Louboutins & Lattes

Buy the shoes & the latte…

But do it responsibly

So I did a thing last month.  I purchased my first pair of Louboutin shoes - you know, those ones with the gorgeous red soles.  It was a splurge to say the least.  In fact, I bought two pairs.  This wasn’t one of those spur of the moment self-care things.  I had set goals for myself for Q1 and Q2. I met those goals.  Founders often don’t follow through with rewarding themselves.  We think we need to work harder and burn out before we allow ourselves to recognize our own successes.  

In fact, this purchase was 3 years in the making.  I’ve been close to burn out, like many others, these last 16 months.  The pandemic pushed all of us professionally and personally.  This was my moment to say, Dorothy - nice work.  And dammit, I did deserve it!

On the flip side, I also know when to reign in my spending.  It’s way too easy to get in the habit of thinking “wow that huge purchase made me feel good” and walking with that Louboutin bag out to my car made me feel like I want to do this everyday!  But that’s far from fiscally smart.

So I did another thing.  I bought the shoes while on a vacation with my significant other.  After dropping him off at the airport for an early morning flight, I thought hey I’ll grab myself a latte on the way home.  I pulled into the coffee shop parking lot, which is also in the same shopping center as the grocery store.  And then I thought, well, I could buy this $5 latte and have it now or I could buy my favorite oat milk creamer and make lattes for the whole week.  I opted for the second.  This whole week I made my own lattes every morning exactly how I like them and did not have to spend another penny. 

My point here is you do need to reward yourself. But you have to remember to temper those moments with times when you are savvy about spending.  You have to remember that you need the profit in order to sustain your business. Profit is your business’s sustenance.  If you don’t continue to feed your company, those Louboutin shoes could be the last thing your business does.