We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abby Alley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Abby, thanks for joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

My priority is ensuring people are treated fairly and providing customers with high quality products over profit and growth.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an educator turned entrepreneur when my journey took me to Tanzania to volunteer at a local primary school. This experience led me to explore East African culture, learn about craft and fair trade, and opened up a desire to connect women in the US to this very meaningful part of my story. In 2016, I began working with artisans and testing the market with an online store and launched my own brand, Abby Alley, in November, 2018.

The collections of jewelry and bags reflect the our founding principles of exceptional quality, timeless design, collaborative spirit, and authenticity.

Starting this business was a leap of faith for me – one that required courage to step outside my comfort zone. It is my desire to inspire and encourage women who are seeking to live a life full of courage – daring to step out – even in the midst of uncertainty.

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

One of the things I’m currently learning or unlearning is the idea that just because something worked for another business doesn’t mean I have to adopt it for mine. Social media can be a wonderful place to be inspired and learn from other people but it is also so easy to get distracted and even sidetracked by what seems to be working for someone else’s business. The biggest asset to most small businesses is the person/people behind it. Staying true to who you are and to your values will ensure you are attracting the right customers who really believe in what you’re doing. For example, this time of year, it can be very tempting for me to offer incredible sales for Black Friday. It is tempting to believe the lie that people won’t shop with my business this holiday season unless I offer a sale. But the truth is, I don’t believe in the mass consumerism that is the driver behind Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I do however believe in offering my customers rewards for their loyalty and transparency. And I do believe in pricing products fairly from the start (without huge markups that allow for 40-70% off discounts). Obviously sales are not necessarily bad or unethical, but for my business, this type of a sale doesn’t make sense. Staying true to myself is a risk, but I know if I feel this way, other people do too, and it is my job to communicate clearly and transparently so people can make their own choices. I want to build a brand people can trust.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

This is something I think about often because relationships are really important to me. I don’t have a brick and mortar store where I can build in-person relationships with our customers so I have to be creative to connect with my customers and show my deep gratitude for their belief in what I’m building. Furthermore, my customers are in all 50 states and Canada and I am in Chicago! I currently have three main ways of communicating with customers – email, texting, and Instagram. I love all three platforms for different reasons. My emails are not short – I take time each week to really communicate my thoughts as if I am emailing one person. I love being able to share from my heart in this way. It feels very personal to me. I love texting because it allows for one-on-one conversations about specific questions, like I’m texting with a friend. And Instagram is great because I can create videos and talk on camera to people – so people can actually put a face and voice with the name. I am always evolving and growing with how to best use these platforms, but I do think having multiple points of connection helps create community and being part of a community is what creates loyalty.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.abbyalley.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbyalleybrand/
• Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/53qsNPr

Image Credits
Some of the photos are by Nicole DeFilippis some are by me.