Switching topics for a bit since I realize there may be some people who don't know me on here (and there's lots more to me than just wedding posts).
So, for anyone who doesn't know, Earl and I own and run a business called Lavender Dots Design. We are a personalized details, gifts, and decor company. You can check us out here. However, we didn't start off with this type of business. We actually started as a wedding invitations/stationery shop!
Take a stroll (or a VERY LONG MARATHON) down memory lane for storytime with Julia!
**NOTE* *this is a very lengthy post because I felt that I really wanted to explain our entire story of how we got to where we are now**
BACKGROUND INFO- MY TEACHING PAST:
Pretty much all my life, I thought I was going to be an elementary teacher. I enjoyed teaching and kids-- so naturally, it felt like the career path for me. Even though I thought I was pretty set on this, I attended UC Irvine (that mind you does NOT have a teaching major). I knowingly went anyway because it was the thing to do back then as an Asian kid-- go to a UC. So, I went and majored in Cognitive Psychology with a Minor in Education. After graduating with my BA and a little break in between, I attended CSUN (Cal State Northridge) and earned my Multiple Subject Elementary Education Teaching Credential. It was a 5-year preliminary credential until you got an actual teaching position at a school.
With my career path pretty set at this point, I decided I wanted to live in Japan. It's always been one of my dreams (for those that don't know-- I am half Japanese from my mom). I have always had such a love for Japan and everytime I've visited, I longed for the day that I could return. Since I figured my career path was set and would still be waiting for me after I returned, I applied to an English Teaching Assistant program and got accepted! I was going to move to Japan! During this time period, Earl and I were on one of our breaks and remained close friends while we were figuring out our lives. So, he was very supportive and encouraging of me moving across the ocean!
Anway, to sum up this period of my life-- I had the most amazing 2 years working and living in Japan. I taught grades K-9 at a very small countryside school. I had so much fun and learned so much about myself. I credit my experiences in Japan for my growth, independence, and overall outlook on life.
BACK TO REALITY. NOW WHAT?
After coming back home from Japan (and getting back together with Earl), I was NOT eager AT ALL to become a full-on teacher in the States. Teaching Japanese kids vs. teaching American kids is EXTREMELY DIFFERENT. Japan is a collectivist country where everyone helps one another for the greater good of the community. All the students serve each other lunch, there are no janitors (students do the cleaning), everyone is taught to take amazing care of their belongings and each other and everything is about building up the team. It was a beautiful thing to be part of. Trying to teach American kids after my experience in Japan literally scared the crap out of me!
I guess to ease my way back into teaching again in the States, I wanted to look for teaching assistant jobs first. So, I applied and got hired as a 4th grade assistant. Very quickly I already knew that I wasn't happy. Even though I had years of experience teaching, I never felt like it was my CALLING. Teaching was kind of something I thought I'd try because I didn't know what else I could do. I was always wanting something else-- something where I could be creative and just make things for a living. Ever since I was little, I was always creating things. I loved arts and crafts and was happiest when creating.
BYE BYE JULIA
I actually have never written about this, but I was let go from this job after a year. At first I was devasted and it really made me question my abilities and my self-worth. I had never been let go from a job before. But, looking back, it was exactly what I needed. If I hadn't been let go, I would've probably stayed at that school at a job that I knew wasn't for me, and I would've been super unhappy. I guess I owe the teachers who let me go some thanks! So, thank you for letting me go so that I could have a wake-up call!
VENTURING INTO GRAPHIC DESIGN
Shortly after, I decided I needed a career change. I ennrolled in some graphic design classes. It literally only took the first class for me to absolutely fall in love. I was sooo into learning and I was so excited that I got to go into class everyday and MAKE STUFF.
(Extremely embarrassing/ugly logo ideas for an assignment)
(Mockups of said ugly logos)
I started designing cute little characters and got super into designing invitations. With the help of my cousin, I designed some collections for Zazzle (an online invitation website where creators can submit their designs to earn royalty). I actually still have all my stuff selling on Zazzle. You can check my stuff out here. After that, I got into Etsy and started selling my designs as greeting cards. This was in no way how I was going to earn a living, but I was SO HAPPY and I knew I found my calling finally!
BUSINESS UP FOR SALE!
Around the same time, Earl was getting into researching businesses that were up for sale. He has always wanted to own his own business. He just didn't know what kind just yet. He found 3 stationery stores that were up for sale and told me about them since my dream was to design greeting cards. We both thought it would be a great idea to go into business together! So, we visited all of those stores to check out the shop, the area, see the foot-traffic, ask the owners questions, etc. After seeing one of the stores and talking with the owner and the other 2 stores getting purchased, we kinda decided to put a pause on it. Maybe it wasn't meant to be yet.
WHAT'S A KC HOPPER?
Then, we saw another one pop up a couple weeks later. This shop was in Monrovia (a city we NEVER heard of that actually sounds like a made-up country in Europe like GENOVIA in Princess Diaries). The shop name was K.C. Hopper Fine Stationery-- named after the original owner. It was a huge store in the cutest little old town. The shop sold gift items and all kinds of invitations for events (but mostly weddings). I thought it was so perfect since that's exactly up my alley!
GO BIG OR GO HOME
We decided to take a huge leap of faith and go for it! The whole process of us looking at it, submitting an offer, countering, getting accepted, and all that took about 4 months I'd say. I remember we were looking at the place in December 2016 and became the official owners in March 2017. It was a nerve-wracking time because there were times when a lot of doubt crept in and we wanted to back out. It was a huge investment we were about to make and there was no way of telling if this business would actually be successful. It's always risky to buy an existing business because oftentimes, the past customers don't like new owners and leave. But at the end of the day, we decided to go for it because another opportunity like this may never come about ever again! Plus, it all sounded like a dream come true! If we didn't do this, what would I even do? Go back to school AGAIN and continue to be lost in my career journey?
PEOPLE ALWAYS SAY "THE FIRST 2 YEARS ARE THE HARDEST"...
Yea. They MEANT it. It was EXTREMELY hard. I am someone who has NEVER taken any kind of business class like EVER. I know nothing about accounting, economics, marketing, analytics, or ANYTHING. I never in my entire life thought that I would one day become a business owner. I never knew that I would quite literally overnight have to become a customer service rep, saleswoman, stocker, buyer, consultant, social media manager, advertiser, janitor, EVERYTHING.
Literally the ONE thing I wanted to do and the one reason I went for this business is because I thought I would get to be a graphic designer and design wedding invitations for brides or stock my own greeting card line in my own shop. NO and more NO. I did not do these things AT ALL. Everyday was filled with EVERYTHING BUT THOSE. Owning a retail store is definitely something that is very difficult. When your entire life is riding on how many items you sell that day-- it becomes extremely stressful. Since we were also located in such a good location of Old Town Monrovia, rent was very high. It was also a time when online invitation websites were becoming more and more enticing due to how expensive bespoke invitations were. We worried every single day and wondered how we were going to make rent and how long we could actually survive doing this. Some days, I would sell one greeting card for $3.99 and that was it for the whole day. My dreams were QUICKLY fading away.
SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE
After A LOT of stress, we decided we couldn't just keep running business this way and expect for people to walk in magically and buy stuff. So, we started researching other things. What else could we do and/or sell in this shop that would make money? We looked into Etsy and saw that wooden name signs were becoming popular. And that's when it happened! We were going to sell lasercut signs! Earl (bless him) poured hours into researching different machine brands and prices, how they work, etc before he settled on one. He found one on Craigslist. We didn't wanna spend a fortune on a machine that we had no idea how to use or whether it would even be successful, so this was the smartest thing to do. I remember so clearly the day that it got delivered to our shop. I was so excited to finally have new things to design and for him to start it up and get cutting!
Our first machine was small. I believe it maxed out at 20 inches wide. So, unfortunately, we weren't able to make those huge name signs that we wanted just yet. We started off with cake toppers, ornaments, and small signs. I was just happy to be designing again. We sold our items in our shop and on our Etsy shop. Slowly but surely, our business started getting recognized locally (as customers would walk in and see all our custom examples) and our Etsy sales were seeing an incline too! It was such an exciting time!
OUTGROWING OUR SHOP
In a year timespan, our business was actually doing quite well! It was going well enough for us to upgrade our machine to a bigger one so that we could finally make those big name signs! It was going so well that we decided it was finally time to change our name. Why keep growing KC Hopper when that was someone else's name? So, Lavender Dots re-emerged!
We were starting to get a lot of Etsy sales (so much that it didn't even matter whether we sold anything in our retail shop anymore). And with that, we decided we no longer needed a physical store since 90% of all our sales were coming from online. We were also quickly outgrowing our space since we weren't able to work comfortably with machines that create smoke and spraypaint in our retail space. We knew we needed a warehouse as our next step!
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AND THE REST IS HISTORY (STILL IN THE MAKING)
And that's kinda where we are now! We have moved a couple times to 2 different warehouses since our very humble start as 2 people who had no clue what they were doing. We've now been in business for 5 years!
Owning this business is the most challenging but rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. Although a lot of my days are filled with SOOOO many small business woes (this in itself can be an entire post), every day, I feel so blessed and lucky to be able to do this for a living-- to be my own boss, to be able to create, to be a part of peoples' happy moments-- I could never ask for more.
Although it took a long time to get here, I don't regret any of the steps we had to take to finally get to where we are. I am a strong believer in things happening for a reason. I used to think that me going to UCI, CSUN, getting my teaching credential and all of that was a waste. But in the end, I know that I needed to go through ALLLLLL of that to know that this is where I wanna be.
SUSTAINABLE?
Some days I do ask myself if I actually see our business being successful for the rest of our lives. Of course, I hope it will be! But I know things can change VERY quickly (as evidenced by COVID when almost all our sales stopped completely for quite some time in 2020 due to events getting canceled). Butttttt, the one thing I know for sure is that no matter what happens... we'll be OK.
We always find a way :)
And there you have it! If you stuck around for this entire post, WOW! THANK YOU! SENDING YOU ALL VIRTUAL TACOS AND FRENCH FRIES AS MY THANKS! Thank you and love you!
For more and to follow along our business journey-- find us on Instagram! @lavenderdotsdesign
with love,
Julia💜
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