We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelsey Knisley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kelsey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
One unexpected problem I’d like to share is having a machine go down around the holidays. This past year, around the beginning of November one of my machines had a fatal error after only 3 months. I had no idea how I was going to keep up without this printer. I shortly fell behind and became stressed. I ordered a different printer that cost much more than the one I had. It didn’t come in until about a week before Christmas, so in that time frame I had to scramble to pay extra money to get those designs printed from other vendors. I was fortunate I could get the help from others, but it did lower my profit margin around the holidays!
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 started making shirts here and there in 2021 after my wedding. I loved the creativity and making any idea I had come to life! I decided to become Wild N’ Kind Boutique and went with it. 2022 came and went & we’ve grown so much in such little time! I have now been able to make this my full-time job with the support of all of my customers, who some can now be called friends. It comes with its hard times, but to be able to do what I do has me beyond words of how grateful I am. We now even rent out multiple spots in shops to sell our items in those stores on top of our online website and vendor events just about every weekend. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this business!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Funding a business is definitely a whole new learning curve. My initial start up cost was not much for my business, but of course the more we continue to grow the more moving money there is. I have been fortunate enough to buy my upgraded machines all cash. I never plan to buy a machine upgrade unless I have the cash in hand to do so. I wouldn’t recommend putting in too much money at first only so you don’t have a much of overhead costs right away.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
I am so incredibly thankful to say my business has turned into my full-time career. I started to make shirts after my wedding, with consistency and time we’ve grown to be just about a six figure business. This seems absolutely insane that this is where the business had gotten to. Just stay consistent and you’ll know when you’re ready to make the jump to full-time. It was so nerve wrecking, but this fall will be a year in full-time and I wouldn’t have it any other way! 
Contact Info:
- Website: Wildnkindboutique.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/wildnkindboutique?igshid=MzNlNGNkZWQ4Mg==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wildnkindboutique?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/300112877716622/?ref=share
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildnkindboutique.kelsey?_t=8e0j71Rhpew&_r=1
Image Credits
All of these are photos taken by me, Kelsey Knisley.