The Power of Persistence: Navigating Failure and Finding Your Niche

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Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, e commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and I can't wait to chat. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast this week. This is going to be such a good episode. Kelly, I'm so glad that you're here since I've had a chance to meet you and visit with you. I think just on a random zoom call, we emailed each other and said we should just really visit, get to know each other. I've been looking forward to this conversation ever since. So thanks for being here today.

Absolutely. I'm so excited. This is my first podcast ever, so I'm just. Yeah, I'm really excited. I've. I've kind of grown my company in the shadows and now I'm ready to step out and share some of all of the journey. So this is exciting.

Well, you have an incredible journey to share, so I'm so lucky I get to be the first one to bring this to everyone. I know so many people listening, especially in the apparel space, know your company and admire your company. You've built something absolutely incredible. But I think they're going to be shocked to hear your backstory story today. So let's jump into it. Let's start there. Talk to me about the earliest version of you getting started in business. How'd that go?

Yeah, absolutely. The company started. I stayed at home with my kids for eight years. And if you've read my story online just a little bit, after I had my daughter, she was six months old, I decided to try to make a product and like so many entrepreneurs, started in the kitchen. I think I went a little harder in the beginning than some people. I ended up losing my house about six months into the company. Made some very bad inventory decisions. My business partner at the time, she was funding the company and decided that she was all done funding the company when the bills came due. And so we had to sell the house and move out with three kids. And I just thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life and was trying just to pay back the debt and to get out of this and move, go back to being a stay at home mom. And in that two year process of trying to pay off the debt, I realized That I actually liked the industry and I liked creating and making product and figured it out. I did cash out the 401k before that happened. So I got in a lot of trouble early and learned and failed fast. And then I just started from the bottom. And the amount of things that happened in the first eight years is really unbelievable. I had two big key accounts go out of business on me with six figures of bills that I had to cover that they didn't pay. So it's been a journey, but all of the trials have, like, you know, they haven't been fun, but they've made me who I am. And I'm excited to share some of those lessons that I've learned, man.

Some rising Phoenix moments, for sure. We've got to go back to. I know we could spend like four hours probably talking about this story on its own, but I've got to go back to the very first, like, you losing your house. There's a lot of. There had to be a lot that went into that. A lot of decisions you had to make. You could have filed bankruptcy, you could have walked away. You could have said, I'm not going to continue. Like, there could have been a lot of other scenarios, but you chose to stay in it and fight. What got you through those moments? How did you make those decisions when you were, you know, right from the start, up against the wall? Yeah.

So I knew, you know, honestly, that was just the first problem I faced in business, but that was a big one. But it really, honestly, that feeling of, I have a problem, what am I going to do about it? How can I fix this? What is the way out has been consistent through 13 years. It's the same feeling. You feel it in your gut, you feel in your stomach. You feel it in the lump in your throat. And for me, I knew we had equity in our house and I knew, like, it was physically, like, I KN we could rebuild the house. Like, I knew I would. I just needed some time to figure it out. So I think I'm a really stubborn person. And I looked around at the people in the industry that were, you know, established, and I really, like, thought if they could figure this out, I know I can figure this out. I just need time and I need to believe in myself. And, you know, I was lucky enough to have a husband who looked at me and said, you're going to figure this out. We're going to move. I'm going to rebuild a house and I'm going to give you the time to do it. And I Don't know if it was just the fight in me, but I was just determined that if they can figure it out, if you want it bad enough, you can find a way. And I wanted it because I didn't want to. I think part of me felt like I owed that to my husband because he was so loyal, but I also owed it to myself. And I just. I wanted to prove them wrong, and I wanted to prove it to myself that I could do it.

I feel like I'm talking to myself right now. There are. We have so many similarities in our journey. It is eerie to hear you talk about this, but incredible. Okay, so someone else is starting right now from scratch, and they're like, oh, crap. I don't want that to happen to me. What would you have done different to avoid that in the first place?

You've gotta. You have to have proof of, like, concept. Like, the market has to, like what you're making. Like, you should not just, in my opinion, you know, open a store and order a ton of product or start a company and order a ton of product. And without understanding, like, how is the market going to respond to this? Like, you need feedback.

Yeah.

You do not know everything. And I just was so naive that I thought if I make it, you know, people will buy it and that. And they wanted to give me their opinion on everything.

Yeah. So that.

That's what I would say is proof of concept, market feedback. Lots and lots of feedback.

Yeah. I. So true. Minimum viable product. So when you decided, okay, here we go, we're building back, I'm going to put one foot in front of the other. What were the first, most important steps you took just to get some traction and get moving in the right direction.

Well, getting out of bed started in the beginning. I was depressed when all that happened. Like, I was going to be real. I think I went to America's Mart and understanding, you know, why people buy, like, and just talking to people and if they said, no, like, no, I don't. I don't like that product. Well, I mean, I just was so naive. I'm like, well, why? Like, well, who are you buying it from? Like, well, what price does it need to be? Well, what color should it have been? Like, why should the straps be different? Or is it too short? Or all those questions and not having an ego about that, really, honestly, is what got me. Got me going. And then, unfortunately, I was kind of stuck with the product that I had paid for even when I was getting this great feedback. So I had a grind. I mean, I sold out of my car, we sold at schools, we sold on Facebook and you know, really just not having an ego and working my butt off to get rid of it. And then eventually at some point, you know, I got to the point where I just couldn't, I couldn't give it away after two years. And then that's when, you know, I donated it and, you know, started making the second round of product.

Yeah. So into that second round of product, I mean by that point you had a ton of feedback, you had hustled, you'd figured some things out, you talked to a lot of people, and that's a necessary part of business. I gotta just pause on this for a second. I'm sure you would agree. I mean, I love like ease and abundance and everything has its place, but I think every entrepreneur would agree. There's also that period where you're like, I just gotta make stuff happen. I'd have to hustle and figure it out. So into that next round of product, you had all this feedback. What was your vision at that point? How did you finally start to get that traction to something actually working?

Well, I realized that there was a niche. I knew I couldn't compete against everybody in the industry because I had so much to learn, but I saw that anything faith based, inspirational gifts, there wasn't a lot of people doing it. So for me, I saw a gap in the market and knew I could capitalize on it because I knew who my competitors were in that space. And so I knew that there would be a ceiling on that because how many? You can only buy so many inspirational mugs, so many Bible covers before you just, you know, you don't need anymore. It's not like apparel where you're switching out, you know, four times a year. But I saw a window for me to get the company to a certain point and establish myself as a brand and in that space. So I mean, for your listeners, maybe figuring out where is that gap? What is that pain point in the market, what are people looking for that they can't find everywhere, or the place where you have the least amount of competitors and you can stand out and get a foot there. And. And that's what I did. And you know, eventually I had to rebrand. I don't know if you know that, but I started off as scripture art and we made all inspirational gift and our name was scripture art. But year four into the company, I realized people were walking by my booth and walking by and not looking at the company because, you know, they had an opinion about what the brand was, and they wanted us to make more. And I had to rebrand year four into the company. And just being willing to see that and know that it's okay to change and pivot and even change your name if it's not working.

Really helped me.

To adapt and grow the company through pain points.

So good. So where did Mary Square come from?

So Mary is my grandmother's name and square. I spent a summer in Russell Square, and I love the essence of, like, a community, a gathering place. And so, you know, anywhere my grandmother was, I wanted to be. So I felt like Mary Square was a really warm, welcoming, natural name that people would remember, and it was easy.

Yeah, perfect. So into that rebrand, obviously, then you started into apparel shortly after that.

How did.

How do you switch from, like, the gift, the scripture, the art, then into Mary Square and into apparel?

Well, part of it's just because I have a little add with product, and I love making things and I love a challenge. And once I figured out mugs and I figured out this, I was like, well, can I figure out apparel? And for those of you out there, apparel has a high barrier to entry. I mean, with sizing and fancy fitting and tech packs and patterns and all of that, I did not know what I did not know. And so. But I. I knew the market. I knew that if I was going to grow this company and I was going to be sustainable and I was going to be a brand, I had to get into some type of a consumable, because, like I said, you can only buy so many bible covers, and the market's only so big for that. And apparel feels like a consumable because I'm always changing with seasons and styles and trends and all that kind of stuff. So I thought that it would be a way to really get repeated customers. And I loved it. So it felt like a natural place for me to go.

So good. So the way that you have really set yourself out, in my opinion, a couple things I can think of, but one of the biggest is your prints. So how did you get into this idea of my prints are going to be unique? You have several prints that are trademarked, right? And protected.

Yeah, well. And every single one of our prints is original. Is original. And it's done in house. And I was just in the office yesterday, and the whole entire conference room was just like, prints everywhere.

So cool.

Really fun. I just, you know, I felt like originality has and creativity has always been like, two of my huge cornerstones. And I don't like the idea of buying prints in the market that you might see out and then another company has their brand name on it. And I think, you know, I just wanted to create something special and unique and original and provide that value for the end consumer that they know when they have a Mary Square Michelle McDowell dress on that. It was made by this group of women in Apex, North Carolina, hand drawn and just the like the thought and attention and detail and the originality that went into it and you know, they don't have to worry that it's going to end up, you know, in a big box store.

Yeah, absolutely. And if I think about the industry even today, man, apparel has changed. There's so much and gift too really like there's just so much fast fashion. There's, there's so much when it comes to like low end jewelry, that sort of thing, you've really maintained with both brands this idea of value, this idea of quality, this idea that you can't get it everywhere else. How have you seen that really, you know, take hold in a lot of these stores that are realizing I don't need to be fast, I need to be, you know, sustainable and have quality. Do you see that? That's really where our industry is headed.

Yeah, I think I ask myself, you know, every day I don't want to use other brands names but there's so many brands that are just like made in a factory floor in China. Then they hire like one designer and then they end up next to our product in boutiques, you know, and it makes it hard, it makes it hard to compete. But I am constantly trying to tell my, ask myself and ask my team and I've got like really big plans for 2025 for this. I'm really excited about it. The value that I want to infuse in the product and like is the sizing, is the consistency in sizing and the originality in prints and like what the brand stands for and little things. Like we have a big activewear line that's all UPF 50 and the material is like wrinkle free. You can you, it's pretty much indestructible. And so just providing like we're gonna, we're we're doing some fun things with the brand in 2025 and I don't want to reveal too much, but that's going to help the stores be able to tell their customers even more about some of the value of the product. But you know, we're never going to compete on the lowest price. We're just we can't. We're never going to play that game. But we will play the game of infusing value into the product and making the consumer feel so good and delighted, like inside and out with the brand and their purchase.

Yeah, it definitely, you know, when. When you're just in the space of your brand, when I'm in your booth at Market. Right. Or when I see stores carry your product, it just really does. You didn't a great job of creating a brand that has that emotional reaction in people. You know, that quality, you know the experience that you're going to have. So, I mean, listening to all of this, listening to this far in your journey and looking back at all the roller coasters that have got you here, what would your advice be to someone who's listening and they're either they're stuck, they've hit rock bottom, they've had a huge issue. What do you do when nothing is working and you have to feel like you're. You're rebuilding from the start again? What's your advice for those listening?

So you gotta understand why it's not working. Like, that's the first thing. And I can tell you there's been specific times, like throughout the journey I, where I've gotten feedback that has been really hard, hard to hear because I doubled down on something or, you know, I invested in a team of sales reps and I felt like I gave them everything. And they were like, you're not doing it right. You need to give us this. And you have to be willing to listen and figure out why. I mean, I've gotten on the phone with store owners and been like, why didn't it sell through? You know, like in the beginning? And they would say some hard things to hear. And I am a sensitive person. I know it. Even at this level, I still am sensitive. And I've had to learn to that. You know, it's. It's okay. It is okay. But you got to figure out the why. And then you have to be willing to fix it. And you have to be willing to put your ego aside, and you have to be willing to test. You have to be willing to try so many different things and sometimes at the same time and not be attached to the outcome. It's not failure. It's always just. It's just curiosity. I, like, try to approach everything from a curious state. If we did this, would this work? Could we do that? And, you know, if you're trying four things, three of them aren't working most of the time. That's good. That's you're getting knowledge. So I would say if you feel like something is not working, figure out why. Figure out 10 solves for it. Try them all. If none of them work, go back to the drawing board again and seek advice. Figure out the rules to the game, figure out how everyone else did it and then don't do it that way. Do it the way that works for you, but understand the rules. That has helped me so much. I understood America's Mara understood how other companies do it. And I would figure out weaknesses in their processes and change those for. To make my customers and my business more efficient. Yeah. Is that good? Is that enough? Because I could keep going on that all day.

I think those things are all so good. And what I heard you say earlier too, and you've highlighted this a few times in things that you've said, said is looking for gaps in the market, looking for gaps in your competitor space. What can you do different than everyone else? And I think sometimes in this industry there's a tendency to say, this is working for her. So I'm going to do that too. Versus what you said. This is what no one's doing. So it's kind of like the red ocean versus blue ocean philosophy. Right. Like, and I feel like that with the boutique hub. When I got into this, it was a completely blue ocean. Nobody was supporting boutiques, nobody was supporting brands. There was no community, wide open blue. But then all of a sudden we're here and it's like sharks come around. Right. Like there's blood in the water. Oh, there's, there's something to feed on here. And so people start to take pieces of your product and process and knock it off. And now pretty soon it's a red ocean for those of you who don't understand the analogy. But that's what you're really good at is you're finding the little pockets of blue and you're capitalizing on those before anyone else does. Is that, is that right?

That's 100% it. Because everything that's being done is being done. You, you get to the next level when you figure out what's not being done.

Yeah.

And that's where you can really set yourself apart and constantly evolve. And then if people copy you, they're copying what you've already done. They don't know what's coming down the pipeline.

Yeah. Yeah. And if you ain't first your last old Ricky Bobby.

That's it. That's right.

That's the idea and why I mentioned Just even, you know, Sheen or Temu and everyone going on this affordable journey, you're going to only continue to set yourself apart. When you go this higher end route and the route that nobody else is going, we've got to continue to move that direction. It's here, it's time. Are you ready to start planning 2025? Well, you might have your own day planner, you might have a Google calendar, but let me tell you, I love planning with the official Boutique Boss Planner. The Boutique Boss Planner is a day planner that we created here at the Boutique Hub several years ago. Created by boutique owners for boutique owners. And it's more than a day planner. Inside the Boutique Boss Planner is not only opportunity to operate with a normal day planner with your hours and your time blocks, but it's also a boutique owner's go to resource. Inside there's inventory tracking, social media tracking, monthly reminders and to do lists, all kinds of information on how to host a month and review to really track what worked and what didn't in your business this month. But also a planning sheet on how to get ready for the next month in your business. Even if you're going to market, even if you're getting ready for social media content, there's tools, tips and ideas and checklists to keep you on track and organized all year long inside of the Boutique Boss Planner. So check out the link in the show notes for access to the 2025 Boutique Boss Planner or visit BoutiqueBoss store.com All right, so let's shift gears a little bit. Something else that I know along your journey, not only have you overcome all kinds of ups and downs and, and battles and continue to reinvent yourself, but I feel like once you've hit a certain level in your business, there's a misconception that like, oh, you've made it, you've arrived, you've gotten this far. Look at how successful she is. Like, you know, what could you possibly worry about now? But I think you and I both know that's not true. Like you still continue like new levels, new devils. There's always a new challenge. How do you continually push yourself at where you're at today to reinvent like you said in 2025 and to have these new amazing things coming. A couple of things.

First of all, I want to say something that I think is really important. My dad taught me a lesson when I was little. And for anybody that's just starting out or, you know, I want you to always remember what I tell myself every day. You can't Lose what you don't have. And that is really what got me through every different phase of trying something new to go to the next level. Well, I'm not at that level, so, I mean, if I don't get there, I'm not gonna lose anything. I don't have it to lose it. Right. Yeah. So. So that. That attitude has always, like, well, why not? Like, let's just try it. I don't, you know, I haven't arrived. I'm never, you know, I don't think I ever will. But that you can't lose what you don't have always gave me the freedom to just play at a level that I don't know that I was ready for. And holding it just loosely, not being in my identity is not in the company. It's not in whether I fail or I don't fail. Like, at the end of the day, I don't. I don't mean to sound flippant, but who cares? I mean, at the end of my life, I mean, no one's going to be there but me. I mean, when I stand before God, it's going to be me and him. I don't answer to anybody listening to this podcast or anybody that's following my company or has an opinion about it. You're not going to be there. Sorry.

Yeah.

And so I think about all of my decisions in light of. Of that, of what, you know, what I feel like is my path and what I'm called to do, not what anyone else is. And as far as getting to the next level, I never have and will never feel like I have arrived anywhere. I feel the same inside now as I did probably, like, I don't know, year three, once I got, you know, back into a house and that. And that feeling is, what's next? You know, how can I grow? How can I evolve? How can I be a better version tomorrow than I was yesterday? And if someone said, you've built a $400 million company, how do you feel? I would 99.9% sure I would tell you I feel the same. I'm proud of what I've built, and I'm excited for the future, and I'll never arrive until I stand before God and then we'll go from there.

Perfect perspective. It's so easy to get distracted by other people's opinions or the fear of failure. But I think once you've already felt like you've been burned by the fire, like you've. You've been forged in the fire from early on, I mean, what else is left but to keep going forward no matter what?

Absolutely.

Yeah. So good. I love your dad's advice. I. I know you're a mom. You're a busy mom. You've got all these things going on. How do you try to instill similar advice into your own family?

Okay, I'm going to give you my secret for being a mom of three, being married for 21 years and building a company and. And trying to do whatever they say do it all. You know, I don't believe in balancing. So if you think about balancing, what do you think about? Standing on one foot, you're going to fall. Like, if you hold something, it's going to drop. Like, balancing is a myth. And I realized somewhere along the way that I believe in blending, not balancing. And what I mean by that is, I am always a mom, I am always a wife, and I am always a business owner. It doesn't matter if I'm at a field trip or I'm in a board meeting or I am on a date. I am still all of those things at the same time. So how can I balance them? I can't. And so I don't. I just. I realized that that is, like, my secret sauce is I've learned to blend them all. And what I mean by that is I've learned to walk on the treadmill when I have a meeting if I need to take care of my health. I've learned how to fit in a call in a parking lot waiting for my daughter to come out. I've learned how to just blend it all and not try to balance it all, because I. There's no sustainable balancing. And. And I could not have made it for 13 years balancing it. And that's a myth. And so I. I don't know if that analogy makes sense for you, but blending has been my secret sauce.

I absolutely love that. I've never heard anyone say that before. I agree. I always say balance is just complete bs. It doesn't exist. And I feel like balance plays into this idea of, like, everything's an equal sum game. Yes. Like, if you give 60 over here, it means you can only give 40 over here. And others.