Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashlyn Bassett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Ashlyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I’ve always been a planner, even since I was small. I love organization and knowing what to expect. AND not only do I love planning, I love stationary (of all kinds). There is something about putting pen to paper that is so satisfying; the crisp pages, the feel of a book cover or even the act of crossing something off a list.

For years I’ve used a paper planner, but usually about 2-3 months in I would find myself altering the prompts or the structure of the pages to fit my thought processes or the way I go about my day. It quickly became a joke or an offhanded comment to say “maybe I’ll just make my own one day” until one day, it wasn’t! Flashback to 2022 when I was probably using my 15th planner (and once again I was tweaking the pages) that I truly started to consider making my own. It wasn’t until December of 2022 that I started to take the idea seriously.

It was my birthday and I was on a trip to my favorite store, Barnes & Noble (of course), to pick out my 2023 planner with some of my family. I was standing in the “planner” section flipping through almost every single planner to find one that I liked. And nothing was what I envisioned. Either the covers were weird or too busy, the interior pages had too little or too much or the flow of the planner just didn’t make sense. As I was standing there (probably 20 minutes later), I noticed that the woman beside me had been there for quite some time as well. I turned to her and said, “are you having a hard time finding a planner too?” and her response was something to the effect of “yes, I’m so picky and I can’t find something that fits my needs!” And it clicked – I wasn’t the only person who had this issue…every. single. year.

Later that day when we got back in the car, I had the idea – almost instantly. The problem was three-fold:

1. Either the content was too little or too much
2. The designs didn’t allow you to make it your own or tweak it to your planning preferences
3. And, the covers were all too busy (and they weren’t durable)

I knew after identifying the problems what I wanted to make and how it was going to be different. I wanted to create three personality-based planners that allowed the individual to take a quiz and find their “planner match” (made of leather covers in calming colors). Each planner would be built off the same design and concept, but they would layer in detail depending on your personality type.

1. The Minimalist Planner – For the essentials. Only what you need to stay organized.
2. The Intentional Planner – For the goal-oriented. Giving you the framework to prioritize key aspects of your life.
3. The Focused Planner – For the detailed. Stay focused and keep track of all the little things.

After starting my small business and launching our first batch of 2024 planners, back in August 2023, it has been amazing to see the challenges, growth & rewards from this venture. It has been encouraging to see the model play out as orders come in for all three planners; I know this is just the beginning and I can’t wait to see what this next year holds!

Ashlyn, 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’m a small business owner of Mindful Planning Co. We just recently launched in August 2023 (about 6 months in) and it has been such an exciting journey so far.

I LOVE planning, always have and so this has truly been my passion project over the last several months. I have always used a paper planner, but often found myself disappointed a few months in when I was changing the prompts or it wasn’t quite fitting my needs. After years of feeling frustrated, I decided to create my own (but not just one, three). I definitely have a tendency of taking a small idea and making it BIG.

I think it’s clear that each individual is unique – we are in different stages of life, we have different planning preferences and even different personalities. I wanted to create a brand that was centered around “being mindful” with products that helped you embrace YOU.

I set out to create three personality-based planners, with a clean and minimalistic design. There are tons of companies that create and sell planners, but I haven’t come across a single one that makes personality-based planners and this is how I knew we would be different. When you come to our website you can take a Planner Quiz to find your match. It will ask you what features you look for in a planner, how often you use your planner, your planning preferences (from a month to week to daily perspective) and so much more. We wanted you to have a planner that fits you.

Some people use their planner for the “big picture” or for just an overview, while others like to see all of the details, even down to the hour, and then there are those who are somewhere in the middle. So, why can’t there be a planner for each type of person? We want every individual that comes to use one of our products to feel organized, in control of their life and with the tools to plan in a way that fits their schedule.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

First of all, everything about this experience has been brand new to me. I have never designed, created or manufactured a product and so there was a massive learning curve I had to go through. I spent months of research trying to find manufacturers and vendors that would meet my requirements, quality and quantity. There were a lot of tears!

I quickly found out that most printing shops will not print or bind your product unless you are ordering 500-1000+ at a MINIMUM. Unfortunately, I was not in a position to take this kind of financial risk. And not only was it difficult to find a manufacturer that would fit my low quantity, I had three different types of planners to print so this made it even more challenging. I essentially wanted to order 300 planners, 100 of each type. At one point I even thought it just wasn’t going to be possible so I almost gave up. But, my husband encouraged me to think outside the box – connect with other small business owners, people who wanted to support entrepreneurs or someone else who was just starting out like me. This encouragement helped me broaden and narrow my research all at the same time.

I started looking for small local shops in Florida so I could connect with people who lived near by, I could meet with them in person and so I could help eliminate shipping costs. This helped me find a printing shop who could accommodate my quantity of 300 planners.

However, I hit a roadblock again. While they could print my pages and bind the planners with gold wire-o binding they didn’t have the leather cover option I was hoping for. It was at this point that a friend suggested that I split up my vendors, have my covers made somewhere else and then delivered to the print shop for printing and binding.

With the help of my husband and friend, I was able to think outside the box and find essentially two small business owners! I had my leather covers made elsewhere in the United States and shipped to me so I could then drive them to a local printing shop for them to finish the printing and binding. In this process I have learned so much about quantity, paper type, material and binding. I would go through it all again just for the knowledge that I gained.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

“Never take risks, you might fail” to “Take risks, you might just succeed”.

With being a planner (and a Type A personality) it’s very hard to take risks when you don’t know the outcome or what’s going to happen in the in-between. I like making calculated decisions and I don’t like spending a lot of money on something unless I KNOW the outcome will be positive. In other words, starting this business was pretty much the opposite of my normal tendencies.

I don’t know if I could say there is one backstory that helped me pivot my thinking, but what I will say is it has a lot to do with others and not so much with me. I’m still very young, but I’ve had some difficult life events, and through each phase in my life God has always been faithful to me and the things that really matter will always still be true no matter what happens.

Everyone in my life truly believed in me and it helped me have confidence in myself to take a risk. I changed my thinking from “what if it fails” to “I can do this” and it really helped me push myself outside of my comfort zone. I knew that I had countless people in my corner and the only thing holding me back was myself! I didn’t want to regret not trying and I didn’t want to miss out on this adventure. I love the challenge and I’ve loved the journey. No regrets.

Contact Info:

• Website: shopmindful.co
• Instagram: @shopmindful_co
• Facebook: Mindful Planning Co.

Image Credits
Harrison Caudill