We were lucky to catch up with Brittany Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brittany, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

The Slime Laboratory was created by my daughter, Ahja, who was completely obsessed with making slime on a daily basis thanks to YouTube. In response to her creativity and the thought that “I can’t be the only parent dealing with this messy situation”, we created The Slime Laboratory. The original purpose of creating this business was to teach my children entrepreneurship and marketing. I figured it would be a great way for them to earn their allowances while getting a chance to interact with different children. We started by setting up at our local farmers market called Market Days on Broadway. Children were able to walk up to our slime station and we would walk them through the steps to create a slime that they’d love. The parents were always so grateful for this table because they no longer had to make the mess at home nor worry about their washing powders disappearing. A few months after starting up, parents started to inquire about birthday parties and events. The slime laboratory started to pick up in bookings and festivals throughout 2019.

Our original plans were to open a store front in 2020, but Covid halted the plans. We were able to do a few events towards the end of 2020, but started planning for our upcoming 2021 spring events.

2021 was productive but included many financial and personal set backs. I wasn’t ready to open the store just yet. We realized that we had to work through a few kinks and we didn’t know what to expect with Covid.

I decided that 2022 was a better year to take the leap and open a slime shop here in Columbus GA, where we are able to host birthday parties and events in store, making it very convenient for parents and children to make as much of a mess as they want without the worries of cleaning up.

The shop opened on April 2, 2022. The event was huge and very successful. However, I’ve realized that I didn’t do my due diligence when it came to location and proper marketing. The location does not have a lot of foot traffic and is a little far out.

When it comes to marketing, I am still trying to figure out the best route. I have tons of people that didn’t even know we had a local slime shop that they could bring their children to.
I also need to hire on an accountant to help me with bookkeeping and balancing my finances. I’ve never had a growing business so there are a lot of lessons that I am learning. I’m basically failing my way to success.

Brittany, 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?

For those that don’t know, I am Brittany, mom of two children and Owner or The Slime Laboratory. I hold a BBA in Business Management with a concentration in entrepreneurship. Supervisory and management is what fills my resume. I love being and example and leading others to success. I have always dreamed of owning multiple businesses, but I planned on my first business being a restaurant. I would have never thought I would own a slime shop.
The Slime Laboratory was my daughter’s idea that I brought to life. We initially wanted to allow a space for children to make a mess with no repercussions. I knew that most children loved Slime, but parents hated even the thought. So we decided to solve the problem of kids wanting to be Slime scientist experimenting with their parents laundry detergent and contact solution.
We have also solved the problem of parents who want to do something outside of the norm for their children’s birthday parties.

What sets us apart from other children’s based party businesses is Slime. There are no slime shops in the state of Georgia. We offer three packages, a place to host a party, and the option to decorate and customize the space.
Kids are obsessed and it will never get old because there will always be a fresh set of elementary aged children that fall in love with slime.

We offer slime kits that can be purchased and made at home, pre made fun slimes for those that are wanting the mess but don’t want to make it, and slime merchandise such as T-shirts.

We are looking to update and expand our offerings in the near future to cups, backpacks, better quality shirts, custom aprons, and more.

Our next step is to work with branding and marketing coaches to grow my company into a franchise with nation wide locations.

What I am most proud of is sticking to my goal and dream of being a successful business owner. I’ve been able to think outside the box and create a lane for myself.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

So, funding my business has been one of the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. I bootstrapped the entire business from day one to present.

Being a start up, getting funding is very difficult. You have to build business credit and revenue before any bank will touch you. Grants are very very competitive and saturated.

I’m the first 3 years, the over head was very low. Due to the slime lab being mobile, there was no rent, utilities, etc… I literally only had to purchase inventory.

But, opening a brick and mortar has been my biggest financial challenge yet. Going from maybe spending $600 per month to almost $4000 per month was a significant jump to my financial budget that I did not take into consideration.

I used all of my savings and tax money, which was only a few thousand, to open the business. Now that I have some revenue coming in, I am in search of funding to be able to hire on a few employees. At this moment, I am budgeting and stabilizing my personal and business budget. But, I have definitely learned what not to do and spend with my next venture.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I have learned that the most effective strategy is people. Word of mouth travels faster than most marketing strategies when it comes to my business model.

The key for my business is to get my current clients to tell there friends and family. A lot of my bookings have come from friends of friends that made slime with us before.

Social media works for bigger events, but when it comes to building a strong clientele, reviews and recommendations have been my most successful strategy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theslimelaboratory.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_slime_laboratoryga/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/375971676328551/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC0OPQYewr4IGzmQVjiz1rgQ