We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cate Gongaware. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cate below.

Cate, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success as a business owner and entrepreneur is the result of a myriad of factors, many of which are random, but can be boiled down to (roughly) two things: luck and dedication to your work. Not all who are successful work hard and not all are lucky. Unfortunately, especially in a market of over-saturation in just about every field, luck needs to be on your side these days. Market trends and the economy change so fast that by the time you’ve created a business plan, you need to pivot in the opposite direction.

That’s where my perseverance came into play. I’ve tried and failed so many times throughout my life. I tried to start an initiative to make the earth greener when I was 13, a custom headphones business when I was 14, a petition to eliminate the unnecessary euthanasia of animals when I was 16 and countless other business ventures that failed spectacularly. Helping other people through my skillsets and passions has been at the forefront of every venture I’ve been on.

No matter how many times I continued to fail, the important thing was that I never gave up. In many ways, you truly are on your own if you weren’t born into an environment with resources. Starting a business isn’t one of those things most people’s parents or mentors have a wealth of knowledge on, so self-motivation is huge. There’s so much to learn: taxes, legality, marketing, social media, + more. Most of us have to learn these lessons the hard way, and being able to bounce back from these lessons is key.

In the last few years, the market has finally turned to my favor. I’ve continued to develop my professional skills and strive to be better than the day before every single day. It just takes one person to notice you. I finally got noticed last year and I got to show off the skills I have from working hard to be a better business owner and designer.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Cate, a graphic designer and owner of Bohem studio. I’m originally from a small town in southeast Texas, but now proudly reside in Winona, Minnesota. The cold is always something I’ve hated so I vowed to never move somewhere north of Dallas….well, fate had other ideas. After living here for 5 years now, I can definitely say it has earned its title of the “Gem of the Midwest”.

I started as a graphic designer as a teenager, begrudgingly browsing on ugly websites in the late 00s, and trying to make it better myself. At 19, a family friend encouraged me to make a wedding invitation and sell them online. I didn’t think I was talented enough, but nonetheless I tried it (on a 7 day trial of Photoshop nonetheless!). I encountered a morsel of success, but that was about it. I was still very much an amateur in graphic design and business, and had a lot of personal growing to do. I tried over and over to get my graphic design business off the ground, but nothing worked.

Finally, at 26 and after taking a break for a few years, I’m at a point where I can truly say I’m a professional. My business, Bohem Studio, provides a curated collection of stylish stationery and custom design services.

My retail storefront is colorful and unique, with washi tape, stickers, gel pens, journals, planners and so many more paper goods available to our customers. I tried to make the space as positive and inclusive as I can. If you’ve ever tried to find the perfect planner or journal at Target/Walmart and couldn’t find anything, that’s where we come in. Finding stylish school supplies as a tween was always a huge challenge and now it doesn’t have to be.

Wedding invitations and business assets (like logos, branding, etc.) are the core of our custom design services. It brings me such joy to make something beautiful for other people that doesn’t the bank. Hearing positive feedback from my clients and making them happy is the best feeling in the world for me.

When you work with me, there’s one facet that’s more important than the rest: I’m still here today, because my passion for my work and dedication to quality drives me to provide the best I possibly can.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We manufacture a lot of our own products, and it’s not for the faint of heart! I started off doing the bulk of our print work in house as I’m a stickler for quality and control. What I quickly realized is the cost to effectively and efficiently produce basically anything requires more capital and square footage than my small business had available. It was taking hours to complete a project and incredibly expensive. From there, I moved to outsourcing to the professionals.

Groups dedicated to small businesses on Facebook and TikTok were amazing for looking for resources to outsource. I was a little hesitant about giving up control at first, but it was well worth it! Most manufacturers should offer samples to test the quality before committing to a bulk order.

One of the most important lessons I learned when manufacturing is to make sure someone will actually want this product BEFORE you decide to manufacture it! Obviously you can never predict best-sellers with great accuracy, but if you’re able to analyze market trends as a whole and among your current customers, you’re already ahead of the game. My best-seller is something I thought was only okay and the large bulk order I placed for something I thought would be successful was only so-so.

Try to get samples where you can, read reviews and look into the MOQ (minimum order quantity) or dollar minimum too. Does a manufacturer that needs $1,000 minimum on every order meet your business needs? Maybe, maybe not. Search for who is right for you!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My business partner is my husband, so it’s as much a love story as it is a business story. We met online – not on a dating website, just social media! A few years went by and the pieces fell into place for us to finally meet in person. It was electric between us, and we’ve been inseparable since then.

I moved 1200 miles across the country from warm Texas to snowy Minnesota and put my business on pause during this adjustment. When I finally wanted to start up again, with a fresh face this time, we had a brief conversation about being partners. I wish I could say we had this crazy epiphany and there’s an epic story, but it was just easy and simple.

My husband, Liam, encourages me, grounds me, but most of all, pushes me to keep going even on the days where I want to give up. I struggle with impostor syndrome greatly, and he’s the one that makes me put myself out there even when I doubt myself.

Owning a business with your spouse isn’t for everyone, but it definitely is for us!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://bohemdesignstudio.com/
• Email: Bohemdesignstudio@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bohemdesignstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bohemdesignstudio

Image Credits
@lesliereaganphotography, @sophiejeannephotos