We were lucky to catch up with Jacqui Adkins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacqui, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Mistake on the Lake was always a tongue in cheek name given to Cleveland, Ohio for its known sports blunders and mishaps. Our rivers have literally caught on fire. It all started as a Facebook page to share local memes, sports related content and local related articles that were funny in nature. Some look at the name as a negative however; it was not intended this way at all. The Cleveland mentality is knowing we are a hot mess, but embracing it and laughing along with it. I had no idea that it would ever turn into an actual business let alone my full time job or I may have rethought the name. Luckily the followers love it!

Jacqui, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

A little about the owner – Jacqui is a 38-year-old mom with a 16-year-old son that plays E-sports for Vermilion High School and a 20 year old step daughter that currently attends Ohio State University. Jacqui also shares a home with her boyfriend Tyson and their 2 dogs Mya & Mabel. Jacqui also has over 250,000 followers & in 2020, she made a leap of faith and quit her banking career of 15+ years to grow her brand Mistakes on the Lake. She has no formal graphic design training and learned everything from mentors & YouTube.

Back in 2013, Jacqui and a group of friends created Mistakes on the Lake as a funny Facebook page for memes, funny news stories & sports or weather anecdotes. By 2017, Mistakes on the Lake had amassed over 30,000 followers. Jacqui got the idea to turn the page into a business when another local brand Willy + Wade from Marion, OH offered to help make & ship apparel for her in effort to create a second income for her family. With her friends & family’s blessing, she decided to give it a try. Jacqui focused on high end soft tees with Cleveland designs. During the first year, Mistakes on the Lake had shipped to ALL 50 states & 10 countries!

In 2018 Jacqui’s boyfriend, Tyson offered to build her a workshop in his home. Jacqui, who was working at a bank, also then decided to reinvest the money earned from Mistakes on the Lake into the purchase of equipment needed to operate a fully functional online T-shirt shop. This gave Jacqui the chance to get her hands dirty and learn every facet of her business. In 2021, she outgrew their home and moved into a 1,800 sq ft fulfillment center in their hometown of Vermilion

Throughout the years Jacqui has put her passion, creativity and humor into the Mistakes on the Lake brand. In 2020 she began hosting pop-up shops at Northeast Ohio markets and continues to do so in 2022. Mistakes on the Lake currently has over 250,000 followers, part time help and are operating out of their fulfillment center in Vermilion, OH. MistakesontheLake.com proudly features Ohio themed apparel and products made in Ohio by other local artisans.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I started Mistakes on the Lake with $250. Most of the money was used for setting up the website & the fees to become legal. Having an online business model really set me up for quick success as I already had a significant amount of social media followers. I knew I just needed a good product. In its infancy, I made all of the designs and simply shared them on social media. I outsourced to another local company for the actual printing & fulfillment. With sales growing in 2019, I was able to reinvest the money earned from the business to build a fully functional print shop shop in our home and then by 2021 I outgrew that and reinvested money again into a fulfillment center. Any money I earn goes right back into building the future of the company. I can’t believe what $250 has turned into!

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I am simply amazed and humbled by our customers. I admit that it is extremely hard to stay in touch personally, but I try to reach out to “regular” clients when I see an order come through. I like to write a little thank you note or give some promo items away for our regulars or larger orders.

To add a personal touch, I open the fulfillment center for the Christmas holidays & invite customers in to come in, say hi and shop current items, overstock items along with special edition items not featured on the website. We have people that have traveled out of state to come in and shop. That part is still crazy to me! I love it!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MistakesontheLake.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/MistakesontheLake_
• Facebook: Facebook.com/MistakesontheLake
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbr_5s2M7u0

Image Credits
GEMINI PHOTOGRAPHY – [email protected]