Frankfort shop a dream come true for owner
FRANKFORT -- Thirty-two years is a long time.
It was long enough for Jan Sabey to fall in love with nursing, then watch her beloved profession change right before her eyes.
(Sun-Times Media File)
"It became all about profit," the 53-year-old former nursing administrator from Frankfort said.
So Sabey, who drives a bright blue Volkswagen Beetle, made a bold decision: Leave the profession she had known for more than three decades and open her own business.
Standing amid original art, vibrant throw pillows and painted furniture at Evilena's Red Dresser -- a store of her very own -- Sabey has no regrets.
On Aug. 1, she opened the upscale consignment shop tucked off La Grange Road at 59 W. Bankview Drive in Frankfort. Part humbled, part surprised, she said business has treated her well so far.
"I can pay my rent," Sabey said with a chuckle.
Her journey began with a class at Union Street Gallery in Chicago Heights, though she's the first to admit she's not an artist.
"I'm an artist wannabe," she said, joking. "I enjoy being around people who are creative and think outside the box."
From there, she enrolled in the Business for Entrepreneurs class run by Governors State University and Prairie State College. Sabey listened to accountants, attorneys, marketers and bankers impart their experience, and she bounced ideas off her classmates.
"I knew I wanted to (open my own business)," Sabey said. "I just needed to know how. I figured it out by the end of the class."
Sabey's success story is inspiring, and it's not the only one.
"Success is measured in many different ways," said Terri Winfree, who directed the five-week class with her GSU counterpart, Hilary Burkinshaw. "If someone comes in and takes this class and decides they don't want to be an entrepreneur, it's a success because they didn't spend their 401(k) finding that out."
When Sabey first told her mother her plans, she was a bit skeptical.
"She kept saying, 'What if,' 'What if,' " said Sabey, who grew up in Matteson. "When the sign went up with her name on it, she was just elated. She began to cry."
Her work companion -- along with New Lenox interior designer Denise Lough -- is Louis, the shih tzu puppy she intended to train as a therapy dog.
"Then I realized he does best help by just being himself," Sabey said.
Winfree sees the nurse in Sabey reflected in her business every day.
"She's still giving back. She's still providing a service," Winfree said. "She's really combining all her dreams."
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