Meet Terri M. LeBlanc

We recently connected with Terri M. LeBlanc and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Terri M., thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout
It’s been a long journey for me. My parents instilled a strong work ethic in me and rarely let me quit anything that I started. So once I graduated, and found a job, I stuck with it until I was overworked. My first career out of college was as an Admission Counselor at my alma mater. I traveled extensively in the fall, managed the website and email, a pre-Facebook online community for admitted students and even took on managing all the recruiting data. The day I drove 25 minutes from my home to work and didn’t remember the drive was the day I realized I needed to leave.

My next job was at as a project manager at a higher education marketing firm. Their admissions marketing department was just getting started and really digging into using email and phone calls to recruit students. It took everything I loved from my previous job and allowed me to work 35 to 40 hours weeks. As the years went on, the department grew and the technology changed, those hours increased as did the stress. There were never enough employees. Our sales executives were selling services we didn’t provide so there was a lot of cobbling together of systems and processes to make something work. All of this lead to more errors. I can’t even remember the number of times I took the brunt of a client’s anger because someone on the team made a disastrous error.

The year I left the higher education marketing firm they had merged with another similar business. The company culture changed – departments and responsibilities were changed. The project manager that I had come up with was suddenly laid off because the department she moved to was eliminated. She had only been with the company six months longer than me. She and I wrote the operations guide for the project managers in our department. I was sick of being yelled at, sick of the long hours, and scared that at any moment the company would decide that I was no longer needed despite my experience and knowledge.

I took a temp job through a recruiter and was finally back to working 40 hours a week. It was low stress and I was enjoying my time there, but it was a temp position and the recruiter and the company weren’t able to find a position for me fast enough before my contract expired.

I was lucky enough get a job with a book coaching company as their operations manager. It was a completely virtual company based in California. This was 2017 and I was determined to manage my time better. We had a few work-from-home employees at the higher ed marketing company so I wanted to avoid any pitfalls I witnessed from working with them.

Because of the time difference, I found a bit more freedom with my schedule. I didn’t necessarily need to be at my desk at 8 am. So I found an 8 am morning yoga class at the Y and went three times a week. As time went on, I realized that I usually wrapped up most of my tasks by 2 pm so I started to take more time to go horseback riding. Eventually, I was able to add a fun part-time job and carefully guarded those hours during the week as a way to get out and interact with people face-to-face.

When I moved to starting my own consulting business in 2020, I was up front with my customers that the Bookstore I opened was my primary business. My work with them would take place primarily Monday-Wednesday. I was dedicated to the Bookstore on Thursdays and Fridays. All of my clients understood these boundaries and we worked together honor them.

I had to break a lot of habits that were instilled in me growing up – working means being at your desk from 9 – 5. Feeling guilty about not working when you “should” be working. Being honest with my clients about what my work hours are is a good thing. It’s a very different approach to work that neither of my parents possessed.

There are good times and bad times still where I approach burnout, but I think I’m better equipped now to see it coming BEFORE it gets to the point where I’m not getting good sleep or not eating. Still working on not feeling guilty about taking time to myself…but some day I hope I can eliminate that guilt!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
In 2018, I was working at a used bookstore across town. The owner had become a good friend of mine. When the pandemic hit, she opted to sell that store because of some personal health issues coupled with the pandemic that were making it difficult to run. We jokingly said, we should open a shop in Marion some day. It’s the only thing missing from Uptown – a strong local bookstore.

In July of 2020, we were presented with the option to open a bookstore in a 180 square feet building in Uptown Marion, Iowa. At first it was difficult to imagine a bookstore in 180 square feet, but we made the decision to move forward so quickly that when we first opened, the shelves were filled with new books from our own shelves and new stock we inherited when the other bookstore was sold.

Things were going well enough for us that in March 2021, we expanded to a second shop in the same area taking us to 360 square feet. We split kids books from YA, Adult Fiction and Adult Nonfiction. Then in April 2022, we moved to a large building at West End and brought our entire inventory back under one roof. (The square footage remained the same.)

At the end of January 2024, we are moved to a larger location! This is huge for us in so many ways. There’s not a lot of margin in book sales so I’m excited that we’ve run a lean business the last 3 years and can finally have more room for books and host some events in our store space.

A bit about my background…I am a lifelong reader, as is my business partner, Amanda Zhorne. I majored in English at Cornell College, and wrote reviews on my book blog, Second Run Reviews, for five years. In addition to that, I wrote book reviews and author profiles for The Gazette, organized an author signing event (Imagine Other Worlds with Authors) for 3 years, and have volunteered for ICON, Iowa’s longest fan-run science fiction and fantasy convention, since 2014. Working at and eventually running a small bookstore seems like a natural progression in my life.

In my spare time, I spend time with my husband, our two cats, and my horse in addition to reading LOTS of books every year.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Always be willing to learn! I entered my professional career life just as the internet took off and home computers with Intel processors were affordable. I was fascinated with building websites (my first one was on Geocities). As the technology improved, I embraced the improvement and tried by best to learn it without any formal education in computers or computer science. I think it is key to find the things in your life or business that you are passionate about and just keep learning. You have to enjoy what you are doing or learning about to actually keep that forward momentum of growth.

Trust your gut. This may sound simple, but I found it was harder to learn to do this. I was always questioning my decisions. Then my boss at the higher marketing firm told me that she was confident I was making good recommendations and that I should just trust my gut. That advice forever changed my approach to decision making. Sure there are times where I still run something by a friend, my husband or fellow business owner, but I try to sit with the decision and think it through before running for help or advice.

Surround yourself with the best people. I grew up in on a farm in Minnesota and I attended relatively small schools. When I made friends, as a kid, I made friends for life. But I found, as I aged, that sometimes you outgrow your friends and sometimes even your family. There’s nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to leaving people behind or breaking ties with people that don’t support you 100%. Until you surround yourself with the best people, the weight of trying to please or overextend yourself to support others, you won’t be happy and your growth may be limited.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
Of course, as a bookstore owner, I had to tackle this question. And contrary to what people might thing, I’m actually going to share some fiction books that changed my life.

1) The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. This is the first book I remember reading with a strong female character that defied her parents and followed her own path. Now it has taken me some time to completely follow my own path, but I believe the Charlotte has always been the source of that desire to pursue my own dreams.

2) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I spent 4 years in college studying English Literature. (A lot of dead white guys to be honest.) When I graduated I couldn’t read without analyzing the heck out of everything. My friend suggested Outlander and I finally fell in love with reading again. I also discovered I love historical fiction with a touch of romance and science fiction. I believe that Outlander started me on this journey to becoming a bookstore owner. I honestly believed I would never love books again. (Also, Claire is similar to Charlotte Doyle in A LOT of ways!)

3) The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix A. Harrow. I read and listened to this book in 2019. Without giving too much away, there’s a pivotal scene in the book when the main character, January, discoves the power to change her situation resides within her. The line “The Door opens just for her.” has stuck with me since I read it. I have it marked in the my copy of the book. I often flip open to book just to read that line again and again and again. I joked often that if I was ever brave enough to get a tattoo that line would be it and it would be on my right forearm.

Last spring and summer were especially trying for me as a bookstore owner and I turned 45. I decided I needed to get the tattoo. So the day before my birthday and the day I purchased the majority shares in the bookstore, I got “The Door opens just for her.” tattooed on my right forearm as a visual reminder that the power to change my situation resides inside me.

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Image Credits
All images were taken by Jess Denton of monroe + co (http://www.monroe-co.com/)

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