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

Alright, Kate thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Vacations are a core family value so we made sure to always leave space in the business for time away. When I was the only employee, this looked like upfront and clear communication so customers would know what to expect in terms of fulfillment time (before they purchased!) I would keep an eye on customer communications in case there was something urgent that needed a timely response but otherwise I had up a message that I would reply once we had returned.
Now I have one employee and we stagger most of our time off so that there’s almost always someone “on duty” for our regular business hours. She has the skills to handle all timely needs and makes a list of anything that needs my personal attention for when I get back.
In general I think customers and clients are very understanding about entrepreneurs taking vacation and as long as you provide proper notice it can go smoothly!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a mid-thirties wife and mom of two. I started Avryn Co. in 2020 because of a personal daily pain point–my keys, in my hands, where other things (children, groceries, work bags, coffee cups) needed to be. Sure, key wristlets abound, but none I could find checked all the boxes. The boxes being: Stylish (genuine leather preferred). easy to slide over my wrist, flexible and sleek, easy on/off for keys, fobs etc. (main keyring cannot be a split ring))
Once the solution came to mind it was obvious that I wanted to make it not only for myself but also for others that I thought might be out there searching for the same solution.
We added the card wallet a few months later to create the perfect minimalist grab-and-go option!

All of our wristlets, wallets, and key tags are made in-house, by hand in Greenville, SC.

In just 4 years we’ve helped give a hand to over 20,000 women through our wristlets/wristlet-wallet sets. We have over a thousand glowing 5 star reviews and receive positive customer feedback nearly daily on Instagram through DMs or story shares.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

We started the business on Etsy which was a great low-stakes way to prove out if there’s demand and if you have the energy to take it further. If you have a business that falls under the Etsy category (handmade, vintage, etc.) I would recommend it because it’s incredibly easy to get started. All you have to do is upload photos and descriptions and boom- you have a store. It’s so much easier to open an Etsy shop than to create a website from scratch.

We’ve since moved to Shopify for two reasons. One- we were driving most of our own traffic to our Etsy store. If we had been benefitting from the Marketplace aspect of Etsy, it would have made more sense to stay. Two- we were able to have better control over how the ordering process worked for our products and have better control over the brand as a whole. Shopify is a powerful platform and I would recommend it to any product based business, especially if you’ve determined that your concept is strong and the demand for your product exists.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started very small and scrappy with a small personal investment (<$1,000) and then just reinvested all sales back into the business to keep it going. I didn’t pay myself for the first year and a half which allowed me to build up money for the business to be able to make bigger purchases (like large orders of leather and tools) without taking a loan or investing more of my personal money.
I remember being incredibly hesitant to invest in a grommet press a few months in because it cost $300. I had been hammering each grommet by hand and that was working for a relatively low level of orders, but I finally decided to take the jump and order the press. A few weeks later orders exploded and I wouldn’t have been able to keep up without the press! It can been a fine line between wise frugality and growth limiting frugality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://avrynco.com/
• Instagram: @avrynco