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

Erin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

I absolutely take vacations. Setting your own schedule and adjusting it as needed is one of the biggest upsides in running your own business. The way I manage it is planning ahead. I always let my clients know when I’ll be gone, make sure all orders are submitted into production, and make sure any shipments I have are received and delivered before I take the time off. Lastly, I make sure to bring my iPad with me in case there is a dire order I need to submit but I make sure to set boundaries. How much time I spend on these dire orders as well as how I’d like to be contacted while out are a couple examples. It is important to give yourself a vacation to refresh the mind and most importantly, enjoy yourself! Although different occasions arise, a couple tips I have are to try and limit vacations to the slower months. I also tell clients I will be unavailable one extra day so I can use that day to catch up and prepare getting back into the swing of things.

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

Originally from Wisconsin, I moved to Arizona in 2004, graduating from NAU in 2009. From there I worked for a few different financial companies until being offered a job in the fashion industry measuring and designing suits for some of those men. From there I learned the trade from a couple excellent mentors and then decided it was time to go out and open a business of my own. Currently I provide a tailored service. I come to you, take all your measurements, show you an array of different fabrics, linings, buttons, etc., then discuss style and design options. 3-4 weeks after that, you have yourself a perfect fitting shirt, suit, slacks, or jeans all in the colors and designs that match your personality the most. Some people are comfortable buying ready-made garments off the rack and that is fine! But if you have an athletic build, or the type of body that doesn’t fit well off the rack, or if you just want some unique pieces, then I’m your girl. Besides jeans, I only provide business and formal wear. Since I am a one woman show, I am able to build relationships with my clients where they can 100% count on me to be there on time, make mistakes right if they arise, do pick up and drop offs for alterations, and give them a piece of mind knowing they can text me any day at any time. They are not only confident in what they wear and how they feel, but they are also confident in me.

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

As I already mentioned, I was offered this job while working in the financial industry, Northwestern Mutual. Since it was a new industry for me, it started off as a side job. I started measuring and designing suits for some of the men in the office and as time progressed it became more demanding. Eventually, after 2 years, it got to the point where I had to choose one or the other. I chose fashion and gave it my all for 2 more years until I split from that company and went out on my own, claiming the new title of a small business owner.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Throughout the years I was able to save around $20k to use in a situation like this. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to use all of it since I didn’t open a shop. By traveling to clients, I was able to keep my overhead cost way down.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.troykstrunk.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/troykstrunk/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/troykstrunk
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-troyk-a1b27552/

Image Credits
Erin Troyk