Letting go of my security blanket

Spring of last year, I was in need of a change. After only four months at my job, I was ready to leave. It felt selfish and immature to leave a job after such a short period of time, but sometimes (most of the time) your happiness should outweigh any feelings of doing something because it's the acceptable thing to do. So with the help of my family, especially my incredibly understanding husband, I left my job to start working with baby blankets.

It was Kara who introduced me to myubby, an Overland Park-based manufacturer of blankets, not just for babies but big kids too. After several years of building custom blankets online, the owners, Ted and Aimee, had decided to open a retail store as well. I was hired to run the store, in addition to handling all the marketing.

It was the first time (and maybe the last) that I would ever become a COO of any company. (Cuddle Operations Officer, but really who cares what it stands for?!)

The store was great. It was my first foray into buying merchandise, which I realized is very fun. I mean, who doesn't like shopping with someone else's wallet, right? Kidding, Ted. :)

After a year of ups and downs, we realized the store wasn't going to survive like we had all hoped. So, Friday will be the myubby retail store and mine's last day. The online store is still very much open for business.  I will continue to handle some marketing for myubby, but no longer come into the store every day.

It's a very bittersweet week for me. I will miss all the customer service calls and emails (gasp! yes, I said that), helping people choose fabrics and colors that best fit the tiny newborn they are purchasing for. I will miss all the kiddos that come in the store. Ok, mainly it was my nieces Evie and Nora, who would drop by a few times a week to see me.  But in all seriousness, I really did enjoy working for a small business. It was the first time I felt invested in a job.

And maybe somewhat surprisingly, my exposure to small business hasn't scared the living crap out of me. This year, I'll be making yet another job move and starting a PR business with my sister under the Edit brand.

So when God closes this door behind me on Friday, and He opens a window, lets just hope I don't fall on my face.