We recently connected with Kelly Boyd and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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.

From an early age, I’ve always loved decorating. Whether that was my bedroom covered with anything dolphin related when I was ten to being a newlywed and owning our first home. During the pandemic, I was really struggling to find my creative outlet beyond social media, I would post pictures of updates and our own personal home renovations, but I was craving more. With the help and encouragement from my parents and awesome friends, I applied for a business license and hired someone to make me a logo and that was the start of my business!

I spent all of 2021 doing outdoor markets and building relationships with our customers. I put a lot of effort into making our small 10 by 10 space feel like an actual retail store. We offered easy care houseplants and home goods. At the end of 2021, we did our last market at the Akron Canton Airport and I think it was then that I realized people were really enjoying what we had to offer. We built a curated collections of goods and décor that were neutral and unique that you wouldn’t necessarily find in other peoples homes.

At the beginning of 2022, we signed our lease on our first brick and mortar location. It is a brand new building and we got to design the layout and flow of our space. We knew we wanted a cozy, at home aesthetic for our customers to enjoy. There was nothing really like what we were creating in our area. (Besides big box retail)

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?

My official degree is in education– nothing really to do with business owning or interior design. But, that didn’t stop me from following my dreams. With three little kids at home, I kept pushing this off– telling myself that it wasn’t the right time. Until I woke up one day and decided it was time for a career change! My side gig was going to because my main gig. It’s where my passion was. It’s where I could fully dive into my creative realm.

Beyond having a 1500 sq. ft. retail location in Green, Ohio, we also offer a variety of in store classes. Those range from learning to build charcuterie boards to plant care classes. We also will be launching our in home design services soon! We are currently closed on Monday’s to delegated that time to in home projects. Look out for RHS Design launching soon!

I am so proud of myself for learning all the necessary things of business owning– and doing it the right way. We are a debt free business. I taught myself how to design a website, figured out our POS system, and someone was able to find amazing women to be our first employees.

People will always offer their opinions on why you shouldn’t do things or critique your dreams and plans. My advice is to tune those out. Make a plan. Put it into action…. and reach for the stars!!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Since starting our business, with a very small budget, our marketing strategy had to be cost effective and authentic. We built a decent following on our social media platforms, but really relied on word of mouth and organic progression to build our business. We knew not everyone was going to love what we offered. But, they have a friend, sister, or cousin that our showroom instantly reminded them of.

On our opening night, my friend Emily came in to shop and support our business. She posted about our business on her social media and the very next week her friend saw the post and came in to shop. That friend then did the same and brought more business to our showroom. That is the most meaningful part of doing what I do. That people are fully enjoying what we have to offer and that our customers come back.

Be authentic. Take care of your customers always!

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

About a month ago, we launched our website www.rootshomestore.com . I was nervous about selling online– mostly because it was very unfamiliar to me. But, we knew it was another avenue to grow our business!

I loved the idea of packaging orders and watching where their new homes would be. I will never forget when we got our first online sale. It was on Super Bowl Sunday and rather than jumping up and down for a touchdown, I jumped off and yelled “We just got our first online order.”

Tears streamed down my face. It was such a pivotal moment for me as a business owner.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rootshomestore.com
• Instagram: Roots.Homestore
• Facebook: Roots.Homestore

Image Credits
Kelly Boyd