We recently connected with KRISTINA MOSELEY and have shared our conversation below.
Hi KRISTINA, thanks for joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
One of our largest orders for printed marshmallows I actually thought was a scam at first. We got an email asking about pricing for bulk orders, something that happens frequently, and then saw it was for ten thousand. I read the email a few times noting that they weren’t giving me a lot of details but decided to respond and see. Turns out it was for the Wonka (2023) marketing events where they were adding them to hot chocolate. We have worked with some amazing clients but I will say being able to add Warner Bros to the list was one of the craziest stories I have!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started Exceptional Events 365, LLC with my sister in law. We both did most of the work for our own separate weddings and had a ton of fun. We started off mainly offering paper goods like invitations and our best seller to this day champagne scrolls for seating charts. We evolved over the years adding custom marshmallows, at first laser engraved then upgrading again to color printed. As of the end of 2022 I completely took over the business from my sister in law as she moved on to other ventures. I love getting to be a small part in our clients events. We have one specific client we have provided marshmallows for her daughters graduation, birthday, engagement and wedding. It is so cool to watch their life progression from afar and be able to add a little sweet note to their events. Solving dilemmas and being a vendor that my clients, wedding or corporate, can rely on is something I hold in very high regard. Being able to take a freaking out bride or a corporate client on a strict deadline and help them is what I love most about my job. My second business Bookish and Bawdy LLC is a passion project of mine. I have loved reading from a young age and it has only grown with each and every year. What started as fun crafting, making book related things for my friends and I, has turned into another business that I love. We make everything from jewelry, keychains, bookshelf décor, and hand painted 3d figurines. Talking to my customers about what they are reading and geeking out together is one of my favorite pastimes.
Have you ever had to pivot?
In 2022 I was able to invest a sizeable amount of money into a high end UV printer and took a chance. Unfortunately the item I would have used it for the most quickly was phased out of popularity and I had to find other things to use the machine quickly. It was a hard lesson to learn that I needed to make sure any machine I brought in would be usable for multiple items. I also put a monetary limit for any upgrades going forward to make sure I never have that issue again.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
My business Exceptional Events 365 turned into my full time career in 2019. When we started the business we were both working full time jobs then going home to complete orders at night. There were definitely days I brought orders to work to complete during my lunch. As the orders grew it quickly became apparent that one of us would need to take on a full time position. Between communicating with customers, completing orders, and coming up with new items someone needed to be available. My sister in law was doing the business as more of a side hustle and loves her full time career so I jumped at the chance. Once I was able to be available full time the items and orders grew as well. At one point we had so many orders during the holiday season Etsy actually paused our store! From that point on I was dong about 75% of the orders and my sister in law took over our acrylic seating charts. When she decided to focus on her small business within her area of expertise I took over completely continuing to build.
Contact Info:
- Website: exceptionalevents365.com and bookishandbawdy,com
- Instagram: exceptionalevents365 and bookish_and_bawdy
- Other: tiktok- @exceptionalevents365 and @bookish&bawdy
Image Credits
LeShayne Maddex