We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erica Campbell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Erica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Would you say you are more focused on growing revenue or cutting costs? We’d love to hear how you think about these two critical drivers

Since I switched from freelance work to a product based business, we had a huge surge in revenue growth. This past year we doubled our revenue from 2020. However, we ran into massive cash flow issues of inventory management and a growing team to manage all parts of the business. Our profitability was lower and for me as the business owner, stress was much higher.

I hit a point of total exhaustion of trying to manage the business at its current state, and as a mother to young children (and also pregnant) I had to reevaluate where we were headed. Our operating expenses had sky rocketed and our cost of goods sold had increased due to all the changes in manufacturing since the pandemic.

I ultimately chose to scale back my team and do more myself rather than manage other people doing them. I also looked at what the ROI was on different initiatives – like an app – and got rid of what I could. The goal this year is follow the Profit First model and spend only 50% of the bottom line revenue on operating costs and to really lean into our best sellers rather than always producing new products that have added costs. For example, each new product that I create needs sample fees, photography, website copy, marketing, influencer investment, etc.

So far as we move into Q2 this year, our gross revenue has grown and our operating costs have decreased, making a more sustainable business during the slow months of summer as we gear up for a) having a baby and b) the holiday sales that really carry our business.

Erica, 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?

I began as a freelance calligrapher turned designer when I was living in Los Angeles in 2015. I was working often in the event industry, which required managing so many projects at one time. Then I began designing for products that were produced by other companies. When I got married in 2018 and quickly pregnant in 2019, I realized that it was not sustainable as motherhood would make it more challenging to go to in person events and pull late nights writing place cards. I decided to make a few of my own products with my designs on them to sell to the community I had built on instagram. The first was a bathing suit and I quickly learned that clothing was going to be very challenging with returns and things. Then I made a bandana – in 2018 we were all wearing them as ascots – and sold out of 500 within a week.

Then I made a swaddle blanket with Our Lady of Guadalupe on it. At the time, there weren’t very many cute baby blankets on the market. We also sold out of those before we had even gotten them in stock. There was a real void in modern Catholic goods that reflected the life that I was living and it is largely how I was so successful so quickly. Today I make a lot of various items for Christians (mostly Catholics and closely related denominations) for children, women, and the home. I focus on making products that are giftable, products that are beautiful and of high quality.

I had a baby in January 2020 as covid changed our world and I think for all of us in any kind of retail space, everything has changed. I have been navigating both being a mother and running a business and have made so many mistakes. This year, I’m really learning to lean into what I do know, trusting myself, and slowing down to have more sustainable growth. The landscape in my niche is also totally different as more businesses have opened and become competitors. I really try to keep my eyes on my own paper and make things that I want to use in my own home and life – without comparing it to what others are making.

I also try to be very authentic in how I share my own life and story, going back to how I built the community in 2014 in the heyday of instagram. And I try with who I am and what we make to point to Love above all else.

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

In 2023, I was working with a team of 5 women. They were all great, but having to make payroll every month was very stressful in our slow months – June to September. I was completely burnt out by October. Our credit cards and credit line were maxed out as I had a lot of money tied up in products for the holiday season – when we do 40% of our sales. I knew I couldn’t continue on in this way. The business was no longer enjoyable for me and I noticed that I had become a boss similar to one that I had once had – the boss where I said to myself, “if I ever turn into that, I will know it’s not working.”

I spent a month praying about what to do and talking to others who I trusted. I was debating selling the business, selling off the inventory we had and closing up, and a few other scenarios. And then I realized that I just needed to scale back. I needed to get back to the beginning stages of the business. I had built something, at the advice of some “advisors” that was ultimately unsustainable and I needed to go back to the drawing board. I realized for myself that I was struggling to manage the team well at the same time as managing my family life. And no one was thriving.

So now we are just down to me and my customer service manager – in addition to our fulfillment center. I have really enjoyed doing the things that I did in the beginning – designing emails, posting on social media, running ads, getting creative in a way that I just couldn’t when I was constantly worrying about revenue growth.

Surprisingly, our revenue is still growing and the business is running at a slower pace that doesn’t make me feel like my head is completely spinning.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

When I moved from Etsy just selling small prints and things to Shopify when I became a fully product based business, I thought I should only have one sales channel. I shut my Etsy shop down for years. But then last year, I heard some good advice to not limit the streams of selling – not to put all eggs in one basket. So now I sell on our e-comm website, the Etsy shop is back open, and we put some of our best selling products on Amazon. Amazon obviously takes a huge cut of the sales, but it also often a customer base that wouldn’t otherwise find us. We have had huge success with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beaheart.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/beaheartdesign & instagram.com/ericatighecampbell

Image Credits
Stephanie Villa Davis, Michelle Telepak