Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tracy Saylor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Tracy , 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
Overcoming and avoiding burnout as a small business owner is always on our minds. Being a small business owner for us is doing the same thing over and over again and the repetition can get boring quickly but it’s necessary because it’s our business and we need these same orders over and over again to sustain us. One important thing we always consider is how far we’ve come and the goals we still want to achieve and that becomes a lifeline of sorts, it doesn’t always work but it usually creates enough of a space in our minds that we can pull ourselves out of the slump.
Another beneficial thought is that burnout comes from boredom, looking at the same thing in the same way over and over, so we are really good at being spontaneous and taking a day trip to an enjoyable place like the beach or a park or lunch somewhere and that is a great way to deflect the boredom.
We also love to have morning meetings, even though it’s just the two of us it’s still a great way to organize the day, the week and the month and keep us on track and being organized and on task is so good for our minds, a well run business is something to be proud of and being proud of what one does has an overall effect a life well lived and a life well lived is enormously effective at mitigating boredom which prevents burnout.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Hi, my name is Tracy and my daughter’s name is Robin, we are the team behind SaltedWords.
Voyager magazine
Hi, my name is Tracy and my daughter is Robin, we are the team that makes up SaltedWords.
We are so happy to share our story with you.
Saltedwords is an inspirational wood art sign company, we also design Tshirts, hats, posters, tea towels and hats and We recently started a monthly Artisan market here in Dowagiac Michigan just east of downtown and we also rent our building out as a venue space for parties, showers and celebrations.
Let me tell you a little bit about how this all came to be since it seems that we have several different careers going on at once. Many moons ago, about 15 years, I saw some beautiful hand painted wood signs in a small home decor store and I wanted them so badly but we had four children at home, a large grocery bill and a tight budget so I set out to make them myself and they actually turned out just as beautiful as the little shop’s signs so our youngest daughter and I started making some different designs and after a few years of playing around with them we put an application into a local craft show at a fair and we loved it, meeting all the people, making all the new signs, setting up our booth, it was so much fun.
As we did the craft show circuit people started asking us if we had an Etsy store and so we looked into and finally set one up, got some practice, sold some pieces there and learned the ins and outs of how it worked and then one day I felt like I got a vision of sorts, not a vision of seeing something but rather a name entered my mind, it was SaltedWords, it’s from Collosians 4:6 so we opened another sign shop and it really took off, we were selling a lot of signs, making a lot of custom orders and really gaining some momentum and it was all happening in my very small 1200 square foot home and our one car garage, we were outgrowing our space quickly.
In the meantime there was an old rundown tire shop at the edge of downtown, beat up, ugly and in very rough shape but a good shape, in a good location and the people that owned it were done with it so we worked out a deal.
We spent the next three years cleaning it out, gutting it and renovating it, it was a BIG job, it took us into dark mental spaces many many times but we just kept plugging away at it. We did get to the point of out of money, out of momentum, out of faith, out of whatever we needed to finish it and Robin had a vision of her own, or a phrase entered her mind, the same way the the name SaltedWords came to me was the same way the phrase came to her, it said “if you want it you’ll have to work for it” and that changed everything. She got a whole new mindset, a whole new energy level and a whole new outlook on our building and work we did, it was hard, it was long and it was worth it.
We spent three and a half years on our building, we learned so much, Robin really put her mind to it and God increased her faith ten fold.
So we finished it, we had our work space to build our signs, and we had an office/ lounge space with a kitchen for the kids and family to visit and we ended up with a large empty area that was waiting for something, we didn’t know what but someone asked if we would consider renting it for a party and the idea bells started chiming and that’s how we gained a venue space.
As we were juggling all of the hats of building renovators, sign makers and venue space renters a woman contacted us about putting our signs and tshirts in her local monthly artisan market and we agreed and then again, the idea bulb went off and we wondered if we also could create an artisan market and wouldn’t you know, God was faithful to us yet again and we’ve now celebrated one year of markets at our SaltedWords building.
All of that to say, it’s been a wild ride, full of ups and downs, anxiety and victories, long hours, long prayers, faith that seemed like it would run out at any moment and it was all worth it, every single bit.
Thank you for reading our story and we hope if you make it to Dowagiac you come and visit us, we’ll be so happy to have you.
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?
Looking back at where we started it seems to me that creativity, dedication and the ability to enjoy what we were doing seems to be the three things that kept us moving forward. Another aspect is the partnership, when one of us would get down or started doubting or worrying that the other one of us would encourage and that is so important, I know if we were alone we would have more than likely given up when times got hard.
A great bit of advice for a young entrepreneur is that if you think you have a great idea, skill or item sometimes you just have to do it, look up where you can sell your goods or skills, find out who could use your idea or service and put yourself out there, one thing I’ve seen over and over is a person that believes in what they’re doing and has dedication, other people will start to believe in you too.
Another aspect that goes with the skill is the quality of your goods, skills or services, people notice quality. In our disposable world, people still notice something done well.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
It would be so easy if we could give one person credit for teaching or helping us overcome challenges but it’s been so many people, from every walk of life, from every area we could think of. The real mvp in this business has been God, He has carried us through and has instilled the most helpful gift that we have ever known. Being humble enough to know we need help, we need advice, we need guidance and instruction, we need prayer, faith, hope and humility, we need to learn from the most insignificant and the most powerful people, we need to listen to what people want, what they’re willing to spend their money on and take it to heart.
Being confident enough to know your products and skills are good and being humble enough to know you’ll always need to learn is what good entrepreneurs are made of in our opinion.
Contact Info:
- Website: SaltedWords.com
- Instagram: SaltedWords
- Facebook: SaltedWords
Image Credits
Robin Bowman and Tracy Saylor Saltedwords
