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

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

Sweet Momma Blair started when my second child was born in 2016. Previously, I was an early childhood educator and then decided home with my children is where I wanted to be. Like most stay-at-home Moms I was looking for a side hustle and a way to channel my creative energy. Sweet Momma Blair actually started as door hangers for birth announcements and has since evolved. I dabbled in personalized gifts with vinyl, then apparel using htv, and finally took the plunge to do sublimation thanks to my husband who purchased one for me as a Christmas present. 2020 is when Sweet Momma Blair really took off.

Ashley, 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?

My name is Ashley Blair. I am a Stay-at-home Mom turned small business owner, Sweet Momma Blair. We sell graphic tees, sweatshirts, mugs, and hats. Saint Louis is very loyal to their local artists which is definitely part of why I have been so successful. I do 99 percent of my own designs and am completely self-taught. My apparel focus is city based, pop culture, Mom life, seasonal, etc. I use the process of sublimation and my customers love it. In a nutshell, sublimation is a printing process that actually embeds ink into a substrate instead of just printing on the top layer. The design is dyed into the fabric. I also outsource some screen printing as well because there are limitations to sublimation printing.

I am so proud of how far I’ve come, my hustle, and the risks I’ve taken to get here. I do a lot of my work at nap time and nighttime as I have 3 kids under the age of 8. Being a small business owner is not for the faint of heart but it is SO worth it.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

In August of this year, I took the plunge and went to Dallas Apparel and Accessories Market to be a vendor. Dallas Apparel & Accessories Market is home to thousands of emerging and established wholesale women’s apparel, fashion accessories, footwear, beauty, and wellness product lines across dozens of categories. It was a big risk and quite the buy in. It was a big risk, a lot of hard work, and LONG days. As a result of my hard work, I ended up in 10 boutiques around the US and have continued to maintain relationships with those boutiques that have led to reorder.

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

The most effective strategy I have for growing my clientele has been to continue to SHOW UP. I am at markets almost every weekend and sometimes have more than 1 in a day. I think the best way to grow your clientele is to just put yourself out there. I have been on various news broadcasts to talk about my product. I am definitely not comfortable being on camera but knew the reward would be greater than the risk.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sweetmommablair.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sweetmommablair
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sweetmommablair
• Other: www.etsy.com/shop/sweetmommablair

Image Credits
PMP Images