We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tracey Barringer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tracey below.
Tracey, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I found my purpose in life by seeking the Lord’s will for me. I grew up going to church and wanting to live the life that God had designed for me. I definitely went off course more times than I like to admit, but because of God’s grace and mercy, He guided me back toward His path and kept me going.
I try to honor Him in my decision making. I want to make Him proud by loving on customers. Some days that looks like praying with customers who are struggling. Some days, that means Hugging the 18 year old girl that works for me and just reminding her how worthy and lovely she is. Some days, it means giving more than I have to others less fortunate.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Give Me 3 is so much more than just a gift shop. It’s an experience. It’s a place where everyone is welcome, no matter what they look like, what they’re wearing. What they have been through that day. They can come in and we can help. We can pray with them, we can give them a hug and make them feel a little bit lighter.
I started GM3, because I felt like our area was missing a place where people could shop to make gifts personable again. I also knew that woman are too busy. We have too much on our plates and we are all struggling to make sense of it all. So how could I help? I can take something off of her never ending long list. I created a way for them to make gifting easy yet fun. All they have to do is reach out to me, tell me who they are shopping for, a budget they want to stay in and let me get to work. They can pay over the phone, and when its ready, just pull up and and I’ll run it out to their car.
That concept led to a much greater path than I could ever have dreamt of. We customize anything with a flat surface. Our motto is “if it stands still long enough, we can put a monogram on it and it make it cuter”
GM3 is a happy, magical place. I pray it always represents my heart, for my Lord and for my community.
We recently just opened our second location in Texarkana, Texas. We are so excited about this new adventure and getting to love on a new community. We are learning to balance two locations as a family and a staff. It’s been So much FUN!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three qualities that impacted this incredible journey for me is Perseverance, Humility and Gratefulness.
Perseverance because retail IS HARD! The economy is hard. Big Box companies are hard to compete with. Staying ahead of the trends and staying up to date with all the new social media outlets are hard, yet so rewarding. Perseverance is what keeps getting up day after day wanting to succeed. My biggest competitor is myself and I only care to do better today than I did yesterday. No matter what, you just have to keep on keepin’ on.
Humility, knowing it can all be stripped away from you at any given minute. Being humble enough to know when to apologize to customers, your staff, sometimes even yourself. Humility to know that somedays, you’re just going to have a bad day behind the counter and it’s going to be ok.
Gratefulness for the customers, for the opportunity to come to work everyday. Being thankful for every purchase, big or small, they all add up. Being grateful, even for the customers who aren’t so easy to love, will make the long days worth it.
My advice to anyone wanting to get into this is to Go for it! But if you’re going to go for it, get ready to go BIG, Dig Deep, and Don’t quit.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Our Ideal Client is a trusting one. I love when I receive a text early in the morning, before I even get to the store that says ‘I need help! I need 8 gifts for (fill in the blank), I want to spend (fill in the blank) and I trust you to do whatever you think”
That is so exciting to me. I get to exercise my creativity coming up with 8 gifts for people, that they will love. It gives me an opportunity to move product, I have to stay within a budget so I have to work hard to get the customer as much as i can within their budget. And when I know that I’ve done a good job, getting the text that they loved the gifts is the most rewarding feeling!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shopgiveme3.com
- Instagram: @shopgiveme3
- Facebook: @shopgiveme3
- Other: Tik Tok: @shopgiveme3
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