake.
When the world shut down and school was delayed, our planner sales started tanking. At this time, we had 5 people working for us at full capacity, two other employees, and one W9 contractor that was now essential to our model. For those of you who don’t know, employees are overhead. In addition to employees being a huge operating cost, the building that we now owned (START HQ) was a business of its own, and even its overhead started eating us alive too. Keep in mind, at this time my business partner and I were now both single moms. This was the reality of it all (a big business lesson) and I am not ashamed because it happened to a bunch of different people and businesses during this time too.
The Bigger Picture
Painting an even bigger picture for you, I had a cabin that I was Airbnbing during this time. Some might think that this would also take a hit during COVID, but COVID actually helped private rentals with everyone itching to get out of their home. My cabin was honestly what kept me afloat, hence keeping START afloat too. Meanwhile, I had just moved houses so all the renovations I planned to do on the Lake Home, I knew I had to delay to make things work financially. At this time, sales for STARTplanner slowly started to recover, but not at the rate we needed them to be.
Looking back, I probably should have made better business decisions, but I tried to hang onto everything. Instead of immediately letting employees go or making a drastic business change, I invested my own funds into keeping the company afloat. It got to a point where I couldn’t do that anymore. To add, my business partner who started both ventures with me, now wanted out, so she exited the companies. Even adding yet another layer, I was now carrying the weight of all this on my own two shoulders. My kids never had any idea all of this was unfolding, they just knew we moved into a home and I told them I would focus on updating their spaces first when the chance came. I did the best I could at the time, through budgeting, allocating, and trying to make the best decisions for all of us.
The New START Warehouse + Garage
It was obvious that we could no longer afford our commercial building (START HQ). I knew that I needed to stop allowing one business to cushion another, so I made a huge decision to buy a shipping container and to store START’s inventory in order to continue operating. Then, I put the entire START HQ up for its proper leasing rate. Being completely transparent, I struggled with all these decisions. I should have let employees go faster; I should have made decisions quicker. Learning to let go and pivot was the only option I had left, and it was a mix of knowing my numbers, making business decisions, and trusting my gut.
Using a container to hold START’s products was a temporary solution until I could move the warehousing into my garage but this is something that so many people did not even realize happened behind the scenes! Yes, I know that I started this company off a garage floor and now am I back on my garage floor. One could see this as a loss, but really, I see it as part of my journey! All of it led me to where I am now and I wouldn’t be able to write these words and share these lessons with you if it wasn’t for experiencing all of this.
I provide business coaching not because I have always been the strongest business owner, but because I have lived through it, made my own mistakes, and learned from it. If anything, I can admit that I too, need people in my life to tell me, “Kristy, no this is what you are doing” even if my heart wants to hang on to it. Having a heart for what I do is one of my biggest strengths, but it also could be seen as a weakness too.
Many of you know that I have been building, renovating, and investing in real estate for well over a decade and now my heart is growing even more in this direction with The Hummingbird Homes. Don’t worry, START will forever have a place in my heart and isn’t planning on going anywhere soon! Please know I greatly appreciate all the supported over the years.
With all of this being said, I rebranded this blog and website to ‘The Creator Kristy’. I feel like God destined me to be a creator through products (like planners and online classes), coaching, and offering my services in the building sector. I know He has me right where I am supposed to be! These planners, financial systems, and trainings are what have allowed me to make all of these decisions on data, both good and bad. I can confidently say that because of this all, no matter how much personal investment was lost trying to keep my dreams alive and no matter how many sleepless nights, I now carry valuable lessons that I can help teach to you all.
Current START Warehouse Garage
To finish up this blog, here is a glimpse of inside the current garage, where all of your planning and organizational products are stored and shipped!
Like many of you, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our 2025 STARTplanners and can’t wait to start shipping them out to you! If you haven’t ordered yours yet, I highly suggest you do so because we don’t plan on restocking them again.
If you’re interested in my online, self-paced financial courses (Start Knowing My Numbers), I have decided to make them up to 85% off. Why? Because I know how hard it is to live in our economy right now, and I want to do my part to help. I have three financial online classes that teach budgeting and systems, one for small businesses, one for home budgeting, and a combo course. I am trained in finance AND, if anything, I’ve encountered many the peaks and valleys through my personal journey. Even my business overhead journey that I explained previously, is something that went into developing these systems.
My prayer is that these honest words, raw reality, and many lessons, help others. I believe if things are meant to be, they will be. It doesn’t mean that it won’t be a hard journey, but I do believe it is the right journey for us. We just don’t always see that at first. If you are at a crossroads, I would encourage you to know your data, make sure you are listening to the right people, and always trust your gut. Last but not least, don’t give up on yourself. Even if you know don’t know the right choice to make, even when people walk away, and even when things change.
With much love and reSTARTing,
Kristy
