We were lucky to catch up with Evin Harris she, her, ella recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Evin, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Ultimately, yes I am. The ability to make my own schedule and decide where to put my time an energy is so valuable. AND there have been moments of “what the actual f*** am I doing”. And I am not sure if those moments will ever go away? But hey it keeps me on my toes. I have had a couple of these moments in the past few months, as I decided I was going to make my small business my full time job. And with that came irregular paychecks, pressure to grow my business (which i can be stubborn about) and tax/financial lessons.

I am going to focus on those last two, as they were moments I learned the most about who I am as a business owner and just a lesson in owning a business.

I do not like cold calling (at least in person), and I do not think it works for my business, and that is okay. Yes I need to put my product out there, and I have learned what works best for me . And it is not walking around downtown Durango with a box of my hats, peering into stores and asking if a manger is there to show them my hats. I felt rejected in a new way that I had not faced yet with my business. I had moved from Breckenridge, where my hats were a staple. They are in three stores, selling medium to large quantities, and almost every employee at the BOEC has one. Seemingly they were selling themselves. So when my partner and I walked around Durango sizing up stores and then going in and showing them my time intensive craft to hear “we aren’t interested right now”, my ego was hurt. After hearing this at a few stores and one asking if I wanted the hats back that I left for employees, I was over it, a bit frustrated, sad and on the edge of a tantrum (i probably just needed a snack). I realized that I have picked up new accounts (places that wanted to sell my hats) when I was a frequent visitor of a store, knew the owners or wore a hat into a store and someone would say “i love your hat were did you get it”, I made it i would say, and bam they were interested. Walking around town asking if people wanted to carry my hats was one of those “what am i doing moments”, thinking that my art and I were no good. Obviously i was wrong and I knew that. Not everyone wants my hats, and I don’t want everyone to carry my hats. They are unique and made with care, i want them in stores that value that as well.

The second lesson is pretty dang straight forward. “Did you know you should be paying estimated quarterly taxes?”. I do now.

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

I love to repurpose materials. That is how it all started. I would take old hats that I didn’t like the original patch or print and I would spice them up with fabric from clothes, sheets or found fabrics. I enjoy taking something that might get thrown away and turning it into something useful. I hand craft all the patches for my hats out of repurposed fabric; clothes, fabric from old projects, sheets ect. I make old helmets into flower pots.

Right now my main focus is patches. I take repurposed fabric and cut out shapes to build a mountain scape and i sew it into a patch. I then take the patch and I sew them onto beanies and five panel hats. In my growing process I have shifted away from hand-stitching everything, as I can’t keep up, and I would like my hands to function for at least another 20 years. I will still take custom orders for people who want a fully hand stitched hat. I love working with people who want a custom hat, however one of my main practices is only using repurposed fabric, I am happy to use fabric that a customer gives me or work with them to show the fabrics I currently have. Lately I have been doing a lot of embroidery “phrases” and then sewing them onto the hat for folks. I will always always happily cover up a hat that someone already has and loves but wants to give it a new look.

I also realize that not everyone has it in their budget to purchase a $40 hat and so this winter I worked on iron on patches (made from the design of my own) for folks to purchase on the side or on a hat, bringing a lower price point option to my shop.

I have something very exciting happening in our Studio Space in Silverton CO this summer (think build a bear minus the bear) come check it out!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Perfection is not the goal. Especially with hand-made work I love seeing the actual handmade element. I would really get on myself for a loose thread or a loop and then my partner was the one who said “I like that loop it helps me remember its hand-made”. I strive for work that is beautiful and well done, however I will not pull the thread out and do a hat 5 times until its “perfect” because it will never get there. “Perfection” is what I am proud of, work that i can stand behind.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Most of my wholesale accounts are in Colorado, making it easy to frequently visit the stores that they are in. I check in on the inventory and have personal relationships with the owners and employees. I also support those businesses by shopping at them when i can and encouraging my friends and family to do the same. They support me and I support them. For retail sales generally through my instagram or Etsy, I always ship products with a personalized note, and a free sticker when they purchase a hat. I have very quick response times with customers and work hard to make sure they are getting what they are paying for. When someone contacts me through instagram we will message back and forth with fabric layouts and a final image before I sew it to make sure its what they want.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/EvidayThings?ref=shop_sugg_market
• Instagram: Business @evidaythings Personal @ev.schmev