How it started.
In 2017 I closed the doors to my retail store after almost 3 decades in business. I did take some breaks to raise my kids and even while raising my kids, all five kids were able to participate in the retail business. I love that they all have wonderful memories of the stores.
When I closed I packed in plastic bins anything I thought I could sell online. I organized my bins with sku numbers and attached those numbers to the items I listed so I could easily find. It was a hobby business. Nothing I put a lot of effort into. Basically list an item, and then wait until a purchase was made. I called those sales, “chump change” because it was not my means of income.
My entire garage walls were lined with racks and storage bins with those big handwritten sku numbers. I would collect more things while garage saling and thrifting. I loved it. Adding new items to sell and no matter how big or small the sale, just like my retail days, I loved the sale. I even enjoyed writing a small thank you note.
Then I met my husband. As our relationship grew and we were to be married, living 8 months in a different state I had to let the reselling business go. We got married. I moved many of those bins to a storage unit where it all sat. The stuff that didn’t really matter to me I donated. A truck load of bins went to a boutique thrift store in town. I never did get a thank you note. That was bitter sweet. I actually delivered this box moving truck full of good to their home because they had no room in their store.
Fast forward to Fall of 2025. Happily married and living my best life with my husband in the desert. Warm sunshine, golfing, biking, painting, all the things that bring me joy and contentment. Except…..
In the evenings I was getting anxious. Dinner is over, the dishes cleaned now what? My husband who loves to be in bed early and up at the crack of dawn gave me quiet evenings. Soooooo I decided to volunteer at my church. They have a thrift shop and I thought maybe they have sorting or cleaning or something. It turns out they had a room set up for reselling higher prices items. All the inventory was sitting because they did not have a person to run it. What a great volunteer job. Go into the shop once or twice a week. Take all the pictures, then a few evenings a week list the items on a resale sight. I loved it.
Knowing I had a lot of inventory in Oregon it got me thinking and asking the question what I would do with all that stuff. Why not do the same in the desert. In tandom I was able to assist the thrift store and jump start my own reselling business. Only this time I wanted to make it a real business. Not just something for chump change. I thought if I could employ a few young people, teach skills, there would be more value.
One night I stayed up late designing a logo. I felt that if there was a real logo it would make it feel real. Not just an idea.
I came up with “Styling Yourself” as it occurred to me that many looking for used items were looking for styles for themselves.
My friends, this is how it started. Over the next few weeks I will share how this evolved into a machine I am enjoying. Until then you look for Styling Yourself on Poshmark.
Here is a tip. If you are looking for something specific you can type into the search bar and all my listings in that category will pop up. Enjoy.
