BILLINGS- On Thursday, visitors to Rimrock Mall in Billings will have a new shop to visit. For the next six months, the winner of the Battle of the Pop-up Shop contest will have a rent-free spot in center court.
That winner is Sixth and Baker, a daily planner company founded in Red Lodge that sells high-end personal planners and has operated solely online at sixthandbaker.com.
The Planner by Sixth and Baker is the product of owner Nicole O’Shea’s personal journey and her need for a way to reorganize her life following a personal trauma.
O’Shea’s two youngest children were in an ATV accident, and while both are in good health now, the accident brought up dark memories from O’Shea’s own life that had gone untouched for years.
After a dark period in her life, and at the behest of her loving and diligently caring friends and family, O’Shea went to see a therapist. She was diagnosed with PTSD, a diagnosis that was not new to her.
She said that when she had first been diagnosed, she did not really believe it and was not ready to deal with the things that had led to the diagnosis. But this time was different.
In her journey to get back on track, O’Shea developed a planner deal with organizational deficits that her condition had left her struggling with. From this initial effort, and her own personal philosophy, grew The Planner by Sixth and Baker.
Along the way, she ran into people dealing with their own traumas who expressed an interest in following a similar path.
“It was never supposed to be a business…but I think it can help more than just me,” says O’Shea.
The Planner emphasizes mindfulness, living simply and maintaining an appreciation for life’s daily blessings.
O’Shea and her family practice what they preach, having given up internet and TV in their home to spend more time together. This change means that most days you can find her working Honey’s Café or at the Red Lodge Library where she can get internet access.
O’Shea says ultimately she hopes to help as many people as she can and build a business that can support her family.
She appears to be well on her way to both of those goals. She said Sixth and Baker is already sold out of its initial order of planners and will be on to their second shipment when they open Thursday in Rimrock Mall.
