I spent my entire summer working at 'Nicola Sexton's'. I was there from 8.45am to 5.15pm most days of the week. Commuting weekly and living at a friends, sounds like a nice thing to do in the summer, but I tell you something, it runs you down. (Especially when you are commuting to what should take 2 hours, turns into 5 hours after a 8 hour shift at work!)
Almost every day for 4 months I cleaned the shop; merchandised the shop; sold shoes; answered the phoned; emailed magazine clients; spoke to potential wholesale customers; dealt with in coming orders; marked and priced all new products; edited product images; changed the website layout; added new products online; made plenty of teas; handled accounts; dealt with rude customers; modelled twice for two campaigns; dealt with catwalk models; dealt with American clients as well as British; spreadsheeted a lot; dealt with journalists wanting interviews; booked radio interviews for Nicola... etc.
Probably much more too, but it becomes a bit of a blur!
Nicola was out of the country a lot of the time this summer, which left me in charge of the shop. It is not the first time she has left me on my own, but this time meant I had a lot more to be doing towards the wholesaling of the company.
Having such a huge role in part of this company has led me to be more business minded, as well as more logical with my decisions. Now Nicola's company is only small, but a lot of the time I was making decision which could have had a huge effect on her business. It was also hard to keep calm when working in the shop and be professional when you have a flock of people and you are working on your own. Nicola has always wanted the shop to be tidy and minimalistic, and so when you've got five ladies trying loads of shoes on, its hard to serve, tidy and use the till all at once.
The space in the shop has an expensive, luxury feel to it. We are always wanting to try different things in the window, and have the shelves set out according to styles and colours with accessories to match. It may be the reason why people go past and you hear them say it is expensive in there, because of the way the shop looks. To be fair, a lot of the shoes are, but there are still ranges that are at a reasonable price. We are also dressed in a way that I think would give off the vibe that the shop is expensive. But then again its also the space we are in that we are representing.
Although, by the end of the summer I needed a holiday (which sadly I didn't get...) I knew that I had gained a ton of skills as well as contacts, which if I wanted to could help me set up my own business in the future.
It was from this summer that I realised that from working there for over a year I have retained a lot of information. It was also having the role as shop manager whilst Nicola was away, I realised that I wasn't some young person anymore. That I was a responsible, organised, level headed young business woman. Now no way am I saying I could run a business successfully from my summer, but, being in control of a shop for 10 days or 14 days at a time, you quickly gain a business head.
I also learnt I don't think very highly of myself in the respect of what skills I actually have. I obviously haven shown responsibility, organisation and managerial skills to Nicola for her to leave her own boutique and go to America, leaving me in charge with what she calls her 'baby'.
I quickly grew up this summer, not only did I turn 21, but I realised, this is the real world, this is the kind of responsibility I might be given again in the future. This is where my career begins.
