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

Lauren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I manage my own social media. I struggle with this, but I haven’t found someone who can fully represent my voice and knows needlepoint.

I try to be honest, There is a lot of aspirational and influencer marketing in our industry, and I try to balance humor with respect, slight snarkiness and a realistic portrayal of life.

Lauren, 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?

I worked in HR on Wall street for many years until I had children. I went through a severe postpartum depression, combined with post 9/11 PTSD, I did some soul searching and left my job. I ended up leaving the job and getting my MSW. I worked a few years doing trauma work and then adoption work. At which point, I decided I wanted to spend more time with my children and we left NYC to be country mice in Virginia. Here I did the upper middle class suburban mom thing – tennis, volunteering and hanging by the pool, which I found stultifying.

So I started researching how to get back to work. I wanted to monetize my needlepoint hobby and started working with private clients to stitch and then do some design work. I completed an entrepreneurship training program and then started my own retail business in January of 2020. In March of 2020, I moved everything online and became just like Amazon (as I tell my kids).

I am still in business. I grew my revenue from under 10k to well into the 6 figures pretty fast. And I think I’ve stayed true to who I am and my mission.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I trained as a social worker for several years. My training helped me to ask questions of clients and customers to best help them figure out what they really wanted. Unlike in social work, where clients may not be in a good space for a long time, I’ve learned that in the shop, I can help clients feel better about their work, celebrate a milestone or even cope when situations are challenging. In the shop, I want everyone to walk away feeling good.

Not every shop does this. I’ve been in shops where people are critical of others. Or where they won’t work with you if you aren’t going to spend a large amount of money.

I also work as a mentor to many younger people entering the market, and they’ve been loyal, sending me customers and helping with social media followers.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I bought the inventory of a business. I did not want to take over LLC since there wasn’t much clarity about the previous owner’s liabilities. I’ve had the chance to buy 2 other businesses to expand, but I’ve passed on them because of what I found during due diligence.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.poppypointe.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/poppypointe
• Facebook: facebook.com/poppypointe