We recently connected with Vickie Murphy and have shared our conversation below.

Vickie, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

Since starting my business, I have made some mistakes and experience some failure. However, I have learned a lesson from everyone. If I could start over and do things differently, two main things I would change is not being fearful and knowing my niche. I relied on the acceptance of everyone in my town and often I found myself second guessing my prices. This cause financial strain and I accumulated a lot of debt. I finally realized that what I want to offer the women of the world is not going to be accepted by everyone. My style is not for everyone, my prices are not for everyone, and my brand is not for everyone. My brand symbolizes the working woman that is thriving in her journey and reaching one goal at a time while wearing many hats. If I would have done more research in creating a business plan, I strongly believe that I would not have as much debt. Now, I am doing more research about my business and figuring out what will help me succeed in this business and create my own lane.

Vickie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have always been into fashion and marketing. My first job was in retail, and I have over 10 years of experience in it. During my time in retail, I notice that there was a need for casual and dressy attire for curvy size women. The stores I worked in offered that, but it stopped at a certain size. In urban areas where I live, stores mostly sale street and club wear. There was a need to provide a place where the working woman of all sizes especially curvy sizes to be able to purchase suitable, tasteful, and versatile pieces that they would feel amazing in. My mission is for my brand to be nationwide; I want to expand outside of my area. What I want potential clients to know is that my mission is to serve quality items to the working women. To eliminate the hassle of putting an ensemble together or finding places to shop. Your shopping experience will be one to remember and you will be glad that you chose my business to purchase from.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn what is considered acceptable/normal in my environment. Meaning, I had to change the people and the things that I allow in my personal space. I realized that my goals and ambition in life did not fit into the environment that I was in. I had to unlearn that behavior and surround myself with likeminded individuals and to network in environments that catered to what I want my business to become.

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

A story that I can definitely share is the day I launched my new website. I will never forget how I felt that entire day that led up to the time of the launch. My website was launched at 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday and I did not want to watch the flow of traffic. So, I decided that I was going to check it the next morning. In my mind, I thought, “hey you added a discount of 20% off the items and you released a new collection, you even paid for promoting the web launch, of course you are going to get sells.” But sadly, I did not get one sale. I was so discouraged and disappointed, not to the potential audience but to myself. This failure cause me to doubt the reason why I even started. However, I realize the lesson in this. I realized that I need to step back and evaluate my approach. I realized that I need to find my niche and capitalize on that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://v83boutique.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/v83boutique/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/V83Boutique

Image Credits
Photos are credited by Terrifically Taken Photos and the Photographer, Terrance Walker