Alea’s interview is incredibly close to my heart. I know her as the owner of All Fired Up, a paint your own pottery studio in my Winter Park neighborhood, but I also know her as a loving mom. Her daughters attend the preschool where I teach, and Alea has always gone above and beyond in making me feel valued and appreciated as a caregiver. This is such a trying time for our community but Alea is a beacon of positivity to me right now. -Angela, Team Anna Intern
- What do you love most about All Fired Up?
What I love most about All Fired Up is the community, not only our guests who keep us in business, but my team of employees who are really the heart of All Fired Up. My team is vibrant and kind, willing to learn and quick to help everyone. They are also what I miss most about All Fired Up during the “pause.” I miss seeing and hugging them frequently!
- This is obviously a very difficult time for small businesses. What can people do to support All Fired Up right now?
To support All Fired Up, and all small businesses right now, people can purchase gift certificates to use in the future, and interact with social media accounts. “Like” and “share” posts from your favorite small businesses, leave comments on each post, watch and share their videos and tag their social media accounts. The more popular posts and accounts are, the more they are shown to other people! I think it is really important for each consumer to know how very, very important their spending is, now more than ever before. Your choice of restaurant or entertainment today can effectively make or break a business!
To specifically support All Fired Up, we are offering Pottery to Go Kits, which include air dry acrylic paints, brushes, and your choice of pottery to create decorative pieces at home! These kits are great for kids and adults, and we have a large selection of decorative pieces to choose from right now. Call our studio to set up a Pottery to Go Kit! (407) 644-9363
- Do you have a favorite memory from working at All Fired Up?
My favorite memory from All Fired Up is when I signed the lease for my location, 15 years ago. I signed the lease and handed it to my landlord. She shook my hand and walked out, and I was suddenly in my very own business, my very own location. I felt pride and excitement and fear and joy all together. I’ve felt those same emotions constantly for the last 15 years as I watched my business grow. Each time a child’s eyes light up with achievement because they love the piggy bank they painted, I’ve felt pride. Each time a group chooses All Fired Up to celebrate their team building, or birthday, or baby shower, I’ve felt excitement. Every hurricane season, I feel some fear. Each time I teach my employees about painting and I hear them share it with our customers, I feel joy. Owning All Fired Up is very challenging and very rewarding, and I hope to experience that unique mix of emotions, challenges and rewards for a long time to come.
- If you could give one word of encouragement to other small business owners, what would it be?
I don’t know if I feel qualified to give encouragement to anyone right now! I feel like I am floundering in uncharted territory, just like everyone else. I am trying to be flexible and resourceful, using the tools we have in ways we have never used them before. I am trying to remember any movement is progress right now, even if it feels like a big experiment. I am trying to relax, even though my stress levels are through the roof. I am trying to remember I am not alone. Everyone, business owners or not, parents or not, we are all living with new challenges. We will get through it, even if our landscapes, business landscapes, community landscapes, educational landscapes, are different from what we knew before. We will get through it.
- What brings you joy right now?
Slower, unstructured time with my family brings me joy right now. I have two small daughters and our schedule previous to the pause did not offer much time for things like bike riding, gardening, or swimming in our pool. Or if there was time, I was too exhausted from other things to make them a priority. These are now the primary things we are doing! We start almost every day with a swim, spend the hot part of the day inside, and then go out in the evening to work on our gardens, go on nature walks and ride bikes. Our house is on a busy road and we wave to many people walking their dogs, riding their bikes and spending time with their kids. There are a lot of changes happening in many aspects of our lives, but slower family time is a change I hope will stick around.
Thank you for the opportunity to answer these valuable questions! I hope your viewers can find some comfort in my humble answers.
-Alea