Today, Sage Wedding Pros turns 8 years old.
It was March 16, 2009, that I sat down to write my first blog post.
Here’s a little story about my journey.
As you can see… all things take time.

The Day that the Caipirinhas Took Flight

My client’s problems wake me up at 4am.

But it wasn’t always like this.

The daughter of an Uruguayan mom and an American-Mexican (not Mexican-American) dad, I was forced to speak Spanish at dinnertime and attend Mass on Sundays. In my teens, I relished in the peace that comes from swimming 2 hours each night with a team. My first car was a Ford Festiva purchased at an auction with $2000 of babysitting proceeds. I bid on it, much to my mom’s dismay, because it was red. We were all surprised and relieved to see it had an engine in it when I picked up the keys. I created friendships for life and did all those teenager-y things.

prom 1993

Accounting seemed like the safe bet that involved my love for numbers, and so I pursued that as a degree and later employment with one of those big firms. After putting in all my required certification hours, I had an untimely meltdown while taking the CPA exam and began to question the marriage of my soul with this career choice. My heart almost exploded and I broke into a sweat. 4 hours into a 16 hour exam, I got up from my folding chair, submitted an incomplete scantron, walked out the door and to my car. I cried, and cursed, and smoked a pack of cigarettes – all while navigating 2.5 hours of Los Angeles traffic on my drive home – and cursed some more. And, cried for weeks.

Halloween 1999 – as Gwen Stefani

I’d like to say I spent the next 5 years traveling the world, living in communes, and rescuing orphans. But, truth be told, I’m a workhorse. For a few years, I played with children’s clothing in France, Spain, and England in my job to market and sell European brands in the United States. When I created visual displays for Coach handbags, everyone thought that was a dream job. The reality was that I was an inventory schlepper who endured long days climbing ladders, opening display cases, and arguing with department store managers about the shoddy merchandising of the brand.

work trips in France 2002 (apparently included me singing karaoke)

In 2004, after my Prada-wearing-devil-of-a-boss shredded every ounce of my desire to live, I began to consider the life of an entrepreneur. After daydreaming for months, it was decided that I would make the very safe entrepreneurial bet of launching a bookkeeping business. While that’s a great business idea. I wasn’t being true to my soul. I was making a safe practical bet with my future.

That’s when serendipity took place.

February 27, 2004, was a chilly night in Santa Monica, and the cocktails at a cousin’s party were coming left and right, fast and furious. A darling and flamboyant make-up artist began the conversation that set me on a course and I’ve never looked back. I’m pretty sure it was the 6th caipirinha and the sparkly lights, because when he asked me what I really really wanted from life, the courage took hold: “I want to make stationery.” How I managed to reveal such a deep desire, only the cachaça knows. But, it set off a trigger that guides me today.

I launched that stationery business while working 2 part-time jobs and taking on freelance gigs, from a 1 bedroom apartment in Hollywood I shared with my new husband.

new husband 2004

In Seattle, I made 10,000s of cards each year and was nurtured and watered by the Northwest entrepreneurial spirit. With a 2 month old infant in tow, I began a non-profit for giving back. Since 2007, that charity has raised over $700,000 for terminally ill patients.

stationery with a newborn 2007

When that baby was sleeping a tad longer in 2009, I committed to waking at 5am each {FREAKING} morning to write a blog post. It was balls to the wall and I knew that if I didn’t write one article each day my discipline would shatter. For 3 years – EVERY DAY – no matter what was happening in my life – I wrote here. In the throws of invitation orders everywhere, charity board members in conflict, a cross-country move to Miami, a second baby, illness, sickness, exhaustion, I wrote. Only after 700 articles did I slow down my writing to ~2 posts per week. The business blog for wedding professionals was the first stone that helped pave the path to where I am today.

early website circa 2012

8 years later…

Today, I woke up at 4am.

How am I going to help Christina improve her margins in her floral business? I think she’s overspending on her containers. She’s tired and she’s not putting in solid purchase orders. She needs to get her profit margins up to 60% or she’s never going to hit those financial goals. Let’s open up her numbers… let’s see what we can do.  {the Macbook declares pingggg}

CHEERS!

(or as my Brazilian friends say: Saúde!)

To 8 years!

-Michelle Loretta-