We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Stillwell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I started my business in 2020 after applying for several jobs and hearing nothing back during the pandemic. I thought it would be a seasonal thing, just a little Etsy shop I’d run through the holidays and maybe reboot the following holiday season if I enjoyed it. However, after the 2020 holiday season, January 2021 rolled around and I was growing a small following on Instagram, with many requests for more bows. So I kept making bows, they continued to sell and instead of being a seasonal thing, it organically became a year-round business.

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 make womens hair accessories, specifically hair bows. The business began in 2020 and has grown tremendously as the hair bow trend continues to increase in popularity. I saw a opportunity in the market back in 2018 after working in a children’s boutique. I noticed bows were becoming more popular with adult women but most offerings were geared toward babies and little girls. Having an interest in crafting, I attempted to learn how to make the bows in 2018 but time was limited and I couldn’t quite master the skill. When 2020 rolled around and I found myself with a lot more free time, I thought I’d give it another try. Being unemployed much of that year, I focused a lot of the spring and summer on blogging and had made several blogger friends across the country who also appreciated bows, preppy fashion and grandmillennial style. Once I mastered making the bows, I knew I wanted to market to the grandmillennial niche since that’s the segment I most identified with. I thought once I got the Etsy shop up and running, I’d reach out to some blogger friends to see if I could send them bows and maybe they’d talk about them on their social media account. I was blown away by the immediate support – so many online friends purchased before I ever had the chance to ask them if I could gift a bow to them! It was then that I knew I was onto something and really leaned into serving that audience.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It’s really incredible to see your work worn by customers on special occasions, sold on store shelves, and the reviews from those customers and stockists! It still feels wild to me that something I make is appreciated by someone else.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A couple years into the business, I’d run the numbers and decided the next step was to rent a studio for the business so I could expand production and maybe host events or one day have a retail storefront to the business. Regardless, the business had outgrown our guest bedroom and I needed more space. At the time that we signed the lease, business projections were looking incredible for the year. However, a couple months in, our sales were tanking and I found out I was expecting my second child. My husband and I decided it was just not the right time and that I’d need to figure out a way to bring the business back into the house. Ending the lease so soon felt like this big barrier in front of us to grow, one because of the tanking sales but two: the awkwardness of not having a space for someone to work if we ever found someone to hire. I knew sales were likely to pick up as the year went on (and they did) but I still doubted myself after what felt like a premature decision and I was extremely hesitant to find contract labor. Eventually, our sales climbed so high, my back was against the wall – I couldn’t keep up on my own and it was past time to find help. Thankfully, I found an amazing grad student who didn’t mind the “start up stage” of our business and jumped right in, eager to learn more and more of the business. Now she helps me with so much more than I orginally hired her for and we’ve brought on additional help. We FAR surpassed our revenue goals for the year and have garnered the attention of some incredible opportunities for 2024! Looking back, I should’ve hired help earlier. Sometimes it is so hard to trust yourself when running a small business on your own but being an entrepreneur is all about making mistakes, failing, learning things the hard way and continuing to push ahead.

Contact Info:

• Website: graceandgrandeur.com
• Instagram: @grace.and.grandeur

Image Credits
Rachel D Ballard Photography, Ali Rae Haney Productions