We were lucky to catch up with Kaytlinn Bowles recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kaytlinn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
I can still feel the sunshine coming thru the windshield as I drove by myself to my first business retreat. Our shop was getting busy. Busier than I could manage with three boys under four in tow and I was desperate for answers as to how to manage it all. I had started the business to have extra income to stay home with my boys but all of a sudden my boys weren’t getting as much attention as I wanted. My free
time was vanishing and my drive and excitement was dwindling. I had read about a retreat that had brought five business women(most of them moms)together to share wisdom. Work/Life balance of Motherhood. That was the topic of the weekend and THAT was what I was searching for. This was the first time I was leaving my kids with my husband for a weekend but I was positive the skills and knowledge I was bringing home with me was going to be life changing! Each of the women spoke, each had so much success behind them, and man I was so jealous of how put together they were! Compared to me, the small town mom who had to pump in the car to get thru each session, these woman had it figured out. As they spoke, I took notes upon notes waiting for the answers. I had drove hours to get there and I was going to soak everything in. The longer they spoke though, I felt as none of the questions I came for were being answered. They talked about great accountants, amazing nannys, fantastic assistants and how they grew their businesses. Mine was growing on its own(I know nothing to conplin about) but I wanted the life balance questions answered. Once question time opened up, I raised my hand and “how do you juggle your kids schedule as you work?” One said her husband handles it, one said her nanny is amazing, and one said her mom takes care of it when she can’t. I responded with “I mean during the day while your trying to work what do you have the kids do when you really need to focus? It seems like that’s when mine decide to be crazy.” The forth mom responded “you put them in daycare or you’ll never be successful.” It felt like everyone in the room giggled and starred at me. During the social hour we chatted but everyone I talked to agreed with those ladies. They all took time for spas days, nail appointments, gym time ect. Anything to get away from their kids and feel refreshed. I honestly was shocked. Nothing was wrong with those activities but I was committed to learning how to juggle it all for my own family. I had heard on repeat from family and friends I couldn’t and I was going to prove to them I could. I only made it thru half of the second day and realized it was not the retreat I was looking for. I spent the rest of the day in my hotel room making a plan. I spent way to much money on a mini daycare set up and started looking for another mom to help with our business that also wanted her babies near her. It was not always smooth, it was not always the most productive but, I felt good knowing my priorities were in place. As my family has grown to having five boys, the business has evolved. My hours have changed, I now work on the computer after bed and before they wake up so I can run them to school and activities. Employees have changed, babies have grown. I now believe preschool is amazing and help from my husband isn’t terrible. However I stand by the fact that my son who learned to read by helping mom ship packages is still my most fluent reader. Working with your kids can work. I don’t think you have to chose. You do have to be flexible and decide what your priority is and work around it. If it’s tripling sales, or opening another business great. I however want to be present in all aspects of my kids lives. I don’t mind turning down the pain in the butt customer so I can spend the week at fair watching my son show his pig. I don’t mind going to the shop at 9pm after bed to crank out the 100 hats that are due the next day because I missed work for coaching my other sons little league team. I also don’t mind filling in for an employee on a Saturday so they can go to their daughters nutcracker performance. Work- Life balance can be more than just a spa day. It can be playing in the sprinklers all morning and invoicing at nap time. At the end of the day I do believe kids are the most important thing. While you can open your second or third location later, later might be too late to play pretend or make the big game.
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 first purchased my laser to make patches for my handmade crochet hats. However as I kept having boys, I wanted a business that they were interested in and that had something our family actually used. I personally feel like if you loves your product it’s easier to sell than just following what others are doing. We created our own line of baby, toddler and youth boys hats to match the style my husband wore and our kids love them. Walking around with 5 boys in fun snapbacks is usually pretty eyecatching easy advertising;) I have also always loved wearing ball caps but refrained at times because they didn’t always “go with an outfit or feel dressy enough” so I created a variety of womans hats that are fun unique prints. We laser engrave all of our own patches to customize them for other businesses, and our own line for wholesale. The market is pretty saturated with leather patches but the fun unique hats we offer and the fact that we have them for babies definitely sets us apart and helps other companies looking for a unique way to set themselves apart do so too!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Because family has always been my priority, there have been multiple times I flat out just haven’t gotten paid for what I’m doing. I started with crocheting hats — yarn is extremely low cost so we put all profits into the laser. Then we slowly grew and as we had the funds in the account we purchased our first selection of snapbacks. Its slowly grown bit by bit. Obviously I am fortunate my husband could provide for our household while it grew. It isn’t something that is sustainable for a long period of time but in order to keep employees, our store front, production line and everything going it was a decision I made.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
We created all of out own designs and do all laser work in house. Finding the right manufacturers for the hats themselves took time and honestly alot of errors. We have more hats than I’d like to admit that will never sell but I’m not exactly sure what to do with. Samples while expensive, are worth it! I know $100 a hat seems ridiculous but I have learned it’s so worth not spending thousands in a hat line that isn’t going to sell. You also have to love them yourself. Items I’ve made that I make because I think others will like them never sell. It truly sets you apart and is easier to sell your brand when you really do love it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.briarandsphinx.com
- Instagram: @briarandsphinx
- Facebook: https://Www.facebook.com/briarandsphinx
Image Credits
Leslie Swenson Photography
theADPStuido