Meet Tracy Mcneill | Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tracy Mcneill and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tracy, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I was retiring from the public education system and decided it was time to pursue my dream of being a boutique owner. I taught marketing and small business entrepreneurship many years to high school students. Upon my impending retirement I deiced to take a leap of faith and open my own small business. The store front went up for rent at just the right time thus starting the process of opening the business. We went from lease signing to opening day in 7 weeks.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have a degree in Business & Marketing Education, but I started out as a Fashion Merchandising major. I decided in my sophomore year of college that I wanted to teach Fashion Merchandising and Marketing and switched majors. After college graduation I returned to the high school I graduated from and took over the Fashion Merchandising program. I taught various business and marketing classes for 21 years and then I switched to administration to finish out my career. I was retiring from education and decided to follow my dream of owning a women’s clothing boutique and went for it. Every aspect of both careers were and are hard and stressful. The best part of being your own boss is that all the work you put in is for you and your family. I have stumbled a lot over the years and made tons of mistakes. I chose to learn from them all, the good and the bad. After all we can’t improve if we don’t fail. It’s what you do with your failures that make or break you. I whole heartly believe everyone deserves to be seen and heard and treated with respect. We all deserve to feel and look our best and we strive to do both of those for our customers. We make each of our customers feel loved and look gorgeous. Our customers become our friends and we want them to always feel welcome and safe with us. Our customers also love the fact that we only have 6 of each item we order and that we do not order the same thing twice. This allows them to be individual and not dress like everyone else.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would eat at Los Charros Mexican Restaurant, Dips and Dawgs, and the Brass Kettle. We would have to visit Pop Heaven Gourmet Popcorn and Sweet Shop, Lisa’s Home & Design store, Faith’s Finds Boutique and Broadway Hardware.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I could not have opened in such a short time had it not been for my family and friends. They sorted, steamed and stocked for a month to get us open.

Website: https://www.magnoliaboutiquenc.com

Instagram: magnoliaboutiquenc

Facebook: Magnolia Boutique NC LLC

Yelp: Magnolia Boutique NC LLC