Interview with Stephanie Martin Co-Owner Regina Nicole Boutique
Stephanie handles all the finance of Regina Nicole Boutique, so her title is CFO
What types of financial jobs do you do?
Stephanie does budgeting, book keeping, filing taxes, purchasing and inventory. These are her typical tasks that she completes on a monthly basis.
What’s the most tedious task that you must complete?
Being a retail associate says Stephanie. She thinks that folding the clothes, tagging the clothes and being a retail associate seems the most tedious, and the most annoying part of her job.
Is it hard to run a small business?
Stephanie said it is much harder than she thought it would. There is a lot more to it then showing up everyday, you are wearing many hats, and it can become time consuming. Managing your time is the hardest part, because there are a priority you have to make sure do everyday because it can get overwhelming if they are not done and managed when they should be.
How often do you process inventory, accounts payable, and receivable items?
Stephanie says they process inventory as it comes in. They do not want any backstock. Stephanie said they don’t have many receivables. Accounts payable gets processed every month and she reconcile it monthly as well.
Do you have a quarterly, semiannual, or annual process?
Inventory is done monthly because they do not have whole lot, due to being a small business. Sales tax is paid quarterly. Monthly helps Stephanie because it gives the a better cash flow and month in and month out.
What makes you love your job?
Stephanie loves it being flexible and being able to own a business with your best friend. Stephanie also says that getting to know the town is also a reason she loves it.
What are some tips you can give other people that are starting up their own business?
Stephanie says that people need to know that sometimes things don’t work and if you have a plan right now that doesn’t mean that same plan will continue to work. She also elaborates to say people should be aware that this can be hard and it can take up a lot of time, but in the end if this is what you want then you will succeed. Stephanie says that she now knows that its okay to delegate the tasks to other people which will help lower stress and allow you to have time. Knowing to adapt to your customer base is also a great key take away because some of the things you like might not be what the customers like.
What types of software do you use to run your business?
Point of sale, and inventory manage they use square, email marketing, and to book appointments for their beauty bar. Stephanie uses wave for accounting software, its user friendly and basically the same as quick books except its free. Sentext solutions for text marketing, canva for graphics and signs. Stephanie says they also use paypal for shipping mostly, and godaddy for their domain and bigcommerce is their ecommerce platform for their website.
Do the rewards out way the negatives?
Stephanie says that the rewards do out way the negatives because its their store, being a part of the community is what makes them love having their store. Stephanie also says that the hard work pays off. Having a small business always has its ups and downs, some days you might make 500 dollars in a day and others you might make zero. So it has its negatives just like anything else does but it seems as though Regina Nicole boutique will keep its doors open because they know what they are doing and have learned a lot in the last year and a half.
