Hey Laurie, what’s your background?
I have no formal training as a seamstress & pattern maker, I just LOVE to sew! Mom always said it was in my genes because my great-great-grandmother, my great-grandmother, and my beloved Gram were all accomplished seamstresses. (FUN FACT: I have their sewing machines!)
I've been sewing regularly since 1990, soon after my first daughter was born. I learned a lot by watching sewing shows on PBS (soaking up the wisdom of Martha Pullen, Shirley Adams, and of course Nancy Zieman.) I always enjoyed making my daughters' matching holiday dresses. I made fancy dresses for my girls, their cousins, and their baby dolls. I also made lots of quilts and baby blankets that I've given away as gifts.
In 1995, I accidentally started my sewing career-- after being asked to sew for a friend who owned a retail shop and designed her own line of kid's clothing. That was so much fun! I learned a lot about sewing quickly & efficiently, I learned several assembly-line sewing techniques and the importance of getting things done by a deadline. I sewed for the store until it closed (about 6 years later.)
Why did you start Laurie's Gifts?
In 2004, I was on a serious purse-sewing kick. I made lots of fabric purses for myself and to give away as gifts. I made LOTS of juice pouch purses & recycled candy wrapper purses for my girls & their friends. All of which led to the prospect of selling what I made. The first plan was to participate in a Holiday Bazaar locally, which snowballed into creating my first website & business cards to hand out at the show. I didn't even own a digital camera when I started creating the website. I borrowed my sister's camera periodically to take photos. (No cellphone with a fancy camera then, either.) It was rough, but it worked!
Building an inventory, experiencing a successful first craft show, and interacting with returning customers at subsequent shows (and on my website) was so much fun. Sewing for fun led to sewing for business-- even though I never set out to be self-employed!
How the heck did you learn to run a business with no experience?
I really knew nothing about business when I started. I can't say that I'm an expert now, but I've learned a lot along the way. I read a LOT about selling online & creating websites. I took online marketing classes. I belonged to online groups of sewing entrepreneurs that supported each other. My best advice for someone else just starting a business is to do the best you can with what you know at the time. Learn as you go, and do better when you know better.
I am extremely frugal when it comes to running my business. I still handle every part of my business myself. I didn't even know how to make a spreadsheet when I started. But I figured it out. It took FOREVER, and the first couple of years of recordkeeping was not pretty. But eventually, I learned. It was the same with building my website(s).
The first website was hosted on Xaper, which was free. I only created it so that I could hand out business cards at my first craft show. (I could abandon it easily if things didn't work out.) But it worked for a while, and I moved to a better platform within a couple of years. Over the years, I've also sold on eBay, Facebook, & finally on Etsy. I closed my original website in 2014 to simplify my business and sell only in one place, Etsy. My Etsy shop is still open, but I've recently created this new website so that all of my eggs are not in one basket.
How many hours do you work each day? Do you take off on the weekends?
I start with the computer work first thing every morning. I sew orders after that, but how long I sew depends on order volume. A typical day is 8 to 10 hours. I try to get everything done during the week so that I can leave the weekends for family time.
Best part about your job?
When I started sewing as a "career" it was so that I could stay home with my girls while they were little. After they grew up and moved away, being self-employed allowed me to set my own hours so that I could be with my mom as much as possible during the very difficult last years of her life. My business will never make me rich monetarily, but it has indeed made my life richer in all the ways that really count. It has allowed me the flexibility in my daily schedule to always be available to care for the ones I love. Now that I've got a new grandbaby, I look forward to working him into my schedule as often as possible!
Worst part about your job?
Being connected 24:7-- Etsy expects sellers to be available around the clock, 7 days a week, and penalizes them if they are not.
One thing that has happened in your career that you never expected?
In the summer of 2008, my original website's Wrapper Purse Collection attracted the attention of a large company (which upcycles non-recyclable things to make unique products.) Their CEO contacted me out of the blue, and I happily joined their design team a few weeks later. It was pretty cool to be recruited to work as a design consultant for Terracycle (designing totes, bags, purses & accessories made using recycled chip/candy/wrapper materials.) I enjoyed this work for several years until the increased order volume for my own website made it unsustainable.