What I learned from working with my sister

Two years ago, if someone were to have bet us, that we would be working together, side-by-side, day in and day out, we would have bet one million dollars the answer would be no. But here we are, 2 sisters, 2 years later and side by side.

After our father passed away in December 2014, and  life became an impossible reality. Our father was not just our business partner, but our confidante, tie breaker, cheerleader, collaborator, and overall go to person for everything. When we lost our father, it felt like we lost everything. We had decided to close the business we worked together in every day for 15 years.

We found ourselves asking “now what?” All of our adult work experience was jewellery, with our late grandfather and father, but how could we continue just the two of us? We are, for all intents and purposes, opposites. We have very different strengths and weaknesses, which is great for a partnership. However, navigating personal relationships like sisters and business partners felt daunting.

What we failed to realize in that moment is that it would be those strengths and weaknesses which would make us the ultimate team.

We had the support of our family and friends, and customers and suppliers. What we had forgotten was that over the 25 years we were in the jewellery industry, we learned from each other on a continual basis. We had shared the exact same experiences, but our different perspectives gave us the insight to grow. That if we just asked each other for help, we would be able to find it.

family working together Wise Women Canada

First we had to make a plan. So we enlisted the help of our oldest sister, Shelley. She has had her own successful business for many years, and we felt that her input and experience would be able to help us not only in our day to day, but implement changes we may have once feared to make. She now took on the role of confidante and tie breaker. The last missing piece was a cheerleader. While it’s great to be told “you’re doing a great job” from someone else, there has been nothing more empowering than feeling that pride from within. We are proud of finding the strength to continue, and succeed.  We know our dad is looking down at us with pride (and likely amazement) at what we have accomplished.

Together with Shelley, our mother’s, our families, our network of contacts, and most importantly complete trust in each other, we have been able to grow our retail store customer base in the United States, and increase our online presence.

Jewellery is not only our business but it is our passion,  from inception to creation we love it all. We love being part of our customers’ stories, whether it is an engagement ring, or transforming something old to something new and treasured. We’ve created pieces that have become family heirlooms, and it’s always amazing.

Starting over, and now two years later and what have we learned?

We’ve learned a new language of respect and cooperation. We’ve learned to ask for help when we need it. We understand that not everyone can be good at everything, and that’s ok.

We’ve learned that strength from within is so powerful, and that power is multiplied when we allow people in instead of trying to do everything alone. We now welcome change, and the challenges of what may come our way, because we know that together anything is possible.

-Randee and Hindi Fisher

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