We recently connected with Emma Ragland and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Emma thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Well, I was 17 and had just quit a hostessing job. I wanted to make some money while trying to find a new job and decided to try selling some of my clothes I didn’t wear anymore on Instagram. So I made an account originally called “The Thrifty Sunflower” and started posting my old clothes on there. Once that started picking up I thought, “Well I love to thrift, why don’t I just start thrifting for this thing? That way more people can shop from me!”, and thus, Rag Land was born!

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.

Hi, I’m Emma Ragland. I’m 21 years old and have been running my business for four years now! As a child, I always wanted to be in the fashion industry. I loved clothes and making outfits, but at my young age I only thought you could be a fashion designer. And I didn’t want to design clothes, I can’t draw so that wouldn’t work out well! So I dived into music and that became my new passion. Once I was in high school, though, and deciding what I wanted to do with my life, I realized there were many things I could do in fashion. How I started my business was just thinking it’d be temporary while I wait for the local Olive Garden to be built so I could hostess there, but it turned into something amazing and it’s truly changed my life!

Something that I pride myself on is my customer service. Not only am I kind as can be with customers (as everyone should be), but I try and build relationships with them. I don’t like to think of them as customers, they’re my friends!

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

My biggest pivot was when Covid-19 hit. Many of the thrift stores were closed and I had to just sell any inventory I had, including my own clothes, to try and make a living. That’s when I started doing live sales on Instagram. I would go live, show items, and sell them in an auction-style bid! The last person that commented a dollar amount after 30 seconds would win the item! It was an incredible time for me surprisingly! My business was growing exponentially, and since no one had anything else to do – they’d tune into my lives and shop!

My biggest regret throughout this was not realizing that Covid would one day end. I was making the most money I ever had and didn’t think to save it. Obviously, after Covid-19 slowed down people started going out more and doing their shopping in person since they hadn’t been able to in so long. I wish I had realized that would happen so it wouldn’t have come as such a surprise to me at the time.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

As someone who started their business on social media, it’s a wild place! It’s constantly changing – both the algorithms and the trends – and it can be extremely exhausting trying to keep up. What I’ve learned is that the people who want to find you will find you, don’t exhaust yourself trying to be “trendy” or else you’ll burn yourself out.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/raglandclothingco