Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kaitlynn Stout. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Kaitlynn, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Clair-Indigo is an inclusive apparel and accessory experience promoting self-love, mindful living, and compassion for all. For years I’ve known that my purpose in life is what I call a “positive domino effect,” meaning I aim to positively impact each person I encounter, in person or virtually, as often and in as many ways as possible. The reason this is such a huge deal to me is that a little over three years ago, I discovered I had mental health issues that needed to be addressed. I was diagnosed with general anxiety and major depressive disorders. It’s more under control now, but having gone through that experience and realizing that I most likely had those my entire life, it was a huge hurdle working through it. The only support that was there for me initially through that awakening (that worked how I needed it to) was by cleaning up the accounts I followed on Instagram and sought out new ones to follow, such as Dr. Nicole LaPera @the.holistic.psychologist and Morgan Harper Nichols @morganharpernichols. For the record, I don’t get any credit or compensation for shouting them out. I say this because although I’ve had to experience all that comes before and after those diagnoses, I want to use those experiences to at least try to help others normalize and destigmatize what they may be going through and feeling, no matter where they are in life and even if I don’t come into direct contact with them in this lifetime. Nobody deserves to feel alone. Everyone deserves to be loved, but more importantly to love themselves. I truly believe that if as a collective we try to do even the tiniest positive thing for another human, we can set off that positive domino effect and improve this world we’ve been gifted.
Kaitlynn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
In May 2022, I established my business as The Stars’ Seeds LLC (TSS). The concept of TSS is an energetic botanical shop; it’s way more complex than that but enough description for now. Life happened and I’ve had to put that concept on hold, but it’ll blossom once it’s meant to. When life brought my family to southwest Kansas, I had two big realizations: 1) there is such a scarcity for childcare and kids’ activities out here and 2) most clothing out here is very similar in that it’s trendy boho western. I’m an idea machine, so #1 inspired the idea to open a family-oriented cafe activity center. That idea will have lots of startup costs, so my second realization along with my passion for beautiful things and childhood dream of being in the fashion industry brought up the idea to open an apparel and accessory boutique.
There’s a huge saturation of clothing boutiques all over the country, so what sets mine apart is that it isn’t your typical boutique. I’m not going to carry the trendy items just because I know they’ll sell, I’m not going to be your typical salesperson and push you to buy something. I will only stock what I would wear myself and in the styles, designs, and fabrics that I myself enjoy. I’m not going to call it a boutique (although for SEO, I do have to put that in there somewhere to be discovered), but instead it’s an experience. I sprinkle affirmations and messages of positivity and inclusivity into as many places I can, because you don’t have to buy something from me in order to have an enjoyable experience with me. My success is determined when something I do, say, or offer resonates with someone. If that leads you to purchasing something, lovely! But it isn’t a requirement.
I recently had an experience with a wonderful human at a farmers’ market that I’d love to share – long story short, after I’d given them an affirmation card that mentioned their creativity, they let me know how true that was as they’re a writer. They then picked up a white jade bracelet and was strongly considering buying it. I typically don’t upsell items, but in this instance my intuition told me to ask if they journal as well. They answered yes and looked intrigued, so I pulled out the journal set that includes a white jade palm stone which I originally had decided to not display that day due to space constraints. They looked at it and their face lit up, and went on to tell me that they think their late mother has been passing on stories that she feels they should share. They went on to purchase that journal and we hope to connect so that I can follow this journey they’re feeling called to. It was an absolute magical moment. Moments like these are why I do this.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Pivot is the name of the game when owning a business. I have a couple stories.
Before I started Clair-Indigo and was working on launching The Stars’ Seeds, I encountered the opportunity to enter a partnership with two individuals who were at the time partnered in their own ventures. This partnership would have led to capital and a brick-and-mortar location, neither of which I had expected to be close to in the first couple months after setting up my LLC. Long story short, the partnership did not work out. No paperwork was signed, thankfully. What I absolutely learned from this experience: 1) know my worth, don’t settle, and stand up for myself 2) don’t delay my own progress based on spoken word that seems to promise a desired result, and 3) embrace the “let them” concept and don’t push for something to happen if the universe puts multiple things in the way for it to not happen. Experiencing that really sucked, you guys. But the pivot is where we can rise from the ashes. If that hadn’t happened last year, Clair-Indigo wouldn’t have been born, and quite frankly it’s likely that The Stars’ Seeds wouldn’t have survived.
The second pivot was much more recent, and a shorter story. As a startup, I’m booking as many events as my body and schedule will physically allow in order for me to gain brand visibility and trust, and I travel all around Kansas (and soon Missouri!) to do these pop-ups. Recently while I was in KC, an event was postponed due to weather with about 24 hours’ notice. The lack of a 5 hour event in the middle of the weekend was not ideal, so I started brainstorming. I contacted other small businesses whose values seem to align with mine – breweries, wineries, distilleries, and anyone else who may have a good crowd on a Saturday evening. While waiting on their responses, I needed to come up with more ideas. I’m not an MLM, but maybe I could do in-house shopping parties – so I posted and shared into groups throwing out this very new, unorganized idea. While waiting on potential replies to those, I reached out to events already happening in the outer suburbs of KC to see if they had last-minute openings. Unfortunately none of those were successful in that particular moment, so I ended up sitting at Barnes & Noble working on my loyalty program. Again the pivot is letting me create something from the ashes – the loyalty program is getting closer to being launched, I’m starting to reach out to other small businesses about creating a mutually beneficial partnership to help drive business to them as well as them to me when there aren’t “official” events going on, I’m getting my name out there with these event hosts that see how determined and passionate I am with this business. and I’ll soon be putting together an organized in-house party package that ties into my values. I could’ve sat in the car frustrated or sad that the event had fallen through, but what good would that have done me? The sunlight is always there, just have to look around the clouds to find it.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
When I was ready to bring my ideas for Clair-Indigo to fruition, I began looking for grants, because loans weren’t an option since I hadn’t made any revenue at all. Through searching for grant websites, I stumbled upon Kiva, a crowdlending website. It’s a concept I’d never heard of prior to that moment, and it was very intriguing since most, if not all, of us have heard of crowdfunding. Aside from the application process, I built a very in-depth profile and started the first phase, where I was required to gain a minimum amount from five individuals that I personally knew. Essentially this phase’s purpose was to show Kiva that there are at least five people in my circle that believe in me and my venture. Once I passed that phase, it went into full crowdlending mode. I had 30 days to reach the amount Kiva had set for my situation, and anyone in the world could contribute including their portfolio of lenders. The amount of lenders that I didn’t personally know but they still contributed still blows my mind. I ended up with 75 lenders for a loan of $2k with an 18 month term, and as of the day I’m completing this interview, I’ve proudly repaid 27% of it. 
Contact Info:
- Website: clairindigo.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/clair.indigo
- Facebook: facebook.com/clair.indigo
- Other: tiktok.com/@clair.indigo hopp.to/clair-indigo
Image Credits
Image of Kaitlynn – Alyssa Barletter