We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Wootton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.

Samantha , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I recently just became a small business owner back in September of 2021. Rag Proper came from passion created by now 3 years with Samsville Gallery. People ask me all the time how I got started with Sam & it’s simple, Something I think we should all do for ourselves. Advocate for your business and sell what you have to bring to the table with confidence. So my dad & I were in Cheyenne at the Daddy of them All’ roping. I finally got my day away from the arena for a bit and ran across Samsville. I walked in, checked it out, mind you I don’t own but on real piece of turquoise, not very educated. I asked to see and ring and I think it was Alex (Navajo Co-Worker) who told me the price and I immediately had something smart to say and walked out. I told my dad how much that ring there was and we both couldn’t believe it but I was like actually I think I wanna work there. I walked back in and asked for the boss. The boss came and the boss was Sam. I told him my new journey of being a western fashion model and what I had to offer. He asked if I could be there Thursday. I showed up Thursday and worked til the end of the weekend with Samsville and I learned so much in a short amount of time. Not mention my feet hurt so bad like small needle pins by the third day but I learned so much. I knew I could sell I had that in my blood but I was intrigued by the culture that went into the sales pitch. That’s the quick back story about how the passion developed. The name came together in a great way too. I brought up conversation to one of my friends about wanting to start a company called Rag Proper. Come to find out she once had a store named Rag Proper & still owned the rights to the name but didn’t plan on renewing it. I mean what are the odds ya know. Thankful for sure it worked out the way it did. Few months go by & I’m at market with my friend Kynsi. We’re walking around and I start looking at the turquoise. Immediately I was like I’m here and if I’m gonna do this I’m gonna do this. Needless to say Kynsi and I enjoyed our time at market that day. We both got stacked up with inventory!

Then after I completed my favorite part, the inventory shopping of course. I went home, filed for an LLC and began to create a website. Creating the website was definitely a learning curve. It’s something I had to figure out as I went and refer to YouTube more often times than so. Once, I got all of that squared away I announced a launch date and started promoting Rag Proper on social media. Thankfully the advertisement is something I specialize in so it felt even cooler doing it for my own company.

Now, we aren’t only turquoise either. I knew I always wanted to design clothes or just create something others can partake in wether it’s styled shoots, clothing line, events. Whatever it may be where we can all get together and enjoy it. I looked for a graphic designer who could make my floating ideas come to life and thankfully my good friends at Get Salty got me hooked with BoomTown Design. We got our heads together and it was one of the coolest things to see it come to life and even cooler when it’s delivered to your front door on a shirt. Honestly, seeing your ideas coming to life is one of the coolest things so I think! that why I like a lot of business minded creators enjoy social media marketing. I know I do. Putting your own little flavor on something and someone trusting you 100% to market their product with your twist on it. I definitely applaud all my small business owners out there. I’m now on both sides of the spectrum and I have developed some serious respect for small business owners! I’m happy to be here and can’t wait to see we’re this journey goes.

Samantha , 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 journey as an influencer started in January of 2019. I applied for a brand rep position at Gypsy Pearl Texas and to my surprise got the gig. I eventually veered away from the brand rep program as I didn’t find it being the best spot for me long term but it was a great place to start. My first year, I put my face absolutely any and everywhere. I was doing 2-3 photoshoot a weekend and sometimes 2 in the same day. I traveled all over creating content in more than one location, creating relationships with brands small & large and simply just staying as busy as I possibly could. I didn’t know much about the social media world before I dived in head first. I honestly had no idea what an influencer was and personally speaking I’m not to sure that’s what we even called them a few years ago. Maybe that was the term but it was all new to me. Either way, I dived in head first and chased after what I wanted. That was to be staple face and brand. Moving onto my second year I decided to go deeper. I started co-hosting my own styled shoots with one of my favorite photographers to this day Liza Spurlock. I hosted my first ever styled shoot in Fort Worth, Texas where we rented an air bnb, had all the ladies come over for hair/makeup, suit up in out outfits then head out for a FULL day of shooting. By a full day of shooting I mean Liza and I had 15 models..15 models helping us put this all together. The group of girls that came to me I was truly blessed to have as there wasn’t a bad apple in the group. The laughs we’re loud and love in the air was stronger. The styled shoot was a complete success I’m thankful for everyone that had a hand in it. Moving along down the road a little to where I’m at today. It has taken patience, grit, determination, time, money and more. There’s nothing in this world you can’t achieve if you don’t try. Break out of your comfort zone..invest in yourself. Go to the styled shoots, go to clinics, read the books, study the material and most of all be yourself while doing it and the rest will fall into place.

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

Building a presence in social media takes consistency on top of everything else. You must prioritize consistency in order to grow and to be seen. Instagram or any other platform gives you the tools you need to create a schedule. For instance, I understand when my followers are most active and do my best to make it a point to post around that specific time each day. Next, understanding your why and purpose is very important. What’s your niche? What are you wanting to bring to the table that separates you from everyone else? Is it your style, your energy, your diy’s, do you have a hobby..whatever it may be capitalize on it and market to that standard community. Showing your face on your stories is very important. People wanna know that they are investing the they are investing their time into something real and worthwhile. After all we all know how deceiving the media can be. You wanna give people something to relate too versus what everyone calls social media as a “highlight reel.” Break away from that idea that you have to look all out togetehr every time you show your face on camera because at the end of the day it’s unrealistic. Realism has to one of the biggest things I’ve found success in for social media. It’s not always about what hot outfit you have but maybe how on a bad day you can connect with one person and let them know they’re not along but tag in some uplifting advice. Those three things have to be the base points for creating a successful social media standing.

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

Influencing or what I like to call it “Creative marketing through Social Media” started out as a dream then slowly became a side hustle which has turned into 80% of my career. I started out very small with only about 3,000 followers containing people I’ve collected throughout middle & high school. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college I took a chance on social media. Social media has never been my first choice of a job until I realized what I could do with it. My first year as an devolving influencer I didn’t receive hardly any revenue from it. I strictly worked on product exchange collaborations to grow my name and create relationships even though looking back now even if I was charging a minimum fee of $50 I should’ve valued my time. The second year comes around and I’ve grown my page and finally broke over 10,000 followers I worked many road shows with Samsville Gallery, hosted my own styled shoots, started charging brands on collaborations and more. Once, I felt like I had enough knowledge under my belt, some trail and error figured out that it was time for me to step up my game and create a media kit. Do it big time in the big leagues. I created a system that worked for me and I’ve done nothing since starting Retro Amiga view it as a business. If you wanna foresee something to be profitable in the future you have to run it like a business. Social media is all fun and games but if you don’t take it seriously then what are you really doing. You have to make the mental switch. Now, thanks to my hard drive I’ve been able to create a brand for myself, secure larger brand deals, watch my creative ideas come to life and more. Everything good takes time you’ve just gotta stick it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theragproper.com/
• Instagram: @retro.amiga
• Facebook: Samantha Wootton
• Other: Tik Tok: @retroamiga

Image Credits
White Dress, Black Dress – Juniper Hill Media Pink Romper – Emily Nicole Photography Black dress with rose, dog & horse image – Peyton Scott Photography