Success Through the Eyes of a Small Business Owner Success Through the Eyes of a Small Business Owner
When my husband and I decided to open a candy, Christmas, and fudge gift shop in a small town in North Carolina, we shared an idea of what success would look like. What we didn’t fully understand at the time was what success would feel like. Not monetary success—but real success.
A few weeks ago, in the middle of the holiday rush, two unexpected and magical moments brought that feeling into sharp focus.
A little girl who has been coming into the shop since she was a toddler stopped by with her dad. They usually come in once a week—something I suspect they do together while her mom is at work. The whole family visits from time to time, but these father-daughter trips are their regular ritual. We exchanged a quick hello as I helped other holiday shoppers, and they went about choosing her treat of the week, which always includes a stop at the fudge counter for a square of birthday cake fudge.
When they came to check out, they had something they wanted to show me.
Her first-grade class had been asked to create dioramas of their favorite places as part of a holiday village project. And there it was—her favorite place. Inside a shoebox was a miniature version of our store. Captured through the eyes and creativity of a seven-year-old was all the joy and wonder of Merrill Mischief. It was incredible. Her dad told me that when the assignment was given, she came home absolutely delighted because she knew immediately she was making the candy store—her favorite place in the world.
When we first opened, I told a local reporter that my definition of success was this: that 10 or 15 years from now, someone would say, “Remember that great place we went to as kids? The one with the train and the Ferris wheel in the window? That place was awesome…what was it called again?”
Craig and I wanted our store to be a place that made people happy—a place that brought joy to everyone, regardless of age, income, family situation, or ability. Just a few days before Christmas, we were given another beautiful sign that we had reached that vision.
A young girl with a social disability came into the store with her mother, carrying a gift for us. She has been visiting since we opened and, over time, has grown comfortable enough to check out on her own and engage in conversation with us. Their gift was a jar of honey from their family’s beehives—true liquid gold. She loves helping with the bees, and we talked about hives and the uniqueness of bees while she proudly shared her joy. We treasure that honey and enjoy it in our morning coffee. But the true gift was seeing her confidence, her comfort, and her happiness in sharing something she loves.
So yes, I will proudly say that we achieved great success this year. The kind of success that lives within you—the kind that strengthens you and empowers you to do meaningful things while living small in a very big world