Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to UYLEE DENNIS. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, UYLEE thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?
I can still remember my very first dollar earned as Uylee’s Boutique. I was still not sure that anyone would take my business serious. However, I recall thinking in my mind that “every business that currently exists has had a first sale at one point in their existence. So what is so different about my business?”
I made available a number of dresses for sale. A young lady was interested in one of my pieces for an upcoming part she had in a stage performance. I thought she would never possibly be interested in purchasing an item from my little shop for such an important event. Because she was purchasing the item online, she had many questions about the piece. We had many conversations as I explained the fabric, the make, the measurements, the true color and many other inquiries. I recall taking several photos and sending her various shots. Finally she decided, this will be perfect for my performance! She then stated that if it didn’t work for her performance, it was such a beautiful item, that she would add it to her personal wardrobe. Then came the words, “I will take it!” I was absolutely ecstatic!
I immediately packed the item for shipping. I was so excited that I actually gift wrapped the item for her. I shipped it out without a second thought. I still felt the transaction wasn’t complete until I received her response after receiving the item. And what did she think once she received it? She loved it! It would work perfect for her performance, and she still planned to include it in her personal wardrobe after the performance. My first complete sale was done, and my customer was happy with her product. I shared my joy with the entire household! I was now a real boutique open for business.
UYLEE, 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?
My name is Uylanda, and I’m the Owner of 𝐔𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐞’𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞. I’m the mother of three adult sons, sister of seven siblings, grandmother of three beauties, and wife of a wonderful man that I still have a crush on. Uylee is a name given to me by my husband during our dating years. When looking for a name for the shop, he jokingly called it “Uylee’s Boutique”, and it stuck.
In 2014, there was a change in my clothing size after losing 90 pounds, and I needed to clean out my closet. I knew nothing about selling clothing during this time. However, I used PoshMark.com and cleared everything out. I was shocked at how fast things sold, and how simple it was! PoshMark.com taught me everything I needed to know about selling clothes at the time. They taught me about pricing, packing, shipping, everything. To this day, I still have a PoshMark account that I sell from. I enjoyed it so much, I decided to take it to the next level. Hence, on January 2015, 𝐔𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐞’𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 was born!
I was a full-time Minister, working my Corporate job part-time, and just running the Boutique as a side hobby. Then in 2017, my health took a turn again for the worse, and I was forced to medically retire. Because I’ve worked since I was 14, not having a job was mentally difficult for me. So I turned my attention to my Shop, made it my job, and was finally getting paid for work that I actually enjoyed!
I’m still able to enjoy my love of the Full-Time Ministry, enjoy my Shop, and care for my changing health. My husband (my Ministry Partner) is an amazing asset! He handles all the shipping for me and makes all the post office runs and PO Box pick ups on his way to and from his secular job. My 110 pound German Shepherd, Dexter (Service Dog), brings all inventory boxes into the house from outside. I’d say I have a pretty good team. I appreciate them. My health does continue to go up and down. However, because my Shop is in my home, I’m able to continue to work and feel like a productive member of Society, while doing something I truly enjoy at a pace I can handle.
I’ve learned so much about the small business industry over these past seven years through experience and courses. I try to pass my knowledge onto other new business owners. If I can somehow assist them from my experiences, I want to pass on that knowledge so that they don’t need to make the same mistakes I’ve made. Many wonder why would I assist my own competition. I don’t see it as assisting my competitors. With me, it’s cooperation over competition. There are enough people on the planet for all of us to share. We need to support and build up one another. That’s how we will all succeed. I truly believe in that, and I will continue to take in knowledge, and I will continue to share that knowledge with those brand new in this business. We all need a helping hand getting started. We all need support in the beginning, and I will continue to provide that to my peers. I would have loved that in my early days!
What makes our Shop different is that we try hard to add a personal touch. We work with our Customers to help them find the right item for their body type and/or event. We have customers that are fathers raising their girls. We work with them to understand the best size to purchase for their young ladies, and also help them to find the right style. Since many dads are new to purchasing for their young or teenage daughters, the assistance goes a long way. This always makes me feel so excited and happy with what we do.
I believe beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and curves. For that reason, our Boutique carries dresses ranging from a size US zero through a thirty-two. And if a beauty needs a size bigger than a thirty-two, that’s not a show stopper. We will work hard to find the young lady the size she is requesting to help her feel like her true beautiful self. We have dressed young ladies for their first job interview, as well as young ladies walking down the aisle on their wedding day. We have dressed new babies, as well as entire wedding parties. Many of our customers send us photos of our dresses being worn on their special day or at their event. This is the part that makes me feel so much gratitude. To receive a note with a thank you and a photo. This truly makes my heart smile. I feel like I’m doing more than just selling dresses. I feel like I’m helping young ladies to feel beautiful.
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝐶𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠….𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝐸𝑆𝑇!! Never in my dreams did I ever imagine we’d have Customers in Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Sweden, London, Italy, and others! Our motto has always been, “Without YOU, there is no US! ” Because we realize our customers have choices. They can choose any shop in town. To have them choose our shop means the world to me, and it’s important that they know that. Customers receive handwritten thank you cards with their purchase, and we always make an effort to add a free gift with their purchase to say “thank you for your support.”
How did you build your audience on social media?
Social media is just that, “social”. We currently have a healthy following on our social media networks. On instagram we have a little over 27,000, and we have other platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok, and Youtube. But our staple has been instagram with supplying us a steady stream of support and customers. One of the things that has really helped us is of course having steady content for our followers. But instead of just posting items to sale to our customers, we also try to post items that are entertaining as well as educational. We may post two items regarding what we have for sale, then the next post might be a funny reel to make them laugh. Then the next week we may post three sale items, however the next post will pertain to how they can claim their children as employees on their taxes. Many of our followers enjoy the healthy mix and this has helped us to gain, as well as retain a number of supporters.
But along with posting, we try to make time to be “social”, since this is social media. What this means for us is actually going through and interacting with our supporters. Viewing their children’s school performance and commenting, viewing their photos and liking them. Yes, we are a business and we are attempting to get sales and advertise. However, we are still humans and we genuinely enjoy your babies’ photos as well.
Another factor that has assisted our social media has been promoting other small business pages. When we find a new business that is trying to get a start, we do our best to promote them in our stories, or we may actually make a post for that business to give them a shout out and introduce them to our audience. This builds rapport with other business owners that return the favor. Because we are sharing their business with our network, many will respond in kind by exposing our business to their network. This gives us an entire new network of supporters that we never had before. After repeating this process over and over, it has helped to build our social media audience.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Well in the very beginning I was still working at my corporate job. So I funded my business through my own paycheck, my savings, and funds from my husband. However, I eventually learned about the many grants available to small business owners. There are so many companies out there that want to assist us and want to help us get a head start. I found grants for small business owners, grants for women-owned businesses, and grants for minority business owners. I would actively search for grants that I qualified for and place myself on mailing lists to be informed about grants that I qualified for. If a grant existed that I qualified for, I applied for it. Many times I wasn’t certain if I completely qualified, but I still applied. I figured the worst thing that they could do is tell me no. However if I didn’t try, the answer was a definite no. Applying for grants became my hustle until I could get my business off the ground and running on its own fuel.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://uyleesboutique.fashion/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uyleesboutique/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uylees
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uylee’s-boutique/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/UyleesBoutique
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZQeop2RRirQndSvg8TdZfA
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/uylees/