My name is Kristine Frailing, and I’m the founder of The New York Sewing Center, a place where people come not just to learn sewing, but to connect, create, and discover what they’re capable of making with their own hands.
When I first started, I had one small studio space and a vision. This past year, that vision evolved into three locations across New York City, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. It has been an exciting year of growth, learning, leading, and expanding our community. It has also been a year of learning and extreme personal growth, learning how to manage three locations and a much larger team. As part of the QuickBooks Ask The Expert series, I’m sharing what this experience has looked like behind the scenes: the lessons, the decisions, the challenges, and how Intuit QuickBooks helped me stay grounded, organized, and confident through each stage of expansion.
Building a foundation for growth
In the beginning, I truly did everything myself, teaching classes, scheduling, managing bookings, ordering supplies, handling finances, social media, operations, you name it. Growth only became possible when I realized that structure isn’t restrictive, it’s supportive. This year, I learned how important it is to build strong systems early. Using QuickBooks AI Agents gave me the ability to see the full financial picture of the business. I can now see where money is coming in, where it is going, and how each location is performing. The Accounting Agent automatically categorizes transactions, reconciles my books, and flags inconsistencies, helping me stay organized and confident in every decision.
With QuickBooks keeping everything in one place, I can make thoughtful decisions about hiring, budgeting, and planning for new spaces without losing track of the details. Having this clarity makes growth feel possible and sustainable.
Using data and intuition together
As a creative entrepreneur, my instinct has always been one of my strongest tools. I pay attention to how students respond, what the energy in the room feels like, and where excitement naturally builds. But this year taught me that instinct becomes even more powerful when paired with numbers.
When we opened our Williamsburg location, I could feel which classes were working well and which needed adjusting. But reviewing our class performance, revenue, and expenses by location inside QuickBooks helped me confirm and refine those decisions. For example, seeing which class styles consistently filled helped us expand those offerings. Looking at time-of-day performance helped us restructure our schedule to better meet student interests. Reviewing expenses across locations showed me where to streamline supply ordering and where it made sense to invest more deeply.
QuickBooks didn’t replace my intuition; it strengthened it. When I could see the numbers align with what I felt, decisions became clearer and faster, and growth felt grounded, not rushed.
Staying organized during rapid expansion
Opening multiple locations in one year required me to grow as a leader and organizer. Williamsburg brought new energy and momentum, but it also demanded more structure. Managing three teams, aligning teaching styles, creating shared processes, maintaining class quality, and keeping communication consistent across locations required thoughtfulness and intention.
Using QuickBooks to track my growth made expansion much easier. Having the ability to export reports and look at each studio’s operations separately helped me plan confidently and stay ahead of the pace of growth. It also allowed me to build systems that supported our teachers and students, instead of trying to hold everything in my head or react in the moment. With QuickBooks Small Business Data Research Hub, I was also able to benchmark my growth against national trends and gain insights into small business performance. Growth didn’t feel chaotic; I felt coordinated. And that made all the difference.
Lessons from a year of growth
This year taught me that organization isn’t just practical, it’s emotional. Running three locations with 30 employees means there are many pieces moving at once: hiring, training, scheduling, payroll, supplies, classroom setup, communications, and maintaining the student experience we are known for. Without structure, all of those pieces can start to feel scattered.
There were moments where the business required me to step into a new level of leadership to slow down, delegate thoughtfully, build systems, and trust my team. With QuickBooks, being able to view everything in one place allowed me to step back, see the bigger picture, and make decisions from a grounded, thoughtful place. That clarity gave me peace of mind and space to stay inspired creatively.
By reflecting on my business year in review, my advice to other entrepreneurs is this: build systems before you scale, review your data regularly, and allow tools like QuickBooks to help carry the operational weight so you can stay focused on your vision. Growth is much more sustainable and enjoyable when there’s a strong foundation behind it.
Growing from one to three locations in a single year has been one of the most meaningful chapters of my journey as a business owner. Through it all, Intuit QuickBooks has supported my ability to plan ahead, stay organized, and make decisions with confidence. Thank you for taking the time to read and reflect with me and here’s to another year of building with intention, creativity, clarity, and heart.
