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

Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Years ago, my husband and I used to frequent the Nashville Farmer’s Market and Porter Flea Market and other fun local events that sold some of the best local goodies and we always enjoyed meeting the makers and seeing new products. We were continually impressed at the quality of work that small makers were doing here in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, we both worked corporate jobs and my husband’s company was looking for a creative gift idea, so I pitched an idea about sending a gift basket that was 100% local Nashville goods to their top 50 clients across the country from their Nashville home office. They loved it and asked if I could pull them together. I had the most fun doing it and learned so much about local makers in the process. Soon thereafter, word of mouth began to spread and other friend and companies were asking me to make local gift baskets for their gift needs too. It wasn’t long after my first baskets that I decided that bringing all of these local goodies together in one convenient location year-round and offering concierge gifting services along side those great products would be a pretty good business idea of it’s own. So many people loved the idea and wanted to support local, but it was cumbersome to drive all over Middle Tennessee to gather these goods or wait for a market that only happens a few times per year. Furthermore, not everyone wants to assemble gifts, so that was an additional service we could offer that we love doing. We started online in 2016 and opened our first brick-and-mortar location in 2017. We’ve been rapidly growing each year since then and it’s been so fun to see the community support other local makers and our own small business in the process.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At Made in TN, we make gifting local easy and that really brings two of my passions together. Gifts are my love language no matter how big or small and supporting local makers feels so important to me. I grew up in a family that worked hard for every dollar and seeing how much of an impact it can make to support local and small business. I grew up in Nashville and have seen the tremendous growth and the incredible community of artists, makers, entrepreneurs and how they all support each other so well. I am so proud of Nashville and it is a dream to be able to support local makers by selling their products year round in our stores and online giving them sales and exposure while also helping individuals and companies create phenomenal gifting experiences for their friends, clients, and staff. Most people know that we have retail store locations at the Factory at Franklin and at the L&L Market in Nashville and you can pick up a gift in-store, but what most people don’t know is that we have a full warehouse of products and gift packaging where we employ a team of gifting professionals behind the scenes that can customize one gift or prepare 1,000 gifts for local deliver, in-store pick up, or Nationwide shipping.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I married him! Most people ask us how we can run a business together, but it’s actually been quite easy. We were dating when I started the company and I could not have gotten it off the ground without him. We both bring different skill sets to the table. I fill a creative and operations role and he fills the sales and marketing role. He joined me early on in building something that was a hobby into a real business and it turns out we make a pretty good team on and off the job.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

When we started Made in TN, I was working a full time corporate job in the finance industry. I didn’t love what I was doing, but it was a good job and I was pretty good at doing it. My salary there helped me start Made in TN as a “side-hussle” until I could afford to leave. I had to hire a lot of help along the way so that I didn’t have to leave my corporate job in order to be in the stores. Eventually I knew that Made in TN could fully replace my salary and left corporate life behind to do what I love full time!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shopmadeintn.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shop.madeintn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madeintennesseegifts
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/made-in-tn

Image Credits
Victoria Quirk