starting a business q&A

Melinda and I try to be very open and forthcoming about our journey starting Olive + Opal. There have been successes and struggles along the way and we continue to face new opportunities and challenges as we grow. We would do many things differently, but overall we are proud of our accomplishments and would do it again if we knew that those struggles would lead us where we are today. Melinda comes from a background in advertising and I have a background in finance, so we were not entirely green to the business side of things. Accordingly, we treated Olive + Opal as a business from day one, not an expensive hobby. Sure, buying furniture and fluffing pillows is fun, but it’s the behind the scenes activities that allow us to operate successfully. In our mentoring calls, we often get questions about how we started the business, so I’ve compiled some of the top questions that we get asked, covering a variety of areas.

DID WE GET A BUSINESS LOAN?

No, we did not get a business loan; however, we did open a line of credit with our bank. We really did not want to go into debt to start this new business and financed the initial inventory purchases and other expenditures ourselves. We recognize that this is not always possible, but we were thoughtful to save as much as we could as we exited our corporate jobs in preparation for both the purchases for the business, as well as the significant cuts in our salaries.

DID WE PAY OURSELVES INITIALLY?

No, we did not take any form of payroll initially as we were both continuing with our corporate jobs. However, once we fully exited those jobs for Olive + Opal, we began to take very small pay checks which were in correlation with the amount of time we were putting into the business. As an example, Melinda left her job much sooner than me, so she took a larger pay check as she absorbed most of the work load. We really tried to keep our costs low as we started out, so we chose to put most of the profits back into the business instead of paying ourselves. If the situation allows, we would recommend that you take as little as possible when you start out.

WHEN DID WE MOVE TO FULL TIME?

We officially started Olive + Opal in January 2017; however, it was a side business for quite some time. We worked on the business whenever we could find the time, initially spending our evenings and weekends dedicated to working on Olive + Opal. Melinda left her job in April 2017 to fully support O+O, while I continued with my corporate job for another year and was fully dedicated to O+O in May 2018. Leaving our well paid and secure jobs was terrifying, but we quickly realized that once we were able to devote our full attention to our business, the business began to thrive. We also started to invest in formal training programs, like the Master Class by Staging Studio, to help us master the basics and gain confidence in our work. Steph joined our team a short time later in summer 2018 and we remained a team of three until fall 2021 when Alicia and Meg joined as we our warehouse manager and lead designer, respectively.

WHAT WAS THE SCARIEST PART?

Leaving the financial security of our former jobs was very scary, but we were both more afraid of professional failure than the financial loss. If Olive + Opal failed, we had the skills to find other work. I’m a former CPA and there is never a shortage of work for accountants. The idea of having to go back to finance knowing that the business had failed was TERRIFYING. It was also scary to put ourselves out there and ask other professionals to take a chance on us. We initially spent Sunday afternoons driving around town, handing out our business cards and asking agents to please give us a shot. We felt vulnerable and admittedly, like frauds, eventually our proven results began to speak for themselves.

WHERE DID WE INITIALLY STORE FURNITURE?

We initially kept our staging inventory at our homes. Not recommended! We did not have a rental space as we sourced for our first few houses, so our garages and basements were temporary storage. After a few months, and some annoyed husbands, we found a storage space near our homes to rent by the month. The rent was outrageous and the space was tiny, but it was out of our houses. A few months later we moved into a shared warehouse space, but again realized quickly that we needed more. We then moved into a 2,000 square foot unit and stayed for 3 years. It was never a forever-type of space, but it was centrally located and the rent was low. We were bursting at the seams and had to periodically rent additional spaces for overflow, so we knew it was time for an upgrade. We found an amazing 6,000 square foot space in Brentwood that we now call home and hope to stay for quite some time.

WHAT AREAS DID WE OUTSOURCE IMMEDIATELY VS. KEEP IN HOUSE?

We did not outsource much initially as we tried to keep all our costs low, but we did outsource a few things when we started. We had help developing our logo from an amazing friend. We also outsourced our tax preparation because even though I’m a former accountant, I am no expert in small business taxes. With her background in digital marketing and media, Melinda set up our first website on Wix and with my finance background I kept our accounting books. Currently we still keep most things in house, but that’s not to say down the line we may start finding support for some areas of the business.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND WORKING WITH A FRIEND?

We are so lucky. Melinda and I have been friends for over ten years and have been business partners for over five. We had several long discussions as we started the business about division of work, investing of personal assets and ALL the things, but we never executed a formal operating agreement. Should we have a created an operating agreement, absolutely! But we have been very fortunate to thrive as both business partners and friends. Sure, sometimes we drive each other crazy, but at the end of the day we are both very passionate about our business and have respect and compassion for each other and our team. It has totally worked for us to work as friends. Would we recommend it, I don’t know??

WHEN DID IT GET EASIER?

Never! Kidding, kinda. Owning a small business always has challenges, but they’ve looked different over the years. The initial overwhelm of starting Olive + Opal started to ease up once we were both fully dedicated to the business. The stress of trying to keep up with multiple jobs and families was hard and we realized that once we could put all our eggs in the O+O basket, some of that stress melted away. We continue to have hard days and feel stressed out all the time, but having a strong team and strong processes in place have made all the difference.

WHAT WOULD WE DO DIFFERENTLY?

Quit our jobs earlier to focus 100% on Olive + Opal. Of course hindsight is 20/20 and at the time it seemed like a huge gamble to leave stability for something unknown, but we wish we could’ve taken that leap sooner. Who knows though, maybe some of those growing pains we experienced during that time shaped what the business is today? There are tons of small things we would do differently - buy different furniture, rent different spaces, start automating processes from day one, hire Steph 2 years earlier - it goes on and on. But overall we feel good about how we started and where we are today. We were not afraid to ask questions or ask for help and we worked tirelessly to build something that makes us proud.

If you are starting a small business and want to pick our brains you can learn more about our mentoring program here. No question is off limits and we promise to share the good, the bad and everything in between.