We were lucky to catch up with Shadá Menefee recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Shadá thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I initially came up with idea for Flourish By Shadá, when I renovated my mother’s home back in 2015. Few years prior to then, we had lost my dad to a long battle with cancer. My parents had plans to begin renovating and turning our home into everything they’ve dreamed of but unfortunately he became ill, all of those plans just weren’t even a factor anymore. Shortly after I graduated college in 2014, I moved back home and it felt as if time had stood still. Everything was still in its place, as if my dad was just away on a long trip. His work jackets were still lined up, shoes still in the closet, and his favorite place to sit and watch tv was untouched. I don’t know how my mom was able to live in the house that way but she wasn’t going to have to anymore. The updates and renovations my mom planned on doing with my dad, I was going to do them for her. After spending weeks of painting, tearing up old carpet, and picking out bathroom tile, I was finally able to present a home to my mother that she couldn’t believe was hers. These are plans that she thought were impossible and I proved to her that they weren’t. The smile on her face was unmatched and now, with Flourish By Shadá, I want to continue to give that same smile to plenty of other women who assume having a beautiful home or space is intangible for them.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Yes, I am Shadá Menefee, The 9-5 Entrepreneur. As much as I live and breathe interior design and my business, I also have a career with a Fortune 300 company. In a society centered around the admiration of entrepreneurship, I want to display how it’s possible to maintain both, a career and a thriving business. Yes, it sounds like a lot because it is. I’ve tackled and overcome many challenges in my life, and this must be the hardest chapter in my book, to date. I’ve had to tap into a different kind of perseverance, drive, and dedication in order to remain consistent in all my efforts to start my business, maintain my business, and scale my business. As difficult as it may be, my devotedness to Flourish By Shadá and what it stands for, is bigger than me. I stand to create this space where women who look like me, can have a place to go to where they can have the ultimate luxury experience for their home or space, and actually use it. Black and brown women have come a long way from even being able to be homeowners let alone, have their home look and feel like everything they’ve ever dreamed of. Interior design is not something that we are privy to nor brought up to believe is for us, and I am going to change that.
My design services bring that experience, and my home décor cultivates the final touches of luxury, literally. Since becoming a designer, far too often did I find that the quality of items I was placing in my clients’ homes, were subpar. Therefore, I decided to create my own.
I am so proud at how far Flourish By Shadá has come. From designing my mom’s home to make her feel almost whole again after losing my dad, to now serving multiple clients up the east coast and shipping to hundreds of customers across the US. My father always told me I’d make a difference one day and I plan to keep living up to that.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn was that everything must look beautiful, perfect, and aesthetically pleasing before I can do anything else. This pertains to all levels in my business; the business’s logo, website, marketing email templates, social media pages, content, and the list goes on. Granted, we want to attain everything that helps our brand look nice however, as my coach advises, in order to scale the business certain tasks, must be “quick and dirty.” Spending too much time on one task in order to make it look nice, can certainly take away from productivity in other areas of the business. I’ve always believed that “Time is Money” and it has truly shown its virtue now that, where I choose to spend my time or delegate, will make or break my revenue.
I truly value how critical is it to get the task done and make changes later. Perfect example, I’ve changed my logo and branding three times in the 2.5 years I’ve been in business. Now imagine if I didn’t complete my LLC to get started. I’d still be stuck, today, worried about how much I didn’t love my logo or brand colors. Moral of the story is, done > perfect. Just start!
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
Yes, I manufacture my products currently, but it didn’t always start off that way. I knew I wanted to solve a problem within the market, which was to create high-quality, durable home goods that will last but also look and feel luxurious. When I began to execute the idea, I immediately wanted to know how to do it myself. I did months of research, took sewing classes, made pillows from scratch; then realized the turnover time to make the products myself, just wasn’t efficient. I started off with just throw pillows however, I always knew I wanted to scale the business to have an array of home décor. With that, making home décor myself, piece by piece, wasn’t going to get me there.
So, I did more research on how to find manufacturers/distributors who could execute my home decor designs in mass production. Through proper vetting, I found a few legit manufacturers and narrowed down the list. Before going into business with anyone, my requirements were to ensure that the relationship would be mutually beneficial, the future business partner knew my business and how important high-quality and functionality is for my brand, and they understood the process of us going through multiple samples until the product was made correctly. Then of course, they had their requirements I had to adhere to, so I had to prepare myself for that commitment as well.
I knew I found the right manufacturer to go into business when they and I shared the same values on providing the absolute best quality items for their customers. Once I shared my business and what it stands for with regards to luxury, they were on board immediately and we’ve now been doing consistent business going on 3 years.
Lessons I’ve learned about manufacturing a product are:
1. Samples are must! Yes, they must be paid for and cost nearly 3x more than what it costs if purchased in bulk however, it’s crucial that you see the sample prior to putting the product in mass production. Imagine if you lay out every detail of how you want your product, assuming your manufacturers will execute seamlessly, just to find it is not 100% what you expected and now you have hundreds of them. Getting a sample made does take time but it so worth the wait to ensure your product is exactly what you’re expecting.
2. Explain to your manufacturers every detail about your business and what your brand stands for. These businesses work with a lot of other small and big businesses and honestly, our product is just another job to them. Not sure if I am just fortunate but I’ve come to find that my manufacturers are really invested with the work that we do together because I’ve taken them along with me on my journey. They know my story, why I started Flourish By Shadá, and where I plan on taking it. We’ve learned a lot about each other over the short tenure of our business relationship and I know it will take us to new heights.
3. Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. Forecasting is huge! Especially if you want to ensure you have what you need for when you need it. I will disclose, it’s not easy to this until you’ve had a full year or two worth of data to examine. An example in my case can be centered around having a sizable amount of inventory in specific colors around certain seasons and holidays. During Valentine’s Day, Merlot (Red) and Sweet Pea (Pink) tend to sell very well; also, in the Springtime, Sapphire (Blue), Limón (Yellow), and Lilac (Light Purple) tend to do the same.
Putting products into production and getting it shipped can take up to 90 days therefore, my process must begin within 120 days before I need the product to be physically here. The process begins with reviewing current inventory, analyzing numbers from the previous year(s) to review trends, logging what I’ll need to make the inventory size sufficient, then place the order with the manufacturer. As stated, delivery can take up to 90 days so during that time, I begin talking the products up and start rolling all campaigns.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.flourishbyshada.com
- Instagram: @flourishbyshada
- Facebook: @flourishbyshada
Image Credits
Breanna Aponte and Dre Smith from All About It