Initial Reaction owners reflect on mother-daughter gift shop

PERRY  – Initial Reaction, located at 918 Carroll Street, is known for its wide array of custom items and gifts. Some may not know this business is run by a mother and her daughter. 

The owner, Joy Colwell and her daughter Karlie Colwell have been working together for over a year. 

The business started at Joy’s house and moved to downtown Perry at 906 Carroll St in 2010. In 2020, it moved to its current address and has been there since.  

“We do personalization on items that we sell and we also take outside monogramming,” Joy said. 

Having a mother-daughter business can have its pros and also its challenges. Joy said that one of the highlights of working with her daughter is that she sees her on a daily basis and is very efficient. 

“It’s definitely a different dynamic than most places where you work, where your boss is not your mom,” Karlie said. 

Karlie also mentioned they are good at filling in the other person’s weaknesses.

“We’re able to read each other easily to tell what needs to be done,” she said. 

Joy praised her daughter for being someone she can depend on and give ideas when needed. 

“She’s dependable and she’s only thinking about the business,” she said. “She’s really trying to look forward to what is going to be successful.” 

According to Joy, the challenges are the same working with your daughter.

“Our dynamic is different,” she said. “Our personalities are similar, but also different.” 

Before working with her mother, Karlie worked in Atlanta, returning to Perry to work with her mother. 

“We were also building a website, so the things that she was seeing that would be beneficial to the business and things she would have an interest in doing is why she decided to move back,” Joy said.

Joy already loves working in Perry and has noticed that the city is growing and is different from when she first started her business downtown. 

“Downtown was not what it is now,” she said. “I’ve been able to see the growth and be able to experience it and tell the difference.” 

From the daughter’s perspective, Karlie said that it’s good and fun working with her mother. 

“It was really cool to move back and see how she grew the business,” she said. “Working every day with her is a whole different ball game, as she knows so much and does a great job knowing her business and it’s cool to be able to work with her.” 

There are obviously some challenges and pros from the daughter’s perspective working with her mother. One challenge is boundaries.

“I’m more willing to say something to her or question something other people would probably move past and that sometimes causes frustrations for the both of us because we are so comfortable with each other,” Karlie said. “I would say that’s probably the biggest thing is just keeping some boundaries in our heads of what’s mother-daughter and what is business colleagues.” 

According to Karlie the pros are similar to her mother’s as they are best friends and they have fun and share experiences together. 

“Having worked other places, it’s cool to be able to share our day-to-day life and not just be a catch-up at the end of the day with a phone call,” she said. “Even though we work full days together, we still go out to dinner or go for a walk or go shopping together and that really shows how much we want to be together.” 

Another pro from Karlie is different perspectives, adding it’s fun to collaborate with each other. 

“I’m a younger single person and she’s an older person that has been married and has a business, so we look at things differently,” she said. “I think that is something that makes the business great is that we kind of cover a huge range of different people because we come from different aspects of life.” 

Joy and Karlie gave advice to mother-daughter teams that own or are thinking of starting a business. 

“Along with keeping some boundaries, I would definitely say having things that are separate for yourself so that you have time apart,” Karlie said. “It can be kind of all consuming working in a small business, especially as we each have things outside of the business we enjoy doing. So that is something I would recommend so that you don’t have to spend every minute of every day with your mother.” 

“You are two different people and you have two different thoughts so you have to keep that in mind,” Joy said. “You just have to be willing to listen to each other and base your opinions on what is going to be best for the store versus what your own opinion is going to be, but I would definitely recommend starting a business with your daughter.” 

For those looking for a last minute Mother’s Day gift, Initial Reaction is a great place to find something in downtown Perry for your mother’s special day.