We recently connected with Heidi Huttunen and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Heidi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
SHE IS EVERLI was created from a love of the wedding industry. I started my creative career as a wedding photographer, and then a graphic designer – combining both my passions I founded SHE IS EVERLI.
After designing family and friend’s wedding invitations, I noticed a gap in the market for brides who do not have a large budget to spend on wedding invitations, and this where I discovered digital templates, which are affordable and easily accessible for every type of bride. I offer both a DIY digital template route as well as a premium, professional service in which I create and print for a bride.
It was important to me that when I started this business, that I would identify the pain points in the industry and be able to problem-solve by offering affordable, yet premium services, as well as create beautiful imagery to reflect my designs.
Heidi, 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?
Having started my career in photography and then branching out into graphic design, I have always been creative and artistic. I am self-taught in my skill sets and nothing makes me more excited than creating. SHE IS EVERLI offers wedding stationery and signage, as well as content creation such as pre-wedding photoshoots and on the day socials.
What sets SHE IS EVERLI apart from other stationery brands, is the level of creativity that goes behind each collection. Offering both digital templates and printed stationery, I design, create and print all of my designs, as well as photograph each collection in a real-life setting. This allows the bride to envision the stationery in a similar setting to their wedding.
How did you build your audience on social media?
My number one tip is to create valuable, inspirational and saveable content. In the wedding industry, visuals are everything. A bride will begin her wedding moodboard almost instantly after becoming engaged – you want your products to land in her moodboards and saved folder! The same goes for any industry. People do not want to be sold to, so you need to create content that engages and inspires your community and more often than not, this will lead to sales.
I have built my online audience in this exact way – by photographing all of my designs, I am able to create Pinterest-worthy content that lands in bride’s boards. I also believe that showing the process of how I design and create my products leads to interest and trust in my community.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I have built my business solely on resilience and a true, burning passion for what I do. I am currently still working a full-time job – I work on my business in every spare minute I get. This means I wake up before the sun to reply to emails, reply to DM’s on my commute to work, and once I am home later that evening I design and create orders. My weekends are also dedicated to photographing and designing new collections.
My favourite quote is, “It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sheiseverli
- Instagram: sheiseverli
