We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leslie Neilson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leslie below.
Hi Leslie, thanks for joining us today. What can you share with us about the story behind how you found your key vendors?
When I first started my store almost 25 years ago I traveled to Bali, Indonesia and imported everything I sold in the store from Bali, Indonesia. I did that for almost 10 years, but it became expensive and difficult for me to keep my inventory in stock and fresh. It was about this time I changed the name of my store from “bali living imports” to “inspired living” and started sourcing the products in my store from the United States.
It was also at this time I decided to really focus on only carrying products in my store that were made in the United States, Fair Trade or ethically manufactured. I also decided to focus on products that were organic, recycled or repurposed. It has been a slow process, but I think our store is probably about 90% there.
Once I made this decision I needed to start sourcing products for my store. I knew most retailers attended markets to buy and find products for there store, but I thought, “Why would I want to go where everyone else was going?” I wanted different and unique products for my store, not what everyone else was carrying.
I know this might sound silly, but I found most of my products by searching for them on the internet. If I wanted yoga mats, I would search, “Cool and unique yoga mats”, if I wanted tea, I would search “Organic Tea”. Once I found what I was looking for I would begin researching the companies to see if their company mission statements were in-line with ours and if they offered wholesale pricing. I did this for years and then a platform called Faire came onto the scene. Faire is a wholesale platform for retailers, kind of a one stop shopping for retailers. The thing that I like best about Faire is that I can put my search criteria in and then they show me the vendors who offer products who also share the same values I do at my store.
Leslie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I went to college and obtained a B.S. in Microbiology & Public Health from Michigan State University in 1991. I worked as a Scientist in Lansing at MBI International which was a very good job with six weeks paid vacation. I used my vacation time to travel to visit an Uncle that lives in Bali, Indonesia. During my visits I would purchase items for people and got the idea that I might be able to purchase and sell enough items to pay for my trips.
It was about this time, in 1997 that I met my husband, Paul, skiing at Boyne Mountain and shared my idea. He thought is was a great idea and very supportive. Over the next few years I continued my travels, sometime Paul would join me, sometimes I went by myself. While we were dating we talked about where we might want to live and raise a family, at the time he was living in Kalamazoo. We both loved Northern Michigan, me especially as I was born in Petoskey, and always felt as if I was “coming home” when I would visit relatives in the area.
We began looking for a building to buy in Boyne City because we couldn’t afford anything in Petoskey. When we couldn’t find anything we decided to open up a small shop in a building owned by my cousin. The shop was only 400 square feet and at the back of an alley, but it was something. We got married on July 8th, 2000 and spent our honeymoon working on fixing up the shop and opened on July 21st.
A few months later our dream building became available. It was right next door to “The Red Mesa Grill” and had space for an apartment above the store. A year prior we had put a bid on a building across the street and I had looked out the front window at what would eventually become our store and said, “That’s the building I really want.” A little over a year later, my wish came true!
When we started our store in 2000, it was called “Bali & Beyond” and featured inexpensive handicrafts from the islands of Bali. We changed the name a few years later to “bali inspired living” and switched out product line to more upscale home accessories and furniture, even opening up another location, “bali living gallery” across the street from us to showcase Balinese furniture. Then in 2008, when we decided to begin sourcing our products in the United States, we changed the name of our store to “inspired living” focusing on energy ~ expression ~ evolution.
We strive to carry products that bring positive energy to people’s lives such as crystals, inspiring books and cards. We also carry products that help people express themselves, such as clothing and jewelry. Lastly, we carry a wide selection of products that help people with their personal and spiritual evolution. This ranges from products that people use to decorate their homes and the books that they read. Eckhart Tolle said, “Humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die. … If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction.”
Sometimes when a customer come into the store they may be feeling down or lost, sometimes even hopeless. Our goal is to talk to them and find out what is going on and how to help them. Sometimes just talking to them is enough, other times we can find a book or an item in the store that helps them feel better. We consider our store a safe space and others do as well. I feel every community should have a place where people can go that they feel safe and heard. We are proud to be that store for our community.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I consider myself very lucky to have met Bob Negen of WhizBang Training shortly after starting my business. I attended a seminar hosted by our local Chamber of Commerce where Bob was presenting. Bob had started the Mackinaw Kite Company in Mackinaw City and turned it into a $3 million dollar a year business. I thought if anyone knew my pain of owning a business in a resort town it was him.
He talked about treating your customers as long-term relationships versus one-night stands. This meant developing a way to keep in touch with my customers and nurture those relationships. I learned so much about owning and running my business from Bob Negen and continue to credit him with one of the main reasons I am still in business today.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
I started my business by doing something I said I would never do… taking money out of my 401K. I remember going to the bank and asking for loan and they would ask how much money I was putting into the business. My answer was always nothing, I didn’t have money that I was willing to lose. It was only after I realized that I had to want my business so much that I was willing to put my own money into it even if I lost my money. Putting my own money on the line though, made me work that much harder. There is truth to the statement that you need to have a little skin in the game.
Back when I started my business it was easy to get credit cards with no fees and 0% interest and that is how I would purchase my inventory. Every year or so I would get another credit card offer with 0% interest and no transfer fees and would transfer the money. I still needed large sums of money when I went on my buying trips so I got a line of credit through my bank. I made sure that I always made my payments on time, but one day I got a credit card statement and was charged 33% interest. I contacted the credit card company and asked them why. They said they had looked at my credit, which at the time was in the low 800’s and said they couldn’t give me a reason.
I knew what the reason was though. I had over $100,000 on credit cards, very low income and they thought I wouldn’t be able to pay off the credit card balance. I knew that this is how people went bankrupt, but had no intention of going out of business and was grateful that I had my line of credit. I paid off that credit card that day, but still had $87,000 in debt and only $17,000 left on my line of credit. I had to do something before another credit card company did the same thing to me.
I crunched all of bills and debt and created a spreadsheet that showed if we were able to refinance our building I would be able to pay off all of our credit card debt and increase our cash flow over $2,000 each month. I went to 5 different banks and none of them would listen to me. The last bank I went to was Huntington National Bank and they looked at me as a person, not just my debt and listened to my proposal and they worked with me to refinance our building. If it had not been for them I honestly don’t think my business would have survived. It was only a matter of time until everything caught up with me, but fortunately, ALL of the debt on our credit cards was for the business and because I was able to prove that to the bank they were willing to help me.
I don’t think my unconventional way of financing my business would work today, but it is an example of thinking outside the box when everyone is telling you no. My accountant, after looking at my credit card debt, asked me how I slept at night. He said keeping track of everything must be a full-time job and it was. It was a labor of love that I did so that I could live my dream of owning my own store.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.boyneinspiredliving.com
- Instagram: boyneinspiredliving
- Facebook: inspired living