Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Abbie Singleton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Abbie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
I would love to see children have more opportunities in school to grow their creativity and have more outlets to find and focus on what they truly enjoy doing. I’m a strong believer in the fact that more elective classes such as arts, dance, music, etc. help children with communication skills, fine motor skills, problem solving skills, and overall boost their confidence and mood. I would change the extreme focus we tend to have on our standardized testing and the pressure we put on both teachers and students to meet high scores, and instead focus more on each student individually and what strengths they have and which subjects they excel in. I think focusing more on a child’s independent thinking and creativity versus their standardized test score will help them down the line for a fulfilling life and career that they love!
Abbie, 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 started drawing bathing suit sketches sometime in highschool, and my parents are both small business owners that have always encouraged my creative side so turning those drawings into my own company has always been a dream of mine. I went to High Point University for business, and I can’t imagine a more inspiring and encouraging college to grow my dream- they truly give you everything you need and more to succeed. When I graduated, I went to work getting bikini samples created, and ended up deciding to have them handmade in Bali at an eco-friendly manufacturer. I had moved back in with my parents, got a waitressing job and saved up all my money to pay off the manufacturing bills. It took a little over one year but on August 30th, 2018, I launched Beeko Bikinis! The name ‘Beeko’ comes from my cousin not being able to pronounce ‘bathing suit’ as a child, so she called them ‘Beekos’. My family has been referring to bathing suits as Beekos ever since! We have come such a long way since 2018, we expanded into a full online clothing boutique about 2 years ago and now we have new clothing arrivals every friday. We also do small business pop-ups and events around the Tampa area, which have quickly become my favorite part of my job. They are a lot of work, but I love being surrounded by other small business owners and getting to meet my customers in person. The energy and positivity at these events make all preparation and hard work worth it!
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
In 2019 I bought a children’s dance company. It was a mobile dance company that traveled around Southwest Florida and taught dance classes at churches, daycares, and preschools. I was an employee for the company for about 1 year and taught 15 classes a week for them. I was in love with the program and opportunity to bring dance to children whose families might not have been able to afford dance classes at a studio, or had the resources to drive their child to and from dance classes each week. When I found out the owner wanted to sell the company in order to spend more time with her family, I knew I wanted to take on a larger role and buy it. I went through the interview process with the woman who had previously owned it, as well as the woman who owns the franchise. I bought the company in 2019 and truly thought I would have it for the rest of my life. After owning it for 10 months, I had over 120 students, the company was thriving and I had never worked so hard in my life… Then COVID hit and everything changed. We got shut down, and every time I thought we could reopen we got pushed back and had to remain closed. This is about the time I expanded Beeko Bikinis into an online clothing boutique- I needed an income and no longer had the dance company running. To my surprise, the online boutique was doing great and when I was finally able to reopen the dance company, I was too busy! A few months ago I let the dance company go in order to keep pursuing Beeko Bikinis and Boutique. I loved teaching dance and I love working with children, so who knows what’s in store for me later in life! But right now Beekos keeps me busy enough.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I think the most important pivot I’ve made in business was expanding Beekos into clothes. At the time, the bathing suit portion was not making me enough money to survive and COVID had just shut down my dance company. I knew I needed to do something else, and admitting that Beeko Bikinis was not enough on its own was tough. But now I love the boutique clothing portion of the company and it is a major portion of our monthly sales!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BeekoBikinis.com
- Instagram: @BeekoBikinis
Image Credits
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