We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Marks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The business I have now is in no way the original idea for the business. I studied catering in college and love doing events. That was a hard life for when I became a mom for the first time. So I had the brilliant idea to buy a stationery store that mainly focused on wedding invitations. I was good with brides and knew how to deal with them. I purchased a small business named Inviting Affairs. Was not crazy about the name but it made sense and had a good reputation. I decided to expand the business further by opening a retail location with a special area in the back for brides to relax and enjoy ordering their invitations. It was a fun journey after five years and I decided to drop the retail and focus primarily on custom wedding invitations. This is when it made sense to change our name to Inviting Affairs Paperie. I continued to work with brides designing custom invitations but realized my company really was expanding into the wholesale business. So I developed my custom wedding invitation album, which took months of planning. I had a booth at the National Stationery Show and I loved the album, pictured everyone ordering it for their shop. I had walked the aisles of the show many times and knew I had something good. Well, I was wrong, however I knew I needed more than the album after attending a Paper Camp so I had designed letterpress greeting cards and mugs. They sold. So when I returned home, I changed my focus to greeting cards and mugs. I was slowly gaining a list of shops and felt like I might have found my new business. I tried introducing new products including totes, cosmetic bags etc. Never sold one. So I was nervous when I decided to enter the growing sticker world. So a year ago, alone with my Adobe Illustrator and some research, I designed my own stickers. To answer your question about where my idea for my business came from, I always answer that I always have an idea. I am willing to try to make it work but I would know the idea when it felt right. Today I have almost 150 sticker designs, and sell them in over 130 stores, 29 states and 3 countries. Stickers were my new crushworthy idea that has made my business grow 400% in one year. So why ask why would you open another business. I missed retail so this

last year I started Pop Up ATX. We are an online shop that delivers in the Austin area or ships for free. We also do fun pop ups all over town. With a total of 1800 Instagram followers in our first few months I think I hit another jackpot idea.

Michelle, 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?

First I am a mom and partner, second I am a business owner. I thrive on working for myself. Taking chances I would not get with any other job and the wins as a small business owner is truly always a happy dance. I have pivoted my business so much in the last 15 years, been through a divorce, had two more boys. My oldest son was 2 years old when I purchased my business. It was what made sense for me at the time. I had two more boys and my husband at the time helped me and we could make it a family business. I am so proud that I have even with some really bad lows, days when I truly thought my company just needed to close but I never gave in and could not be more proud of what we have become. Our brand is based in my hometown of Austin, Texas. We love Dolly, Willie, Cowboys, Cowgirls and any Cacti. I think our vibe is pretty current with social aspects as well and that was something that was important to me.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses

I bought my business 15 years ago. I decided after leaving the event planning business that I wanted to buy an invitation business. I met with a broker and he showed me exactly what I was looking for. I met the owner at the time and it was kismet. I knew this was meant to be and I would make it happen. I acquired a lawyer and all the due diligence was done. It was such an easy process and we closed on Halloween 2007. The hard part was transferring ownership, all the current clients loved the previous owner. I had to prove I could be her. It was a hard battle. Working with brides is never easy but you also do it over months since most start with a Save the Date. I was lucky to hang on to one of the previous

employees so that helped the blow a little too. She went on to work for me for a while. So I thought I had gotten over the hurdle but then discovered knowing Adobe Illustrator was not optional. After asking many questions on Google I was able to not look like a complete idiot. That was 15 years ago and I will be honest I have no idea how to do the majority of what illustrator encompasses but I keep learning.

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

I have owned my business for 15 years and I can not count the number of times it has been my side hustle. So in 15 years for 7 of them it was my main career. Year 7 I was Catering Manager for a private club. Later that year my business was again my main gig. Then year 10 I got a job at Google, Best corporate job ever but just not my true jam. Went back to my main career being my business. You thought I would have learned but then I did some startups, catering again and even a stylist for men. But I am proud to say it is officially no longer a side hustle and my everyday job I am proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.invitingaffairspaperie.com/ www.popshopatx.com
• Instagram: Invitingaffairspaperie/ popshopatx/ somuchlifegal
• Facebook: Invitingaffairspaperie/ popshopatx/ Michelle marks
• Linkedin: Michelle (Esaias) Marks