We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Leung recently and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I am one of those people that believes that everything happens for a reason – whether it’s good or bad, a win or a lesson, we learn something about ourselves every time we make a decision in our lives.

I would say that starting my business came at the exact right time for me.

My husband and I were newlyweds – we were married in September of 2012, and in February of 2013, we were relocating away from the Midwest and everything we had ever known, to pursue the unknown in Seattle. We were driving ourselves cross country and during that drive, one late night, it started to snow outside of Murdo, South Dakota.

Our brakes locked and we ended up careening off of an overpass onto the highway below. We totaled our car that night and through a series of connections (friends of friends of family members) we were able to get a ride to Sioux Falls to rent a car.

When we finally arrived in Seattle I was in pretty bad shape and was in physical therapy almost every day of the week for several months trying to relearn how to walk and live without pain. During this time, the era before “work from home” was a thing, I couldn’t find a traditional job and we needed the additional income to survive in this new city.

I started my business with only $100, all that we could afford at the time, and the rest, is history.

So I do believe things happen for a reason, they may not be all good, they may test you but the decisions we make when met with adversity are the moments that truly define us.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I would say that I have been a serial crafter all of my life. I love to learn and firmly believe that when you learn about a craft, you can appreciate it so much more. As a result, I actively pursue new skills, crafts, and hobbies when I have time.

As a result, I learned how to crochet at the age of four, learned how to wood burn at six, screen printing at eleven, oil painting at twelve, developed my own film at fourteen, and hand-poured candles at fifteen. When I was sixteen, I along with two other friends started a bespoke handmade costume business.

So when I opened my shop on Etsy, I opened with so many different products including photos from my travels, stuffed animals that I handmade, mobiles that I designed and built, and so much more.

Right now my shop, HEMLEVA, carries rainbow-making suncatchers, stickers, mobiles, Tillandsia, keychains, pins, earrings, my Original Pin Display Pennants, and has carried hair claws and clips that I’ve designed, candles, mugs, propagation stands, embroidered hats and sweatshirts and so much more!

I try to make things that I enjoy, things that I love and can be proud of.

If you follow me on socials (@hemleva) I have a veritable jungle of plants in our house and they inspire me each and every single day.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I touched on this earlier, but I started my business with only $100. It was all we could afford at the time. So from the very beginning, my company was completely self-funded. I simply reinvested my profits back into the business over and over again until I was sustainable. After a few years, I was able to start paying myself an actual paycheck and even self-fund my own 401K!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started my Instagram account when I was just starting my business, almost 10 years ago. The growth has been slow and steady over the years as both my business grew and the relationship with my customers grew too.

I would say that if you are just starting out, continue to try new things, find out what resonates with your customers – not just your followers – or what goes viral – but what resonates with your actual customers, and pursue that. Oh, and try your very best to respond to all comments as soon as possible.

Every single person in the world wants to feel like they are both seen and heard.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hemleva.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/hemleva
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hemleva
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/hemleva

Image Credits
The photo of the kitty with rainbows was taken by @strawbeemochi Catherine Shi