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

Alright, Lindsey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I came up the idea for my business three months after having my daughter, at the very start of the pandemic. Up until that point I had been a boat captain, working long hours and often times away for weeks at a time. This lifestyle was clearly not compatible with having a newborn so I chose to pivot. I live on the Big island of Hawai’i – a very family centric place with no shortage of young children. However, there is only one baby boutique on island, to serve the 160,000 residents, as well as the one million annual visitors. The clear need for children’s clothing, especially from a small business, was apparent. So I sought to bring my idea to life. I created an online boutique of items I both created and curated, featuring local makers and Hawaiian owned products. It is very important to me to not just seek the largest profit margin, but to provide quality items, from local family owned small businesses. After one year in e-commerce, I took the leap to immerse myself in my community by participating in a number of pop-up markets. Feedback was exceptional! It was incredible feedback to see I truly was fulfilling a need with this business.

Lindsey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Aloha! My name is Lindsey, I am a sailboat boat captain turned entrepreneur and mom on the Big Island of Hawai’i. I own and operate The Kokonut Drop – a baby and toddler boutique. I provide a combination of handmade and locally curated items, with a focus on small batch. I believe wholeheartedly in providing unique items from myself as well as locally owned and operated small businesses to support working families throughout Hawaii. The Kokonut Drop style is kickback, ready for the beach, hiking you name it!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As many others reading this can relate, I am a working mom. This oftentimes means I am balancing many things at once to stay afloat. I have two very young children with around the clock needs, no childcare or family to help or provide time off. I started this business with no outside funding, despite ongoing efforts to receive business loans, grants, lines of credit and more. It is an ongoing, delicate balance of meeting the needs of my family, my financial demands, my business and other half. This can mean working throughout the day and night, while also caring for my children throughout the day and night. I have navigated inadequate sleep, made significant personal sacrifices, pivoted financial insecurity and persevered while the odds were largely stacked against me. There is so much societal pressure on moms to provide enriching, perfect caregiving, while also persevering their career, and receiving judgement no matter what choices they make. I believe in connecting and lifting each other up to succeed together! My daughter and son are my reasons to succeed no matter the challenges I face.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I formed this business with no outside funding! I have truly created something from nothing. To say it has been challenging is an understatement, but it certainly has forced me to get creative. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. For just shy of three years I have tried many avenues of securing funding to no avail. I’ve written thousands of grant applications, loan applications, lines of credit, you name it. Despite these oppositions, I cannot be stopped.. I feel everyday there are more and more resources available pertaining to financial literacy, women in business and small business ownership in general – which is such a wonderful movement in the right direction. To think that 1974 was the first year that women could own a credit card – we have come such a long way, we’ve just got to keep going. I have bootstrapped the cost of everything by doing odd jobs that allowed me to bring my babies, selling items from my home, digital illustration and more. I continue to forge ahead and hope to secure funding in the near future to scale The Kokonut Drop to the business of my dreams

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thekokonutdrop.com
• Instagram: @thekokonutdrop
• Facebook: Facebook.com/Thekokonutdrop

Image Credits
Mila and Knox Photography Lindsey Brown