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

Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

When the idea for my boutique first began, I knew I wanted to find a bible verse that was both relatable to my business name and still kept God as the foundation. Just like everything else in my life, keeping Him at the center was so important to me. Proverbs 16:24 was the verse I chose, “kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul…” Living our daily lives, as He would live, and want us to live, by loving others and making the world a better place. So the name “honey bee” was born and then later, my initials, “A. M.” were added to the beginning of it

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Mid-pandemic, June 2022, A. M. Honey Bee was born. First starting off as an online-based boutique jewelry business. Later turned into A. M. Honey Bee Boutique. We are a women based boutique that sells clothing, tees, jewelry, shoes, accessories, and unique gift items. The first six months were definitely the hardest. I had no prior boutique and or business experience. It was definitely a lot of trial and error. From the very beginning, my family was so supportive and continues to believe in my business and me. I’ve learned that it really takes a community to be successful. You can try to go at it alone but you will go so much further when you build relationships with your customers, fellow business owners, community, etc.

The first year of doing pop up markets throughout San Antonio, I had the privilege of meeting some of the kindest and hardworking local business owners. Most, if not all of them were fellow latina & women owned business owners. Hearing each of their stories and their struggles (like any business would face) really kept me going and knowing I wasn’t in it alone. Reminding me, anything worth having would take a lot of time, patience, prayers, and not to mention hard work. In November of 2021, I fully committed to running my boutique full time. A little scared, eager, and ready to tackle what this new year for my business would bring, was something I prayed long and hard about before doing. My parents (and family) have always been vital components in my business. Whether it’s helping me set up for a pop up market, running my market with me (six to twelve plus hours/day in this Texas heat), boutique photoshoots, tagging new merchandise, etc. the list continues to go on. From the beginning, I told myself I’d fully commit for one year (at the minimum) to running my boutique full time. By year three to four, I wanted to invest in an in-person storefront. Here we are, a little less than two and a half years into AMHB. I had the opportunity to expand my business, our first in-person storefront. With less than a week to get everything up and running, before the official grand opening in San Antonio’s (newest) Painted Tree location (grand opening was Sat. Sept. 24th 2022) I signed my lease and started personalizing my first storefront space. Again, not really knowing what I was doing, I had my family and closest friends support along the way. Although that was the quickest seven days, we managed to get everything up and running for the grand opening. Customers can still shop from our website but as well from our new in-person store, 7 days a week, 10 am to 8 pm daily. Address: 522 Northwest Loop 410, suite 211 San Antonio, TX 78230 – booth #G8 (San Antonio Painted Tree – name outside the building)

I plan on continuing to do pop up markets throughout the year. I love getting to meet new customers as well as seeing returning one(s) who’ve been a part of our story from the very beginning. I am truly grateful for the journey my boutique has been on and am excited to see what this new chapter holds for us. I will always keep God as my foundation and continue to give it my all. If I could give advice to anyone who wants to take that next step in an idea or dream they might have, I would say go for it. Of course, pray about it first but if it’s something God has in store for you, He will make it happen in His timing, not in ours. Trust your gut, work hard, and “never give up” (as my younger cousin Matt would say.)

Website: www.amhoneybeeboutique.com (use code: “Newbie10” at checkout)
Socials (Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook): @amhoneybeeboutique
Email: [email protected]

How did you build your audience on social media?

We completely started from scratch in this aspect of our business. At first, it was just family and our close friends who followed our social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram). Later on, we added Tik Tok as another form of our communication with customers/social media. Whch has really helped our business flourish in the last year.

The first six months to a year was probably the hardest. Getting our name, story, and products out there. Any advice I could give would be to stay consistent and unique. Find your niche and what sets your business apart. You can have five other businesses selling the exact same product(s) as you, but none of those other businesses will have your ideas, style (ways of wearing it, marketing, promoting, etc.) A lot of my fellow business owner friends will occasionally have similar items but I love that we all continue to support each other. Community is everything, build those relationships, collaborate, and help each other grow. I say this as humbly as possible, I’ve never seen another business as my competition but rather as part of my community. You can only go so far alone but with one other’s help, you can go so much further!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

There aren’t any lesson(s) I wish to unlearn because “the struggles” are a part of my business journey. However, I wish I would have promoted my business more in the beginning. I am generally pretty shy, especially when you first meet me. Consistently doing pop up markets in my community has really helped me grow. Being able to interact with my customers directly, building those new relationships, and continuing to build upon the ones that have already been established. Any advice I would give to others, don’t be afraid to start. We all started from somewhere, success doesn’t happen overnight. There will be struggles but those struggles get you closer to your ultimate goal/dream.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.amhoneybeeboutique.com
• Instagram: @amhoneybeeboutique
• Facebook: @amhoneybeeboutique
• Other: Tik Tok: @amhoneybeeboutique use the code: “Newbie10” at checkout for a discount towards your first purchase

Image Credits
Mack’s Moments photography (@macksmoments)