Growing Up in the Family Business by author Lisa Braxton

 

Dancing Between the Raindrops: A Daughter’s Reflections on Love and Loss is a powerful meditation on grief, a deeply personal mosaic of a daughter’s remembrances of beautiful, challenging, and heartbreaking moments of life with her family. It speaks to anyone who has lost a loved one and is trying to navigate the world without them while coming to terms with complicated emotions. Lisa Braxton’s parents died within two years of each other—her mother from ovarian cancer, her father from prostate cancer. While caring for her mother she was stunned to find out that she, herself, had a life-threatening illness—breast cancer. In this intimate, lyrical memoir-in-essays, Lisa Braxton takes us to the core of her loss and extends a lifeline of comfort to anyone who needs to be reminded that in their grief they are not alone.

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Between-Raindrops-Daughters-Reflections/dp/1961864088/

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Growing up in the Family Business

Dad was a child entrepreneur. Growing up in rural Virginia, near the Blue Ridge Mountains in the 1930s and ‘40s he learned how to make a dollar and supply merchandise to his neighbors before they knew they needed it. He went door-to-door selling household products to stay-at-home mothers. He had his own store, a wooden shack only open on Sundays when the blue laws restricted most businesses from operating.

Years later, after he and Mom married and moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut and my sister and I were born, he decided to take an early pension from his machinist job at the local factory and relive his childhood ambition. Mom didn’t think it was a good idea, but eventually agreed to support his dream. The result was Braxton’s Men’s Shop, which opened in the late 1960s and was in operation for more than 40 years. Here are some lessons I learned growing up in the family business:

You don’t have to be a grownup to help a business grow

I was in 3^rd grade when Braxton’s opened. One day Dad said, “I see from your report card that you’ve done well in all your subjects, including math.” He broke the seal on a large box that had just been delivered. “Count these pairs of slacks. Write the number down and compare it with the number on this packing slip,” he said, unfolding a piece of translucent paper that had been sealed to the front of the box. Pretty soon he had me counting items from all the shipments.

Opening a business on a corner, is good strategy

Braxton’s was on a heavily trafficked road with commerce coming and going between Boston and New York. On the block was a dry cleaners, restaurant, bank and ice cream shop. A record store was across the street. We got countless spillover foot traffic.

Eye candy is essential

Because we were on a corner, pedestrians walking in front of the store, or the side street were treated to display windows of the latest fashions and accessories.

Running a business can make you a rockstar

The business was unusual for its time. There had been businesses owned by African Americans for years, but not a high-fashion men’s clothing store. It caught the attention of city hall. Dad became a district alderman and served several terms as the president of the local branch of the NAACP. My high school teachers would pull me aside and tell me they’d read in the papers what Dad was doing for the community.

Spouses and partners considering going into business together may want to reconsider

When Braxton’s was just an idea, mom was hesitant to agree to it. She didn’t think Dad had the personality for it. Dad wanted to be friends with customers, giving them discounts, and letting them have clothes on credit. Not credit cards, but “credit.” Mom sent stern letters to customers and called them to collect what they owed. Once after weeks of toil, Mom proudly announced that she’d collected every penny that customers owed. Dad turned around and gave people credit again. Mom soon left the store and let him run it by himself. Dad was hoping when he retired, my sister and I would take over the business. We both said a vehement “no.” Neither of us have entrepreneurial inclinations and after growing up in the family business we’d seen the pitfalls. However, we learned life lessons that guide us to this day.

 

About the Author

Lisa Braxton is the author of the novel, The Talking Drum, winner of a 2021 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards Gold Medal, overall winner of Shelf Unbound book review magazine’s 2020 Independently Published Book Award, and winner of a 2020 Outstanding Literary Award from the National Association of Black Journalists and a Finalist for the International Book Awards. She is also an Emmy-nominated former television journalist, an essayist, and short story writer.

She is on the executive board of the Writers Room of Boston and a writing instructor at Grub Street Boston, and currently serves as President of the Greater Boston Section of the National Council of Negro Women and is a member of the Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

You can follow the author at:

Website: https://lisabraxton.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.a.braxton/

Twitter: @Lisaannbraxton  OR @LisaReidbraxton

Instagram: @lisabraxton6186

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisabraxton/