We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shonda Ramsey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shonda, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
This topic comes up frequently among my peers, but usually, it is because they don’t understand the level of commitment it takes to be a business owner compared to a regular job. I recently had someone close to me use this very topic against me in an insensitive manner. “You can only do this because you don’t have a real job…” were the words spoken to me while I had taken some time off to be present.
I am not sure when or how it was presented to others that being a business owner wasn’t a real job, but I can assure you that most, if not all, small business owners work long hours, tirelessly sometimes, to make it successful. We have all heard that it takes 2 to 3 years to be profitable, and once the business hits the 7 to 10-year mark, it becomes successful. But that is only possible if the owners and employees work the business consistently; it doesn’t just happen on its own.
Before stepping into my business full-time, I worked as an Office Manager or an Administrative Assistant at small businesses, helping them scale their businesses and stay current with marketing trends. I would drive to work, be there all day, and then come home, separating work from life. When I look back at how unhappy I was working in those dead-end jobs, with no hope of going up the corporate ladder, working overtime while getting paid a salary that was below average, I can’t help but be so thankful for where I am today.
Now, I get to work around my schedule. I can often carve out time for family or friends who need me to be present when they need me to be present and can make up for it in the evenings or weekends as I see necessary. Am I happier now that I have transitioned to working my business full-time? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t come at a cost. If I don’t hit my numbers, I don’t get paid. For my business to be successful, I had to sacrifice the safety net of that weekly salary, which meant I had to give up luxuries I enjoyed. I now rely on the success of my products to stay in business and sustain my career.
On average, I worked 40-50 hours a week at a regular job, but with my business, I average closer to 50-60 hours a week during non-peak times and more during my busiest seasons. The difference between my happiness now is I choose to spend my time doing what I love and still get to help others. My joy comes from knowing that I am working where and how I am meant to be, my success comes from hard work and determination, and my happiness is much stronger now than ever.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I loved stationery in the 90s when I was an awkward teen before cell phones or social media existed, and the only trends I shared with my friends were we would write letters and fold them in creative shapes on hand drawn stationery. As I aged, the trends changed to rubber stamping, which I did for a long time, and I enjoyed setting up at the local craft shows at churches to sell my cards.
When trends shifted again to digital creations, every chance I got, I would take an online course to help me gain the necessary skills to become the graphic designer I am now. I fell in love with designing digitally, and pushing my boundaries as a designer excited me. I used the new skills in my career, designing marketing brochures and websites for my boss.
In 2017 I started my business, Lilian Grace Designs, after a season of struggle and heartbreak to help myself cope with the harsh realities of grief and the loss of our child.
I had planned on only launching it as a part-time side job, just getting my feet wet to see if there was a need for my designs and ideas, but an unexpected layoff prompted immediate action. I poured everything I had into designing my first greeting card collection. I dedicated every card to someone who had made an impact, hoping to brighten their day as much as they had mine.
In 2018, I learned about a new store at our local mall looking for small businesses to rent spaces and decided to inquire. I got accepted as a merchant and began planning a build-out for my first booth, which quickly upgraded to a larger booth within the first two months. I discovered early on that my products were needed and continued to sell. I decided to pair other stationery and gift brands with my own to try my hand at being a gift shop. I quickly learned that my brand outperformed the other popular stationery brands I was carrying. The highlight of my time spent at this store in the mall was being chosen as one of the top seven in the Most Creative In-Store Stationery Display with Stationery Trends Magazine. This honor really solidified I was on the right path.
In 2019, I felt it was time to really test the brand and launched the Say it with Grace Box, a subscription box for the thoughtful gift giver. During the test phase of the box, I received valuable feedback on the products I was testing and quickly learned which styles were popular.
At the height of Covid in 2020, with the mandates to shut down, the subscription box really struggled to bounce back. I switched the model from monthly to quarterly and tripled my subscribers. In addition to the box, I put my brand line in 2 local stores to see how they performed on their own, and I took my time home to learn how to grow and scale my business.
The result of these test launches is a brand refresh and relaunch in December 2022, offering the brand wholesale to other retail locations. I have a new lineup of products that have already begun launching and will continue to do so into 2023.
Lilian Grace Designs is a stationery and lifestyle brand focused on building friendships from the heart for women who feel unheard and alone so they can cultivate deep-rooted relationships with themselves and others. I am designing my cards to say the words that others struggle to find during difficult times. The most recent collection launched is my Infertility Collection which also gives back to RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. By changing how I approach creating greeting cards, I can help others form deeper bonds with their friends by saying those hard to say things for them.
Season one of the Podcast, Unbroken and Enough has begun recording with one of my closest friends. We hope to have round table discussions with other women about friendship, self-care, and life.
My passion and purpose is helping others share a special moment in their day, knowing they are loved, appreciated, heard, and seen, making the world a little brighter by focusing on friendship from the heart, one relationship at a time.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I had always had an entrepreneurial heart, finding ways to use my creativity to generate income. I had taken time off from my career for a year and a half when we fostered two boys so I could be present in their daily care and appointments. I needed income and decided to sell for a widely known direct sales company for three years. I would set up a booth at local events and offer an inventory of the products to contribute financially to our household. After the boys moved on, I went back to work in my career full time and saved the funds from the direct sales company to purchase the tools needed to start creating notepads and stationery in my home. I closed the direct sales business, sold off all of the remaining inventory and business supplies, and used those funds to launch my own business. It wasn’t a ton of money, but it was enough to get me started.
From 2017 to now, 2022, I am still a debt-free business. I have bootstrapped my way through, putting back financially into the business what I get out of it to keep it thriving.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
I manufacture as many of my products in-house as possible, but I also use an outside printer to assist me with larger wholesale orders. One of the first products I manufactured was our signature notepads on premium paper. I love notepads and would get frustrated when I would buy one and my pens would bleed through onto the next sheet. I tested many different paper weights to determine which one I liked best, purchased a large cutter and a padding press, and set up a space in my office to start manufacturing. I can offer small batches of custom notepads, which I enjoy, but I am also researching scaling my machines to produce more per batch.
For every product that I offer, I try to find a way to manufacture it in-house where possible, but for some items, I have to find outside manufacturers to fulfill the quantities I need. When picking the right manufacturers, samples determine if the quality meets my expectations and brand image. I started with a manufacturer that I had to pivot mid-way because quality control issues were happening more frequently.
The biggest lesson I learned when going with a manufacturer is maintaining communication during the process, getting proofs when possible so you can hold it, feel the product and see how it will look before moving forward with a large quantity order.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.liliangracedesigns.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liliangracedesigns
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liliangracedesigns
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHfbFPpxPh1b7G5GekSlIQg
Image Credits
Kelly Ann Photography and Lilian Grace Designs