We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jordyn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jordyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

My business started because my boyfriend (now husband) was leaving for Boot Camp. At the time there were hardly any long distance cards available. The emotions that came with long distance was more than just, “I miss you”… so I started designing my own cards. I used paper and the printer I had on hand, and got to work. I opened up an Etsy shop and uploaded what I had, and the weekend he left for Boot Camp I sold 20 cards. To me, that was a sign I was onto something. So I kept designing and learning about being a business owner, all while going to school and working full time.

As the years went on my business has progressed and changed, but the heart of my business will always be spreading positivity and building connections.

Jordyn, 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?

Jordyn Alison Designs is a lifestyle brand that specializes in spreading positivity and building connections. From greeting cards to stickers, sun catchers, and bookmarks… we’ve got it all (or.. a lot!)

The Charity Collection is something I’m the most proud of. It’s grown to have 39 different stickers all donating to various causes like The Ocean Cleanup, Wildlife Conservation, NAMI, and more. To date we’ve raised over $3,000 from both my retail and wholesale customers – which is a pretty exciting accomplishment!

Jordyn, the person, is a dog mom to a yellow lab named Tate (aka Tater Tot). She’s obsessed with all things Christmas and decorates as early as mid-October some years. Florals and bright colors make her happy.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

You don’t have to know it all to get started.

A lot of my decision paralysis lies in the research phase. I often feel like I need to know EVERYTHING about a topic or new product before I can even get started on it, and that often leaves me not moving forward and making progress. I’m slowly but surely learning that I don’t have to know it all and I can just reach myself where I’m at and keep learning each day.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I sell on my website that I host through Shopify. I’m also on a couple wholesale platforms like Faire and Abound.

At the beginning of my business I was only on Etsy. After a few years I got fed up with the fees and the types of customers that were ordering on Etsy. Etsy customers can be so rude, and it was the cause of a lot of my anxiety. I almost wanted to *not* make sales there so I wouldn’t have to deal with the reviews/messages.

Since then, I’ve actually had a full time job doing customer support so I think I’m a lot better equipped to handle rude complaints now. I only recently started putting a few more products back onto Etsy, just to help diversify my income streams. I put my full effort into my shop and view any sale from Etsy as a bonus.

I 1000% love having my website on Shopify! It’s easy to use, upload – and it allows for hundreds of different products with a seamless checkout.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jordynalisondesigns.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jordynalisondesigns
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JordynAlisonDesigns
• Other: Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@jordynalisondesigns