Welcome to Leveling Up with Lindsay, the podcast
where we dive into leadership, small business,
and everything in between. I'm Lindsay, your
host, and the proud owner of White Pony Boutique,
a space created to empower women, build confidence,
and foster meaningful connections. Whether you're
an entrepreneur, a mom, a friend, or someone
just looking for a little inspiration, this is
your space to feel seen, supported, and inspired.
Join me as we share stories, strategies, and
a little bit of life's chaos while While navigating
what it truly means to level up in starting a
business, relationship, and personal growth.
So grab a cup of coffee, get comfy, and let's
level up together. What does it really take to
create a customer experience that people remember?
One that feels thoughtful, personal, and done
right. Today I'm sitting down with a woman at
the heart of our operations to talk what it means
to show up, even when it's hard, and keep working
towards excellence. Welcome back to Leveling
Up with Lindsay. Today's guest is someone I depend
on every single day, not just because of her
role in operations and shipping, but because
of her ability to grow through change, lead with
calm, and keep showing up with heart. Autumn
Bacchus. Hold on. I see your last, it's Bacchus.
And you're like, no, it's Bacchus. Yes. Yes.
Okay, fine. One day. I grew up with the Bacchus.
Yeah. And my mom calls me Buccus. So it's just,
you're doing better. Thank you. Autumn is one
of the key reasons why Peony continues to evolve,
especially as we work towards an even better
customer experience across the board. In this
episode, we're talking about what it really takes
to create that experience, why it matters to
both of us so deeply, and how we're continuing
to fight for what we love in a challenging season.
So welcome, Miss Autumn, here on the podcast
again. Good to be back. You guys are definitely
going to listen to us laugh, listen to us get
probably emotional. We laugh, we're emotional,
we're very passionate about the work we do, so.
100%. I'm excited to talk to you. Me too. So,
Autumn, you've been such a steady presence here
at Wake Peony and your role has grown so much
over the years. Can you share where you started
again? Let's remind everybody what your role
looked like then and what it looks like today.
Yeah, actually, it's super funny. I was talking
to your daughter Haley today and I was talking
about dental hygiene. She's like, that's what
you did? And I'm like, yeah, that's how I started.
She didn't realize I was a dental hygienist before
this. And I actually started here part time due
to some injuries that I had sustained. So when
I started here, I was a first full -time employee.
As this business has evolved, we've been just
kind of figuring out what white peony needs at
that time and where I felt like I could coming
from a medical background to where I am now.
It's been a true journey, but I had to start
where I could start. In the beginning, I started
with customer service because I could talk to
people. I can handle those kind of situations.
And so that's kind of where I was able to start
from the beginning. And of course it's evolved
from there, but I think it's really developed
from. the beginning of the customer service and
into diving a little bit deeper into white peonies.
I agree. There's one thing in the beginning,
you know, very quickly, if we saw this in the
other episode, but very quickly, I knew you were
not going to just be in shipping. And I love
the passion that you have for everything you
do. Number one is customer service. I love every
day when I am working in one of our locations
and autumn comes in and is like instantly fills
the room with enthusiasm, helping anyone who
walks of the North, no matter what she's doing.
It is incredible. But your response like with
customer service online, you know, digitally
and in person, everything about it was awesome.
So I was like, okay, I think I found a match
that I don't know that I've found for a very
long time of someone who can help me persevere
through finding. about how we can make this better.
And it isn't just like a checklist kind of thing.
Like I want you to have an order quicker. I want
to do more orders. No, we genuinely want to make
someone feel heard and seen and connect with
them. And I will say that's why White Peony is
different. And our mission is just different
together. A hundred percent agree with that.
I think also, you know, being behind the scenes
and being upfront with your customers, I think
that also gives you kind of another viewpoint
of the people that we serve every single day.
You can look behind analytics and those types
of things. of things and that's very helpful
but at the end of the day these are people just
like you and me that are looking for an experience.
I agree. And you know, we're going to talk a
lot in this episode about situations and stuff
at white peony, but I do challenge you if you're
starting to listen to this and wondering if you
should continue to do so because I come from
customer experience background in every job that
I've had leading up to now, even from little
Lindsay working at the state fair with my grandparents,
that's where it all began. And so little did
I know I've made this kind of my lifelong mission.
And at my previous financial institution, they
created a role. that was customer experience
where I oversaw the branches and worked really
closely with the branch managers and their teams
to fine tune what the customer experience looked
like. So this isn't just about white peony and,
you know, a clothing store. It is about so much
more. So what we're going to talk about, I hope
that you can take little takeaways in your business
and level up and really look, be very mindful
of what your customer or your one -on -one or
even your team is going through. You're really
the one who keeps wheels turning behind the scenes.
I obviously rely on you so heavily for so many
things. You carry so much responsibility from
operations to shipping. And while we're not pushing
thousands of orders a day right now, we're treat
every single order as if it's the only one we're
going to get. It really does matter. Yes. I know
you're in a season of intentionally slowing down
to focus on the details. And I love that so much.
Your team is already so strong when it comes
to organization. I can see the way your follow
through continues to make a difference. for your
team, our team, and the community. You're building
something really solid, Autumn, and it definitely
shows. I'm really glad that I read all this beforehand,
because that would have been a moment for tears,
okay? So I had to read through this a couple
of times, but thank you. I do appreciate that,
and I think with a customer experience and kind
of what we're talking about and slowing down,
it's the intention behind it, because truly I
think about this all the time in a world of fast
fashion and cheaper products. you know getting
there in two days like what's gonna set us apart
makes a difference because there's so many places
that you can shop so many great places so many
great clothes but I think the experience is exactly
what sets us apart and coming from a person for
me as a woman who shopped previously as well
and had body image issues and has been a lot
of different things, shapes and sizes. I hated
shopping. And I tell you this all the time that
come in. I'm like, I used to just like instantly
sweat getting in that fitting room. And if someone
walks in and I can just make them feel better
than when they arrived, that means something
like each one of us has the ability to influence
the next person. And you have no idea how much
that can mean to one single person and what that
effect. I couldn't agree with you more. And I
don't know if it was kind of like our generation,
but I always go back to like, Let's take it even
further. I always joke and it's the truth. I
get my shopping. Love a shopping from my grandmother
when we were little. We had the best time together.
But growing up, there were some insecurities
that came to surface. I hated gene shopping.
Gene shopping was the worst. This is crazy, but
I actually got a little depressed after trying
to gene shop because I hated all the options
and I felt terrible. And it was too much and
everything was too rigid. We dealt with this
all the time. And low rise. Don't come back low
rise. So I'd bring my best friend to go. with
me. So anyways, if you would have asked me 10
years ago, if I was here at White Pony sitting
with you and our mission was to sell clothing,
I'd be like, liar. Silly goose. I do love clothing
and I always said I wanted to create my own clothing,
but I don't know that I knew we were going to
be here today. And the coolest part about this
whole entire business, and I hope that is a message
to everyone. Actually, clothing is like the second
best part of it. The clothing is almost like
the extra. That is our mission. That's what keeps
our lights on. That's what keeps us talking together.
I have realized like even when I was going to
start white peony and you go through all the
works on the website or on the like state website
to create your EIN and yada yada. I was like,
I know marketing. Thanks to my previous career,
I worked hand like side by side with our marketing
director at the time. And I was like, I have
a really good take on what we need to do and
we need to figure out how we're gonna stand out
different. And I was like, hmm, I don't even
know what I'm doing. How am I gonna pick a reason
that we're gonna stand out? And I'm kind of going
through like... I wouldn't say midlife crisis.
Is that like a midlife? You know, my littles
are getting a little bit older at the time. They're
still so young. And I'm like, I don't even know
who I am. And that's kind of why I started the
business, right? And I'm like, hmm, yep, don't
know. How the heck am I going to be different
from everyone else? And there's more and more
and more boutiques popping up, but I don't know.
I was like, you know what? Lins, this is on your
heart. I feel like I believe in faith and I'm
like one foot in front of the other. This is
where we're gonna go. So I was like, how are
we gonna be different? Every single step that
I've taken, every moment that Autumn and I have
had together, every moment that I've had with
our team, every event that we've had, every person
that we've had the opportunity to meet, I'm like
it's connection. I was built. like made as a
little girl to connect people. That's actually
my favorite thing in the whole wide world. So
like my mom always jokes around when you have
a birthday party, Lindsay was like, mom, can
I have like four friends? She's like, they'd
be 20. And I was like, and actually when my kids
do that now, I'm like, I can't even be mad because
I totally get it. But I am here to connect people.
I love connecting people, whether it's a customer
in the store to a different business owner or
different store, or whether it's our team. I
think it's pretty freaking awesome. Actually
two of our newest. employee is who we heard at
the same time, Emma just posted, she's like,
thank you, white peony for giving me one of my
best friends. And I'm going to look over there.
But it gives me the chills. It's so special.
And what you're talking about with like how customers
walk in and how they feel, we are 1000 % on the
same page. And it's so freaking cool because
it comes genuinely from our heart. So you can
say this sounds cheesy and everything, but it
is 1000 % are true. True heart like it is our
reality. I was just gonna say it's authenticity
customer service isn't faking it. It's Truly
putting yourself in that customer's shoes and
knowing how you want to be treated and how you
want to be respected and how you want To feel
in that moment. So I think sometimes it just
takes that one second where you just have to
lead with an authentic heart Absolutely for me.
It's always always always on my mind You know,
I'm thinking about it when someone walks in the
store, when I read a message on social media
or we get an email. I even watched someone walk
through the door and kind of try to put myself
in their shoes. I don't want someone to just
shop with us. I want them to feel something from
us. And we made that very clear from the very
beginning. And that only happens when we slow
down enough to pay attention to the details.
And sometimes that is really, really hard. I
think one of the biggest shifts for us this past
year has been realizing that doing something
really, really well doesn't mean doing it fast.
And I think that goes back to even before this
year, you know, especially with different economy
swings and all of that. It means truly doing
things intentionally. You've been such a part
of that shift, honestly. What has it felt like
for you to slow down and focus on quality over
speed, would you say? So it was funny actually
reading this because that was something that
I would have never thought someone would say
about me just because I am a bulldozer by nature.
I say this all the time. I bulldoze my way through
life. Like I get things done. I have a goal.
I'm going to set it. I'm going to accomplish
it, stay out of my way. And one of the things
with also working is I am somebody that I always
call myself a dog. I'm like, oh, I just want
someone to say, good job. You did that. I love
lists. I love all those things. So like for me,
getting all of the lists accomplished and doing
those, that brought me, made me feel fulfilled.
And coming into this, and especially now with
the economy the way that it is, there's more
intention in every aspect of everything at every
moment. And with that intention comes slowing
down, thinking of strategy, really putting your
mind working rather than just bulldozing your
way through the task list every single day. And
I think it matters and it means something. And
I, again, would have never thought I'd be at
that point, but I think it's opened up a lot
because I'm trying to slow down in all. aspects
of my life. We've said this a billion times,
but I'm going to kind of elaborate a little bit
further, but it's like working smarter, not harder.
Yeah. Easier said than done sometimes, especially
when you're, you know, a new business and you're
going through those growing pains and you're
trying to figure out, I always tell the girls
this, you know, like it's different when it's
your own business too. So I'm here to try to
like, Because for me, if things are slower or
things are down, I'm like, what do I got to do?
I got to run, run, run, push, push, push. And
it's like, no, no, no, you're doing opposite.
You have to focus on your people and you've got
to focus on connecting with those who follow
you and those who shop with you. So it has been
such a lesson throughout this whole journey.
And if I can give advice, I mean, obviously I
don't own the business, but kind of seeing where
everything is. I always say this when I always
worked somewhere new, you kind of have to put
in the work before. you earn that respect or
you earn that rest time okay and I'd say for
new anyone who's starting a business it's going
to be chaotic and you're going to be running
around you're going to be doing lots of things
but just know that you're setting yourself up
for those moments where you do have the opportunity
to slow down strategize really fine -tune the
things because at first you have to You have
to kind of put in that work, the lay down the
ground work, but then it comes all the fine tuning
where you put all the strategy behind things
and that's when it takes off. Again, so I'll
piggyback with that and just kind of a takeaway
for someone who's looking to open a business
or run a business. You know, I've always said
like, this looks pretty from Instagram, but listen,
I hope that this podcast kind of brings more
insight to the true behind the scenes, all the
awesome, the people, the hearts, but the real
work and the sometimes hard. So in the beginning,
My story is not short of I've always talked about
this and you can relate or you can Speak to this
too in the beginning when you came on board,
but my goodness I definitely had put in seven
days a week and between the two jobs I Honestly,
I was just telling this to Emma I would work,
let's see, I'd come in before I had to go to
the credit union at the time. So I'd probably
be up at like five, spend an hour and a half,
maybe two hours at the boutique, go to the credit
union. That was like a 40 to 60 hour work week,
depending on what it was. And then at night I
would sometimes not get into my bed until 1 a
.m., 2 a .m. And if I were to get five hours
of sleep, that was lucky. That was a good day.
And so I did that for a whole year. And is that
healthy? Absolutely not. And in hindsight, if
I were to do it again, would I do that? Probably
not. So there are lessons. There is necessary
hustle and perseverance for sure. But every step
of the way and bringing on people, you learn
very quickly that yeah, there is work to be done
and you have to have grit. And Autumn, you too,
you and every single person on our team, Emily,
mom, Mindy, every single person, you've got to
have some grit to throw down when we need to
hustle, right? But I think as one year goes by
or like one foot in front of the other, you start
to realize that I've always been a strategy mindset.
I don't want us to just post something to post
it. I want it to have meaning. And that was hard
for me to try to express to everyone. You know,
in the beginning, I didn't even really know what
I was talking about, but I was like, no, we have
to think about it. Like we're not just posting
a picture. We've got to think about it and what
it means to someone. And that was a bit of a
challenge. But I think even to this day, when
we opened actually St. Joe, that was a bit of
a hustle lesson learned for me. That was a lot
of emotions, two different locations and a whole
bigger team. But I would say right now, this
is our year two of being The slower year last
year, 2024 was hard. We said we were never gonna
have that again. 2025 here we are. Same thing.
So yes, it's been a little bit of a struggle,
but I think in the slow times is you do have
to have grit and get through and pivot. However,
it's the details that we focus on. We're actually
taking a deeper breath. The least amount of anxiety
I think I've ever had. I know we have right now.
the best team we have ever had because of all
the little details and that has mattered. Now
we're able to sit down and strategize. I have
never had this high level of conversations with
each person on our team. And that's everybody
from our amazing retail staff to our new social
media leads to our executive team. And man, it
feels good. And I think piggybacking off what
you're saying, And I tell this to Lynn's all
the time and she is working on it, but she's
in progress. But in these moments of hustle and
in the time when you're putting in the effort
and you've got the grit and this is what I tell
anybody in business, you celebrate every small
win. Because if you're not enjoying the journey,
what is the point? Because when it comes down
to it, I always tell Linda, I'm like, so when
do you feel like you're going to be successful?
What does success look like? You were the first
person to ask me that and it really was eye opening.
Let's say you reach that number, that goal. There's
no mariachi band at the end of that saying you
won and then you're done with life. You're still
moving forward. So if you're not enjoying the
journey as you reach that goal, that goal's not
going to mean as much. Yeah. I would say We're
getting real deep here. But I would say 2024
was a little bit of a heart, like leading up
to that. From the moment we opened our St. Jill
location has been nothing shy of incredible.
This community, the customers, everything are
beautiful stores, I call it. But the economy
has... Definitely had some crazy flip flops and
that's been a little interesting to navigate.
And one thing is I will give to anybody listening,
and I'm going to talk about this on a later episode
to lean on your people, man, and surround yourself
with really good. I have a business mentor that
I set in 2024 turned into my therapist. And the
biggest thing is you're not alone. I did feel
very lonely building a business really quickly,
but as Autumn and I sit here together, this is
the perfect example of you as a business owner
are not alone. I would look to Autumn and our
executive team as being my partners. And I've
talked about that from the beginning, but there's
just some, you know, some personal battles, like
along the way that you're like, how can I do
better? What can I do for everybody else? Yeah
to Autumn. So I think through all of this, I'd
say customer experience. is so critical in slowing
down, fine -tuning those details, even if business
is slow to like look back and reflect. Use that
time wisely. Use the time wisely. And even though
it's slower, let me tell you one thing, everybody
listening, if we have a slow rain day or snow
day here in Minnesota, we are not sitting down
or at a computer is what I'm going to tell you.
We are moving because we're going to unlock the
secret sauce. We're here to figure out how we
can connect to their people more. And then it's
to lean in onto our team. So yes, we've had to
pivot many times this year and many times last
year. The economy has definitely made things
a lot harder for any small business. And I think
many listening could probably speak to that.
There's not an extra dollar just sitting around,
but we're here just showing up. We're working
so hard behind the scenes because we love what
we do. and who we do it for essentially. So autumn.
What has this season felt like to you? So I'm
going to curious a lot of the operational weight,
especially leaning into you are my go to like
conversation. You know, everyone on the executive
team truly feels like family to me, but everyone
has such a responsibility. And for those listeners
too, I also hope you realize like small business
who maybe some just think we're a clothing store,
you know, a storefront, some small town. We are
definitely not. I am so fortunate to have six
full. time executive leaders here that are hearts
in our community, their moms, their wives, their
dog and duck owners. Ducks, yes ma 'am. And I
mean, literally they're selflessly given back
in the community every chance that they can get.
They're at sports every other day. They're leading
a team of incredible. I think we have 16 now
total. our entire team and so it's a big big
deal. So I'm so blessed to have a team of executives
and you guys know I'm pretty open book and I
lean on you guys for a lot of like advice or
ideas or we don't sugarcoat when the times are
tough and we like you said celebrate when we
have little teeny wins and great big wins and
have so much fun with it. But like what are you
feeling during this season? Yeah, so that was
a great question. And right now the times are
harder. life that we're living. But I think it's
really important to understand that we can't
live in that scarcity mindset because if we only
allow ourselves to play the victim in all of
this, we're not allowing ourselves to dig deep
into like what will work for us. And honestly,
from the beginning, we are always been more than
a boutique, more than just clothes. And so that's
when we start diving deeper into the connection
pieces where every single customer that walks
in this door matters because they're also feeling
that same feeling. And I think huge things for
me when it comes to that scarcity mindset where
the numbers aren't exactly where we want it to
be. And yes, analytics will take us a ways, but
also you never know with that connection that
one person could change the trajectory of something
else. Couldn't agree more. The other big thing
is changing your mindset from that victim or
that scarcity mindset to becoming an overcomer
because in the hard is when you learn the best
lessons. So when things kind of turn around and
pivot, you even have a better mindset going into
it. Just knowing where to kind of lead yourself
forward. Gosh, I cannot agree with you more.
And you know, there's been some up and down since
the beginning of business, but 2024 was like
for me, where anxiety struck a peak and there's
little things building up to that. But I think
for me, I didn't really know like this is such
an economy swing. I mean, yes, COVID. Yes, there's
other things. But this one, this was different
because I just don't know that we knew where
the light at the end of the tunnel was. Like
I couldn't see where the end was. And that was
scary. the realization of what little teeny move
could like make or break your business. I'm scared
that absolute, excuse my language, hell out of
me. And I care so deeply about you guys. And
I put so much pressure on my shoulders of making
sure that this is successful because I want to
create a space, not only for customers, but for
employees that is a safe, flexible, very value
driven business. Which that is so funny because
I was going to lead into this next statement
of saying, well, we're talking about customer
service and our customers that we serve. I think
it's treating your customers just like you with
your coworkers. I think that's exactly. We're
all family. We're all here. We're all humans.
We're all wanting the best for each other. And
it's delivering the experience for not only,
like I said, your customers, but the people that
you work with every single day, because that's
going to change the trajectory of how they're
going to treat people. So, you know, one thing
that I definitely, I actually find it very interesting
and something that I haven't really talked about
this for a little while. And Ultimately, there's
a name to like my mind when it comes to customer
experience. Well, first of all, for anybody listening,
again, whether you're a leader somewhere, whether
you're working within a business, whether you're
a business owner, you're never going to sell
900 articles of an item, a t -shirt or anything
like that, because that doesn't matter to people.
It is about the experience. And I don't care
if you're at a financial institution. I don't
care if you're making food or serving food at
a restaurant, whether you're in a gas station.
I mean, look at QuickTrip and their experience
is outstanding. I'm going to give a huge shout
out to Shields to hear because. I think they
run a phenomenal business from an outsider. I
have had people that work there within the business
and from a shopper. I actually, I always say
there's like three places that I shop and that's
at its way, Peony Shields and maybe the grocery
store. Honestly. I have a couple of people that
I know that work that probably say, yes, we see
her all the time. But anyways, it's because of
the experience because I know that like you're
going to treat me the best. I know that customers
always come first, but one thing I haven't really
put a phrase to in a long time. When I think
of every single day I'm managing the shipping
team, the retail team, you guys are, but it's
in my head constantly. You know what it is? It's
journey mapping. So in wherever you're working,
think of your customer experience or the journey
map. So I'm thinking when someone walks up to
the building, what does it look like? So you
guys will see me at the boutique like shaking
out rugs and picking up little things because
it matters and matters it matters and then when
you walk in the door Like what do you see? What
do you smell? What do you hear? Everything from
how the clothing I want a clean very organized
store clean clean clean clean I'm a crazy about
the clean and like different things from like
how we're gonna greet someone in a dressing room,
but you also have to journey map everything online
too. So every experience from ordering, journey
map for the website, you journey map from the
moment order ships out and so on and so on. Like
you can break it down with your business. What
I would recommend is you take every area within
your business and you journey map. You can do
it. We've done kind of strategic planning kind
of on a wall. We've done it kind of like, you
know, you can put it on the wall or it's like
a strategic planning session. You're going to
do this specifically customer experience journey
mapping. I just want to give like an example
of even my husband works for, I want to go outside
the walls here at Waipioni and think of somewhere
else. And I could name 10 places I'm looking
at and our neighbors, but let's say my husband,
even with journey mapping, he does exterior work,
you know, and you could do it for that company
as well. if you're a leader on the team or working
within or maybe not a manager, you can still
be a leader. Okay. Even if you just started working
and you're only there for a month, you are a
leader. So what I would recommend for everybody
is to kind of be mindful, sit in a place and
think about customer experience from the moment
they walk in the door. every single little teeny
detail that they touch, see, smell, hear, doesn't
matter to the very end till they leave. And ultimately,
right, your goal is to make them leave a great
review for you or, you know, give good feedback.
But your also goal and you're not doing it right.
If you say your ultimate goal is like for a sale
or something, that is not right. It is literally
about connecting with someone and you're going
to get that. because you're going to level up
your experience. Experience, experience, experience
always matters. And I always, always say, and
this is good and bad for all perfectionists out
there. She's recovering. If I'm working through,
I don't think I'm recovering. Let's be real.
But I'm like, I cannot stand the phrase, that's
good enough. If someone's like, that's good enough.
I'm like, ooh. It will make her cringe. And actually
I've purposely said that to myself sometimes
just to like see what happens. Can I walk away?
Probably not. I'll be back for that. Literally.
We just had actually this exact example happen
last week and it's one of those things behind
the scenes nobody really sees or hears any of
these things. But we wanted to make the experience
of the purchase from fulfillment to information
for where the people's bags or your pickup or
delivery. And we were having some customers give
us some feedback. And finally, I was like, I'm
just going to deep dive. I want to see what they're
seeing. So I'm getting screenshots. I'm communicating
with Emily in marketing. And I'm like, all right,
this has to change because we want their experience
to be better. We don't want them left confused.
We don't want them left to think we're not thinking
of them or seeing them because it does matter
to them. They need to know these things. I agree.
And so I mean, there was a whole day of coding
and all the things and now it's been so much
better, but you take these small things when
you have a couple people mention something, it
really makes your wheel spin and you go, how
can I make this better? And I will say we've
been constantly working on process improvement
from day one. Maybe someday I give a list of
all the things that we've changed. I actually
don't even think I could get through a year,
but the thing is we care and I encourage you
to care. care about what the heck your good or
bad feedback on what your customers do. Is it
going to be perfect every time? Absolutely not.
But are we working tooth and nail to get it right
or make it better? We are. And actually sometimes
you're going to have systems that tie your hands
up or, man, we went through a heck of a time
with our mobile app that was horrible for a hot
second. Ours is so good right now. But even then
there's still improvement. So when the economy
is a little slower, take the time. And even if
you have a slow, if the economy is great, great.
If you have a day that's a little slower, use
your time wisely to deep dive a little bit into
this process improvement, this better experience,
a better experience. customer is going to lead
and open so many doors, you cannot even imagine.
Absolutely. I think 100 % with that being said,
when you think of customer experience, word of
mouth travels farther than a billboard, than
a... brochure than a flyer on the wall. When
people say, I had such a great experience at
white peony. And that's when the discussion happens.
And that's when you talk about it. And because
everyone wants that connection piece. People
can buy clothing anywhere. I was going to say,
there are times where you don't have the right
size for, you know, we get that every so often.
Oh shoot, I wish you had. There are times where
we can't solve a problem, but you better believe.
And I would hope that people walk out the store
and feel that we gave it our all and tried. And
not only that, but like, Like genuinely one want
to kind of get to know you a little bit more
and you might just want to walk in and out in
peace and quiet on your lunch. And that's okay.
I always tell my team and check on everybody,
but some people just need to like a safe space
to just like release. So let's give them the
space that they need. And then there are sometimes
you're like, I need help. I have the wedding
tomorrow. And then I'm like, we're all hands
on deck. So we're here to pivot kind of as you
wish, but I would say, gosh, we definitely want
you. No matter if we can solve your problem or
not, we want to make sure that you feel heard,
seen. I would challenge anybody that is either
an employer or the employee, and truly when it
comes to the customer service experience and
bringing this all back around, that at the end
of the day, one, remember that they are humans
just like you and me. But I want you to always
think what's one step further. It's not just
the checking on them once. That's not what it's
about. It's just that one extra step where you
notice something they're wearing, where you notice
what they're looking for and ask them what they're
looking for. Maybe it's an event. That one step
further can make a huge difference. Mic drop.
And I am so proud of you. So much. And from the
best. I literally could not. even say that better
than you did. That is so true. What I do know
is we're going to fight tooth and nail to keep
building this business, but not just for us,
but for our community. And to anyone listening
at White Peony, if White Peony Boutique has ever
made you smile, inspired your confidence, or
brought you joy, that's the reason that we, Autumn
and I, and our entire team keep going. For someone
listening, maybe you're managing a small business
or a department or maybe just trying to level
up with what you do. What is your advice to them
though, even further for creating a strong customer
experience when you don't have a huge team or
a huge budget, what would you say? I think truly
for training for that purpose, it's leading with
an authentic heart and really what that means
because It's about conversations that you have
with people. It is not a transaction. It is so
much deeper than that and realizing that you
treat everyone that comes in here like your own
family, your friends, your hosting, basically.
Yeah. And have that mindset of hosting a party
every single person that comes in. I agree. And
be authentic. It's got to genuinely come from
the heart. You can't fake it. There are days
where you're a little tired. You got to, you
can fake it till you make it with an extra coffee
or an extra shot of espresso or two. We do our
best. But honestly, you've got to be very genuine
in who you are and what you bring to the table.
That was a freaking awesome conversation that
I had with Benjamin Barrett that changed the
trajectory of his whole career. And he's like,
you just said, Lynn's be yourself. And that's
so true. So true. But that's kind of everything
with us, how we make our customers feel and what
we want them to feel when they walk in the door.
It comes so genuinely from our hearts. And I
hope that you can take a moment and just kind
of sit in that yourself wherever that means that
you are. Absolutely. Consistency doesn't mean
we're never going to mess up. It just means we're
going to care enough to fix it, right? Learn
from it or do better next time. Even if we had
the best event, the best market that we've ever
had, this is not a negative thing. And I remember
Autumn you being like, Linz, we just had the
best damn event. Cause I'm like, okay, what do
we learn from it? You're like, what do you mean?
What do we learn from it? It was awesome. And
I'm like, no, but there's always little tweaks
and little things that we can like learn from.
And I think being mindful and walking away and
just... saying, how could I have done better?
And that is not the perfectionism talking. And
sometimes when we screw up, maybe it is, right?
But learning from the good moments and the moments
that could be adjusted a little bit. Like a compliment
sandwich. Say one good thing, one thing that
could have done better and end with a really
positive ending. Oh my God. You know? A compliment
sandwich. A hundred percent. And I think again,
it'll just feel better that way. I love it. Well,
Miss Autumn, thank you for showing up, not only
for our team. but obviously for our customers.
But you lead with strength and humility. You're
a huge part of why our experience keeps getting
better and better. And I'm just really proud
of the work that you've done, really proud of
the work that you've done with our team and with
our customers. And I'm so grateful that we're
doing this together. Friends, great customer
experience doesn't happen by accident. They happen
because people like Autumn wake up every day
and choose to make them happen. If you've ever
showed up with white peony, Thank you. And if
you love a small business now is the time more
than ever to support them. Tell a friend, leave
a review, share their story. It matters right
now more than you ever know. And we're forever
grateful. Thank you for listening. If you found
this information helpful, please share it with
a friend. If you're looking for more information
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show notes below. And if you wouldn't mind leaving
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Let's make today and every day an opportunity
to level up. Until next time, keep dreaming,
keep striving, and keep making a difference.