We recently connected with Sarah Khateeb and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

After I graduated university I started working with non profit organizations, and I was mostly involved with Kids projects. So I was surrounded by kids pretty much before i actually had my own. Then after a while i worked in an infant daycare, so my main job was caring and playing with babies, which was fun!
the most game they loved was peek a boo, and they would laugh every single time. after becoming a mom myself, this game would be the first game to pop up to my head, and it’s pretty much the game that babies love the most.
when i wanted to start and name my brand, i wanted to start with a catchy name that all the kids would like and the parents would remember. So Pick A Bow was the name. that sounds like peek a boo, and it is also related to what i am making, which is bows.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Sarah! I’m a stay at home mom of 3 little adorable kids. One boy, and two girls who taught me how much bows are fun! I’m a self taught embroidery and sewing artist and have found so much love for this lost art. I got into making hair bows for the love of sewing things, and it all came out as coincidence, as i was sewing a doll clothes for my daughter, my friend saw it and said: ” you have such a talent! you should sew things and sell them”! I laughed at the thought of that, then thought to myself, well its something i love to do so it will not feel as work much. then i started to think about project that will not overwhelmed me and hair bows was the idea. i choose a specific type of hair bows which is sailor hair bows because they were classy and elegant and can be worn for a very fancy occasions or just a normal day out. I am such a chromatophilic, person who loves colors, so when i wanted to make hair bows i went out and choose a lot of different color patterns to make the bows, but as i was creating my first collection of bows i realized that all kids clothes are full of colors and patterns so it will be so hard to match the bows to the outfits. As a mom I see those problems every day when my toddler decides to wear her clothes by herself. ( all patterns)! So i made another all solid color collection, that would match all the outfits out there.
what people don’t realize the most that all these small business made for the heart of our homes are very hard to put out there and keep it on social media, and compete with other crafters. It takes a lot of energy, time, and effort. So i decided I wanna be very special Hair bows maker, so I decided to make embroidery hair bows.
Those embroidery hair bows were so special and all the people loved them. they are both sailor bows embroidery and mini sailor bows.
What i want people to know that each hair bows is hand embroidery and its all my design and hand work, so no machines are used for the embroidery and that actually every single bows takes a lot of time and steps to be made.
I make sure every bow will give that feeling of being someone special as soon they put it on.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

I have two beautiful stories i would like to share. when i first decided i want to do a embroidery hair bows i made a cute three flowers collection. Lavender, Blue Muscari and Pink Lilly, and that was actually after being on the market for almost 3-4 months. then i wanted to make a social media content so i took the bows and my two beautiful models ( my girls) to a local Lavender farm, start taking pictures and reels and making content, then a nice lady approaches me and says how beautiful these bows are, my husband told her that i make them, then she wanted to know if i sell them, i was so happy at that time, filled with excitement and dreams because its the first time someone sees these bows out in real, not just on the website or on Instagram! and she told me that she wanted those bows in her gift shop at the lavender farm. she asked me to send her a email with all the details. and i did the next day i sent her an email with all the details and she ordered 20 lavender embroidery bows!! do u know how much time this will take making? Forever, but i was super excited and scared at the same time. she did not give me a deadline or wanted them in a specific time, but i wanted to finish them all in one week!! Can you imagine?!
i started to make the bows and they took a lot of time, i remember i was scared because i wanted to keep my word a business owner and a person who respects time. and i did make those beautiful embroidery bows that i was so proud of. this order was my first big order ever! people loved the bows that she had to order another 20 for her shop.
then i made a sunflower embroidery bow and sent her an email about the new flower added to the collection and she ordered 20 of those.
feeling the confident after this order make me wanna go out and show the people what i make, because it is so hard trying to reach people on social media. so i contacted a nother farm to be a vendor in their sunflower festival and that was my first craft vendor ever.
i was super excited and anxious, i did not know what to expect, but it went fine, people loved the bows, I did not sell much, but it was a good first time experience.

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

You would think that if you go the right steps in a business making, that your business would be successful even if you had a new product that no one does! well the answer is NO! creating a business and making clients, and being entrepreneur is much harder that anyone can think.
I took logic steps into making my brand, like crating a website and social media pages, a business email and a visible logo, and till this day i still struggle to make sales,
i had to pivot and prioritize what’s most important, and that is my family.
my 3 kids that are all under 5 years old. they need much of my attention and love, so i would balance between work and being a full time mom. it is not easy for sure, and any body will tell you this!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pickabow.store
• Instagram: pickabowstore
• Facebook: pickabowstore
• Other: Pineterst @pickabowus tiktok @pickabowstore

Image Credits
I take all my pictures by myself