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

Libby, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

What it takes to be successful…I know one thing for sure it takes a lot of different things to be successful. When starting a small business I think you need to be passionate about what you are doing because you will be working a lot and if you are like me and working by yourself you have to keep yourself motivated even when things are not working out. It is very easy to find excuses to quit with life being as busy as it is! You also have to keep trying out what works best for you and it may look very different then that person next to you or what you may have thought you would be doing. One example, I 100% thought I should be selling on Etsy. Beginning of last year I started an Etsy shop and 100% did not enjoy doing it and things was taking longer then it should because I would dread working on it. I realized I love doing markets and stores because I love have hundreds of different options of prints for each item and that is hard to show on Etsy. I finally decided I need to close it and sell the way I enjoy selling in stores and doing market and make that my focus. I thought I needed Etsy to be successful but I was wrong I found many more stores and markets. Also networking is a great way to successful. While at my markets and stores I learn so much from talking to other small business and customers and enjoying all of it at the same time.

Libby, 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?

Hello, I am Libby Goetz and the owner of Stitch by Libby! I make and sell products for kids and adults for all personalities!

When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2019 I taught myself how to sew so I could have an extra skill that would be valuable. I picked sewing because I thought it would be something I would enjoy and versatile. During Covid everyone was asking me for masks since I sewed and could make them. I decided to after selling them and sold over 1,000 masks. I actually didn’t like making the masks but I loved the process of working with people and finding prints for everyone’s personality. Shortly after I decided I wanted to start selling products I enjoyed making that I have been giving as gifts. I had a lot of freinds and family having babies so that is what I was learning to make and making things as they grew. Two popular products I sell now are my toddler aprons and toddler ponchos. My aprons have so many cute prints such as unicorns, dinosaurs, rainbows, construction trucks, football, flamingos and the list goes on! I also branched out to making bows, earrings, bookmarks, kid wallets, hair clips out of faux leather. I have 100s of different prints so everyone can find a products that they love. My most unique product is my baseball made of out of real baseballs. I also started to make earrings of out the baseball as well.

I love finding prints of special requests. Recently I was at a market next to someone who recently started to sell coffee beans and she asked if I could find coffee print for a bow tie. It is just really fun making products to suit people personalities.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think my journey as a whole shows resilience and any small business owner is the same way. Starting a small business by yourself is lonely and no one really understands how much work it is and self motivation you need for something that you real do not know how well it is going to do but hoping it does great! I had so many products I spent lots of time and money to launch and it just wasn’t popular and it was off to the drawing board of what I should next.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I started Stitch by Libby by selling things on my Facebook page as a side hustle. A very small side hustle with no expectations. I stayed home with my 1 year old and could only work on it so much. I think having no expectations really helped because when something didn’t pan out it was okay because I could easily pivot because I did not have a set plan in mind. Actually the only goal I had was to sell on Etsy and I learned that selling on Etsy was not for me. I started to sell at local markets and I loved being in that environment and after a market I was always motivated to make my next market better. When my daughter turned 3 I decided to send her to school 2 days a week which would give me more time to focus and grow Stitch by Libby. The week she started school I also had an opportunity to sell in my first shop. I could also do more markets. My first shop was exciting for me because I felt after being successful in one I could start looking for more shops. It’s been a little over a year since I start selling in my first shop and now I am selling in 7 different shops! I am also doing my biggest markets next month which is the Christmas Connection at the IX Center.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/stitchbylibby?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stitchbylibby?mibextid=LQQJ4d