We recently connected with Brandi Lopez and have shared our conversation below.
Brandi, appreciate you joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
Growing up I knew I never wanted to work a regular 9-5 job. I always knew I wanted to have a job that allows me to express myself with art. I never imagined that I could be my own boss and make a living doing the thing I love. Before starting my business I studied really hard to become a real estate agent. I spent hours and hours of studying, I passed my license test and found a great company to work with. After all that hard work I knew something wasn’t right. This isn’t what I wanted. I felt like I was wasting my time and I wasn’t passionate about the work I was doing. I started my business about a month after quitting real estate. This time it felt right. I knew that this is what I’m supposed to do as a career. In the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing. I never thought my business could be successful. A lot of the time I thought to myself, “you’re 19, what do you know about running a business?” I worked hard to make the best products and be the best at service so my customers would want to purchase again and again. I don’t regret anything and I love owning my business. This is definitely the best decision I could’ve made.
Brandi, 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?
I grew up in a small town in South Texas, a place where everyone knows everyone. Since I was really young I’ve always loved arts and crafts. Anytime I was bored I would always be drawing or making something. I graduated high school when I was 16 and I had plans to go to college, but I decided in the end I didn’t want to go. I felt there was something more that I could do with my time instead of spending hours in a classroom. Since I wasn’t going to college I needed to find a way to make money. I spent about 6 months doing real estate when I was 18 before starting my business. That industry wasn’t for me. I felt no happiness or passion doing that work. Once I turned 19 I created my business and it has bloomed into something I couldn’t have imagined. I came up with the idea for my business a while ago. After graduating high school I had a lot of free time so I picked up the hobby of writing letters to penpals and journaling. I ended up collecting a lot of different stationery with this hobby. The main stationery I bought was stickers. So, I decided to make my own. I design almost all stickers available on my website. I also import certain stationery from South Korea. It’s not easy to find a lot of stationery from South Korea in America so I import them, with the help of my business partner, so my customers have easier access to these cute items. It makes me very proud that I’m able to call myself a business owner. It would not be possible at all without the hard work and the love and support from my customers. I truly am very lucky and blessed to be doing this as a full time job. I love every second of it!
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I met my business partner awhile before starting my business. We met back in October of 2021 and were very close for awhile. I told him how I wanted to start a business in May of 2022 and he told me to go for it. He has been such a huge help for me in running my business. I don’t think I’d be able to accomplish a lot of the things I’ve done if it wasn’t for him. He pushes me to reach my goals and work hard. For that I am really grateful to him. He was the person who convinced me to start selling on my own website. I was so nervous to open my own website, I thought I would be wasting money and that no one would even know my website exists. I had all these doubts and fears but my business parter pushed me to take that leap and just open my own website. That was one of the best decisions possible. After opening my website my business flourished and I saw so much more activity from my customers than I ever had before. Even on social media my followers began to grow after he told me to publish a video that I personally thought would not get any views, and now it has nearly 1 million. I’ve always been scared to push myself and take risks, but thanks to him all these risks pay off. He is a huge help to my business, he keeps me on top of things and always makes sure I have materials in stock so I can work with ease. I have no idea what I’d do without him.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I sold on Etsy for a few months before opening my own website. Etsy is great for beginners and I still use it to this day. I don’t particularly like how Etsy handles the fees they take from you so that was one of the big reasons I wanted to open my own website. Designing my new website was really fun, but definitely not easy. Shopify is what I used to create my website and they make it pretty easy in guiding you on how to create and operate your own website, but there was still a lot I needed to learn. I would say I prefer my website over Etsy. Like I mentioned, I still use Etsy even while having my own website. I like the way Etsy recommends you to shoppers and makes it easy for you to connect with them. I love that your customers can give you ratings and leave reviews so that other future customers can see. Etsy is a good place for sellers, but I noticed after opening my own website my business just flourished. I was getting tons of orders compared to what I was receiving on Etsy. Being able to design my own website and just use my outlet of creativity was perfect for me. I love my website and it has definitely helped me grow as a business owner.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cozyloveclub.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cozyloveclub/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086514810674
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cozyloveclub
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cozyloveclub