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

David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

Starting my pad making business was honestly not intentional at first. I made my own pads for my drag body and received a lot of attention in Houston. Slowly people started asking me to make theirs and eventually you couldn’t go to a drag show in Houston without seeing at least 1 queen with my pads on. Once it looked like the Houston clientele was going to start running dry, I made a Instagram feel about the process. I received so much feedback and inquiry from all across the country and even in other countries. My friend, Blackberri, told me to make a tiktok and post the video there. It went viral. It’s at 4.6 million views. I gained so much attraction that I decided to continue to post videos about making pads and made my website. Social media exploded my small business, I’ve now shipped to 17 states and even to Australia!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Tiktok is how I’ve gotten most of notoriety. My advice would be post quality over quantity. And respond to the comments! Build a connection with the people engaging in your content. You never know who is the next client. And if the comments are hateful, play back. The more interaction, the better it is for the algorithm. Use them haters to your advantage.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Seymour Butts LLC was definitely the side hustle! I was trying to bar tend, go through college, do drag, and make pads all at the same time. Trying to figure out what I was most passionate about that would also generate enough money to eat for the rest of my life. Putting my eggs in an artistic basket was so terrifying. Putting them in a small business with a niche clientele wasn’t even something I considered until it was happening. The business was a response to an apparent need in the drag market. My shape and process is just different than any other well known company. Nothing against them, but there was a hole to be filled in the market, and I was the queen to do it. I’m still in my infancy, and yet, if I keep working the way I am, I’ll, without a doubt, be a staple in the drag community within the next year or two. Starting with booths at pageants, and hopefully at the next drag con.

Contact Info:

• Website: SeymourButtsLLC.com
• Instagram: Iris.seymour
• Other: Tiktok: Iris.seymour

Image Credits
Gavin Calais Photography Barbra Coa