We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie Walfield recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. 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

The idea of owning a mobile boutique was something that I’ve had in my brain for the last ten years but I never thought I would actually do it. I had random Pinterest boards with examples and ideas over the years but couldn’t really find much content online at the time. In December of 2021, I went to my husband with the idea and in a matter of days, he was fully on board with me. We moved so quickly from simply having a conversation to owning a camper that I truly feel it was meant to be. My husband and I spent the next 5 months completely rennovating the camper to be a mobile shop for my business and at the end of May 2022, I had my first (very successful) pop-up event.

Now some lessons you can pull from my story are:
1. If you’re passionate about something, you can find a way to make it happen
2. Use whatever resources you have (my biggest one is my husband)
3. There is SO much FREE information on Google and YouTube. You do NOT need to drain your bank account to bring your dreams to life.

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?

I always wanted my own business but wasn’t sure what it would be and I have always been super creative. I was a makeup artist at a very young age for 6 years and then started a retail business with my then boss. I ultimately left that role because it wasn’t my own and ended up in the Experiential Marketing Industry. I’ve been at the same company for 10 years now and have no plans to leave any time soon but in 2016 I knew I wanted something as my own. High Range started with a desire to do something creative that is 100% mine. I’ve always loved to make things so I started off by designing baby blankets & printing them through a print vendor and selling on Etsy. It took a bit of time but the blankets took off. From there I started designing t-shirts and printing through Printful but it didn’t feel authentic enough. Like many small t-shirt shops, I bought a Cricut and started making random things with vinyl but it wasn’t something I loved and I knew the longevity wasn’t there so I taught myself how to screenprint by watching YouTube. Screenprinting took off and I started making my own designs and offering customs to other Makers and Small Business owners but again, I hit a road block. Screenprinting was limiting and that’s when I was introduced to Supacolor. Supacolor is a hybrid digital screen print transfer allowing for limitless colors and designs. Once I made the switch, my business truly took off (so now we’re talking 5 years later). My business today is a mix of my own graphic tees & designs, boutique pieces carefully curated by me and customs/wholesale offerings to other Makers and Small Businesses.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What has helped build my reputation is just staying true to myself and my authenticity. I keep my personal and business core values at the forefront of everything that I do. I never want to overpromise and underdeliver for my customers so I do my best to always be transparent but set clear boundaries with my customers.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we initially bought the camper we wanted to set it up on our property as a boutique with a gravel driveway, stringlights, planters- it was all planned out. The town quickly shut down the idea and instead of giving up we just moved forward and now use it for pop ups. That dream is still there but it’s just on hold for now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://highrangetradingco.com/
• Instagram: @highrangetradingco
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/highrangetradingco/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC3u0mQUEEkvsRr8AiMs_kg
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/highrangetradingco

Image Credits
Kristin, June + Louise Photo