We recently connected with Shannon Campbell and have shared our conversation below.
Shannon, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from how my parents raised me. Nothing was ever just handed to me, I had to work for what I had. My parents didn’t have a lot, but they had a strong work ethic. They may not of had glamorous jobs, but they always worked hard. Being raised that way you learn that if you want something you need to work for it. Don’t take things for granted and just keep trying. If you want something bad enough you just keep at it until you find your way to become successful.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
am a Boutique owner, social media manager, operations manager, packing and shipping, buyer, bookkeeper, and anything else needed to run a boutique. My boutique is for people who love fashion. My goal is to find on trend styles at prices that anyone who loves fashion can afford. I don’t want people to visit my website and be discouraged that there isn’t anything they can afford. I want people to go to my website and have a wonderful experience! Not only did they find items that they love, but they also left feeling like they got value for what they purchased. Currently I am trying to have events out in my community at least once a month. I pop up at local events with other small businesses, My hope is that they see my products in person and then feel confident to shop them online.
Also, a goal of mine to to shop other small businesses. I try to shop small USA based wholesalers and bring their unique products to my boutique! I don’t want to carry items that you can find at the mall, I want to carry smaller brands that you can only see in boutiques. Helping other small businesses grow will always be something I will do; I want to grow their business as I grow my own.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The areas of knowledge that would be extremely helpful would be in social media and marketing. When launching an online boutique, the hardest part is getting your name out in front of people and showing them the quality of your products. Knowledge and skills with taking photos is also very helpful. The better the photos the more views and sales your items get. Advice I would give to someone just opening an online boutique would be to not give up. Unless you are a social media expert and already have a huge following, your sales will start slow. You probably will not start off as an immediate success. It takes time to build up followers and shoppers. Then it takes time to get them to trust your brand and place an order. Be willing to try different things to gain more followers. And what works for some boutiques might not work for yours, build your own identity as an online boutique. Make yours stand out in some way, even if it is just by ordering products not everyone carries. That is what I am trying to do.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The number one obstacle I am facing is trying to get my boutique more traffic. I am trying to find a way to reach more people that would be interested in what I sell. It is hard to know what to invest your money in and what will give you the best results. What type of social media marketing would be the most effective? Do you hire Social Media Influencers or do you run ads? Everyday I am messaged by people who want to work with me and sell me their marketing products. There are so many people who say the can guarantee results, yet I have not found one that actually delivered what they said they could. And that is where the challenge lies, trying to find cost effect ways to get your brand in front of people and turn them into customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sunflowerandjasmine.com
- Instagram: @sunflower_and_jasmine
- Facebook: @sunflowerandjasmine
Image Credits
I took my own photos
