We were lucky to catch up with Sierra Breckenridge recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sierra, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
My name was easy to come up with because I had a Youtube channel with the same name. I created content surrounding the topic of being a new mom and my nickname is Sisi, which are the 1st two initials if my frist name Sierra. With me creating a product for moms, the name transferred really well into my business as Mama Sisi’s diaper bags.
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?
My name is Sierra and I’m a mama of one little boy who is 7 years old.
I got into my industry by creating a product for myself, a fashionable diaper bag, that I wanted to share with the world.
I design fashionable diaper bags for fashionable moms who want to maintain their own sense of style after having a baby.
I saw there was a lack of men’s diapers bag, so I created the Grayson bag just for them. It’s a smaller, lightweight diaper bag that is less complicated than a traditional diaper bag designed for women.
I’m proud of the fact that I was able to build this company ground up utilizing my own resources. It took a lot of time, planning, money, effort, mistakes, lessons to get to where I am today. Although I’m not where I want to be, I’m far from where I use to be, so I use that as motivation to keep going when I’m feeling down. I want everyone to know that when you support my business, you’re supporting the community. With every purchase, a portion of the funds go towards purchasing diaper bag essential to stuff in a Mama Sisi bag that will be donated to local charities who help expecting parents in need. Always support small business 1st.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
I was able to fund my business by making regular deposits into my business account every time I got paid. I still do that to this day to help pay for expenses until I’m able to make a profit. I’m always seeking grant opportunities in which there are a ton out there, you just have to look for them and get on email lists, go to business events…. I won a grant which helped me to roll out 3 new designs for my business. A lot of grant competitions or investors want to see that you’ve invested in yourself before they will be willing to invest in your business.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
It’s important to have your own website. Selling on Amazon is great but there so man fees in doing so, and if you’re not making a huge profit, it can really be draining on your bank account. I already have expenses keeping my website active so just remember that if you put yourself on other platforms, you incur additional expenses which can be a percentage of your profit being taken or credit card transaction fees for every sale… Start small then work your way onto other platforms. It’s a lot of work to be seen on Amazon so be willing to invest time into learning their system. It’s a of lot work trying to get seen on Amazon in addition to trying to get people to notice my website and social media account already, so really think about all the pros and cons of using so many platforms.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mamasisi.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mamasisillc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MamaSisi1
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/89913744/admin/dashboard/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MamaSisi
Image Credits
Sierra Breckenridge