Meet Julia Bodwell

We were lucky to catch up with Julia Bodwell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Julia, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.

Anytime you take a risk and try to do something that requires skill and dedication, there will be nay-sayers who want to tear you down. It usually comes from a place of jealousy, disbelief, or just sheer ignorance (although sometimes it can just be ill-placed curiousity); if they can’t do what you’re doing, surely YOU can’t do it, either, right? When deciding to open an indie bookstore–and even once we were up and running–I had so many people come into the store and question its success. With questions such as “Do people even read?” or “How do you even survive when people shop online?” it was initially frustrating to have put so much blood, sweat, and tears into this passion, only to have so many unwilling to acknowledge my dedication and hard work. As time wore on and we started to build a loyal following, I began to focus less and less on the haters and more on the community I was growing. I reminded myself why I was doing this in the first place–for the love of books, and the community of book lovers that comes with it–and told myself to just keep going. Whether I could convince the nay-sayers or not, the important part was to focus on my reasons for wanting to keep going. While the haters might try to invalidate my success, they couldn’t take away what I had created. At the end of the day, when I realized I had accomplished what I set out to, that was all that mattered.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I own and operate The Gilded Page, an indie bookstore in downtown Tarpon Springs, Florida. For about a decade, there hadn’t been a bookstore in Tarpon, after the former one–Back in the Day Books–relocated to Dunedin. As I looked for a way to transition out of the classroom, where I taught for nearly 10 years, the pieces fell into place for my husband and I to open a bookstore in our town, and for me to run it full-time. Since we opened almost a year and a half ago, we’ve cultivated a community of book lovers that I’m proud of, have partnered with other small businesses and nonprofits, and have supported various causes that are near and dear to me, such as raising money for a local cat rescue. Not only are books a great way to escape the stress of everyday life, but they’re an incredible tool to faciliate conversations and community-building.

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?

The most important quality in my journey as a small business owner was and remains a passion for what I do. If you aren’t excited about something and don’t love doing it, your customers will feel that. Conversely, when you have the passion and excitement, those around you will notice and absorb that excitement. Patience is also key in running a business, because things take time to grow and catch on. When working in customer service, it’s also important to be patient with customers and vendors, and understand they’re coming to you for a reason, whether it’s for something as simple as a book recommendation, or something much more meaningful, such as a safe space to be themselves. In addition to patience, it’s necessary to be flexible. Things won’t always go according to plan–in fact, it’s a guarantee there will be bumps in the road–and you need to be able to pivot and adjust accordingly. Every day is an opportunity to grow and better yourself, and there are plenty of great books and resources to help should you need it. Just remember to treat yourself–and others–with grace and understanding as you tackle something new. There will be a learning curve, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done!

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

As an indie bookseller, it constantly remains a challenge to help customers understand what sets us apart from big box retailers, and why it’s so important to support us. While we understand books might be cheaper at the chain stores–a fact we can’t do much about, when many of those chain retailers sell books at a loss–that discount often comes at a cost to the overall community. When you support indie bookstores, you not only support a small business, but you support the authors and publishers who put the work in to create those books. Small businesses are also more likely to contribute back to the local economy–two times more likely than Barnes and Noble and four times more likely than Amazon–whether through labor, profit, purchasing, or nonprofit donations. In addition to the economic impact an independent bookstore has on its local community, we also create safe spaces and third spaces for people to gather and connect, whether through book clubs, book release parties, or a variety of other events. While it remains a challenge everyday to educate and inform, the larger our book community grows, the easier it becomes. Though it’s a constant battle, it remains worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thegildedpagebookstore.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegildedpagebookstore/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGildedPageBookstore/