Hello. My name is Cheryl Coppola. My husband Sergio and I own Expressions House of Draperies in Regina. We provide window coverings to residential and commercial applications in the city and outside of the city as well. We also sell bedspreads and accessories like placemats, co-ordinating items to go with your other fabrics.

People do come into our store, but we always suggest that we come out to see them because it's nice to see the colours with their couch, with their paint, with their carpet. So it's a lot of very, very personal service that we provide. The customer service is such a big part of any business these days that sometimes you do work at strange hours and do strange things. And it's usually the business owner that's doing that and not the employees.

[Typical Work Day:]

I shuffle a lot of the paper. Look after the payables and receivables. Originally, I was a big part of the sales force, but we now have four sales consultants. So I would process the mail, look after paying the bills, doing invoicing as the consultants come back with a job that they've sold. I kind of put a bit of the paperwork there together for them.

"Good morning, Expressions House of Draperies…"

[Decision To Enter This Particular Occupation:]

Actually, I'm a psychiatric nurse, which has nothing to do with draperies. But my mother-in-law and her sister and bother owned House of Draperies. When I was expecting our first child, they were at a time in their life when they were wanting to retire, or sell the store, or just shut it down. And my husband and I had a very brief chat about giving it a go, and here we are today seven years later with three stores.

[Education & Training:]

Without a formal business education, of course I don't think anyone needs that, and you don't in a lot of cases. It depends on the type of business that you get into. A lot of it is experience. A lot of my background is in public service, whether it was life guarding, or teaching swimming lessons, or being a customer service person at Bi-Right Drugs or something like that. I've always tended to be in that kind of role where I'm working with the public and helping them to do something or find something.

[What I Would Do Different:]

You find resources to increase your knowledge in the field, whether it's going to suppliers or tradeshows, or seminars, or whatever else is available out there. A lot of learning on the job is involved in owning this type of business. If I were to do this all again, I probably would have sought out some type of education in marketing.

[Personal Characteristics & Attitude:]

Some people will come in and know exactly what they want, and some people will come in with no idea of what's even available. So, you have to have a lot of product knowledge, some background or experience in decorating and putting all of these things together. So, you have to be able to communicate well with the customer. A bad attitude results in bad performance, and you can't afford bad performance in public service.

It's important to feel confident with the decisions you do make and follow through with them, and be a leader. And if anything else, in having a good attitude. Flexibility, sensibility, personability - no one would come to our store if we were all grumps here.

Preparation is, I think, really important in starting a business. Seeking out financial backing if that's necessary: what is available, what is available to you, suppliers, the demographics. You really have to roll with the punches.

It's a just nice feeling to know that you're making someone happy in quite a small way in the large spectrum of things, but satisfying. I didn't get into the business because I love it, I came to love it because I got into the business, luckily!