As the season changes and the daylight hours fall shorter, it’s a great time for reflection. We have so much to be thankful for.
A little history…
Vic and I started The Secret Garden in early 2002. We still had 4 young children at home, ranging in age from 7-14 and they were always at the store helping unpack merchandise, price product, assist in carrying and cleaning. Each of them worked for us before they went out into the world to work for others, and I’m so proud to say that each of them has developed an extremely strong work ethic and equally strong moral code.
One returns…
Five years ago, our eldest, Jasmine, expressed an interest in coming in to work with us again. She was officially hired on parttime to oversee development of our workshop department. However I knew her real motivation was primarily filial. We had recently lost our assistant manager and it didn’t look like we could take a long planned trip overseas. By coming onboard and learning the ropes, she knew we could take the trip. I don’t know if she originally planned to stay long term, but 18 months after coming on board, Covid changed the world as we knew it. To say Jasmine “earned her stripes” during that period is an understatement. Honestly, Vic and I couldn’t have survived the next two years without her. In 2022 she was promoted to Manager and took over purchasing, HR, and day to day running of the store.
I would have to imagine, that anyone who has ever built a successful business has hoped that one of their children would be interested in getting involved. I can not stress enough just how grateful I am that Jasmine was not only interested, but proved to be so capable!
Our luck doubles…
Then in early 2023 our luck doubled when our youngest child, Sabrina, came to work for us. Sabrina’s background in project management equipped her with the necessary skills to offer strong admin assistance to both myself and to her sister. She has been instrumental this year in developing our team management systems, online shopping platform, assisting in event planning, marketing and so much more. Vic and I know how fortunate we are to have these two with us at the store. Vic put it so well when he said that he and I had been two strong posts all these years, but with the addition of Jasmine and Sabrina we now have a solid four-post construction on which to build.
Having our daughters with us is truly wonderful, but we’d be remiss to not mention our gratitude for the entire staff. As a small, family owned, business we have been fortunate to work with many wonderful people over the past 23 years. It’s safe to say that many who started as employees ultimately became like family. When we hear other businesses complain that they can’t find good employees we’re honestly surprised, because our hard working team shows up for us every day.
“The greatest compliment we can receive is when a customer praises a team member for friendly attitude and helpfulness”
Jennifer
Do you have a compliment for our team, a story you’d like to share? Leave us a comment. We would love to hear from you.
