We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephanie Heaton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephanie below.

Stephanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

When I pregnant with Maisie, my youngest daughter I was really sick. Multiple hospital stays, bed rest, the whole shebang. At that time I was a professional photographer and being so sick with her I couldn’t physically get up and work like I wanted. I started painting as a hobby and thought I maybe I could bring in a small income with some art. I started painting earrings and making little clay earrings but I still felt I could do more. I bought this grey fedora for some maternity pictures I wanted to take and thought after these photos I wanted to try to paint it. I sat down and youtube searched how to paint roses. I’ve always been an artist but I never really painted much, so I started to practice on paper until I was comfortable enough to paint the hat. It took me about 2 days of practice before I painted my first hat! I’ll never forget how proud I was of my little pink roses! From that moment on I knew this was what I wanted to do. I painted a few more hats here and there while I was pregnant and then I gave birth to my beautiful Maisie James in the summer of 2021. A few weeks after she was born I started figuring out how I could turn what little I had into something bigger and better. I worked everyday on building my customer base, I worked all nights some nights while my kids slept to get hat designs finished. I was posting on social media everyday, multiple times a day, all while trying to be a stay at home mom of 5 kids. I did this everyday for almost 6 months and one day one of my post in a large art group got tons of attention and before I knew it, I was sold out of hats and preparing for my first ever big store drop. My first few months of launching drops I sold out each time within seconds. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced. Things have slowed down quite a bit since then and I’ve learned how to manage my time a little more, I’ve learned a lot more about painting since that first hat, and I’ve expanded into just more than hats but one thing I can say is, I’ve tried three different times to launch a business and failed all three times but I got back up and kept trying, one thing is for sure, I didn’t start succeeding until I started staying true to myself in my personal & business life. All of the work you see me produce has a little part of my soul in it. I love what I do and I love that customers can relate to my life, the good and the bad, and they still stick around and show me so much love and support.

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.

Hi there! My name is Stephanie and I’m the owner/artist behind Maisie James Co!! I’m a small business owner, artist, wife, & I’m a mom to five wild but amazing children, & recently my husband and I became teachers because we now home school all of our kids. I started this company because I didn’t just want to be a stay at home mom and I needed to find a way to bring in an income from home because there was no way we could afford daycare. I was a professional child portrait artist for 10 years so I did a lot of fantasy photos for clients and now when I think about it some of my hat designs resemble some of the photos I’ve created over the years. While my hats are my biggest sellers and what usually draws customers in, I also make trinkets, magnets, earrings, stickers, and wall decor. My husband also works along side me making wood coffin shelves that are really awesome. I get a lot of emails and messages from customers asking if I do custom hat orders and unfortunately at this time, I do not. However, you can order hats from designs I already have in my shop. If you follow me just know you’ll get your daily dose of laughter, you’ll get to see some beautiful art that was made with lots of love, and you’ll always be welcome in my weirdos club!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

First things first, always be yourself! The right customers will find you. This was a process I had to trust and something I’ve always struggled with because I have social anxiety. I’ve never really been the one to “fit in” anywhere. I’ve always been kind of a loner. It was really hard for me at first to put myself out there and open up to new followers. I still struggle with this daily but my followers are amazing and show me so much love, respect, and kindness. They are pretty hilarious and usually go along with my shenanigans, too! I truly believe this is why my following has grown so much. Interacting with your customers is also very important, they love knowing they are supporting a real person and getting to know the faces behind the brand. Stay on top of promoting yourself, share in groups, make reels, once you get the hang of those things they become easier to manage everyday. I will usually end my work day with setting up post for the next day to automatically post for me so I don’t have to worry about it and can focus on other things. Most important thing to remember is you are amazing and don’t ever give up!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Being myself for sure. The most important thing I kept telling myself when I started this journey was I never want this to be something I’m doing for someone else. I have stayed true to myself throughout this entire process even through hard times and I have always came out stronger in the end. I know my customers see this. They have seen good days and bad days but they always see me power through it and keep moving forward. I’ve had so many of them thank me for just being myself, being real & honest with them, and I think there is something really special in knowing your customers see you for you not just the brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.maisiejamesrebellion.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shopmaisiejames
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/shopmaisiejames

Image Credits
Maisie James Co.