We were lucky to catch up with Megan Owdom-Weitz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Megan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Today, as a business owner, you must wear literally ALL the hats. I think this works for a short amount of time, but then learning to let go a little bit and let others help is also key to not experiencing burnout. Remaining successful in our business has meant being open to going where your customers are, instead of just sticking with a proposed plan that may or may not be working. For example, a few years ago we really wanted to focus on wholesale. Those sales started drying up, so we had to change focus to our website and doing shows again. The alternative I suppose is failure!! We never really know where our money is going to come from in a given month, but we (me and my husband) have been relying solely on our small business(es) — he’s also a part-time dog trainer — for 11 years. So, for us, success is being able to pay our bills, take care of our family, and try not to go into debt, knowing that some years will be better than others.

Megan, 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 Megan Owdom-Weitz and I went to college for Visual Communication Design at Kent State — an extremely rigorous program, and graduated in 2001. I thought I was on the path to becoming a designer in Chicago doing things like Annual Reports and logos. I have always loved creating and art, have had my own style, and have “done what I want”. When I realized after a few years of working for a small marketing firm in Chicago that this was not what I wanted for my life it was pretty scary! I had been “crafting” in the DIY scene for a few years and loved making things, but wasn’t sure how that was going to pay the bills. I ended up taking a screen printing class in 2005 and it literally changed my life. I began learning how to print, make my own screens, and drawing designs that I wanted to see out in the world. I began printing totes and t-shirts, selling them at craft shows and eventually getting into some local stores. I also started an Etsy site and eventually my own website. I was still at my job full-time until 2009 when I decided to quit and pursue my business full-time. This leap was not made without many days spent figuring out how I would potentially pay the bills, since nothing is certain in this kind of business. I began doing more wholesale shows, getting some regular customers, and some bigger shows. My sales grew and eventually my husband came on board full time in 2012. We had gotten an account at Nordstrom that really changed our business for a time, we had to hire people, and move out of our house. However, that only lasted a couple years, and during that time I also had my first baby, made the decision to move back to Ohio to have my second. Since moving to Ohio in 2016 so much has changed. We have moved twice, both locations “shops and studios” so our first experience with owning a brick & mortar. There was also this whole pandemic that changed things a little, haha. We sold exclusively online for what seems like a whole year, and had to rely some on grants available to small businesses. We are still somewhat in recovery mode from that time, and still haven’t hired anyone. However, that is next on our list. We still have an Etsy site, a website, sell at craft shows and farmer’s markets, have a brick and mortar and do a fair amount of wholesale. I can tell you one thing, it’s never boring!! I also now design everything on my iPad with an apple pencil and that has been a game changer in terms of productivity. My drawing style is really what has always set me apart from other t-shirt companies. I have been told I have a very unique style, and I have never really “followed the rules” when it comes to how to print or design for printing on clothing. I still just print on a hinge and board press here in my studio.

Since moving to Westerville, Ohio we have also really become a part of the community and have worked with probably 15 local businesses on custom apparel. This has been really key to keeping us afloat in these more meager times.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When Covid hit we had to stop going into our studio and brought all of our inventory to our house. Instead of “freaking out” (which we also did) we started listing everything on our website. Normally our website is more custom focused, in that you can choose any design / any fabric color, but this was more about selling inventory we already had finished. We also began offering pet portraits to all of our customers, as it was something I could do from my house, and all via email.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

We have a shopify site and an Etsy site. I know many people just choose one or the other, but we have always found that they serve different audiences and results in more sales overall. We think that Etsy finds a lot of customers that otherwise never would have found us, whereas our personal site seems to get sales mostly from our email list. We use Vela, an app that helps with posting listings on both sites. It used to be free, now it’s 9.99/month but super worth it as you can edit tons of listings at once and get things listed much more quickly.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.meganleedesigns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganleedesigns/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meganleedesigns
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcFmeXj-_TgGxd9mXZoSzow
• Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/meganleedesigns/?etsrc=sdt Faire: https://www.faire.com/brand/b_5kf9kny0

Image Credits
Copyright Loud Rainbow Photos 2022