We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Krystal Toland a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Krystal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being a business owner force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I never saw myself as an entrepreneur, and if I’m being honest there are still days where I find myself in awe. It’s not that I didn’t think it was something I was capable of, it was just never my desire. Over the years, I have perfected the art of taking someone else’s vision and bringing it to life. Which is ironically what I do now within my own company. Growing up and while in college, I envisioned myself as a senior executive within a company.
An opportunity presented itself to become a uniform vendor for several transit companies’ last fall. When the opportunity first came to me, I was intimidated. To ease my anxiety, a good friend took me to a local uniform shop. Once there the owner spoke about her experiences, allowed me to see her vendors and how she stores inventory. I had the opportunity to watch her engage with customers and fit them for their uniforms. She even shared with me a little bit about contract negotiation and execution. I left her store feeling better, extremely energized, and motivated. Most of all I left with a firm foundation that I could do this. I remember turning to my friend and saying to him, this was the best worst thing you could’ve ever done. He laughed and asked me why. I responded to him by saying it’s the best thing you’ve ever done because you open my eyes to something I didn’t know was even a possibility. It’s the worst thing you could’ve done because now I see it, I know it’s attainable and I’m coming for it!
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?
Crafting has always been one of my favorite pastimes that quickly became an expensive guilty pleasure. But I needed it for me! I didn’t do it for recognition. I didn’t put my work on display or even sale it initially. I did it because I needed an outlet from a very mentally challenging and physically exhausting job. While planning for Vacation Bible School someone mentioned wanting T-shirts. While I can’t remember who suggested me or who went to Camye Allen and threw my name in the hat. I distinctly remember being volun-told to do it. I gave her every excuse in the book about being unskilled, not having the machinery and materials, etc. She looked back at me with a smile, nodded, said “uh-huh thank you” and then walked off. Two of my good friends Jene and Natasha just looked and laughed while I stood there in disbelief. Needless to say by day one of Vacation Bible School we were all in matching/themed shirts.
Getting to where we are today was not easy! There were a lot of sleepless nights, utilizing personal funds to finance business dreams, and goals; often wondering if I was spending too much time focusing on pursuing my dream and not enough time with my daughter.
There are two divisions within the Exclusively Yours company; the Craft Boutique, and the Uniform Exchange. A person can create an order containing elements from one service line or both. Within the Craft Boutique, we specialize in creating customized items. We offer business to business services such as vinyl sheets, embroidery, sublimation blanks or direct-to-film items.
Additionally, we offer predesigned items, or you can create custom such as a T-shirt for your child’s sports team, water bottles, sorority crossing gifts or even a mug with your favorite quote. If you can think it, dream it, or desire it, we will bring it to life. At the Uniform Exchange, we are on a mission to provide what you need to look professional, feel confident and comfortable from head to toe. We offer a variety of items for sports teams, healthcare workers, law enforcement, transportation companies, and more.
Any advice for managing a team?
In order to keep morale high, you must first be realistic. That includes remembering that every day is not going to be filled with rainbows, gummy bears, and roses. It also includes remembering that every member of your team is an actual person, not a robot or AI technology with feelings, thoughts, emotions, and that they go through things outside of what occurs within your four walls. Many times, employers like to tell individuals to check their feelings at the door. As a trained behavioral health professional, let me also say that that is easier said than done. Depending on what is attached to said feeling that person is a moment away from a breaking point, and it could’ve taken everything they had within them to simply walk through the door on that day. So, to keep morale high, I pride myself on creating or cultivating a space where people are free to express themselves. I have an open-door policy and even when my door is physically close, you can open it. I give my team middle health days where they can take a day where they can breathe and decompress and not stress about work. We have staff outings and connection points where we are required to talk about anything other than work. I celebrate, highs and work thru lows with those that are on my team. That doesn’t make me a pushover. I just simply believe in praising publicly and reprimanding privately. My management style is that of a coach and ultimately, I handle my team the way I would want to be handled in the situation with dignity and respect. But if I had to sum all of that off of into one statement, I would say I maintain morale by getting in the trenches and doing the work alongside my team.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I do not have a cofounder or business partner, but I have met some amazing people along the way and if I have my choice we’re going to ride this thing to the wheels fall off. The second biggest lesson I have learned in business is that collaborations are the key to business growth and development. I grew up hearing the scripture Iron, sharpens Iron. Collectively that is exactly what we do. These individuals have pushed me out of my comfort zone, challenged me to keep running this race, placed my name in meetings and rooms that I never thought I would be in. They are all amazing in their own right but collectively….it is life changing!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.exclusivelyyourscb.com and www.eyuniformexchange.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exclusivelyyours_cb/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exclusiveyourscb
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@exclusively_yours_cb
Image Credits
Exclusively Yours is the proud vendor for Cory Brim, CEO of Sugar Rim Bar (gentlemen in the grey jeans and black hoodie) and Atlanta’s own DJ Renzo (gentlemen in the tan and green)