We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brooklyn Hayes-Yelin . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brooklyn below.
Brooklyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?
I have so much respect for family businesses. It is not for the faint of heart though, that’s for sure! For my husband and I, we quickly realized how great of a team we made and how we complimented the other’s strengths and weaknesses. It was a defining moment in our marriage for sure and we grew a lot as a couple in our early days of this business. That being said, it’s really hard to be able to turn off work mode and turn on family mode. The lines between family time and work time are often blurred and truly never turn off. It is, however, the biggest blessing to be able to spend that time together and be able to do it from our home so our kids are always around, and we aren’t missing moments with them.
Brooklyn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Our story began in 2016 as an effort to make ends meet. My husband was working full time and in school full time. We had a little boy under a year old and we were trying hard to keep me home with him. At the time, I was making vinyl decals, shirts, signs, etc. My husband was doing some powder coating on different parts at work when he had the idea to combine the two mediums to create custom designs. My degree is in Graphic Design so I was excited to put it to use and see what we could come up with. This was long before the current custom tumbler trend. From there we taught ourselves through lots of online tutorials, forums, and so much trial and error. We had a great response from family but as excited as we both were with our new creations, we wanted to test the waters to see if they were something people that didn’t know us might like.
So, we borrowed $500 from my parents, bought some cups and got to work! We made a few generic designs and set out to the Waldo Flea Market. We left that day with $300 in orders for custom tumblers. It was a blessing more than I can explain at that point in our lives. From there, our little business was born, and we began doing different sporting events, craft shows, and festivals.
I’m extremely proud of how far we’ve come since those early days! My husband graduated this past year after 5 long years of working full time, school full time and helping with our business as much as he could. Our Etsy store stays very busy, and we also offer a fundraising program for teams, clubs and other organizations. We’ve established a dynamic that allows me to work from home so I can still be able to be there for the important moments with our kids.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for us is a two-part answer. We enjoy doing craft shows and sporting events where we meet many people and get to know future customers! I think this really gives our product a chance to stand out because they are able to see it and feel why it’s different from our competitors. Referrals from happy customers are also another great source! I’ve developed many great friendships with people I’ve met at these events. Getting to know our customers is by far one of my favorite parts about doing this. It’s so fun to connect with people and bring their ideas to reality.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
One of my favorite times we’ve pulled off a sale with the odds stacked against us was our first very large order. It was Christmastime which is already an extremely busy time where we work at least 16-hour days and sleep very little. We had only been doing this for about a year at that time. Our turnaround time was backing up fast with our Etsy shop orders. We were already going to be pushing the limit to get current orders done by Christmas shipping deadlines when we got an order of 300 the day before our Christmas cutoff! To add to the pressure, the company was located on the other side of the country which meant an even sooner shipping date! We went into overdrive! We hired some friends and basically turned our living room into a factory for a few weeks. It was an incredibly stressful time, but I was so proud of how we had all come together when we were able to drop those big boxes off at UPS. The company even liked them so much, they placed several large orders after that and were instrumental in advertising our company to their vendors/customers in the early days.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.southernembellishes.etsy.com
- Instagram: @SouthernEmbellishes
- Facebook: @SouthernEmbellishes