The Hustle
Years in Tampa Bay
I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, and though I did leave for a while, I’ve been back in town for almost three years now.
Hustle (job)
Owner and Founder of Book + Bottle
What do you do?
I hustle books, wine, and coffee to the good people of St. Pete.
Why do you do it?
One of my strongest virtues in life is having an open mind – I truly believe that we can expand our sense of compassion by reading other people’s stories and experiencing other places through reading books and drinking wine from around the world. I love the sense of community that books and wine instill in people, and it’s life-giving to watch people become friends in the space we created.
What was your Catalyst? (How did you get started?)
My catalyst was wanting to work for myself. I have always hustled hard at any work I did and I finally decided that I wanted to reap100% of the benefits from that hard work. I watched other people live their dream and realized that they only difference between them and me was that they just did it!
What’s a common misconception or unknown aspect of what you do?
Did you know that I had no idea what I was doing with about 90% of my business at first? I think there’s a misconception that you have to know what you’re doing to start a business, but I literally learned most of it on the job.
What’s the most challenging part of your Hustle?
The most challenging part of my hustle is slowing down and taking care of myself. It’s easy to get caught up in everything and to be hustling constantly and constantly needing to do more, more, more. One of the reasons I wanted to do my own thing was so that I could be in control of my own work-life balance, but I still struggle to remind myself that I need to show up for myself first so that I am able to show up for others.
What’s the most valuable piece of business advice/insight that’s helped you?
That the suffering is temporary. At the beginning it can seem so hard, but if you look at your hustle with gratitude, you can literally watch it getting increasingly easy every day!
