We were lucky to catch up with Courtney Hensley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Courtney, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

It’s a strange and scary sensation to suddenly realize the path you want to take in life. I remember the day I decided to “go for it” and start working in the fashion industry. I was pretty content with my life. I had a good paying job, a great schedule, a nice home, and for the most part it was already living the ‘American dream” but I kept feeling like something was missing. I had all of this creative flow stored within that was waiting to be born and I felt that it was time to open a new chapter in my life. It was a regular weekend at my house with my husband and two kids when the crazy idea to turn my kids play room into my “fashion office” hit me. I had no idea what I was going to do in the “office” but I knew I needed the space to think and create. I asked my kids if they supported me making their playroom my new office and to my surprise they didn’t mind at all. Within 2hrs tops I had cleared their toys and began creating my own dream world.

It was in that room that I decided to take my dream from an idea to execution. I had no business knowledge, so I spent almost two years researching how to open a business, how to find vendors, how to market a business etc.
I read blog posts, followed creators/ business owners online, watched YouTube videos, and asked a lot of questions.
I even went as far as to call businesses and ask questions about how they got started. I got hung up on a few times, but I didn’t care at all, I was determined to figure it out. Believe it or not I credit one video on YouTube for actually helping me launch my boutique. In the video the creator listed 10 steps to launch your online business. I got out my note pad and wrote them all
down and within the weeks to follow I went step by step to complete each task on the list. Once I gathered as much information as possible all that was left to was bring the store to life. I started small with a couple thousand dollars from my savings account. I got my first taste of buying at one of the biggest trade shows called MAGIC in Las Vegas. it was truly like magic. I had never been surround my so many clothes, and shoes, and people. My eyes lit up and I fell in love! I purchased my first few styles from there and launched my store and the rest has been history in the making.

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

My name is Courtney Hensley I am a boutique owner, model, fashion buyer, graphic designer, and content creator. I own and operate an online boutique called True by Courtney. I offer stylish, practical, yet glamourous styles for women who want to look and feel their best. My customers are modern day women who are forging their own path and living their best life. I recently added one size fits all styles to some of my collections which is something I’m really proud if and excited about so I am also an inclusive store.

True by Courtney is all about connection with women through fashion, so our customer service is top priority. We are very much a small business with heart and soul and I care deeply about my customers experience. With the fashion industry being so big sometimes you don’t know who you’re buying from. I allow my customers to get to know me and I think that makes their experience special.

I got into the boutique industry because of my love for fashion, storytelling, styling, and curation. You can really see that through the styles I sell and my brand visuals. For me it’s beyond making that sell I want to inspire women to live their dream life.

I am most proud of the organic growth of my store. We’ve done very few ads, no influencer ads, and I don’t have a huge personal following. I love my story because I feel that it shows women they don’t have to be popular or famous to go for their dreams and be success at it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Since launching my business I’ve had to pivot several times, In fact I’m now under the notion as a business owner you should be prepared to pivot and think on your toes at any given moment. I launched my store in the peek of the pandemic. Initially I wanted to sell really fancy clothes on my site but given the circumstances I knew that just wasn’t going to sell. My little sister suggested that I start seeing comfy matching sets, which I was totally against at first but I gave it a try. The sets sold out in minutes! My jaw literally dropped. So from that data gathered from those sales I bought more sets in more colors and sort of became known for selling matching sets. That pivot really carried my business through the first year and a half of opening.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There was a time when I was unsure of what to sell on my site and I had this bright idea to go way out of the box and buy full collection of styles that I had never sold before to my audience. It actually ended up being my slowest collection to sell to date and that was a really hard thing for me to get through I had spent money on the products and the photography which cost me thousands of dollars. I also felt that I made a bad choice by investing that much into a collection that clearly didn’t make sense for my store at the time.

I’m the kind of person that takes my losses really hard, I can get really sad and depressive when business isn’t going well and I will definitely allow myself to sit in those feelings (Sometimes too long) But I will always pray, pull myself together, talk myself through it, and get back to work.

I continued to post the looks, send emails, create reels, and marketing the collection.
Months later a major influencer ended up purchasing one of the pieces from me. She posted it and I sold almost half of that entire collection in a day!

Had I not kept posting, marketing my business there’s a chance that inventory would still be sitting on my shelves today.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopwithtrue.com
• Instagram: @truebycourtney , @Courtneyhensley
• Facebook: Courtney Hensley
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsajq7EToZi6hjVHM-PJ1uw
• Other: Tik tok @courtneyhensleyxo

Image Credits
Phot Credits: Victoria Saperstein https://victoriasaperstein.com