Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amyra Reyes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Amyra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
I came up with the name for my Company when I was working on a magazine design project in college. I knew what I envisioned the magazine to be and its tone so then it just came down to figuring out the name. I wrote down a list of words that matched the tone and married the idea of gaming pop culture with femininity. Suddenly the word Bombshell came to mind and I knew immediately it was perfect. When I think of femininity, I think of my idol Marilyn Monroe who was the ultimate Bombshell. For the gaming part, I thought about how in shooter games, you typically have grenades or “bombs” as well as bullets therefore shell casings. For me, everything sort of natural fit together with the name I had chosen.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
The idea of Bombshell Gaming Style started as a simple class assignment in college where I was asked to design my own magazine publication. It could be a style of magazine that already existed, but I wanted to push myself to design something more within my interests. Then it dawned on me how a fashion lifestyle magazine centered around nerdy/gaming pop culture didn’t exist. There was Game Informer, IGN, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, but nothing that combined the entire lifestyle and spoke to women. Thus it gave me the inspiration to start the magazine myself. I created an online blog which discuss and hit upon different topics related to cosplay, gaming, comics, movies, fashion, etc. Even more recently, I launched an online store on my blog site where I designed different apparel and accessories related to the brand. My goal with the store is to not only spread the word of my blog, but give me a chance to bring more writers in to create articles for my blog so it will one day be a full digital and print publication.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
My online store is directly on my blog website. I had considered Etsy since there is a way to integrate an Etsy page onto a WordPress website. However, I was paying attention to all the fees it would cost for having an Etsy shop. When I began shopping around for manufacturers, I had found one who can integrate themselves into Woocommerce which is used on WordPress sites. With this capability, everything I create with my manufacturer automatically syncs itself to my Woocommerce eliminating a lot of tedious work for me. This allowed me to keep my existing site and add a shop page by simply upgrading my plan. Etsy is a great choice for someone who is manufacturing their own products, but for someone like me who is using a third party source, it didn’t make sense. I enjoy the fact everything is directly on my site and in my own hands giving me more control of every aspect of my store.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
I personally do not manufacturer my products, but a lot of research went into the choosing process for my manufacturer. I knew I wanted to sell products based on my own designs, but I had a few issues against me needing to be resolved. For one, there was being able to check the quality of products ensuring all materials used were good quality and professionally made. There is also the issue of not having a lot of capital to invest in the beginning of my business so I needed to find means that would work with my budget as well a be low risk if possible. I started my research online searching various manufacturers, comparing what other bloggers used for their online stores as well as reviews. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to give Printful a chance as it was the best option for what I wanted to sell as well as being a great choice for a beginner. With that being said, after creating some designs, I printed some samples with Printful and wasn’t honestly happy with all of them. I was not sure of a back up plan at first and felt pretty hopeless, but I realized I needed to be patient. I wanted to release my store at full force with tons of products ready to go, but this wasn’t really a realistic goal. After stepping back, I realized I had a good amount of items I did love and could release so why not use Printful for the items that did work. I don’t have to use them for everything, but they still gave me enough to get started.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bombshellgamingstyle.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BombshellGamingStyle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bombshellgamingandstyle/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bombshell-gaming-style-llc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bombgame_style