We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bre Elle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bre below.

Bre, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

There is so much we creatives are not taught in school or even in life from other people sometimes. Growing up being creative I wasn’t always encouraged to go after my dreams because they weren’t the normal choices people made to have a stable career. My folks expected me to go to college, get a good job and stay there until I retired. Something about that didn’t sit well with my spirit and I chose a different path. I always had my natural abilities but what I lacked was the understanding of how to operate a business. Opening my first business was a challenge especially with finances. The first stumble into financial literacy was understanding how to pay myself within my company, which you learn also that it is damn near impossible first starting off. All profits really should go back into the business to ensure that you can still keep the doors open. Once you understand how to become profitable in your business that is when you can begin to pay yourself and ultimately work for your business! Grab a mentor that has been in your position to teach you the fundamentals early on what direction you should go in your chosen path.

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 have always had a love for fashion and creatively expressing myself with my style. When I was in middle school taking home-ec class one lesson was on sewing. We were learning how to sew pillows and I fell in love with the process. I first thought about doing interior designs but after learning to sew clothing I was quickly convinced that was my calling! I naturally knew how to drape and design gowns. I wanted to sew my own gowns, wedding and reception dresses so I attended a fashion program at my local community college to enhance my skill set. I am most proud of my growth overall in how I design, speak with my clients/potential clients and provide services that are true to what I believe in when it comes to handmade designs. My work is one of a kind, I prefer to have an idea from my client/potential client to be free to create a design that is unique and tailored just for them!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first started designing, I quickly found that the type of fabrics I was most interested to utilize for my designs were out of my financial budget allowance. I had to pause on being a creator to get other means of liquid cash to flow to fund my business. Making the decision to put my business on hold was not easy when this is what I loved to do. Had someone taught me how to target the correct audience I would have been able to keep designing and building. There are so many methods that you only learn through trial and error. I am grateful for the pivots because they taught me how to slow down and understand the process of running a business.

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

I am old school when it comes to any of my operations, i.e., calling, texting, taking my clients out to a lunch or coffee to catch up. I believe in making a connection with my audience and clients. Technology is both great and bad for our society, it has caused so much social anxieties that new business owners fear having to speak with a client. Most small businesses are online and never speak or even reach back out to clients. When it comes to building a rapport with my clients I believe the best way to achieve that is through real conversations.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://itsprettysweets.com/
• Other: Email: b.mod.inc@gmail to get started on your next custom piece.

Image Credits
Breanne Bell