We recently connected with Stacey Gridley and have shared our conversation below.

Stacey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I think there are a lot of factors that go into making someone successful. But perhaps at the top of the list would be that they have to have a strong sense of purpose. What is their “why”? It is so easy to get frustrated and want to give up. Especially when you’re new to the world of business. and entreprenuership. In order to be successful, one must be clear in their purpose and have a serious amount of grit. Entreprenuers experience endless amounts of falling and having to pick themselves back up. If you let yourself get discouraged and call it quits because it’s hard, you will not find success.

Now that’s different than being adaptable, which I think is another really important quality of being successful. Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result, will not bring you success. Although it does show an unwillingness to give up, which is admirable. To be successful, you need to take every failure and figure out what you can learn from it so you can adapt and do better next time.

Finally, I think seeking out good mentors is really important for success. I know when I first started, my friends and family thought that I was nuts for hiring a business coach. I had no business or marketing experience. I knew that the quickest way to success was to find a teacher that would save me a lot of headache and lost capital.

Stacey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a nurse and I have no formal education in business or marketing, but I have always had a passion for home design. I think that creating a space where you really want to be has immense power over your whole life. When your home is really reflective of the people that live there, when it functions to fit the needs of your lifestyle, it gives you a sense of peace and happiness. Studies have even shown that the aesthetic and organization of your home statistically improves your perceived quality of life.

When I decided that I want to pursue my passion for interior design by way of selling home decor, I was initially just concerned about product quality. But as I continued to learn more about product sourcing, it became apparent to me that product quality wasn’t the only thing that mattered. I also started to become very concerned about the working conditions of the people who made those products. Thus, my focus became ethically made home decor. I categorize ethically made into one of a few categories. I try to source products that are made in the United States as often as possible. I love supporting artisans within the U.S. We also source products from artisans all over the world. When we work with artisans abroad, they are either Fair Trade communities or small family-owned manufacturing. We also try to reduce our environmental impact. We ship our products with compostable packaging materials whenever possible.

The style of our products is pretty classic. Our pieces offer a nice blend of rustic, antique, and modern for an overall timeless look.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Like I’ve said, I had no business or marketing education and I had no following on social media, so that mean I didn’t have an audience that I could immediately start selling to with relative ease. The learning curve was fierce. I can see why so many small business owners give up and close up shop after only a year or so in. I went for the first year with hardly any sales. My friends and family kept asking me when I was going to give up and call it quits. I went through two business coaches that were a total bust. So that was just money down the drain. Then I found another business coach that helped me change everything around.

I started making consistent sales. I was becoming profitable. I learned so much about marketing. I’ve heard people describe entrepreneurship like a roller coaster. It’s full of high highs and low lows. If you can’t stick out the lows, you’ll never make it to the highs.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Being that I knew nothing about starting and growing a business, I actually funded my own business entirely with my own capital. However, there were ways that I was able to save money. Conveniently, my parents had a large insulated barn that they weren’t using and they were happy to let me use it as a warehouse. I take all my own photos on my iPhone. To this day, I still take all my own product photos on my phone. My mother works with me and manages the warehouse and packing orders.

In hindsight, I now know that there were much better options out there for funding. I would encourage anyone looking to start a business to do their research and put down as little of their own money as possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wildoatsinteriors.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildoatsinteriors/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildOatsInteriors

Image Credits
Stacey Gridley