Why Coulee Boutique?

Welcome to the Coulee Boutique blog!  While thinking about what to write about in my first post, I figured some background knowledge would be the way to go.

I am a middle school math teacher in a small, rural school.  While I love my job, I was looking for another way to express myself.  I've been approached numerous times to join friends in their business ventures, but none of them felt right to me.  I knew if I was going to do something other than teaching, it would be an opportunity I created for myself.  

The idea of a boutique came to me when driving through our little town.  There was a commercial space for rent and it got my wheels spinning.  I knew I couldn't afford the overhead of a physical location and start-up costs, but thought online would be the route to go.  I honestly have no experience running a business, but as a long-time shopper and "lurker" of other online boutiques, knew I could make it happen.

There are so many important things to take care of when starting a business, but I was hung up on what to name my boutique.  I was dead-set on "Ladybird Boutique" because our last name often gets mispronounced as ladybird and I thought it had a sweet connotation about it.  I was certain this would be the name so I even designed a few logo options.  A quick Facebook search yielded about 8 other Ladybird Boutiques.  Ughhh - back to the drawing board!

A couple weeks later, while dropping my daughter off at daycare, I was soaking in the beauty of the sunrise, rolling hills, marsh, and bridge-covered creek.  That's when the name Coulee Boutique came to me.  I love this slice of Earth I call home.  The Coulee Region was formed by the flowing Mississippi River.  It's not where I grew up, but it's where my kids will.  This area has my heart. <3