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Hats Off to Creativity and Self-Love with Esme Aguilar
56 Plays6 months ago
Join us as we explore the enriching journey of Esme Aguilar's transition from a simple creative passion to a burgeoning hat-making business with her brand "Hatsify." This episode merges personal narrative, cultural heritage, and entrepreneurial spirit into a seamless discourse on fashion and identity.
This episode invites listeners to explore the synergies of creativity, cultural heritage, and entrepreneurship. It’s a narrative on how fashion serves both as personal empowerment and a business frontier. Tune in to be inspired by Esme's journey of hats, heritage, and heart.
Key takeaways from the episode:
- Life's constant evolution requires us to adapt and grow. Reinventing oneself can lead to discovering new passions and opportunities, so embrace change every second you get!
- Immersing in one's cultural heritage can provide immense inspiration and influence in one's work, enriching both personal and professional life.
- Transforming a hobby into a thriving business requires courage, creativity, and a strong community connection. Always be ready to learn and adapt to new challenges, you never know when your passion project can turn into a thriving business.
Join Esme for live macrame workshops where you craft while soaking up an atmosphere filled with creativity and supportive vibes. Sign up with the link below:
https://esme-design.myshopify.com/products/macrame-plant-hanger-workshop
Don't forget to check out her website, Etsy shop, and Instagram to see the incredible artistry and passion infused in every piece. Follow Esme on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/esme_design?igsh=MTI4YXdkc2w2MmVuNw==
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome beautiful souls to Shine on You, the podcast that dives deep into the realms of modern spirituality, the metaphysical, and the mystical. I'm your guide on this journey, Renee Novello. This is not just a podcast, it's a sanctuary for the open-minded, the curious, and those called to topics that may be, at times, a little out there.
00:00:27
Speaker
Through grounded, heart-centered conversations, we are here to support your next breakthrough into higher alignment and help illuminate the path, highlighting the threads of wisdom that connect us all. We are a community of kindred spirits, a space for belonging, connection, and shared wisdom.
Podcast's Location and Online Presence
00:00:47
Speaker
This is Shine on You, a podcast where the coastal breezes of Wilmington, North Carolina meet cosmic mysteries. Jump in and join us for conversations that will feel like sunshine for your soul. To follow me along on this journey, head over to my website at ReneeNovello.com or on Instagram at Vibe with Intuition. Now let's dive into the interview.
Esme's Travels and Birthday
00:01:16
Speaker
Hi, Esme. Hi. How was your energy today? How are you doing, lovely? Everything is good. I'm doing good. Yeah. Yeah. So you were actually feeling a little stressed out about all the trouble I've been doing. I was going to say, I've been following you and you've been a lot of places in a short period of time.
00:01:34
Speaker
Yeah, celebrating my birthday is a long process. It's a month celebration. It's not just a day. When was your birthday? On Sunday. What was that? April? 14. Beautiful. Aries? Aries. Fire fire. Fire fire. I love that. What is your chart look like? What is your sun moon? Oh, I have no idea. I have to ask Christina about that.
00:01:56
Speaker
She always gives me a run that I forget most things. I understand. I go with the vibe. I go by the day. I love that. So good.
Macrame and Stress Management
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, you've been and I immediately was magnetized to you and your creative expressions, your hats, the way that you taught macrame. I felt like I could do it. It was such a beautiful experience. And then you went on a lot of travel and a lot of
00:02:23
Speaker
adventures. What's life been like since I saw you there? Well, we've been traveling a lot, so it's been busy, stressful because I'm very much a person that's
00:02:36
Speaker
I need a routine. I need to have my everyday steps. I give myself a lot of goals daily and that is making hats and designing them. It's a long process and for me to get in a workflow, I need to be at home and have a routine. My house is to be clean. For me, if my house is not put together,
00:02:57
Speaker
My life is not put together. I understand that. I am the same. It's like, I need to make my bed first thing in the morning when I wake up. I need to have all the dishes done, vacuum, have four animals. So it's a lot. And finally, when I get in the work routine, I sit down and I focus for hours. But I have to do all those, you know, those steps. When I'm traveling, it takes me off that routine, and it's really hard to get back. I get that. So we just got back recently, and I've been struggling. So I've been really stressed about not being in my routine.
00:03:27
Speaker
I totally feel you. Everything you're saying, I'm like, yes, that's exactly the way I am too. I really thrive in routine. And when I saw you traveling all over, I kind of got the sense like, oh, she's probably really free spirited and doesn't necessarily need that. So it's really good that you clarified that because I mean, I mean, I try to, I try to do both, you know, it's, it's, it's a balance, you know, balance of
00:03:52
Speaker
travel, doing everything, but I internally get stressed out if I don't have a routine. But I work with it. You know, working out also helps to release some stress and... Was there anything on your travel this time that was like really profound or... I mean, you were in some really amazing places. Where were you?
Family Ties and Envision Festival
00:04:12
Speaker
Yeah, we went to Costa Rica first at the beginning of March for the Envision Festival, and that was amazing.
00:04:17
Speaker
Very eye-opening. There's a lot of workshops for self-improvement, a lot of meditation, a lot of cacao ceremonies. It's just a lot of that. I was also with my family. My mom was there, so having that family time really helps me get centered. I don't know if you feel that way when you're with your related families. You feel almost empowered. I get a lot of my inside power being with my family.
00:04:43
Speaker
So being around my aunt and my mom is I feel a completely different person. I feel like I'm on top of the world. And yeah, so the only reason I say this because since we moved here to Wilmington, none of my family are here. It's all my husband's family. So I struggle with not knowing that I don't have blood family near me. So it makes me sad sometimes, but I'm grateful that I have a great family through him too. I was gonna ask you two things that you just touched on.
00:05:10
Speaker
how you landed in Wilmington.
Relocation Challenges and Community Building
00:05:12
Speaker
Yeah well we lived in LA for a while and that's where my husband and I met. We had my son Avery he's five and we well COVID happened and you know LA was out of control and
00:05:28
Speaker
You know, some good things came out of it. We got out of it. We got out of there. We moved to Wilmington, and we actually ended up moving in a front beach home in Tulsa Island. Nice. And it was beautiful. So good to be there. Zero social interactions. So we're like, we're out of here. We also experienced a hurricane. It was enough to scare us and all the maintenance. I was like, okay, leaving
00:05:53
Speaker
On the water. On the water, it's a lot of work and a lot of maintenance to the house. So we decided to move to Wilmington and we ended up here in a beautiful neighborhood with randomly old high school friends from my husband too. Out of everywhere in here, we ended up where he has like three of them.
00:06:10
Speaker
So it's great. And we will have little kids. So it worked out really great for us. I love that. Yeah. There's a family. Everything is family based. Yeah. There's a lot to offer. There's a lot of kids around. So it's good. For sure. And where is your roots from?
Cultural Background and Military School
00:06:27
Speaker
I was born in Texas. I grew up in Mexico, and when I was about 12, 13, I'm sorry, 11 or 12, I went to LA. We have a family house in Los Angeles, and I was there for middle school, and then went back to a military school in Mexico, and then I felt like coming back for college, so I did. I went back to Santa Monica College, and that's where
00:06:54
Speaker
My life started in the US again. Wow, military school. Yes. Oh my goodness, that's pretty warrior, fierce. You should see my drawers, they're very nearly full. That's where that structure comes from. Well, also from my mom. My mom was like a military mom, even though she wasn't in the military. She's very strict, very OCD, so I got all my crafting from her. As well, she's always very creative, always making things out of anything she can. She makes everything beautiful.
00:07:22
Speaker
I was going to ask you about what Little You was like and if you had that influence to be a creative and an artist early on. Yeah, I think my creative side definitely developed for my mom. She's very creative. She's always making something. And I was always the only child that was interested in that. Compared to my brother and sister, I was the creative one. I was the one that paid attention in school. And so there's always a joke at the house that I'm the favorite child.
00:07:51
Speaker
Because you and mom are on the same page. Yeah and she's very specific about the way letters look. Also like her writing is perfect. It's very similar to each other. Like her letters match like the letter A's look the exact same. Like everything in her alphabet is just perfect. And when I was writing I was having a neat
00:08:15
Speaker
You know, neat writing, so she liked that. And she ended up teaching me how to do all the business paperwork, her signature. And I was just teaching me to force her signature when I was 12, and it was great. Are you the oldest? I'm the middle child, yeah.
00:08:33
Speaker
The middle and best. Yes, exactly. The middle and best. That's awesome.
Influences and Creative Inspiration
00:08:38
Speaker
That's awesome. So you're still really close to your mom and your mom was in Costa Rica. She went to Costa Rica or she lives there? No, she was there in Costa Rica with us and she lives in Mexico. We still have our restaurant for a long time.
00:08:50
Speaker
I love that. Yeah, do you get to go back? I haven't been back recently. But yeah, we do. I mean, we travel quite a bit. But Mexico, where I grew up is not somewhere where we want to go like every year. But we are actually planning on doing a family trip. Maybe maybe every
00:09:09
Speaker
two years or something. Something like that. It was in my mom. That feeling of nostalgia and tea and your roots and your culture, I'm sure. Oh yeah, absolutely. Mexico has a lot of culture. Oh my gosh. So much. And so it's really nice. And I was telling my husband, I want to eventually move to Mexico, maybe for at least six months so I can catch up back on my culture and my son to pick up on it because he's very,
00:09:38
Speaker
I'm familiar with the Mexican culture and Spanish in general. Yeah. This the city or the town of San Miguel. Yes. I've never I've never been but I've heard beautiful I'm obsessed with the Instagram account. It is so picturesque.
00:09:56
Speaker
and gorgeous. Yeah, I really obsess about how the colors and the vibrancy. No, Mexico is beautiful. It has so many beautiful places. I mean, the culture just makes it even more beautiful. There's actually, now that I'm
00:10:14
Speaker
Thinking about it, a lot of my inspiration to, for example, I was a local artisan for West Elm in LA when I first started doing Macrame in 2016. And I think I was looking always back at all the influences from the Mayans and the ruins and stuff. Like every time we went to the pyramids, which I did a lot when I was little, there's always little vendors that have all these beautiful handmade embroidery and the colors.
00:10:41
Speaker
And I was inspired by that a lot when I was little to make my own crafts. And I would try to replicate stuff like that. It was like paper and other things instead of embroidery. And later on when I did macrame, I was trying to add colors and do certain things that was basically, I had it in my mind always.
00:10:58
Speaker
the culture and all the art from Mexico. The influence of that. That's so special. I have chills. That is so special to be able to have seen that firsthand and have that be influencing your design work. So when did you get into doing
Beginning in Macrame
00:11:13
Speaker
Macrame?
00:11:13
Speaker
I started doing macrame in 2016. And it was one of those things I saw a friend do a macrame plan hanger. It wasn't really macrame, it was more like tie knots. It was a very simple design and I was just struck.
00:11:29
Speaker
I need to learn how to make that. And I remember just buying some rope and looking at a macrame video on YouTube. And I was just hooked instantly. And I was like a natural. I knew all the knots just from looking at them. I was like, how do I know these things? It comes from friendship bracelets. It's the same idea. I love doing those. That was such a happy memory. Yeah, spending hours and hours
00:11:56
Speaker
I feel like everybody did it, and this is why when I teach my workshops, I was like, think about the friendship braces you used to do when you were young. It's the exact same thing. It makes it easier. A larger scale. Yeah, because you're using larger pieces of rope, but it's basically the same idea. Yeah, the tactile experience of it.
00:12:16
Speaker
I struggled a little bit. You were so patient with me. You kept having to come over and like, oh no, honey, like, let me help you. I'm like, thank goodness you are so hands on because I would have been lost. I have to be like that. I just, my focus when I do workshops is making everybody feel comfortable and you are capable of doing it.
00:12:34
Speaker
You know, and I have to, I feel like when I do workshops, I have to boost people's confidence when they're doing a craft because it's not about getting frustrated. I've seen people in the past get so frustrated where they're like, well, I just don't want to do it anymore. And I'm like, why don't I sit with you and watch me do it and follow my hands. And it's all about finger placement, how you wear up the rope. And it's like, just try to have fun.
00:12:56
Speaker
And it doesn't matter if the knot's not perfect. Life is not perfect. Just let it go with the flow. The plant hanger's gonna look beautiful anyway. It was very forgiving, I will say. Yes, it is. I love that. I have it hanging in my plant room, and it's beautiful. And it's something you can be proud of, that you have your own... I love to see it.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. How did you get into doing it professionally then?
Success in Venice Beach
00:13:18
Speaker
So when I started Macrame, I started not doing, I did one big wall hanging and it was big. I mean, it was probably four feet or five feet by like nine feet.
00:13:30
Speaker
It was a big tapestry. And I made it for my house, but I brought it to an event. And in that event, I was having just dreamcatchers with macrame. But it wasn't fully macrame. It was just like, dreamcatchers with rope hanging and like yarn and things. I was just stepping into my creative side and somebody
00:13:52
Speaker
asked me if I could have all of my dream catchers placed in almost like an art display way, but it was in Abba Kinney, in Venice Beach, in a hair salon. And she asked me to place them all around as a display because they feature different artists every month. And they have the plaque and everything.
00:14:11
Speaker
And I sold so many of them. And that's how I just started. They were like, just have this. And I was making them for fun. I was teaching kids how to make little dreamcatchers out of nature with leaves. And we would go and find feathers by the beach and things like that. So it was just something I picked up on and I dove in right away. And I was really enjoying it.
00:14:35
Speaker
I didn't feel like it was work or I was doing it to sell. It was more like I'm doing this because I enjoy doing it. And I don't know. It's just such a sweet spot to be in when you don't feel like you are like what every creatives dream, right? Like you can be doing something that you creatively are inspired by and it's also providing you with income. The income was definitely
00:15:01
Speaker
good, but I wasn't interested. I was in selling. I will give a lot of my stuff away for free.
00:15:06
Speaker
I was like, oh, you're like, you can have it for free. I was like, oh my God. My husband was like, what are you doing? You're supposed to resell. I was like, I know, but I just don't feel like this. I didn't make this to sell it. I made this because I enjoy doing it. And I was like, I just want to give it. I want to get somebody. And I was like, and if they like it and I see they're hesitating because they don't have the money, I'll gift it to them. It's like, I don't feel like I need the money enough. And I was like, everything that, you know, when you give things, everything comes back to a thousand fold. I'm not sure what the saying is like.
00:15:36
Speaker
And it was so when I did that the dream catchers I had an event and I had my tapestry and there was an interior designer who approached me and she said are you selling this piece I she said I have a very I don't remember how she said is that classified client or something like that it was like a
00:15:54
Speaker
It was a secret, a big deal. And they say she's in the Malibu homes and the mountains. And she said, this is the perfect piece for the room that I'm looking for. And I was like, OK. And she's like, how much is it? And I was like, well, it's $700 if I wanted to sell it, just adding all the time that took me and materials. And I mean, it was a big piece. Any piece like that, even then, will sell like $2,500 or something.
00:16:18
Speaker
And she was like, okay, we're going to do it for 1200. You're going to take the thunder and I'm going to sell them to them, uh, for double that. And I was like, Whoa. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you for telling me all that. I was like, I agree. Pleasure doing good. I was like, okay, $1,200. And that feels so good. That was the moment that I was like, Oh my gosh, I can really turn this into a business. And, and of course I did some plant hangers. And at that time I started getting into.
Business Expansion with West Elm
00:16:47
Speaker
the creative group, like a creative community, like a community of creatives. And there were so many creatives in there. And I mean, I was in the mecca of the creatives. And I luckily placed myself in there. And I started meeting a lot of people. And one thing led to another. I ended up doing a pop-up at West Elm in Santa Monica. And they loved my products so much. They asked me if they could sell my plant hangers.
00:17:14
Speaker
at their store. And then that led to adding my product to other stores around LA. So I think it was one in Hollywood. And it was Santa Monica, Hollywood. And I don't remember what the other one is. But there were three stores that I was selling. And they had me back to back go and do pop up events and also teach macrame.
00:17:34
Speaker
And every time I work with them with Macrame workshops, they will provide the most incredible experience. I mean, Wasm was a really, really good company to work with. They would provide everything that I could think of. Cheeseboards and wine. They will make the experience great. I ended up meeting a lot of actors.
00:17:54
Speaker
And like really cool people too through all those events. So your macrame is probably hanging in some famous people's homes right now. Yeah. I did a lot of stuff. I never even had the chance to.
00:18:09
Speaker
put them online because I was making them as a request. I was like okay and I started getting more into photography so I started waking up that other creative side of me was like photography and product placement and you know adding pictures and I started really getting to that so then I started
00:18:26
Speaker
really waking it up.
Balancing Passion and Business
00:18:28
Speaker
Everything, everything inside me wears. I wanted to learn everything. And embroidery, painting, I wanted to do it all, to incorporate everything into macrame. And yeah, so. As an artist, gotta be a good feeling because I mean, I think
00:18:43
Speaker
I don't consider myself necessarily an artist, but I'm a creative person, but I would say when you get that validation and then the financial exchange for your creation and your energy and things and having that in the world has got to be so fulfilling. It is. It is very fulfilling.
00:19:03
Speaker
It's one of those things that when you get validation for your work, it just inspires you to do more and continue to learn more in your field. I've seen some people just get driven by money and they stop making things out of love and out of passion and the product gets boring. Nobody wants boring products and you can't expect to sell it.
00:19:25
Speaker
when you're not putting yourself in it. For me making things, I fully go with my intuition. I've always designed and created things out of intuition. I don't look at the signs, I don't follow patterns, I just dive in wherever it takes me and that's how my product ends up.
Intuitive Hat Designs
00:19:43
Speaker
And same with my hats, I just did something new that I started doing and I do. So the hats are, when did you start creating hats?
00:19:50
Speaker
My hats are December. So fairly new. Very new. Yeah. It's like five months old. They're gorgeous. Obviously. Thank you for bringing one today. And it actually is in the same color tone that I'm wearing. I'm like, I feel like our higher selves had a conversation about this. And I was like, bring me a hat. You know, it's so funny. I've had a conversation with Christina, the blonde priestess about how lately
00:20:16
Speaker
For many years, actually, I'm going to say, I've been practicing my intuition a lot, and lately I've been focusing a lot more. I think I forgot for a while what it was like to be in tune with yourself and your intuition. And when I started doing hats again, I was like, you know, I'm going to do the designs
00:20:35
Speaker
according to how I feel, how everything is going, and how I see the person. So when I create a hat for somebody, I look at the person, I ask them for their birth date, and they're so excited. And I embroider things that are related to the person, but the crystals where I place things, it's more intuitively. Like I just do that.
00:20:56
Speaker
But intuition-wise, I had a really interesting thing happen lately. I was creating a hat for a businesswoman here in Wilmington. And I went to the store the night before, to the Crystal Store, and I saw these macaw feathers.
00:21:13
Speaker
And I picked up one thinking, oh my gosh, I've been really wanting a macaw feather, but I don't know if I want to put it in my hat. But I'm going to get it. So I got it, finished the hat, the customer came to my house in my studio, got it for her, and I said, you know, I have this feather that I just got, and I don't know why I feel like I need to give it to you, like put it in your hat, and it looks beautiful. I already tried it on. I was like, you want to see? And she's like, yeah, of course, I love it.
00:21:36
Speaker
At the very end of the day, she's like, I actually have something interesting to say to you about this macaw feather. I feel like everything came back to me in a way. And I was like, well, what happened? She said, my dad used to race, what is it called? Macaw. Her and her dad were in Costa Rica or somewhere.
00:21:55
Speaker
something happened where she got a cut from a macaw that landed on her or something and it was like a sign for her like something had to do with the macaw. I forgot exactly what the full story was. I think the racing part was the story. The lady at the store she said her dad takes care of macaws and that's why she gets feathers. That's where I confused and but she said she had a
00:22:16
Speaker
a scar from a macaw. And then when I gave her the macaw, she said she was reliving all that experience because for her it was a very meaningful experience. The fact that this came back around, I was like, oh, well, it's meant to be. I just knew. I picked up on that. I was like, I knew somehow that I needed to get this for you. So it was, yeah, one of those things.
00:22:38
Speaker
There have been a lot of things like that that's happened. I love that when there's those nods of synchronicities and things like that. Even today when you're like, oh, I have an extra hat. I'm like, I was hoping you'd say that. There's a lot of things like that. And I guess I was talking to Christina. I've been doing random things for no reason. I believe it's for no reason. But I still do it because I try to listen to my intuition. Why am I feeling that I need to grab that? I don't second guess it.
00:23:07
Speaker
I'm like, okay, that was my gut telling me to do something. I'm just going to do it. And then it ends up working out. Not for me, maybe for somebody else, but it's been like that. And I love that feeling, you know, staying in tune with yourself. Exactly. And then I feel like it's a muscle that builds upon itself because once you
00:23:24
Speaker
recognize that even if you just consciously take a second to be like, I got you, I see you, you know, like I feel that and when it's affirmed to you, it really like creates this muscle that keeps more things coming back to you in your orbit from your intuition. Absolutely. It's so powerful that way. It's so powerful that way. So the transition after you were working professionally, really,
00:23:50
Speaker
I love that story so much that you shared about the macrame and how that came to be. And then did you end up moving here? Is that kind of what ended up? So 2016, then 2020 is when COVID happened,
COVID-19 Impact and Workshops
00:24:03
Speaker
right? So I ended up putting everything in pause. I had my rope was in boxes for like a whole year.
00:24:09
Speaker
When I got to Topsal Island, I opened some boxes and I bought new rope because I didn't want to open all the boxes. I had so many from moving from California and I ended up doing all the pieces but I realized that the market for macrame here
00:24:27
Speaker
in North Carolina wasn't there yet. You know, it was just, nobody really was interested in macromegal hangings. My pricing wasn't right. Like it wasn't working out for people here. So I was like, okay, you know, this is probably a sign to just move on from this and this is time to stop it. I left it on a good note and I just kind of left it like that. But then when I moved to Wilmington, I was going to this CrossFit gym and I met Carolini, a really good friend of mine now.
00:24:54
Speaker
And she was like, oh my gosh, I would love for you to teach a workshop with me and my friends. And I was like, oh, workshops. You know, I hadn't thought about it in a while. And I was like, oh, that would be amazing.
00:25:05
Speaker
the workshop. So I taught a workshop that I hadn't taught before and it was a large macrame wall hanging and I was like we need about five hours for this workshop, which it went for like six. It was such a good feeling to just jump back and teach and see the people. At first they were like oh I don't know I don't know if I can do this. It doesn't look like anything but when they saw it at the end what they had just made.
00:25:30
Speaker
That feeling, I feel it all. You know, I absorb that. I'm like, oh my, it's such a good feeling to have happy customers, to have people just really see what they created and just love what they just made. And the fact that I provided that experience is really satisfying. Absolutely. So I love this. I was like, okay, I'm going to start workshops again instead of selling product. So that kind of worked out better for me. So I started doing macro-made plant hangers and things, and I haven't
00:25:58
Speaker
promoted them a lot just because it is a lot of work.
00:26:03
Speaker
Being at home and having a child and a lot of animals, it kind of takes my time, most of my time. I understand. So I find it hard for me to even focus on myself sometimes. I was going to say, yeah, because I feel like even when you were sharing at the beginning about, you know, I appreciate what you were saying about needing kind of a clean space and an organized environment before you can get into that creative zone, because I too feel that too. Like I can't focus if there's things that are needing to be tended to in my home.
00:26:31
Speaker
Like I'm in such rhythm with my home and the kids that I have and my husband and the even the plants and the animals and everything. I'm like if everybody is in rhythm and they're tended to then I can focus and drop in to more of a creative space. So I really related to what you were saying about that.
00:26:50
Speaker
And you have a little, little one, which I have now graduated into the older child zone. How do you balance that for yourself where you, because you get fed from your creativity, right? Like it makes you probably a better mom and a better person, right?
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah. How do you balance that with being a beautiful child? Well, it helps that he goes to school full time. Yep. That is the one thing that I'm so grateful for that we found a great school. And he's he loves it there. So to me, it's like, when you have a child that loves their school, if they love where they are,
00:27:25
Speaker
it makes us feel good because we know they're safe, they're having a good time, and we're not wasting our time or money with them being there.
Motherhood and Self-Care
00:27:32
Speaker
I was definitely struggling at first because I'm so used to him being around me, and I love having him around me. He loves being around us too. Yeah, he was at the workshop that we did. Yeah, he came in from... A little bright light of a...
00:27:45
Speaker
of a being that came in. I'm like, Oh my goodness. He's a whole little style himself. He has his own thing going. But yeah, he inspires me a lot too. Like he has all these cute little ideas as well. He makes me craft with him. He's going to be a crafter as well. I think I influenced him plenty.
00:28:04
Speaker
The balance that I have to look for also when I'm at home and finding time to do my hats and everything, it really just comes down to how clean is my house? How clean is it? Clean enough where I can now relax and sit down and work.
00:28:20
Speaker
How do I find the balance? My balance really just comes from focusing more on me, like my self-care. When I'm focused on my self-care, I go and get facials, I get my nails done. I feel so good. And then everything starts kind of falling into place.
00:28:36
Speaker
I used to not be a big believer of self care. I was always with because I was raised my mom was really tough and always going and I never really learned how to go weekly or monthly to get my nails done and pedicure manicure facials. My mom was never about that. So when I started focusing on that at the beginning of this year specifically, I started going strong in self care and self love. I started noticing a big difference where I was able to balance more.
00:29:06
Speaker
of my time and it's, I think it just narrows down on how I was feeling inside. It was just all that. If I was good inside, everything was kind of falling in place. So I think I'm still working towards finding the balance on all that. I know. And I think balance is such like kind of a misleading word because like,
00:29:24
Speaker
you're always adjusting to what's going on in your environment. Like it's never really balanced per se, right? It's more like harmony. I like to look at it as harmony. Like how do you create harmony within yourself? And then I think that is so important too, because as the mom, right? Like you,
00:29:41
Speaker
at least in the way that my family is, I'm kind of that really important part of the ecosystem that however I'm doing is really going to affect everybody else in the house, right? So being well tended to and taking care of yourself is definitely, I feel that. It's like, not just frivolous, it's important. What's that saying, happy wife and happy life? Yeah, that, yeah.
00:30:05
Speaker
I'll go with that. New slogan. Just kidding. You were gonna tell me your slogan for your business. I need to look it off. I don't remember. You don't remember now? I threw you off. I think it's...
00:30:19
Speaker
Oh my God. And this is for your hat. Such a new one for your hat. Yeah. Yeah. It's really hot business. I just, like, I was venturing to you earlier. I just got my new logo and everything and the slogan in there. And it's, it's so funny. This office reminds me of my, my new, my new business card and everything. It's just, it's very like neutral and soft colors. Very, very definitely very feminine. But yeah, I'm really excited.
00:30:44
Speaker
Beautiful. Really excited to release all of that. And you were telling me before we got started that you haven't been able to really get orders out on Etsy because there's so much demand in person or through referrals and so forth that you're... Yeah, the demand for my hats are high right now.
00:30:59
Speaker
Everything I make I sell right away. I had posted, I was getting, I was like, okay, I'm going to hold some hats, have a photo shoot and then, or do some pictures, put them on Instagram, put them on my Etsy store and then get some revenue going online. But I had to take all the stuff out of Etsy because they sold on my hats. Everything was just.
00:31:19
Speaker
It's a good thing. Good thing. Good problem to have. I can't keep up with my demand right now. I've had a friend that asked me to put my hats in a store, and I met multiple people also that are like, hey.
00:31:31
Speaker
Bring some hats and we'll sell them here. I can't keep up the demand. So I just placed a large order. Actually, I got all the hats and I've been working on some of them. And they're looking amazing, but I can't post anything online because somebody will claim it. So I had to put in some stores. And at least I think that will give me some more exposure to other kind of people, like all the customers, different parts of town.
00:31:55
Speaker
So I'm hoping for that. I think you'll get there for sure. And this is just a jumping in point, which is really good that you have more business than you can handle as a new branch of your already creative entrepreneurial business and so forth. When you're actually working with the hats and creating them, do you just in the moment
00:32:15
Speaker
feel into like okay I want to do this sort of feeling or are you doing a lot of custom like for that person so I do a lot of custom stuff but I focus on doing things on the go so I sit down
00:32:31
Speaker
I'm getting in my workflow and the first thing I do is lay out all the materials that I have. Everything, I buy things constantly. I'm constantly buying charms and new chains and new leather and all that stuff. Before I start, I lay everything out and I grab the house, I place a few down in front of me.
00:32:48
Speaker
I turn on the camera, I turn on these things, and I start grabbing things. I start putting them in the hat, see what looks best. And I don't necessarily plan it out, but I try things out. And then sewing it together, I'm like, OK, well, this is not going to work. And I want to put this on. So I kind of change everything back and forth. And some of the hats, I do waves. Some of the hats, I do mountains. So I feel like that's a pretty good balance. There's somebody that's going to love the mountains. Somebody's going to love the ocean. Exactly. So it works out really well.
00:33:16
Speaker
Yeah, I love the balance of elements that you use. Yeah, so I do the embroidery, I add crystals, I add charms, I add leather accents.
00:33:24
Speaker
So I do a lot of different things. And when I see other makers that have specific things, I sometimes buy stuff from other makers to add to my hats. So for example, I think this disk is right here. Oh, is it? It's a pine cone. Oh, it's a pine cone? It's a pine cone with an African opal. And yes, I'm sorry. I'm more into the white stones that are shiny. So I saw that from a maker.
00:33:47
Speaker
who also works at our poke club. He was helping us and then we found him at this event and I got this to support him, but he told me it was for hats and I was like, oh my gosh, this is meant to be. So I bought a few of them and this is the only one I've used so far, but I love it. I just, it's kind of bulky up there, but it's, to me, it's like it makes it more special because it's almost like a collaboration of somebody else's work and mine.
00:34:12
Speaker
So I really like it. I'm not the kind of person that just say like I made it all. No, I like to incorporate other people. I love collaborations because I like people to do their thing with me. I feel like I learned more about the crafting world when I'm next to somebody else doing it too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Inspiring that. Yeah, I'm so glad this podcast is in person because
00:34:37
Speaker
your jewelry and the, is it a holster that you're wearing? It's a holster, yeah. It's got the most gorgeous stones on it and I'm like taking it all in and if I was online right now it just, I don't think I'd get the same effect. I love doing things in person now.
00:34:53
Speaker
It's like I can be in your energy and I can also take it all in. Yeah, it's so beautiful. No, it's so beautiful. In terms of like other creatives that maybe want to get into being more of an entrepreneur, do you have any lessons or words of wisdom from your experience?
Advice for Creatives
00:35:13
Speaker
I think I have so many friends in the past that have told me, oh my gosh, I love doing this and I will be.
00:35:21
Speaker
their number one motivator to start their business. I'm always pushing people, if they're creative, if they love doing something, if you want, I mean, do something out of passion, out of love, start it, do it, go with it. If revenue comes out of it, dive into it more and start exploring other things. When I started my business, I didn't just start with my passion, I started expanding my knowledge in other areas.
00:35:48
Speaker
social media, photography, all those things. Now that when you own a small business, you have to have multiple prerequisites on how to start your own thing. Just knowing how to do everything. Picture editing, all that stuff. Otherwise, it's really hard to start a business because you kind of need to learn those things.
00:36:05
Speaker
But the good news is you can, right? Now we're in a time where you can literally Google and YouTube and talk to people. There's so many apps. And people are so, like you, so generous with their knowing and offering to help. And normally when I see somebody that they want to start their own business, I'm like, OK.
00:36:21
Speaker
If you want to start selling on Etsy, start on Etsy, look at local pop-up stores that are doing pop-ups. Sign up for that. Start giving it to friends that are more into social media. Start promoting your stuff. It's almost like you have to find a way to do it. You can't just do something you expect to sell. You've got to have the passion.
00:36:44
Speaker
you have to constantly sell your product as part of you. That's why I'm like, I was today for the pack, I was like, do I wear a hat? I was like, of course I have to wear a hat. Of course you wear a hat. If you walked in without a hat, I would have said, you need to go get a hat. Come back in 10 minutes. Come back. I'll be back. That's so funny. I was even thinking, I was like, should I walk in here with a full box full of hats? I was like, I'm just going to bring a second, just in case I need to change the hat.
00:37:11
Speaker
It works out perfect. That color is your color. I know I think I'm going to be ordering a hat and I have a little bit of for anyone listening that has this too. I have a bit of hat insecurity where sometimes I feel like I don't you know like people think I don't have a hat head or.
00:37:26
Speaker
Like, because you kind of have to carry your head tall. You have to lift your chin and walk with authority when you're wearing a hat. You can't be like hiding, you know, hiding it, right? Oh, yeah. And I always say like, when you wear a hat, you become a vibe because everything you put around the hat is just like, it's like an expression.
00:37:47
Speaker
You know, when you wear a hat, you're expressing yourself in a different way. And you're, I don't know, it's like the style you get and the way you look when you have a hat. It's like, you have to be a confident person. You do. To wear a hat and to style yourself. And it makes you feel so good. And sometimes, you know, even when I dress up and put my hat and all of my captains and all my jewelry,
00:38:12
Speaker
Do I, am I, is this really who I am? Like, yeah, this is who I am. Why I'm always afraid of not being who I am and not dressing up and putting myself where I want to be and how I want to be portrayed as or like, you know? And the hats have definitely pushed that for me. I'm like, okay, wearing a hat is, it's,
00:38:32
Speaker
Again, a vibe is a self-expression, and I just, I really enjoy it. And it's something that I love doing that for people, too. Because sometimes, for example, you look like that's your vibe. The hat looks so good on you. How am I doing it? I feel like it's so beautiful. It's so good. It does feel special, and it makes you feel like you're
00:38:50
Speaker
this sense of like confidence and self-worth and yeah, I wear sweatpants a lot though, so I don't know if I can pull off a hat and sweatpants. That's maybe another level of confidence. You know, I wear a lot of loungey places, like stuff at home or daily, leggings and stuff, but sometimes I'll wear like a workout outfit and then I'll throw a calf then.
00:39:13
Speaker
throw a hand and I was like, oh, that's a vibe. I'm going. Yeah, the hat really changes the game. It's a game changer. Everyone needs a really good quality hat. That's like, yeah, it's a creative expression. It is, it is. Yeah. So I was wondering, what are you most excited about right now? I mean, I think I have a sense of this, but in terms of your work and what's next.
00:39:40
Speaker
What I'm most excited about right now, I think it's really expanding my business, focusing more on me.
Future Business Plans and Self-Care Focus
00:39:50
Speaker
Self-love, self-care, everything after that falls right into place. I'm excited just to have good balance in my life. I really want to get more in my corporate team, so I'm going to definitely work towards that. But I'm really excited about the next phase of
00:40:07
Speaker
So the new business I'm rebranding, not rebranding quite, but I'm starting a solid line for my hats and it's, I call it hatsified.
00:40:16
Speaker
And I was like, okay, Hatified, it's one word. It's- That's what you did to me today, you Hatified me. I Hatified you, exactly. And I was trying to find out hashtags and like, how do I combine Hatified with like every, I was like, everything. You just got Hatified, hashtag, you've been Hatified, I don't know. All those things, all those silly things. I was like, I was trying to find a good name for it. And I feel like Hatified did it for me. I was like, okay. And I did consider Hatify, but that was taken.
00:40:44
Speaker
It was somebody has to account on Instagram, I was like, I know, I need to think of something super original. And I was like, hot-sified, and oh, I'm sorry, Miss Logan, we're style of mixed expression. We're style of mixed expression. We're style of mixed expression. Yeah, so I'll style your hat, and you get to express yourself. It's authentic expression, too. It's like, I can feel that you pick up on the essence of the person.
00:41:09
Speaker
I love this chance to get to know you and have you give me your attention and the audience's attention in this one-on-one kind of format is really so special because I know you have a lot of things that you probably could be doing right now like creating and I totally. Cleaning my house. Cleaning your house to create. So I totally, totally really honor you for
00:41:36
Speaker
taking the time to be here today. And I appreciate you. I'm so excited to see everyone hats a fine. And yeah, and tell people where they can find you and your work right now. All right, so I think at the website, it's has a fight.com. I started my Etsy shop, which is had to fight Instagram hat has fight. And my main pages is my underscore design. And that's where I
00:42:03
Speaker
Mostly I post all my stuff right now. Like I said, I just got my logo, everything delivered yesterday. So I'm working on launching my hats by account full on with the new hats that I'm designing. If I can keep up with the demand, but I'm going to definitely try to post everything I've made so far. So, you know, it's easier to be able to see what I make.
00:42:23
Speaker
So excited for you. Yeah, we'll put it all on the show notes so everyone can click through and find you and your beautiful work. And you are such a generous and beautiful soul. And I love this. Thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me.