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

Alright, Lisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I still remember that light bulb moment when my t-shirt business idea had popped up in my mind. At the time, I was overall quite happy in my life, which wasn’t always the case. You could say that I wasn’t living a very happy life before moving to San Diego. It wasn’t until later that I realized that I was choosing to live that way. Until one day, I had had enough. I decided that I wanted and deserved to be happy. So I took the steps to make that happen. I graduated college in May 2016, I put my two week notice in at my dead-end job, ended a toxic relationship, packed up my truck and my two dogs and headed West with no set plans. Fast forward to 2019 when my business idea was born. I was bursting with joy because I had turned my life around and I wanted to share that with others. I had always known I wanted to help make the world a better place in my own creative way and creating t-shirts was always a low-key passion of mine. It felt fitting to create a brand that represented something positive. After a few months of struggling with a name, I had finally decided on Finding Euphoria. To me, that name meant, finding happiness. Which is what I had accomplished in my personal life. I wanted my brand to help remind people that they can find it too. I figured if we literally surround ourselves with positivity by wearing it, maybe it can change a person’s mood and maybe even help others who we pass by on the street. We’re spreading kindness one t-shirt at a time!

Lastly, I do want to disclose that deciding to be happy isn’t an overnight thing and our mental health status can’t be changed with a snap of a finger (even though I wish it could). All good things take work. It’s important to remember that no matter where we are in our healing journey, that we not only be kind to each other but to ourselves as well.

Lisa, 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?

My name is Lisa Lopez and I started a positive t-shirt brand called Finding Euphoria Co. I launched my small business earlier this year. It had always been a passion of mine to design t-shirts but it took me awhile to believe I could accomplish it and it took me time to figure out my niche. I currently sell t-shirts, crewnecks, and both small and large tote bags. The designs range from spreading kindness, feel-good vibes and fun sayings. I hope to add and offer more products in the future. Keep your eyes peeled for sweatpants, flannels, keychains and mugs. I’m very passionate about being a self-care advocate. Currently each order gets a free self-love bingo that I encourage my customers to play. I enjoy helping make the world a better place in my own creative way by offering products that people can wear and feel good in. I think what I’m most proud of is when I get to create t-shirts where partial proceeds go to organizations I’m passionate about helping. Partial proceeds of my latest t-shirt launch, goes back to women’s healthcare. I encourage anyone who passes by my website or social media, to please share organizations that they are personally passionate about. Finding Euphoria is always open to checking out new orgs to possibly make future donation based t-shirts to!

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I create most of my own products. To get to where I’m at today, I had to do months of research before my launch because I didn’t know how to start a business. As scary as it sounded, I didn’t want that to stop me, so Google, YouTube, and Instagram became my best friends. I, of course, experienced the inevitable trial and error situations. One of those being the type of t-shirts I wanted to design and make. I learned that I needed a commercial heat press. Now there are plenty of small businesses like mine that are just as successful without a commercial heat press, but I had to make the decision of if I wanted to make my own products or outsource them through a larger company like a local screen printer or Shopify. For me, I think half the fun was being able to have full control of things, what and how I wanted to press onto shirts, the quantity, and the packaging.

I don’t manufacture the t-shirts or bags themselves. I order blanks from different sites. Ordering from different sites is trial and error too. One major lesson I learned is that you don’t realize how many different brands, styles, and materials that t-shirts are made up of. There are only certain types of blends you can print certain materials on. Plus, I didn’t know how specific blends and brands of shirts felt to the touch. I care about selling quality, soft, and comfortable shirts to my customers. So, in the beginning I ordered multiple brands and handpicked the ones I offer based on comfort.

This is only the beginning for Finding Euphoria. I hope to learn about new products along the way and share them with my customers in the near future!

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I currently sell on Etsy. I felt like since my small business was brand new, that was the best place for me to start. I like how Etsy helps bring in foot traffic to your shop but just like many platforms, there are certain things you have to keep up with in order for their algorithm to push your shop to the top. Etsy’s fees recently went up, just like many things going up in price. After doing the math, I think it’s still a fair amount, especially for beginners. I feel like they’re very user friendly but posting listings can feel a little time consuming. I hope to someday make the switch and sell through Shopify. I’ve heard great things about them. However, they do charge a single monthly fee whether you sell anything or not and you are responsible for your own foot traffic. I think once someone has a good following, Shopify is a great option.

I recently started selling at pop-up shops as well. If you follow me on my social media, I always post ahead of time which ones I’ll be apart of so you can feel free to come say hi and check out what we offer in person!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.findingeuphoriaco.etsy.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/finding_euphoria_co
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/findingeuphoria.co

Image Credits
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