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

Heather, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

All my customers are amazing – but one in particular has gone above and beyond to show her support for me and Sunshine Soul.

She found me through social media in July of 2022 and we immediately connected when she tuned into my TikTok LIVE. After her first order, she likes to say she became “hooked” on Sunshine Soul. She continued to tune in to my TikTok LIVE’s and ordered at least once during them to help me reach my LIVE order goal. In just a few short months, she had almost every design in my shop and placed the more orders than anyone else has (over the entire 2 years I have been in business!).

In addition to having the most orders, she engages in all my social media posts and is present in almost every single one of my LIVE videos. She takes the time to check in on me when she notices I haven’t been as active on social media. In October and November I became very sick with pneumonia and had to take a couple weeks to rest from making products. During that time, she messaged me at least once a day to see how I was feeling and remind me that it was okay to take the time to rest.

A few weeks prior to me being sick, she placed multiple orders at once and told me I could ship them together (since I offer free U.S shipping anyway). When it came time to prepare and make her order, I knew I wanted to spoil her and show her just how much her support means to me.

To show my appreciation, I gave her over $150 of free items including: a t-shirt, sweatshirt, beanie, and some accessories. She absolutely loved it! Since then, she posts unboxing hauls of what she orders from me, and has become a Sunshine Soul affiliate! I noticed recently – she even has my link in her bio’s on social media!

People like her are what keeps small business owner’s like me motivated and it is important to show them how much we appreciate them! I am so happy I was able to spoil her and show her she is more than just a customer to me – she is also my friend.

Heather, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the CEO, designer, and maker of all things Sunshine Soul MD. I’ve lived in Maryland my entire life, and grew up in a small town right outside of Annapolis – called Arnold, Maryland. My mother is also an avid crafter so crafting has been bringing me sunshine for years. Growing up, we would take weekend crafting trips and participate in craft shows every December. At that age, I never thought it would be something more than just a hobby for me but what started as a coping mechanism has turned into a business where I can pursue my love for crafting while sharing beautiful, unique items!

In April 2020, the COVID 19 pandemic had taken over and the world was in full on crisis mode. At the time, I was working part time as a software engineer and going to school full time for my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.

Due to the quarantine, I got sent home early and had to finish my last semester of college at UMBC remotely.

Shortly after being sent home, the mask panic hit and everyone was trying to get their hands on whatever they could to make facial coverings. With my crafting and sewing experience, I spent my free time (or even while listening to lectures) making as many masks as I could for the company I was working for and anyone else who may need one. I wound up making over 250 masks which supplied the entire company and even had some left over. The left over masks (about 150 of them) were donated to St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, where my fiancé works as a Medical Scribe.

In May 2020, there was no end in sight and things were just getting worse. I was sent home from my job until further notice due to it being unsafe and graduation was canceled. At this point, quarantine was in full force and we were all directed to stay at home unless absolutely necessary.

As an extrovert, it was very hard for me to stay home all day and watch the panic spread across the world on the news. My anxiety and depression started to flare up, which I have struggled with since 7th grade and what used to be coping mechanisms for me (spending time with family, going out with friends, etc) were no longer possible. I started to fall back into the darkness and was struggling to find a way to the light. Everyday things seemed to be getting worse and my friends and family could see I was struggling.

By the time my birthday came around in June, I was at my worst. I was too anxious to celebrate with others, and couldn’t seem to get out of my funk. Then, my bestfriend dropped off my birthday present on the porch – and much to my surprise, it was a DIY String Art kit from Etsy.

This was the first thing to bring me excitement in months. I winded up completing it that same day and then spent the evening looking online at other string art pieces that I could make.

As the days went by, I used scrap wood and nails from my grandfather’s old stash to make various string art designs. I couldn’t possibly keep them all – so I started sending them to friends and giving them as gifts. That is when the realization hit – creating, designing and seeing the joy on the recipients faces were what was bringing me light. It was how I was able to cope and find joy in such a sad, anxious time in the world.

So, in August 2020, I took the leap and made the decision to turn my creative outlet into more than just a hobby. I bought the business license, completed all the legal paperwork, and opened my Etsy shop. I had no idea if it would be successful, but I knew in my heart I had to try.

Little did I know…..what started as a coping strategy during the pandemic become such a big part of my life.

Designing and creating each order, connecting with all of my customers, and sharing my story has been the highlight of the past two years for me. It brings me so much happiness to know we have spread a little bit of sunshine to over 2,000 customers so far. My goal for SunshineSoulMD was (and always will be) to spread happiness, sunshine, and light to others especially during such dark and uncertain times. I cannot imagine my life without Sunshine Soul and I cannot wait to see where the future takes it.

How did you build your audience on social media?

At first, I let my anxiety take over and never wanted to post on social media. If I did, I felt like it had to be perfect, and I couldn’t be myself. It started out with the worries of what people from my past would think, what my college friends would think, that the business would fail, etc. But then grew into worries about my image to the world, at the beginning of starting the business my depression was still very bad and I had no confidence in my abilities or physical appearance. I knew that I wasn’t and would never fit the mold of the typical influencers of today’s world. So, I relied on Etsy for my sales and to handle all my marketing. This worked out for my first few month and the first holiday season, but then sales started to slow.

As I started to work on myself mentally and reflect on the goals of Sunshine Soul, I realized I was missing the human connection part of it. Most importantly, I realized I was letting my anxiety hold me back from sharing my passion and myself with the rest of the world.

That’s when it hit me…if I want to make an impact, if I want to spread sunshine to people across the globe, then I need to be my true self and be proud of it.

That’s when I started posting more and more on Instagram and TikTok, it started out as videos of my process, BTS, and everything was business related. I tried to keep my face and body out of it as much as I could – so when it came to selling apparel, I even hired a model for my first photoshoot and videos.

Then one day I was looking at my Etsy and social media pages and realized…my followers still don’t know who Heather is. How can I expect them to support me when I am not confident in myself? How can I expect all different types of people to order from me when I am too embarrassed to model in my own products? How can I expect people to love me, when I don’t even love myself?

This was an overwhelming realization and a lot for me to process emotionally. I spent a few weeks journaling, telling myself I was beautiful, and really understanding the good parts of me.

…and then one morning I woke up and made up my mind…I am going to be myself for me, and those who love me will love me for who I am and those who don’t – well – I don’t want their support anyway then. It was like a light switch went off in my brain and I decided it was time to show the world who the CEO of Sunshine Soul was. Once I started to show the face behind the brand, I realized how rewarding it was. The more I did it, the easier it became and the more fun it was!

Then I started doing LIVE videos, and at first it was very awkward and nerve-racking. There were no bloopers or redos – this is a live stream that can’t be edited. The more I did it, the easier it became and the more I enjoyed it. Being the sole employee it can get lonely, but being able to create, work, and interact with your audience in real-time made me feel so much less alone.

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

For the first two years, I sold solely on Etsy. It was easy, not as time consuming and Etsy was bringing in over 80% of my traffic. I wasn’t ready to take the leap of handling any marketing and frankly, I was too embarrassed to put myself and I business out there. On Etsy, I was just another maker making handmade gifts that brought joy to customers and I was content with that.

This past year is when I started to embrace being a small business owner and CEO. Once I found confidence in myself and my business, I spent time working on content, growing my social media accounts, and connecting with people across the world.

This led to me bringing in the majority of my traffic and growing a loyal group of customers. That’s also when I started to get a lot of questions about having my own website.

As I started to connect and become friends with other business owners my age, I realized how rewarding a website would be and how I could take Sunshine Soul to the next level. I wanted it to be more independent – an entity outside of just Etsy because it is – it’s a full on business, a brand, something that can and will exist if something happened to Etsy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sunshinesoulmd.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunshinesoulmd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunshinesoulmd
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/sunshinesoulmd
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sunshinesoulmd www.etsy.com/shop/SunshineSoulMD

Image Credits
Hallie Jamieson