Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaime Cole.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
After 17 years of being an elementary teacher I “retired” from education and started a new venture of flipping houses. As a child, I was always designing and building things in the backyard and “borrowing” my dad’s tools (he may have disagreed with that term). It was a natural shift for me to be in the construction world. Instinctively I knew that staging the properties would be beneficial to a quick, profitable sale and I began to stage my own properties. Over time the business switched from flipping to a full-blown staging company, ELEMENT, which is the largest in West Texas and has been awarded as a Top Ten Staging company in the nation.
It didn’t take long for people to begin requesting “where did you find that sofa? I want that table!” From this came the inspiration for our retail store, Perch, which opened in September of 2019. Boy wasn’t that good timing with a pandemic hitting just six months later which shut down the country? But Midland is an amazing community and really banded together to “shop local” to keep the local stores in business. Perch is lucky enough to have been one of them!
Perch is a Furniture + Decor + Gift store with a contemporary vibe and unique items. While we still have ELEMENT, we are proud to provide Midland with a new store where you can find a new sofa as well as a gift for that person on your list!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with most small businesses, Covid proved to be a struggle we had to soon after starting Perch. What was a hard, scary time actually provided blessings we didn’t even know we desperately needed. The frantic pace and long hours that came with opening Perch (for us that was actually the third business in 3 years!), and the slower pace during the shutdown forced us to step back and really enjoy the process of establishing Perch. While we never closed our doors, we did shorten our hours and shift our business model to suit the times. Thankfully we have an amazing team and community who stuck through it with us!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
When we started Perch, I knew that I wanted to support other small businesses to encourage other entrepreneurs. One way in which we are able to do that is through our monthly Merch Market at Perch where small businesses who may or may not have a physical location are able to pop up and sell their wares. Since our shopping center is in a central location in the midst of the “Old Midland” neighborhood, we love the neighborly feeling that is experienced when people walk (or drive) to shop Merch Market and the other small businesses in our center.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Starting a business is exciting, hopeful, scary, and full of anxiety, as is anything that is outside of your comfort zone but worth doing! The best advice I can give to anyone starting the journey of owning a business is to talk to other business owners! Create “community over competition” and build the bonds with those who will be there to answer questions, give advice, and meet over a cup of coffee (or glass of wine) for those “just because” days. And when you are up and going and a new, hopeful business owner reaches out to you, take them in, and introduce them to the club. It’s a good one to be in.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@perchelement.com
- Website: www.perchstore.com
- Instagram: perch_midland
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perchhomestore
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