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1: Episode 1: Megan Donaldson of Poppylion Salon & Witch Shop
103 Plays5 years ago
- Opening a retail shop
- All things witchy
- Transformative energy
- The power of GCW
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Grit and Grind Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Grit and Grind, a podcast by Grit City Women, where gritty is the new pretty.
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome, Grit City Women. This is your host and founder of Grit City Women, Crystal Edwards. Thank you so much for joining us for our first podcast episode one featuring Megan Donaldson of Poppy Lion Salon and Witch Shop that recently had your grand opening in September.
00:00:39
Speaker
September 14th.
Origins of Poppy Lion Salon
00:00:41
Speaker
Awesome. So tell me about Poppy Lion. Well, Poppy Lion started as a apothecary line while I was in an herbal apprenticeship and I needed a cute name for a potential business I wanted to open and it just kind of flowed together.
00:01:05
Speaker
There are poppies and dandelions are an important part of herbal medicine. And I'm a Leo, so Lion comes from there. Poppies are about remembrance. So I put my hands together and Poppy Lion was born. About, I don't know, it's been about five years since that happened. And I wanted to open a salon, my own space.
00:01:31
Speaker
and I needed a name and Poppy Lion has stuck with me ever since then. I had also had a vision about opening up a independent witch shop featuring mostly single witches making their own decks, making their own candles, making their own craft.
00:01:57
Speaker
And there was no other thing to do than to just open it. And so Poppy Lion was born.
Empowerment through Daily Rituals
00:02:06
Speaker
Awesome. So when you say single witches, is that like single ladies, but they're witches? No, I mean more of the solitary practitioners.
00:02:22
Speaker
So you have the salon and you have one or two chairs in the salon. I have two chairs in the salon right now. I have another stylist from Tacoma who is doing hair and they're currently with myself. And I just felt that
00:02:40
Speaker
Salon in with a witch shop was killing two birds with one stone for me. It was a way to provide hair services, which I provide and Having a retail store all in the same space for me the hair with the With the retail shop fits really well together because I
00:03:10
Speaker
The shop is all about ritual. It's about the rituals that we each create every day and waking up in the morning and styling our hair or having a moment with our cup of coffee or lighting a candle on your altar and putting an intention out in the world that you'd like something to come to you. Every ritual that we do in our day-to-day life is important and I feel like
00:03:39
Speaker
getting your hair done is just as important of a ritual as if you were casting a spell. Absolutely. I love that because that's really, it's a true statement. A lot of motivational speakers and people that are really successful entrepreneurs, they talk about how rituals are so important
00:04:02
Speaker
And everyone has their own rituals and what makes you feel good, what makes you feel energized. And I mean, I know myself when I am having a bad hair day, I always feel kind of blah. You know, I know we joke about it a lot like for women, but it's true. I just I don't feel
00:04:21
Speaker
you know, like my best self when I'm not put together and, you know, everyone's put together is different for whatever feels right to them. But, um, I noticed that when I put extra care into my health and my fitness and you know, my hair that I just, I feel like I come better prepared through for my day and just with a, almost like a warmer energy and light, you know,
00:04:48
Speaker
Yeah, and like a power. When you feel on point, when you feel like you look on point, when you feel like everything is exactly how you want to present yourself to the world, you feel more powerful and you feel more willing to maybe fight for yourself
Energy and Modern Witchcraft
00:05:07
Speaker
a little bit harder. Right, and take those extra steps that maybe you weren't thinking of taking or that your confidence wouldn't allow you to take.
00:05:17
Speaker
Exactly. And I think a lot of people don't necessarily give credit to the act of changing your appearance and going into a salon and you're giving something very important to you, your hair, over to somebody else and trusting that they're going to help you to put your best foot forward. And I think it's important to
00:05:42
Speaker
honor that act of exchanging energy with another person and trusting that they're going to help you shine. That's really, really cool because I know whenever I go through a life change or I have a lot of things happening
00:05:59
Speaker
You know, obviously I come to you because you're my stylist, but, um, I, I love to go through that transition and I feel it helps. It helps make that other step and it's fun for me. I enjoy playing with my hair. I have a lot of it, so it works out, but, um, you know, I do hair is fun to play with. Yeah. Yes. And it needs some work right now, but.
00:06:27
Speaker
I think that's so cool. I love the way that you're tying in doing your hair and having that transformation into basically how you present yourself in your life as a leader in your business or your workspace or even in your relationships.
00:06:47
Speaker
When your parents is good and you're feeling good, I just feel like you're not going to put up with as much bullshit, you know? Yeah. It just really has a way of tying your confidence to how you're acting in the world or how you're portraying yourself. Absolutely. So explain to me a little bit about
00:07:16
Speaker
What is a witch? A modern day witch? Well, there are lots of opinions about it. There's also a lot of misconceptions about it. A lot of people think witches are women, specifically older women who hide in the woods and eat little children.
00:07:43
Speaker
And that's only some of us. For me, being a witch is about using the power of the universe to attract the things that I'd like to bring into my life. So it's about being powerful.
00:08:07
Speaker
and it's about being able to make your intentions and manifest your dreams into reality. For other people, it can be about their religion, it can be about Wicca, it can be about paganism. Those are the two main religions associated with being a witch, but it doesn't have to be. It can be a non
00:08:39
Speaker
religious way of living for any person. There's no gender assigned to being a witch. There's no other word to use if you're a male witch or a female witch or a non-gendered witch. It's just a witch. And so for me, it's about attracting energy and bringing in what I needed to bring in. So in the witch shop, what kind of stuff is in there that
00:09:05
Speaker
people use. So I sell candles that are great for altar work, different candle colors, bring in different energies and attract different outcomes. I have some spell candles that are associated with the zodiac and tarot for spell work that is a little bit more personal.
00:09:35
Speaker
These are all made by either a single person or a couple of people or a family. They're all small businesses that are ran by individuals and not corporations. I think it's important that witches support witches and we're not subscribing to this mainstream idea that you can buy a sage bundle off of Amazon and all of a sudden you're a witch.
00:10:06
Speaker
We need to remember that everything that we're trying to get back in the world is important with how we're trying to get it. It seems like being a witch is really
Supporting Small Businesses
00:10:18
Speaker
It's very in vogue. Yeah. And the reality is you work on yourself a lot. Like you should be working on yourself a lot because in order to channel your energy, like your personal energy, I mean, you really have to kind of pick away at all the things that are blocking that energy, which are often the things that you're struggling with in your life, your relationships, you know, everything.
00:10:48
Speaker
It seems like you can't just become a witch and just, I mean, you could say it all you want, but the reality is... Yeah, but you can say anything about yourself. Yeah. And that's a cool way to think about it. The power of your energy and other ways to channel that energy and help you move forward in, you know, your life. I think that's awesome. Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:12
Speaker
So we are also, we also sell tarot decks. Also again, focusing on the independent. There's a lot of really rad witches making a lot of really rad decks right now. And I think it's important to give them a platform other than just Instagram where people can come and touch and feel and see if something is really speaking to them and if they want to buy it. And, you know, again, support a witch, not just
00:11:43
Speaker
Not just Jeff Bezos. Right. And you have tarot card reader there as well. Right. That's it. I do. I do. Starting on Saturday, the October 19th, we'll have a Genevieve Rose of Tending Collective, which is a group of two local to Tacoma tarot readers that both read cards around town.
00:12:09
Speaker
they will be there every Saturday doing readings, whether it just be a single card spread or an entire hour of a large spread where they will tell you all the mysteries of the land. Or just a little bit about yourself, which you probably already know. So you can go and get your hair done. And while you're waiting for maybe your color to set, you can get a tarot card reading.
00:12:36
Speaker
Absolutely. I would recommend you probably either do your tarot reading before or after, depending on the size of it. But if you just wanted a single card read, it'd be the perfect time to go have that done. You know, you have the salon combined with the shop, the retail shop. What has that process been like for you getting this all started? Well, it's definitely been
00:13:03
Speaker
Interesting. I started with the salon three years ago and it came from me absolutely hating traditional
Balancing and Building a Business
00:13:13
Speaker
salons. I didn't like the atmosphere. I didn't like, I just didn't like it. I didn't like anything about it. So I built myself a single chair salon inside an antique building in Tacoma that had little spots for rent.
00:13:31
Speaker
And I did hair on my terms. It was by appointment only. It was in a space that I created in a vibe I wanted to put out in the world. And it was super easy for me to just have a space that wasn't overly expensive. It wasn't this big crazy vibe. And I could still have a regular job and do hair on my terms.
00:14:00
Speaker
And then that kind of ran its course and I wanted to move up to a bigger space. Then it came time that I wanted to grow. I'd been having this, this strong impulse to open this retail shop and really get this movement going sooner rather than later. So I moved next door into a space that was three times the size of my original space and um,
00:14:29
Speaker
I just did it. I just started doing hair in there for the first two months. And then I started to build the retail space and slowly acquiring more things and building it by myself. And then about three months later, I opened up the retail space. So what was the biggest challenge during that process for you? Probably.
00:14:59
Speaker
working so many jobs together, not being able to just focus on one final thought, not being able to just focus on building the shop and bringing my vision to life all on its own, which is a problem that most entrepreneurs have is not enough time to concentrate on your single vision.
00:15:22
Speaker
Right. Right. Right. So because you were working another job while you were doing this. So you were working really long. I am still working another job. Yes. And so eventually I'm going to assume you have a plan to transition out of that. Slowly, but surely it will come. Awesome. So what has been the most gratifying thing for you about opening the shop? Seeing people's reception of it.
00:15:51
Speaker
having people come in and say it feels really good in this space. I'm really, as I get more people who want to work with me at the shop, whether it be in hair or in divination or energy work, seeing both of those worlds come together and see the vision and want to be a part of it. That's awesome.
00:16:17
Speaker
That's definitely what keeps, I think, a lot of people going. And I know that's something that keeps me going with Grit City Women is just the amount of growth we've had in such a short period of time and seeing how excited people get about it. And that's really the best fuel, you know. Absolutely. Money is always, always great. And obviously we have to support ourselves, but it's that energy. It's just so powerful.
00:16:45
Speaker
Well, I feel like it's the energy that brings the monetary gain. When people see your fire and they want to be a part of it, the money comes. That is a good point. So if you can offer a piece of advice to anybody who's looking to start a salon or retail shop, what would that piece of advice be? I really thought about this question quite a bit.
00:17:15
Speaker
I came up with the simplest answer, and that is just do it. Whatever your vision is, whatever you want to build, do it. Don't wait. I waited eight years to see this dream come to fruition. And for me, it was the appropriate thing to do, but so much of me wishes that I had just done it when I first wanted to do it. And don't be scared to do it.
00:17:43
Speaker
There are so many resources out there. There are so many people that want to help you. Don't be scared to ask for help, but follow your vision. Follow what you want to do and go for it.
Motivation and Support from Grit City Women
00:17:56
Speaker
That is a great piece of advice. So you are actually a Grit City Women charter member. So you've been with Grit City Women from the from the get-go.
00:18:07
Speaker
Absolutely. Do you think that that has affected your decision to start the shop? Definitely. It definitely helped to motivate me to see that I can and that there are resources and there are all these other powerful women in our town who are owning their own businesses or taking a step in their own leadership and
00:18:37
Speaker
I can be another one of those people that it doesn't need to be as intimidating as scary as, as, as it seems. Right. Cause we all start somewhere, you know, and we all have our obstacles. And I think that's what with great city women, we talk about a lot is the grit that you have to have. And knowing that it's not all going to be perfect and that you might fail, but just being around other women that have those same experiences and are there to support you. I think that is.
00:19:07
Speaker
a really powerful motivator. And I mean, you had that shop up and running pretty quick from what I remember. Yeah, I mean, it was about probably about two and a half months, but I was I was doing hair within the first two weeks. So I was making sure that I was making money out of the space as soon as humanly possible. Yeah, yeah.
00:19:30
Speaker
What has drawn you to Grit City Women? I mean, you've been with me in this from the beginning and a huge help starting it out. I think what drew me to Grit City Women was what we've been talking about this whole time. And that's your fire. That's your passion for it has made me want to be a part of it. Obviously, what you have to give to your community, which is support and resources for other women entrepreneurs,
00:20:00
Speaker
is always when there's something to gain from following a company or group, obviously that's great. But a lot of it is meeting other women, feeling a part of this community, and having
00:20:16
Speaker
support at any time. I know that I could call or text you at any time if I was having a business crisis and you'd be there to talk it out with me. Absolutely. And you know, there's other women with different skill sets in our group that you can easily connect with and be like, Hey, you know, I need some quick advice or I need to book some time with you. Absolutely. There's so many, you provide so many
00:20:43
Speaker
different resources for me and other members like me. It's nice to see kind of you develop the shop, even though you've been super busy and we haven't had a chance to see you a lot, but we know what you're going through. And we can't wait to hear more about it as we grow and as you grow and have Poppy Lion be a huge part of Grit City Women. I'm really excited for that.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yes, I've definitely not been able to be apart as much as I'd like in the last few months, but that all comes with the hours and hours of time it takes to build a business all on your head. Absolutely. I mean, even now right now, I mean, we're recording this and I'm actually in San Diego working down here and
00:21:38
Speaker
it's sort of a little bit of a sabbatical because I don't have all the responsibilities I do when I'm at home. And I'm down here getting a ton of stuff done for this next year for Grid City Women. And so it's been, yeah, it's Yeah, so and I'm literally working
00:21:56
Speaker
I mean, I don't know, 20 hour days. So I work my normal job and then I'm, I'm plugging away and it doesn't feel like work because I love it and I'm passionate about it. But that's the reality is, you know, the hustle is real and you've got to put in the work. The hustle is real. Absolutely. So, I mean, you know, obviously you got to take care of yourself, make sure you're getting sleep. And, you know, I definitely do that and try to still stay focused on my health.
Entrepreneurial Challenges and Fears
00:22:24
Speaker
But.
00:22:25
Speaker
I definitely am using this time to power away and it's a lot. I see a lot of people who, you know,
00:22:39
Speaker
they want to be an entrepreneur or they want to be a small business owner and they talk about it and they talk about it. And you know, kind of like you said, it took you eight years to finally do it. And it's like, you know what, you just got to do it and it's going to suck for a certain period of time. But once you get through that gritty portion, like you're going to be a boss.
00:23:01
Speaker
It's still going to suck, but you're going to be a boss. Yeah. It's still going to be work, but hopefully, I think the ultimate goal is that you can pay someone to do the stuff that you don't enjoy doing once you get to a certain level, right? 100%. 100%. Right now, we're sort of jacks of all trades when you're starting out. You have to do everything.
00:23:25
Speaker
Absolutely. And that's good. I think as someone who has worked for a lot of people in my life, I think it's important to see that the owner of whatever business you are working for can also get down and dirty and do what you do. Absolutely. I think a lot of respect comes to owners when they've put in the effort and not just been given this opportunity. And I think you need to have
00:23:55
Speaker
You know, it's, it's good for you to have a pulse on what's happening. You know, so because you start out running your own marketing, you start out looking at your books at a very basic level. And even if you transfer that responsibility at a certain point, you at least can be that overview kind of monitor and you're not blindsided by stuff. Yeah, you're not completely.
00:24:24
Speaker
unaware of what's happening in your business. Right. And so we did a workshop a couple of weeks ago. It was our bookkeeping and investing in your future workshop. And it went really, really well. And a lot of the women that attended were just starting out their businesses. And from the end, we had everyone tell us what they wanted to get out of it. And for the most part, we covered everything.
00:24:49
Speaker
And the women still felt nervous about it. And I'm like, you guys are already doing this stuff. You know, like we've given you these tools. You have the insight now to start where you're at. Now you're just nervous. Like that's all that this is, is nerves. It's not that you don't have what you need to do it. It's literally nerves. And I think that.
00:25:17
Speaker
A lot of times that fear and that fear of not being a hundred percent an expert at what you're trying to do is something that can hold people back. Yes. I think that is a hundred percent accurate. It's scary. It is. It's so scary. You're like, well, what if I fail? I mean, we're all every like everyone's scared of failure naturally.
00:25:43
Speaker
Yeah. And we get told a lot that we're not going to be able to do it and that it's harder than we think it is. And there's a lot of people and a lot of society saying, you can't do this. And it's all whether or not we want to listen. Absolutely.
00:26:01
Speaker
I definitely don't listen. I definitely ignore a lot. And I don't have I don't like I'm go, go, go. I mean, you know me, I'm always like, here's what I want to do. And I'm gonna do it. And you do it more than anyone I've ever met. Yeah, and they just there. I still have the fear, you know, you're also a Gemini.
00:26:26
Speaker
So I have the fear and I don't want people to think that I don't have that fear or I don't, it's not hard for me at times because it very much is, but my drive and my motivation and my determination to prove everybody who's ever said that I can't do something or anybody who's ever put me down or belittled me, it's like, even though that doesn't happen very often anymore,
00:26:55
Speaker
I feel like I've really grown into my space, but in the past it was something that happened quite a bit. And I use that to drive me to just keep going. And it seems to work, but you just, that fear factor will always be in the back of your head. And the more that you can minimize it and make it smaller and turn fear of failure into learning, like, oh,
00:27:24
Speaker
I learned a lesson, not I failed. It's like, Oh, I learned a lesson. How do I correct that and move forward? Absolutely. And also to use that fear as a, as momentum. I mean, we can be scared all we want, but we still need to do it. There's the little voice in your head is, it shouldn't
00:27:48
Speaker
You should hear that fear and you should feel that fear and you should take it in and then you should just do it anyway, because what are we fearing? You know, we're not going to die. If your world's not going to end, nothing's going to implode. You're just maybe going to fail or you're maybe going to do it wrong or you're maybe
00:28:11
Speaker
What? You're maybe going to succeed. So just do it. I always think of that movie. What's that movie? I don't even know what movie it's from, but I think it's Hangover where they're like, but did you die? Exactly. Exactly. Whenever I am telling myself this different narrative of, you know, oh, what if this happens or then I'm going to people are going to think of me like this or something,
Community Engagement and Growth
00:28:38
Speaker
whatever.
00:28:38
Speaker
crazy stuff or whenever anyone's telling me something, I'm like, well, but did you die or are you going to die? And if they're like, no, and then I'm like, all right, you're legit. You got it. Yeah. Keep going. Keep going. It's like going to the spa and not wanting to do the cold plunge. I'm such a big proponent of the cold plunge at the spa and
00:29:03
Speaker
The only way that I first started doing it was just to stand at the foot of that gold plunge and just say, just do it. Like what? Why? Why aren't you doing this? It's so good for your body. So good for your soul. Just do it. So that's just kind of life. Like just do it. Right. And if that's a big step for you, you know, one thing that I do is I'll have someone do it first.
00:29:30
Speaker
Like, you know, when I would go out with Liz and she would do all this crazy stuff, I would always make her go first. And she, of course she did, but that helped my fear, you know, my extreme fear of trying it out, being able to see someone go first and succeed, and give me advice on how to do it. I mean, I was like, Oh, okay, it gave me that confidence. And so
00:29:56
Speaker
I mean, I think that's another reason why it's nice to have a big network of women because if you're having a fear factor associated with a certain aspect of your business, you can have a conversation with someone and feel better about moving forward and taking that next step instead of sitting on it and sitting on it and sitting on it. Yeah. The only thing that sitting on fear does is make you more fearful. Yeah. And then you forget what you were going to do. At least I do sometimes.
00:30:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I'm really excited to come see your shop. I haven't had the chance to see it, but I will be there as soon as I'm back in town. Yes, it's growing every week. I get more stuff every week. I something
00:30:46
Speaker
Exciting happens. It's it's a really fun time to to be watching it it grow so How how is it going? Are you getting a lot of customers coming in for the witchy stuff?
00:31:01
Speaker
Yes. I have to say that, you know, if I sell something every single day or if I meet someone new that's excited about the shop every single day that I'm there and open, then it is a good day. And so far, that's happened. I get, I even get people, I'm obviously in there on days when I'm not open because I have to be because I can't not be.
00:31:29
Speaker
And someone will pop in and I'll have a cool chat with someone new. And meeting this community of witches in Tacoma has been super inspiring. And we are pretty lucky here in Tacoma that we have a lot of visitors or more people visiting our little jewel.
00:31:54
Speaker
uh, every single week. And I, and I meet people from Germany who are like, Oh, I wish there was a store like this where I live. Or, you know, I get people coming in and saying how beautiful the space is. And, and that is, that means so much to me. So every day that I'm there and every day that I meet someone new or sell something new or talk to someone new, it's good. You know, it gives me a lot of, a lot of drive to,
00:32:22
Speaker
keep going. Obviously, I have drive. It's only been about a month since I've opened, so the drive hasn't gone anywhere, but it's easy to have a week where you want to just be a little lower key and want to rest a little bit. It's okay to do that, but you have to keep going. Absolutely.
Connecting with Poppy Lion and Conclusion
00:32:42
Speaker
It's good. It's going good. Things are good.
00:32:46
Speaker
If people want to book an appointment with you for their hair or check out the salon, what's the best way for them to get more information? So Instagram is a really awesome way to get a lot of information. The salon's Instagram is, so the salon is Populion Dash Salon. The store is Populion Period Tacoma.
00:33:12
Speaker
And then my personal is Poppy Lion Witch. So any Poppy Lion is all me, it's all us, it's all the brand. There is a website for hair, but yeah, and Facebook is kind of everything is together there. But the best way I'm most active with it is Instagram. Awesome. So Poppy Lion on Instagram, we'll have to check it out.
00:33:36
Speaker
Please, please. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us on Grit and Grind. And thank you for having me. Absolutely. We wish you the best of luck in your store, and we can't wait to see more of it with Grit City Women.
00:33:51
Speaker
Hit subscribe to this podcast and we look forward to getting gritty with you on the Great and Grind podcast by Great City Women. If you're curious about Great City Women and are thinking of becoming a member, visit greatcitywomen.com for more information.