Welcome to another episode of Heart & Hustle!Follow us for more (and let us know you found us)!!Tati: • IG - @tationathomas• TikTok - @tati_thomasTravis:• IG - @timefortravis• TikTok - @thejuicebelooseYouTube: LINK🔑 Key Takeaways for Listeners:✅ Golden handcuffs check: Are you trading time with family for “just a little more” revenue, status, or perks? Name the tradeoff explicitly.✅ Location freedom matters: Decide if geographic flexibility is a non-negotiable for your life design. If yes, optimize for it (not just for money or title).✅ Define your freedoms: Get specific on the trifecta-time freedom, money freedom, location freedom—and filter every decision through it.✅ Pivot proof: During COVID, the shop grew to seven figures and still didn’t align—growth ≠ fit. Audit alignment regularly, not just performance.✅ Community over convenience: A brick-and-mortar, community-first model can thrive without e-commerce, but it may limit owner freedom.✅ Micro-moments matter: Missing “small” events (practices, playdates, weekday school things) compounds. Inventory the moments you’re willing to miss.✅ Plan exits with respect: Step back via a documented transition, SOPs, and clear dates. Don’t “ghost quit” what you built.✅ Stack safety nets: Build passive income / online systems early so big pivots aren’t reckless, just strategic.✅ Capacity grows under pressure: Expect obstacles as tests. Use them to expand capacity before your next level.✅ Values lead, numbers follow: If the business becomes a golden cage, choose the life you want and let the metrics reconfigure around it.In this episode of Heart and Hustle, we unpack the counterintuitive choice to step away from a growing, seven-figure brick-and-mortar business right when the numbers looked their best. Our goal: design a life centered on family, location freedom, and intentional entrepreneurship, not just topline growth.The story begins in 2012 when the business transitioned within the family. Years of grind followed six days a week, long retail hours, and an all-in, community-first model. During COVID, while many businesses struggled, we surged. Social media attention spiked, nostalgia kicked in, and local loyalty deepened. The shop hit seven figures without selling online; we stayed intentionally local to serve long-time customers who’ve shopped since the late ’90s.But growth exposed a misalignment. Despite a record year - up ~57% YTD at one point, the schedule meant missing the “micro-moments”: weekday cheer practices, Saturday birthday parties, etc. Travis never missed the big milestones, but the small, frequent moments, the ones that stitch a childhood together, kept slipping. That’s when the “golden handcuffs” became real: more revenue, more validation, but less of the life we’re actually building this for.We got brutally specific about our values: time freedom, money freedom, and location freedom. The local, in-person nature of the business made location freedom nearly impossible without diluting the community experience or over-automating a niche that thrives on trust and in-store relationships. So we created a respectful transition: SOPs, handoff to family leadership, and selective support on peak days and shipments; no “ghost quitting.” Meanwhile, we leaned on pre-built passive income and online skill sets (blogging, SEO, digital systems) to make the pivot strategic, not reckless.Key lesson: performance ≠ alignment. A business can be profitable, beloved, and still be a golden cage if it conflicts with your life design. When you define your non-negotiables, especially location freedom, your decisions get easier, even when they’re emotionally hard.If you’re an entrepreneur, parent, or creator wrestling with tradeoffs, use this episode as a framework: clarify your freedoms, audit your calendar, design your exit, and build capacity for the next level. Growth is great. Aligned growth is better.

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