10/19/2026
Most of you know that I celebrated my tenth anniversary as a business this past July.
What I haven't talked about much here is something that I might actually be even more proud of than the business!
Friday, I celebrated the tenth anniversary of another creation of mine: the Professional Upholsterer's Network, a Facebook group that now has over 6,200 professional upholsterers worldwide!
Shortly after I started the Chick, I realized I needed the support of a larger community of pros, and the groups that I knew of were a blend of anyone with an interest in upholstery. That meant that the responses I could get might not always be the most professional ways of doing things.
Not having discovered the type of group I was looking for, I set out to create one!
The early days were kinda quiet. Getting the type of conversations I was looking for was sometimes challenging. I did a lot of starter questions to get things rolling. When conversations did get going, they weren't always in the benevolent and kind tones that I was aiming for. I wanted a group that helped one another, and met each other wherever they were at, not a group of gatekeepers who didn't have the time of day for someone who knew less than them. The whole purpose of the group was to be able to ask questions and get answers, after all!
It was often, ummm... character building.
After one particularly tough day around a year in, I was almost ready to shut the whole group down and call it quits... until I received three separate private messages, all within a few hours.
Three helpers.
Ragne, Rachel, and David
Three separate people who messaged me saying that they believed in what the group could be, and offering their help to moderate so I wouldn't have to field everything by myself. I suddenly had a team!
I believe these three made the difference of why the group began to build.
My group now had a smaller group of supports that helped refine the foundation. They helped the foundation become strong. And when things got tough, people were rude, the direction was lost, we had one another to lean on.
As the years have gone by, the group has grown and grown. Newbies are able to ask questions. Sole upholsterers don't always have to figure out everything on their own. Long-timers pass along their knowledge. Hilarious stories are shared. Frustrations aired. Scams exposed. Friendships made.
When I started the group, I just knew I needed some help, and figured others might, too. I honestly didn't think or dream much farther than that.
I didn't realize the way that this group would shift and change throughout the years. How each new person would add a ripple that could enlarge and affect the other members around them. I didn't anticipate seeing long-timers learn from newbies. I didn't expect people to start self-regulating the group as they recognized what it was and could become.
I didn't know that a simple group on a social media platform could become the literal lifeline for a business that allowed someone to grow and stick with it because they knew they had the support.
I didn't know that my one small decision to create a group could affect ME so much.
As a group, together, we came up with the words that best described us about five years ago, and I think the words are even more true today:
Peers Sharing Knowledge
Inspire - Learn - Connect
So when I tell you that I need to talk to my colleagues to figure something out, there's a few folks I can connect to.
About 6,200 of them.
I am grateful.
