Today we’d like to introduce you to Christi Saint Laurent.
Christi, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have always loved to upgrade homes I have purchased through the years….like painting walls or cabinets in different techniques, finding countertops and floors that were unique and bring more character to a home. I would have furniture I no longer liked, so I learned how to paint it to change the look of a room. I have four kids, so when raising them, I would enjoy working on my home or my neighbor’s homes…..just for something I enjoyed doing when the kids were growing up. Obviously, leaving the home to do things I “enjoyed” was much more difficult because I had four young kids, so I had to find a way to be creative….in the home where they were.
As they got older, I began working in downtown Houston at Page, an architect firm that was a part of building the Exxon campus in the woodlands. In 2017 the Exxon Campus was complete, therefore, I was laid off because my salary was paid out of that project. This ended up being a real gift in my life. Crazy how one door shuts only because another one needs to be opened.
Circumstances allowed me to not have to immediately get another job working out of the home in an office. The timing couldn’t have been any better because immediately after no longer working at Page….my son got married, my mother was very ill and passed away, the man who had been a father figure to me, Johnny Pizzitola, also passed away. Also, 2017 is the year Houston went through Harvey…which wrecked so many homes in Houston and the surrounding areas. During this time, I began to pull up floors and paint walls in different homes, paint furniture and help people upgrade their homes. It was also, a creative release for me during this very intense year of loss and life transitioning and changing.
During this time, I also secretly began to allow my brain to dream or “pretend’ I had a business of my own. I had been listening to books and YouTube videos talking about creating my own life. The overall theme was to begin dreaming and writing down what I wanted in life….before it was ever a reality. (Never really thinking I would actually be where I am today.) I just loved the idea of daydreaming and pretending especially in this intense year. I never told ANYONE I was doing this and never talked about it because it felt like someone would scoff or laugh….or have some kind of negative comment that I didn’t want to hear. Therefore, it just felt like silent pretending….and I enjoyed it so much. And there were some obvious reasons why discussing it with others wasn’t beneficial for me at this time in my life, and how anyone could have come up with 100 reasons why that couldn’t happen or be a good idea. Therefore, it was just a dream I enjoyed dreaming.
One day I was spending the day with my son’s mother-in-law going to furniture and design stores in La Grange, Texas. I thought we were just dreaming together about what it would be like if we partnered together in building our own business to refurbish furniture and sell antiques and help decorate homes. And by the end of the day together….we had committed to do it. I went the next day to the bank to open a business account and obtain a Texas tax certificate to buy and sell under the name Texas In-Laws.
We worked together as business partners until 2021. We were under one business name, but still two separate entities, and as the business grew we then separated into two separate businesses. Nicole’s business is 1882 Mercantile and my business remained under the name of Texas In-Laws.
I built my business by renting tents in Roundtop, Texas during the Spring and Fall Antiques shows. This is where I would work out of a tent for weeks at a time for 12 hours a day. Attending and selling at these shows…. is where I made so many connections, I learned the industry and I found products and furniture that I would want to represent and sell in my business.
I then decided to build an online presence and built my own website which gave me a bigger audience…and I knew I had to do this in order to grow.
I also rent retail space, which gives me the opportunity to sell out of a brick and mortar storefront without having to own my own store. This provides for me a location where I can sell my furniture, creative pieces, antique finds and products I sell online.
In 2022 I hired, JustJess Media, for my Social Media Management and Marketing. It was a VERY big decision to make as a small business owner! Now, I am so grateful I shoved myself out of my comfort zone and did it. I hear other business owners discuss how they run their own social media/marketing, and I understand it can be done without help. However, for me, working with someone who is requiring me to give them content has given me clarity and much more focus of where I am going, and what I am doing, with the accountability of due dates. This service also provides me with insight into my business that I could NOT have without an outsiders perspective. Someone who specializes in using social media for business and marketing.
Therefore, I would recommend if there is a choice or decision that would be beneficial to your business but requires you to go so far out of your comfort zone and take a risk. Why not just do it? I have found being ‘uncomfortable’ for a period of time… has always led me to real true growth. Being brave, bold, and not allowing fear of the unknown hold me back ….has given me freedom and passion working long hours every day and enjoying every minute of it. I am so glad I secretly daydreamed in 2017. I still continue that same ‘secret daydreaming’ technique, as I create the next chapters of my business.
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?
I believe my biggest challenge has been to listen to others’ goals and what they want from me…..then to decide what are my goals and what is best for me.
I am a people pleaser. I always want everyone happy and thriving around me. Sounds like its a great way to be…..but I have handled it in a way that is out of balance….. and that is MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE in my business! I do not like telling people no. And therefore, I constantly fight sacrificing my own goals to help others achieve their goals. There is a healthy balance in the two of those. It’s figuring out how to support others’ goals without sacrificing my own.
This doesn’t come easy for me, however, I do believe I have overcome that challenge when it presents itself. I, also, have moments where I choose to sacrifice what I want for what others wanted and then paid the price for that decision. It’s the pain in failing to overcome this obstacle that gives me the strength to fight to offer support versus enabling.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I believe what sets me apart from others is finding pieces of furniture or an old industrial piece… that others see as mere trash… and transforming it with refurbishing and creative paint techniques.
Taking old tables used in an old manufacturing mill in the early 1900s and putting it in a beautiful home where it becomes the one topic of conversation that everyone wants to talk about when they enter your home.
Maybe someone loves Marilyn Monroe, or owns a vehicle repair shop, or has an obsession with trains…..I can see ways to use home furnishings to bring particular unique styles into their homes in amazing creative ways…by finding things that represent what they love ….that they would never have thought of.
I absolutely love doing it and I love how happy they are when it is done.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I believe it was getting to know my oldest son’s mother-in-law, Nicole Stavinoha. We had the same passion for creative design, and coincidentally, both currently not committed to a salary-paid job position. She had recently made the leap to begin her own business and asked me if I wanted to do it too. It was that day in the car shopping with her…….and seeing how she was brave and did it and that made me decide that I would be too.
We both have the personalities of looking for our cell phones ….in a complete panic ….while we are talking on them. So we find them when someone points out that it’s in our hand next to our ears…..and we both never miss an opportunity to hit a huge curb and screw up the car steering and wonder what the hell happened. She made my quirkyness seem like it was normal and absolutely accepted…which I hadn’t found in a corporate environment. I always felt like a real misfit. Forming that relationship at that time in my life….gave me the support and love and encouragement I needed to start my own business. The timing of my son marrying her daughter………feels pretty lucky.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://texasinlaws.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/texasinlaws/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/texasinlaws
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/texasinlaws/
