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

Ally, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

I am going to be 100% honest! I have no idea what I’m doing & no one does. That’s the truth behind business ownership. You can never be 100% prepared and you can never predict the twists & turns that business ownership brings! That’s the dirty truth behind Pin It Co. We are all just winging it. With that being said, in 2013 when I drove through town and saw the empty building that would soon become the place that changed my life. I jumped at the opportunity to have a space to share my newfound passion for all things DIY with the community. There was no roadmap and no expectations, so I jumped in with the help of some family members and started creating any and everything with my hands and some free materials! My rent starting out was $300 and I had zero budget for supplies. It took a lot of ingenuity to launch a business out of actually NOTHING, but it worked and I worked really frappin’ hard! The days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months, and before I knew it Pin It became a name in the community. From hosting sold out craft nights to refinishing furniture, we were busy and moved 2 additional times to support the rapid growth. Soon the internet came calling and we jumped at the opportunity to sell online, but with that came new challenges of being able to meet the production demands for my hand created items. We quickly found ourselves in the world of wholesale, which was exciting but also a challenge. However, selling online created the opportunity for us to not only reach the members of our community, but communities around the country! What was once a craft studio, quickly became a shipping and fulfilling station. My weekly trips to buy paint soon turned into trips to buy bubble wrap and packing tape. I blinked and Pin It was unrecognizable. My little creative side hustle was a full blown business that supported multiple members of my family and other employees that felt like family. When I look back, I would say that social media has been largest tool for growth. There was no magic formula for the way I used social media, it just acted as a tool to give our customers a glimpse into our real life. I feel like people have chosen to shop with me not because of the specific items I carry, but because I’ve carried them along on the journey. What’s next for Pin It? Again, I have no clue! That is the continued theme, but I promise we’ll include you every step of the way!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am going to be 100% honest! I have no idea what I’m doing & no one does. That’s the truth behind business ownership. You can never be 100% prepared and you can never predict the twists & turns that business ownership brings! That’s the dirty truth behind Pin It Co. We are all just winging it. With that being said, in 2013 when I drove through town and saw the empty building that would soon become the place that changed my life. I jumped at the opportunity to have a space to share my newfound passion for all things DIY with the community. There was no roadmap and no expectations, so I jumped in with the help of some family members and started creating any and everything with my hands and some free materials! My rent starting out was $300 and I had zero budget for supplies. It took a lot of ingenuity to launch a business out of actually NOTHING, but it worked and I worked really frappin’ hard! The days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months, and before I knew it Pin It became a name in the community. From hosting sold out craft nights to refinishing furniture, we were busy and moved 2 additional times to support the rapid growth. Soon the internet came calling and we jumped at the opportunity to sell online, but with that came new challenges of being able to meet the production demands for my hand created items. We quickly found ourselves in the world of wholesale, which was exciting but also a challenge. However, selling online created the opportunity for us to not only reach the members of our community, but communities around the country! What was once a craft studio, quickly became a shipping and fulfilling station. My weekly trips to buy paint soon turned into trips to buy bubble wrap and packing tape. I blinked and Pin It was unrecognizable. My little creative side hustle was a full blown business that supported multiple members of my family and other employees that felt like family. When I look back, I would say that social media has been largest tool for growth. There was no magic formula for the way I used social media, it just acted as a tool to give our customers a glimpse into our real life. I feel like people have chosen to shop with me not because of the specific items I carry, but because I’ve carried them along on the journey. What’s next for Pin It? Again, I have no clue! That is the continued theme, but I promise we’ll include you every step of the way!

**I accidentally answered all the questions in the first box, please feel free to pull from this write up above as needed.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Refer to first response.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Being relatable, constant engagement, and communication.

Refer to first response for more insight.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pin-it.co/
• Instagram: @pin.it.co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pinitgiftsandevents/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoDEYROvGUQezjxVJvoUd_A