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

Erica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

If I am being completely honest, I am VERY happy being a business owner. I will say this, I took time off for a year to return to school to get my degree in education. And while, unfortunately, at this moment, that didn’t end the way I was hoping for, after multiple talks with my fiancé, the thought of being a full-time business owner now is looking more and more like a possibility.

I can’t say that all the “what if” thoughts have not entered my head. They have indeed crossed my mind daily. I have sat down and had all the thoughts racing through my head. (“What if I’m not successful?”, “What if I don’t make any sales this month?”, “What if I’m not able to contribute financially to my family?”, “What if this is not what I’m meant to be doing with my life?”, “What if I regret not focusing on becoming a teacher?”, and so much more) I have cried to my fiancé when those thoughts enter my head and tell him that maybe I just need to focus on becoming a teacher, or even finding a “regular” job, but he is so supportive and tells me that if this is something that I really want to do, that he supports me 100% and that he knows I’ll be successful.

I truly missed crafting and creating during the year that I took off. And now that I’m back at it right now, I have to say that the joy has come back. I get so excited when I get a notification on my phone coming from my shop account. I love when I get messages from people inquiring about my items and turning those inquiries into orders. I truly have the joy of being able to craft and create back, and while, the thought of doing this full-time is still so immensely terrifying, I think I am going to try it out. I’m going to give it my all and hope and pray that my business is very successful.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Erica. I was born and raised in Dallas, TX. I am a mother to the sweetest 3 (almost 4) year old little boy. I am engaged (although most people believe I am already married lol But we haven’t signed any documents so I tell him he’s still my fiancé.)

I have always had a big love for all things school supplies. When I was little, I loved going shopping for my school supplies, and would try to get the cutest little supplies I could. I truly believe that played a big part in my love for crafting. I’ve always had a love for creating. I got my first Cricut machine for Christmas in 2016. I instantly started playing with it and trying to make as many items as I possibly could. My sister’s baby shower was in January 2017 and I was so excited to make all the decorations for it and was so happy to hear everyone say how beautiful everything was. It was after that, that I decided to start a small shop on Instagram. Getting my first official order had me so excited! I couldn’t wait to get more and more orders.

When I got pregnant and had my son in 2018, I focused more and more on my shop, which allowed me to stay home with him for basically 3 years. I then decided to return to school to get my degree in education, but as I previously mentioned, unfortunately that hasn’t gone as I had hoped.

I focus on selling personalized items, such as shirts, cups, mugs, wood signs, and any party decor you may need.

I love getting orders for party decorations with themes that are not so popular and easy to find in stores. For my son’s first birthday, we chose Baby Looney Tunes and of course, that theme is not found in stores, so it gave me absolute open creativity to make his decor how I wanted. I loved making all the decorations for his party and seeing everyone’s reactions to the decorations.

I am most proud of all the work I’ve put into my shop to this date. It hasn’t come easy to me to believe in my success, but I am proud of myself for starting back up after having closed my shop for a year and coming back full force and more ready then ever to be successful and be able to help as many customers as I possibly can.

I want any potential customers to know that when they reach out to me with any ideas they have for items, I will try my absolute best to make their visions come to life and leave them speechless when they receive their items. I do not want them to hesitate to come to me with any idea, even if they haven’t seen me post anything similar in my shop. I am completely open to new ideas and absolutely love having the opportunity to create new, special items for customers.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I would honestly say the most effective strategy for growing my clientele would be staying active on social media and taking the time to get to know what my customers are on the hunt for. I love when a new customer reaches out to me with an idea of what they’d like, but they trust me enough to have full creativity with it. When a customer reaches out to me looking for party decorations for their children, I like to ask questions to try to get to know what the child likes and what my customer has in mind. I try my very best to not just provide my customer with their items, but to build a relationship with them so that they feel comfortable with me and become repeat customers/friends.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative for me is seeing my customers’ faces when they receive their items. I love seeing the excitement on their faces. I love getting messages letting me know they absolutely loved their items. I love when they send me pictures of their children/family in the shirts I made for them. Or when they send me pictures of the birthday decorations I made for them on display at their birthday parties. I love that with being a creative, I get to be a small part of my some of the most memorable moments of my customers’ lives. To me, I’m not just providing them with physical items, but with a way to make their memories even more special. I love that I get to do something different for each customer. I’m so happy that with me running a small business, I don’t fall into a rut of always doing the same thing over and over. Having the opportunity to use my creativity each and every day genuinely makes me so happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.littleleoncrafts.etsy.com
• Instagram: @littleleoncrafts
• Facebook: @Littleleoncrafts

Image Credits
Picture of myself: Credit to Ashley Gongora