Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laura Woellner. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
I’ve wanted to start a business since I was in elementary school, but taking the leap was difficult. The comfort and stability of a full-time banking job was hard to leave, but I wasn’t happy. After giving birth to my first daughter, I didn’t want to leave her to go back to a job I didn’t love. My husband was a business owner so our income was unstable. I had a new baby at home and choosing to quit my job during this time was a very risky decision. My husband encouraged me to quit and take the leap to follow my dream. Right after I quit, I started working diligently on White Elm. I took what little we had in our savings account and wired it to a manufacturer to produce my first bag design, not knowing if what I ordered would show up or how it would turn out. Lo and behold, the bags showed up at my door! I sold most of them within the first month, doubling my money! If I would not have taken that risk, I wouldn’t have what I have now and wouldn’t be able to share what we do with so many people.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a mother to two beautiful girls, a wife to an amazing husband, and the Founder and CEO of White Elm. I love trying new restaurants and talking about real estate and investments. I’m a car enthusiast and I love paleo baking. I decided I wanted to own a business from a very early age, but I didn’t know it would be specific to bags until 2013. I had tried selling clothing but it was hard to keep up with and wasn’t my true passion. I realized I had a large collection of bags but none of them were quite perfect, so naturally I thought about designing my own. Now I own White Elm, a company that sells sleek, professional, and functional bags for busy women. We offer a solution to women who struggle to fit their large laptop or large water tumblers in their bags, women who carry too many bags and are looking to consolidate, those who need more organization and function from their bags, and women who like their bag to make them look put together even when they are not. We strive to help women find a quality bag that will be their companion at the workplace and on the weekend and help them get through the everyday hustle.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
Right after my second daughter was born, I was struggling with the business. My pregnancy had been long and difficult and I had tried hard to keep it together, but it started to fall apart as I was going through post-partum. I found it very difficult to work and I had lost all my creativity and ability to work strategically. at that point, the business was just me and it was the only financial income for our family. I was $80k in debt with the business with very little to show in revenue and our bills were stacking up quick. We were sinking, fast. I picked up a side gig delivering groceries at night after I put the kids to bed and we were selling our possessions just to make ends meet. My husband ended up getting a full-time job to help support the family, and eventually post-partum dissipated and I was able to strategize and plan for the future. Within a year, I was able to not only pay off all of the debt that had accumulated, but we were also cash-positive and growing quickly. Shortly after, covid hit and we went through another storm, but it was short-lived and we grew even more during the pandemic. There have been several challenges we have faced as a business during our decade of existence, but we have managed to get through all of them and come out better for it.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn the traditional way of thinking and the mindset that is pushed on a lot of people in America. Go to college, get a job, work that job or in that industry for 40 years, retire. That mindset is great for some, but not for everyone. In order to be the business owner I always wanted to be, I needed to think differently. I had to learn how to reverse engineer success by setting goals and strategizing, finding experts in their field and learning things I never expected to learn that were necessary for growth. I had to teach myself how to delegate and be a CEO, and how to truly believe that there are no limits to success. You can never stop growing, and there will always be someone bigger, better, faster, and stronger than you, but you should always be grateful for where you are and how far you have come.
Contact Info:
- Website: shopwhiteelm.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/whiteelmbags
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhiteElmBags/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/white-elm-bags
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTnwqFfmUdlVLv1mVD2GMIw
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@whiteelmbags
Image Credits
Hailee Williamson Marine Barian