Business Opportunities Weblog

May 13, 2008 by Angela Shupe | 4 Comments

With a new baby girl comes the pretty little dresses, the hair clips and headbands. Sometimes those little girls don’t have enough hair for the clips on the market. That was a problem Jamie had. The headbands didn’t fit right and the little baby hair clips she found on the internet were overpriced. So using her own two hands she came up with her own hair chips that would stay in her child’s hair. Determined to offer her bows at a reasonable price, a business was born.

I recently got the opportunity to talk with Jamie about her online store, Bows 2 Cute and ask this mom how she does it all.

Giveaway:
Jamie is donating one of her starter bow sets, which can be found here, to be given away to one of our readers. If you’d like to win this set for your little girl, leave a comment for a chance to win. The giveaway starts now and ends on May 23rd at 11:59pm. The winner will be chosen on May 24th and contacted by email.

What is ‘Bows 2 Cute’?

Bows2cute is the name I decided to use for my bows and website. Before I had the site and just used them in my daughter’s hair, I would always get comments on her bows and how cute they were, so that is where the name came from!

How many different styles of bows do you have to offer? What colors do they come in?

There are almost too many to list! I am constantly adding new bows and ribbon colors. I have well over 50 styles of bows, around 65 solid ribbon colors, 57+ printed ribbons, and over 35 additional prints for the Lil’ Graduate bows. I try to order at least one new color at each order, so there are always new colors!

What is the most popular product purchased?

My most popular are the no-slip mini bows, however the flower headbands and snappies have been popular lately as well as the Lil’ Graduate bows.

What inspired you to start your business?

My daughter Brynnley was born in 2005 and hardly had any hair. All of the headbands I had tried that I bought at the store always left dents in her head and were too small (I had never thought of trying the crochet headbands then!) and upon my searches online for bows for her hair, I refused to pay $8.00 for one clip. I began making bows for her and my entire business has bloomed mainly from word of mouth! I had an email awhile back from a lady in New Zealand who said her family took a trip to Disney World and she saw one of my bows in a little girls hair and had asked the mom where she received it, so it’s always nice to hear those stories!

How did you come up with the no-slip clip?

I have always been a very crafty person and through trials of velcro bows from the store that only pulled her hair and never stayed in just the few strands she had, I went to my craft closet and tried anything I had in there until I came out with something that actually stayed without pulling her fine hair!

On your website it says your bows have been baby swagged to a celebrity through Baby Swags. How did you get your products included? Have you seen any positive feedback through it?

This is very new for us, but I had to submit my products for review and received an email back that they were excepted. The bows I submitted for review are going to Chef Giada De Laurentis. Her basket should be going out this week. I then had an opportunity to submit bows for Halle Berry’s daughter Nahla, and her basket will be going out after the 16th. I love this opportunity because I am able to look at the upcoming baskets and choose who I would like to send bows to, which works out great since I only make products for little girls!

What steps did you need to take to get your business started?

My brother does websites on the side, so he helped me get started even though I ran the site myself. I have since upgraded and he now runs it for me which is a wonderful time consumer for me, plus it gives him practice as he uses my site for the guinea pig in implementing new things to enhance it. I also belong to a message board that I joined when my daughter was born and the ladies on there have been very supportive to be the first to start spreading the news of my site. It didn’t take long before I started getting orders daily!

What have you learned since you launched that you wish you’d known before?

I honestly have not had anything major come up that I wish I would have known. Obviously my products have improved and the biggest problem I have is space for all of my supplies! I am trying to convince my husband that we need a new house so I can have my own room :)

What kind of experience from life have you been able to apply to your business?

My dad is a very organized person and I have inherited that from him. I make all of the bows when the orders come in and normally get them out the next day or day after. I know that is a lot of work on myself, but I know that people appreciate that service.

How do you manage your time between your business and your family?

On top of my family (husband, 2.5 year old and 1 year old), I also teach Preschool Special Education and have another website where I make etched pendants! I obviously like to keep myself busy! There are many days that I come home from work and spend a little bit of time while dinner is cooking to get caught up on some bows and then try to work on them in the evening after the kids have gone to bed. This usually means not a lot of sleep for me, but I’ve always gone to bed later so it hasn’t been too much of an adjustment yet. Since I am a teacher, I enjoy the summers because I have more time to finish orders so that we have more family time to go to the pool, etc.

Does the family play any part in your business?

My 2.5 year old daughter thinks she is able to make bows and likes to cut up my ribbon when I am not looking, and my son who is recently mobile heads to my ribbon first before any of his toys, but other than that, they are not much help :) Sometimes on the weekends if I am really busy my husband will take the kids out so I can work without any interruptions!

Do you have any advice for other mom’s who would like to start their own business?

I think what I appreciate most in my own business and others is the customer service. I check my email multiple times a day and get my bows out in a timely manner, and I have many customers that email me with appreciation on how quickly their bows came. I started on my own with a smaller website and it continues to grow, but I didn’t expect it to grow over night and I think that is important advise as well. I work hard and ENJOY what I do, so that keeps me going when I get emails from customers or see my bows in a little one’s hair!

In Giveaway, Interviews, Kids, Women, Work at Home | 4 Comments