Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachelle Carson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Rachelle, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Being a small business owner has always felt more rewarding to me than working a 9-5 job, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, however in no way does it mean it’s always sunshine. Some days are overwhelming and consist of packing orders, responding to emails, working on new product formulations, checking inventory and planning social media content. Other days I struggle for hours just trying to fix a bug in my computer.

Sometimes the predictability of a regular job does feel ideal, but then I look around at the products I’ve poured my heart into and I think about the sweet messages from my customers and in those moments I feel a deep sense of purpose that I’ve never found working for someone else.

Rachelle, 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 Rachelle Carson. I’m the founder of LILY + MIEL, a skincare company that I created based around my personal interest and passion for formulating natural solutions for my own skin issues. I have always been an advocate for natural ingredients and decided one day that I wanted to take my passion, formulate and bottle it in a way that I could share with others in hopes of bringing a more natural solution to skincare issues they may have dealt with in their lives as well.

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

I had no idea where I was going to begin or how to make it all work. I just continued to put one foot in front of the other, took each day as it came and eventually what started as a side hustle slowly became something bigger.

I would say one of my most memorable moments was on the launch date, not knowing what to expect, just announcing it and then sitting back waiting for something to happen when almost immediately I received an order from my very first customer (it was a friend, but still!) —I couldn’t have felt more excited and proud and nervous all at the same time. From there, word of mouth and positive feedback motivated me to push harder and I dedicated more and more time to the business. I realized this was more than just a side hustle for me—it was something I was really passionate about and it brought me a lot of joy.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There was a point early on in my business when I realized that my original plan for distribution simply wasn’t working. I had hoped to rely on local events and pop-up markets to build my customer base, but it just wasn’t giving me the full exposure or sales I had hoped would come. I put more focus on building a stronger online presence instead, even though tech is not my strongest point. Putting more focus on that allowed me to reach customers beyond my local community, and expand the company’s growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lilyandmiel.com
• Instagram: lilyandmiel
• Facebook: lilyandmiel
• Twitter: lilyandmiel
• Youtube: lilyandmiel

Image Credits

Menta Studios