I SOLD MY SMALL BUSINESS. NOW WHAT?

Building a local business is hard. But saying goodbye isn't easy either. Here's what I learned—and what every small business owner should know.

- by LEAH DANIELS

THE HAPPY EX-OWNER Leah Daniels, back when she owned and ran Hill's Kitchen.

After I graduated from college, I ran a bookstore on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C., and that is where I learned to love community-based retail. Running a local shop is special. It has heart. It is a place of continuity and communion. People know you, and you are not just a random person behind the cash register. The shop is you. You are always around, and you are as focused on building relationships in the community as you are on selling products. I loved it.

After running the bookstore for three years, I decided I wanted to get out of the book business. I still wanted to stay in local retail, however. To figure out my next move, I asked myself, "What do I love to do?" And the answer was: I love to cook. Then I asked myself, "What do I have to leave the neighborhood to buy?" And the answer was: cooking supplies. That was the beginning of Hill's Kitchen. In the spring of 2006, I went to my first trade show. Soon after, my family and I bought and renovated a building—also in Capitol Hill— and I opened my doors in the spring of 2008.

Part of the fun of a local store is the ever-changing inventory and, as the person running the store, adjusting to what the customer is hunting for. From the beginning, we were a full kitchen store—but we had hardly any dish towels, only two brands of knives, and we did not sell any cocktail napkins. As I experimented with products, played with the displays, and talked to customers, the store evolved. By the end, I was selling hundreds of styles of towels, and people were coming in to buy 20 packages of cocktail napkins at a time. I loved the trial and error.