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

Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

I was at a time in my life when I was 20, when I was feeling like I had no true skills or talents and was not really sure what direction I wanted to take my life, but always felt like I wanted to do something that made me happy. I had an associate’s degree, working towards a bachelor’s degree, and was trying to pursue real estate at the time but something just did not feel right and I wasn’t truly happy. I had always enjoyed doing crafts growing up and loved expressing myself through creating things, and it was even more special doing it with my mom and grandma when she was around. I had learned how to crochet and sew from them but was never too good at it.

I’ll never forget the day that sparked my interest in resin and what would become my first small business in less than a year. I was sitting in my new house in the beginning of 2020, I had just recently left my job because of COVID-19, and feeling overall hopeless and scared about the future. I was scrolling on Twitter and saw a video of a painting of Marilyn Monroe having a clear liquid poured on top of it and the finished product was the most beautiful piece of art I had seen, I had to know more. I started searching everywhere and finally found out it was called Epoxy Resin. I purchased a starter kit from Amazon and got started right away when it arrived. My intentions weren’t to make things I could sell when I first started out. I wanted to make my mom and flower pot for Mother’s Day that was coming up, and knew she would like it even more and be impressed that I could make such a cool thing myself.

Fast forward about 1 month, I had set up my spare room as my unofficial craft room and needed somewhere to store my growing collection of items I had made and molds. I have a friend who sells wreaths and home decor on Etsy and she saw my work and encouraged me to look into selling on the platform. It was the first time I thought “I could make a business out of this.” I started brainstorming logos, names, everything I would need to get started. I had no idea what I was doing but was self-teaching myself along the way. I landed on the name Rose of Venus Co. The name comes from my love of Astrology and the term “Rose of Venus” is the path Venus makes when it orbits the Earth every 8 years and makes a Rose-like pattern. My grandma’s favorite flowers were also Roses so it felt like a perfect way to honor her as well.

It will be 3 years in May that I have been running my online business and I have just recently opened a booth in Blowing Rock, NC. I have had my ups and downs and doubts but I know now, like I knew then. You can accomplish anything and succeed with good intentions, motivation, and faith in yourself. I would not be where I am today without the support of my friends and family but especially my mom. She has been a big factor in Rose of Venus Co. and I know we are making my grandma proud.

Katie, 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?

My name is Katie Mabe, I am the owner of Rose of Venus Co. I make a wide range of affordable, unique art, but I entered the industry by making unique epoxy resin items. I founded my business in 2020 when the pandemic just started as a way to hand make my mom a Mother’s Day gift and keep myself busy during quarantine. Since then, I have made it a successful online shop on Etsy and have enjoyed making my hobby into another source of income and hope to make it my full time job one day!

I make all kinds of items now from candles, wooden items, jewelry, and more! I upcycle and reuse as many things as I can to make Rose of Venus Co. as sustainable as possible. I also make custom items, I have made many memorial pieces for people who have lost loved ones or animals, and also made pieces to preserve items special to my customer. What sets Rose of Venus Co. apart from others and what we pride ourselves in the most is that every item we make is special to us and is handmade in North Carolina by me, or my mother Mitzi. We put the most love and intention possible into everything we make and hope our customers enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I have had to unlearn is self-doubt and learning that in running a business, there are going to be negative reviews, time’s when sales are down, and time’s when you are forced to reevaluate and change direction sometimes. That doesn’t mean you are failing or that you should quit, but that you are learning and it is normal to go through those things to be better. The one that impacts me the most is getting a bad review. Although you can’t please everyone and you try your best to resolve the problem and make the customer happy, it still doesn’t feel good to hear negative things about your art, but you can’t give up, you just have to keep getting better.

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

I sell online mostly, I do have a booth in Blowing Rock, NC but Ecommerce has been the main source of revenue. I have tried a few but the best in my opinion is Etsy. Etsy breaks down everything in a very easy to understand way, especially when it is just you and one other person managing everything. I really enjoy how they drive the audience to you with ads and SEO. They have even added a new feature called Etsy Plus which I really like. You get 15 free listings and $5 ad credit each month and for $10 a month, I think it’s worth it! The cons I would have to say is the selling fees. They went from 5% to 6.5% which can hurt small businesses like mine in times when it is slow.

Contact Info:

• Website: RoseofVenusCo.com
• Instagram: RoseofVenusCo
• Facebook: Rose of Venus Co
• Other: TikTok: RoseofVenusCo

Image Credits
Katie A Mabe