Entrepreneur Friday

Entrepreneur Friday: Magpie Lovely

Posted by Jean

WHO: Holly Craig

WHAT: Magpie Lovely

WHERE: Nashville, TN

WHEN: 2009

HOW: Holly Craig was a former boutique owner and full-time mom. After her husband was offered a great new career opportunity, the family relocated to Nashville, Craig sold her storefront and its inventory, and planned to start fresh in a new town.  She would have loved to find and open another retail spot, but the 10-hour days they called for weren’t possible with young kids. An online business, however, was another story.

In the spring of 2009 that Craig began developing an idea for an Internet-based eco-friendly boutique – hosting only handmade products.  Hoping to keep her investment low, she pulled $3,500 in savings for the launch.  She corralled a friend who had helped her build a website in the past to design an online retail “store,” and purchased little more than the packaging supplies she’d need to send out orders. Then, she researched. Scouring blogs and handmade market sites like Etsy and 1000 Markets, Craig reached out to nearly 400 designers – sharing her idea, and hoping they’d see her marketplace as an opportunity their growth.

“Only about 45 designers wrote back asking how they could get involved,” says Craig, but that was enough. The designers sent her links to their entire product lines, and Craig chose an edited selection of only hand-crafted products that she thought would sell.  “There is not a factory involved in any of it,” she said, explaining that she courted the sort of shoppers willing to spend more for quality. “People have a preconceived notion that handmade goods are less attractive or second tier,” she explains, “in fact, it’s quite the opposite.”

It took just three months for Craig to reach profitability -– in part due to the small investment she made to get the business off the ground — and she projects to gross $250,000 by this time next year.  Having little to no overhead helps.  Craig continues running the business out of the spare bedroom in her home.   The business model also suits suppliers who make items to order and as a result don’t lose time or money to over production.

Customers seem to like it too — after a year in business, she’s received a total of two quality complaints from customers.  (Perhaps it’s the personal note from Craig that comes with every purchase that wins them over.)  She plans to add a men’s collection, as well as more designers in the years to come.   And five years into her new Nashville life, she describes her work as “fulfilling.”

HER ADVICE: “If you’re passionate about what you’re doing and selling, you’ve taken half of the work away,” Craig says. “And if you get negative feedback from the people around you, look at the source. Have they gone out on a limb like yours before? Often, you need to take what they say with a grain of salt.”