We recently connected with Lisa Wilson and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I started knitting in 2012 as a respite from the challenges that come with being a human being. Each time I picked up my knitting needles a flow energetic magic would surround me and the creating began! Try as I may, following patterns from others only created a jumbled mess of a baby blanket in my lap and left me flustered. Yet, if I just sat and started a project with no expectations, the repetitive click click click sound of the needles took me to a peaceful place of enchantment and before I knew it the most beautiful scarf was created. These cowls, smoke rings, snoods or infinity scarves, whatever label you want to put on them, seemed to stream from my fingertips, from each flick of my wrist. I started gifting them to anyone who would wear them and they seemed to be popular. They were useful, didn’t get in the way like a long scarf and were the perfect accessory during any month of the year depending on what material I knit with. That. Is how my obsession with yarn and knitting began.
By 2021, I had a large inventory of scarves and a huge stash of luxury yarns…this issue was I had already gifted them to everyone I knew and I had to focus on what the real world calls “real work”. So, I rearranged my office to start working from home and placed all of my knitting ‘equipment’ underneath my desk. Duty calls, bills need to be paid and I couldn’t spend all my time in the magical world of creating.
One afternoon I was having an adult temper tantrum about finances and my mind was screaming “WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!” to God, the Universe, to whatever powers that be that were listening…over and over again. Louder and louder. When I finally caught my breath I could feel my angels silently supporting me, so in normal fashion, I washed my face and went to my computer to focus on something else. While working on my breathing, I opened up my laptop just in time for a Facebook Live to pop up. The woman was speaking about growth and although my mind was still wanting to scream louder than my heart, I listened her talk about how life is a spiral and growth isn’t linear. As her words filled the room, I glanced out the window and saw a cluster of black butterflies flittering through the air and the word “infinity” popped into my mind.
At that exact time, I felt something brush against my ankle as a pink skein of yarn fell from its hiding place, where it had been previously smushed under my desk, and rolled gently across the floor. I stared and held my breath, waiting for the rest of the yarn to come tumbling out…similar to a heap of lemons in the produce section, when you absent mindedly grab the one on the bottom.
Nothing followed it. The beautiful ball of yarn stopped directly in the middle of the room, shining in a ray of sunshine that beamed through the window. I stared at the yarn and continued to hold my breath. Getting out of my office chair, I slowly approached it, as if it might magically burst into a puff of smoke glitter and become my Fairy Godmother. The shades of pink colors in it shined in in the light and as I knelt on the floor, once again I could feel the room full of angels, waiting patiently for me to hear their message.
Not daring to touch this ‘sign from above’, I stayed on the floor, eyes closed, praying for the ability to hear and decipher my next move. Opening my eyes, I glanced underneath the desk and saw my inventory of Infinity Scarves I had knit and was tenderly reminded that knitting has always been my happy place. That’s when I literally felt the angels and fairies in the room light up and flutter their wings, saying, “FINALLY!! Don’t you get it now?!” I laughed out loud, picked up the skein of pink yarn and thanked God for this opportunity I was about to take, and for leading me on this journey.
That day in September of 2021, I sat at my desk, got out a piece of paper and wrote down in big letters: The Black Butterfly and intertwined them with an infinity sign.
Within three days, I had a logo, social media pages activated, inventory spreadsheets set up and my first photo shoot done. During my first week ‘up and going’ I sold five scarves and then go to work knitting. Having an initial inventory of products made the process of creating new ones easier because I didn’t feel rushed. I also started knitting a bit differently than I had previously. The Black Butterfly Infinity Scarves are created with the intention of sharing love, gratitude and listening with an open heart…allowing the energies and messages to come forth through it’s unique creation. Every stitch and each row holds magical messages within it and a card is placed with each order identifying to the purchaser what the scarf, in its entirety, encompases.
I have since created a website to share my story and make sales easier and have discovered that doing trunk shows and pop ups at local places, for me, are much more profitable than setting up at shows or festivals. These infinite creations are functional and luxurious; like a great coat, they’re a staple in anyone’s closet.
Lisa, 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?
The Black Butterfly wasn’t my mind’s vision, it was something in my heart that has been there all of this time. In letting go of expectations and trusting in myself and a Higher Power, I am able to create something tangibly beautiful to share with others.
The transformation behind The Black Butterfly, as a business, is more than just creating luxurious unique scarves. It encompasses growth through multiple journeys: mine, the wool and fiber of the yarns, the color, texture and pattern of each scarf as it’s knitted, and will be part of the consumer’s journey once purchased. During the creation process, I am consistently appreciative of the happy animals that grew the wool and hairs and the happy plants that produced the fibers used. In turn, I also incorporate the dedication, hard work and integrity from each small farm, mill and co-op that provides me with material to work with.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
After deciding I was going on this venture with The Black Butterfly, I made 2 pacts to myself:
1. I would spend minimal funds, and when I say minimal, I mean $0, until I used all of the yarn I had. Already having completed scarves to sell and a wide variety of luxury yarns to continue knitting with, I really didn’t need anything extra to get started.
2. I would trust in the timing. Not getting caught up in the social media swarm of how many numbers of likes, comments or shares I got; but trust that each post or story or video would reach the right person at the right time.
With literally no cash set aside to ‘own and operate’ a business, I relied heavily on every free marketing avenue available. Starting new social media pages under the business’s name was essential, and cost nothing, but I soon learned that my personal pages got more traffic. It seemed redundant to me, but when I started sharing my business posts on my personal pages, it paid off! My first order was five scarves and that allowed me to purchase shipping materials and beautiful leather tags to add my brand to each finished product.
There are multiple platforms for businesses to generate sales, but it took awhile to find one that would work for my vision, not require a monthly membership fee and not take a large percent for processing each sale. While I took my time searching for what would work for me, since I wanted an “all-in-one” online presence and wanted to do it right the first time, I continued to generate sales. Once again, with magic and fairy dust, after 7 months of being on the fence, the opportunity presented itself and I had a domain name, email and website up and running!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
It sounds ‘easy’ and may be a little cliché, but growing clientele for The Black Butterfly started with family and friends. I put easy in quotations in the last sentence because it was a lot easier said, and read, than done. I didn’t want those close to me to think I was trying to push my product on them and definitely didn’t want them to feel forced into a purchase. It’s all about how you approach someone when asking for help and word of mouth goes a very long way when you are selling anything of high quality. Soon they began sharing my information with others, and those that did purchase were blown away with the quality and uniqueness of each scarf. I like to follow up with each purchase personally and I feel that not only helps me stand out in a world of Amazon sellers, but I’ve also learned that even good feedback isn’t given unless asked. The joyful responses in those conversations fuels my desire to keep creating, as well as allows me the opportunity to ask for a quote or review or to have them share their experience on the big World Wide Web with their own network of people.
If I had to give anyone advice on increasing clientele, it would be to take advantage of every opportunity you get that allows you to show or talk about your business!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theblackbutterflyknits.com
- Instagram: @theblackbutterflyknits
- Facebook: The Black Butterfly