We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kiley Wingler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kiley below.
Hi Kiley, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
I am a firm believer that everyone should take a risk if you are passionate about something. If you are willing to yell about your passions in a quiet room, any risk you take is worth it.
I ask myself things often, like :How would you feel if you had these great ideas and never ran with it? At the end of the day are you content with staying quiet?
My entire business, Floral & Flirt Boutique, is the biggest risk I’ve ever taken and it has brought me such joy. It has made every blood, sweat, & tear moment leading up to our store front success worth it. I sold everything in my name to be able to fund to open the business. Had that risk not been taken who knows what I would be doing, where I would be working, or if I would be happy in my day to day life.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m Kiley Wingler and I am the owner of Floral & Flirt Boutique in Lake Havasu City, AZ.
I had opened the business as an online boutique in August of 2020 after moving from the big city of San Diego to a small town in the desert of Arizona. When first moving to Lake Havasu City I quickly realized my body type was the minority in this town, shout out to my curvy girls, especially tall and curvy. We had a Walmart, a Ross, and Dillards. This was unlike any shopping options I previously had in San Diego. If I needed a last minute outfit I had 100 resources for shopping within 10 miles of any direction.
Floral & Flirt Boutique was an idea that was born in the late night thoughts of my spare bedroom, I needed an outlet for my mind to wander in something productive other than the current state of the world in 2020 and also problem solve while at it. I filed all the needed paper work and licensing in June of 2020 and launched our first collection in August of 2020.
After 2 years of online selling, pop up markets, and open house style local shopping, an opportunity for a storefront brick and mortar location became available and I dove head first. It was not something I was looking for at the time, I actually was having a conversation asking gals about if they knew of places becoming available in terms of apartments for housing when another local business owner thought I was implying commercial space. As a firm believer of “everything happens for a reason” we jumped on the opportunity.
It was absolutely the scariest thing I have ever done, signing my first retail space lease praying that it will all be okay, that people will support the new girl in town, I was an absolute nobody in a tight knit community who was just bold enough to give it a shot. A closed mouth doesn’t get fed and I had to go for it. Our lease was signed in March of 2022 and by April 29th we were officially opened for business.
We just celebrated our 2 year anniversary being in our brick & mortar location and it is the craziest feeling. From not knowing if we would survive even a year as a store front to now having girls who help us in the store and being able to provide job opportunities is a surreal feeling.
This business has allowed me to meet some of the most amazing people, I moved not knowing a single sole and now have some of the best of friends that I’ve met through the boutique. I’ve been able to attend conventions and further develop personal skills, dive into creative projects, have found passions and hobbies for designs that I did not know I ever wanted to pursue, rediscover who is Kiley, and a confidence I never knew was possible.
Although Floral & Flirt is a womens boutique that caters to sizes XS – 3XL, we have just launched our first lifestyle brand of graphic tees for both men and women called Flowers & 40’s.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Persistence & patience, do you know how many times it would have been so easy to have a bad collection launch and throw in the towel? I knew nothing when I first started. It’s taken years of both failures and successes to get to this point. Four years in so far and with every new trend I still get the opportunity to learn, to practice patience, to be able to face new challenges, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Un-comfortability, this venture has forced me to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Putting myself out there as a natural born introvert has pushed my boundaries beyond belief, I’ve grown so much from it.
There are honestly so many things I’ve learned, and the biggest amongst all is knowing when to stay true to you. It would be so easy to fall into the trap of all the fast fashion trends but inside of Floral & Flirt I have made it my biggest mission to stay true to what we ( myself + girls who work here ) like and are happy to promote. It is so important to me to know that at the end of the day I am happy to put my name on what we sell, to ensure quality over quantity, to bring lasting fabrics and high quality pieces of clothing to this town.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We love to collaborate with other small businesses and makers. Currently we offer hand crafted soy wax candles within the shop from another small business and lip care products from another. If you are a small business that would want to partner or collaborate with a small town boutique you can reach out to us through Instagram: @shopfloralandflirt or through email: [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: floralandflirt.com
- Instagram: @shopfloralandflirt
- Facebook: Floral & Flirt Boutique
- Other: TikTok: @shopfloralandflirt
