Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Felt Bird

As most of you may know, I own a boutique in Enid, Oklahoma called The Felt Bird
I've gained new readers since I started blogging for reals again so I thought I would take this opportunity to
 share a little bit of mine + fb history as well as what we have planned for our shop's future. 

Opening a boutique was something I've always wanted to do, I just thought I wouldn't be able to until my 30s or so.
My major in college was Apparel Merchandising so I took a bunch of fashion and business courses. My experience in the retail world was working retail jobs since I was 16, running an etsy shop, and doing an internship with the boutique Dwelling Spaces (which was the most useful and helpful experience). 
When I graduated college in 2008, I freaked. I didn't have a job. Or a plan. What in the world am I going to do now?
At this time I was busy and doing well with my handmade brand, Stelabird. I had read those
Quit Your Day Job stories on Etsy and they were so inspiring and gave me the idea to try it out. To make this my new plan. I'm going to attempt being self-employed!
This may sound terrible, but I just hate working for people/companies, and I was going to try my hardest to never have to. 

A few months passed and husband and I were packing boxes to make the move back to our hometown. To be honest, I was really bummed about this, but this was a more affordable choice and it would give us a chance to save money while we figured out what we wanted to do. 

Soon after we settled into our new/old hometown we were introduced to two amazing young artists and gallery owners. Discovering such a creative and wonderful side of Enid that we had never known sort of rocked our world and made us realize that maybe our future was right down the street. Would it be so crazy to open up a business now?
Plus, our city didn't have a shop like what we wanted to do. We imagined carrying cool gifts and accessories for awesome ladies and gents.

After a huge amount of research and even huger amount of work we were able to open our little boutique on a shoestring budget. We opened our doors in September of 2009. 
These past 2 years have been fantastic and emotional. Running your own business is so rewarding but can also be quite stressful. I can't imagine doing anything else. 
After much thought and planning husband and I have decided to take the next step in our business: 
We will be opening a Felt Bird online shop. 
Husband has been busy designing and creating our online presence. We are still busy getting product photos ready and hope to go live in a few weeks. I will announce our launch date soon. 
We are so excited and looking forward to getting our online shop up and running and available to everyone all over the world.

To learn more about The Felt Bird and to see our journey CLICK HERE and HERE!

14 comments:

  1. Yay! That's so awesome. Can't wait to see it! <3

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  2. Owning your own business must be hard but so rewarding! Your shop looks like such a fun place!

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  3. This is incredibly inspiring. My entire life I've always wanted to do my own thing rather than working for someone, and here I am working for Baltimore City Schools instead. Starting to think a change is in order and the more I'm reading other stories like these, the more inspired and motivated I become! Thanks for that!

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  4. Can't wait for your online shop! It's kind of amazing that you were able to open a shop so young; most people have to work a long time to raise enough capital. You guys should be proud. :)

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  5. i'm really looking forward to seeing the online shop! wish i could pop by and see the REAL shop too.x

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  6. Your shop is so fun and one of my favorite places in Enid. Stela, you and your husband are always so nice & helpful everytime I come in. I'll be moving out of town soon but I'm glad that I'll still be able to shop there online :)

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  7. Your shop is so fun and one of my favorite places in Enid. Stela, you and your husband are always so nice & helpful everytime I come in. I'll be moving out of town soon but I'm glad that I'll still be able to shop there online :)

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  8. Congrats! I look forward to following you! I'm a fellow etsy blog team member-stop by and say hello sometime! http://www.bluecollarbride.com

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  9. That's awesome Stela! I knew about the shop, but not how you got started. Opening an online will be FAB!!! Yaaaaaay!

    http://averysweetblog.com/

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  10. This is so awesome. I hope to open a little cafe one day so I love reading stories on how others started their own business!! Your shop sounds lovely!

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  11. I would love to own a Botique someday, and hearing your success is such an inspiration!

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  12. YAY! that's awesome! I can't wait to check out your (digital) storefront! <3

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  13. What a great story - I am so glad you are able to live your dream. Good luck on the next stage of your adventure.

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  14. I'm from Edmond Oklahoma and literally ran across your blog from google images, such a small world. I love everything this blog is about!!! It's even better your in Oklahoma. Not too many successful bloggers here... Adding you to my follow list!!

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