143 | Bootstrapping Success with Cecily Moore, The Paper Curator

For Cecily Moore, her business, The Paper Curator, started as a blog and over time, transitioned into a product based business. She first began her journey while working at a job and trying to find the next step in her career. She thought, “why not start a blog?” From there she began to document the creative endeavors she pursued in her everyday life before launching her first products.

She gives us a breakdown of her first craft show experience, her Paper Camp journey and what she’s learned from attending the show. We chat about how putting ample effort into her research and development has helped her build a sustainable business.

Today’s episode dives deep into what it means to bootstrap your business and build everything from the ground up. She talks about how she decides whether to invest in equipment to help her create her products, how bootstrapping has integrated into her wholesale strategy and budget and what it’s been like scaling her handmade products into wholesale.

ON TODAY’S EPISODE:

How Cecily started a blog before transitioning to a product-based business
Learning to hold herself accountable by structuring her posting schedule
Making the shift from being a hobby to a full-fledged business
Her first craft show experience and how she prepared to launch her products
How Cecily ended up coming to Paper Camp and her goals for attending the show
How taking her time on research and development paid off when getting inventory and fulfillment in place
Why Cecily believes in bootstrapping success and how this looks in her day-to-day business operations
How Cecily makes decisions on whether or not to invest in equipment for creating products
What has made wholesale an easier process for her
How her bootstrapping mentality has been integrated into the wholesale strategy and budget
Making a long-lasting impression in her first trade show
Cecily’s advice for someone starting a creative business
What’s coming for The Paper Curator

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KEY TAKE AWAYS

“I definitely got so thrilled with just being able to talk to customers in person and see people light up when they were looking at my products, but I could definitely tell that maybe the audience wasn't my core audience that I was trying to get to.” - Cecily Moore

“Paper Camp just inspired me so much and I felt so ready after learning all of the ins and outs of what a trade show needed to look like that I was like, "I can totally do this in February of 2019" That's when, after doing the Fall Paper Camp, I decided to sign up for NSS and launch that right away in 2019.” - Cecily Moore

“You had done such a great thorough job of doing the research and development on your products before you actually launched them, to determine whether or not you could make the margins work and the pricing and the structure and all of that. Even fulfillment too, given that these are handmade products .” - Katie Hunt

“I had done all of the googling under the sun, but there are just some things that are better heard from people that have the experience.” - Cecily Moore

“I'm just upfront with that with people who are placing orders. It ended up being pretty easy for me to just stagger them in a way that made sense for fulfillment.” - Cecily Moore

“Everyone in business, in my opinion, needs to be bootstrapping and thinking of how to do things as inexpensively and seamlessly as possible .” - Katie Hunt

“If the money is available and it will make my life easier, generally I will do it. For me, I'm looking for the longevity of what the investment is going to do for me .” - Cecily Moore

“I think there is so much added value in having a made in America handmade one-of-a-kind product and I think that is ... I've come to the decision that that is a core part of my business and my message.” - Cecily Moore

CONNECT WITH CECILY MOORE

Website: thebalancedlifeonline.com | Facebook: @thepapercurator | Instagram: @cecily_thepapercurator

Connect with Katie Hunt

Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.

Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct