Tell us a little about the person behind the business? I’m Angela and I currently live in central Indiana (planning on moving west in a few years). I married my high school sweetie and we have two wonderful sons that keep us very busy. I love nature and am inspired everyday by just stopping and watching the world around me. I started designing about 10 years ago, playing around with message boards and then moving into designing my own business e-commerce site to providing branding and corporate design and marketing to a large company. Mostly self taught at first, I decided to go back to school and earn my degree in web design as its an ever changing field and I wanted to offer my clients only the best services. My business had been a hobby of mine for years until I was laid off from three positions within a 12 month span. I felt that the universe was pushing me to do what I love and I haven’t been more happy in my life since making the leap of faith and following my passion full time.
And now a little about the business itself? Boutique Web Designs is a WAHM and Boutique Design Agency. I create fun, unique and trendy designs that also incorporate marketing and customer usability. After owning my own online business, I know how overwhelming it can be as well as how hard it can be to stand out from the competition. With every design, I not only create the fun wahm feel but I also review the clients end to ensure it will appeal to the target market as well as be easy to use by customers. My design style is clean and simple. Boutique Web Designs offers everything from custom web design, graphic design, to templates and turnkey boutiques.
How did you come up with your business name? I wanted to name to appeal to my target market, be very SEO friendly and not need alot of extra explaining. My first corporate marketing company was called creative juice and although I felt people could understand what it meant, you would not believe how many times I was asked about my “Juice Company”. If you see the name Boutique Web Designs, you know what it is.
What made you want to begin a WAH business and how did you get started? I had always been the corporate ladder climber while my husband stayed at home with the kids. For many years it was great and I had a great family, great career and great income. After about eight years with a large company I really just felt a burning desire to do something that would help others and around the same time I found tapes of my youngest son that my husband had made and watching all these wonderful moments that I missed brought tears to my eyes. I wanted to do something on my own and turn my side hobby business into a full time career but felt this was not an option since I was the main provider for my family. You know how sometimes the universe just has a bigger plan for you and you don’t know it, well it did for me. After 10 years with my corporate marketing and design job I was laid off, I found another job and laid off again five months later, then I found another job and was laid off again three months later. I had never lost a job in my life and here, I was laid off three times in about 14 months. While all this was going on everywhere I turned I keep seeing the saying “Be the change you want to see in the world” and with all that happened my husband and I decided that this was a sign for me to turn my passion into a full time career. It was the hardest and the best thing to ever happen in my career life and I have never been so happy!
What motivates you to keep your business going? Lots of things, the excitement when a client sees their new design, receiving feedback from clients that say “Thank you for making my dreams come true”, when my little one says “Mom, you can finally go on a field trip with me for school. You have never been able to do that before”, being able to be there 100% for my husband and my family. Making a difference in the world.
Do you have a current best-selling product or service? All my services sell really well, it just depends on the clients needs and their budget. Our templates, custom design and turnkeys are the best.
How do you advertise your business and which methods have proven more successful? Word of month is the #1 and I know alot of people say, “That’s great, but how do you get it”. You have to ask, you have to put yourself out there, be confident in what you do and just connect with people and ask them. You have to always do your best because it will come back, it may not be today and it maybe a year from now but it will come back.
I also do some various shout outs on facebook and have placed a few ads on some wahm sites. You have to really know who your target market is and review the sites you place ads on to ensure they are the right fit, just because they are cheap does not mean that you will get sales from them. I create a spreadsheet with all my ad spots on it, how much I paid, the term and then I track my clicks through that ad and how many sales I received that month. There are ads that have not gotten my any direct sales but they do get me a large number of hits and I maintain a low bounce rate on google analytics and they are not expensive so I keep them going. As a small business owner you have to be smart with every time you spend so track everything and ensure its the right fit for you.
SEO is also a big factor.
How do you juggle your family and your WAH business? Any tips for other WAHP’s? I don’t have little ones at home, my boys are 16 and 9 so they don’t need mom 24/7 which helps alot. I really had to put myself on a schedule, since my office is in my home I found myself getting to work later in the day and working at all hours and always checking emails etc. I was working 24/7 and making little for it when you broke it all down. So I created a schedule that I begin work at 7:00 am, break to get the kids off to school and then I have the entire day to work until they get home from school. Once they are home its back to being mom. There are days that I have to work late on a project but its not an everyday thing. Having the schedule as made life much easier and managing everything a snap.
And finally, what advice would you give to anyone wanting to start a WAH business? If you have the passion and opportunity to do it, DO IT! I will tell you that its not a walk in the park and it takes alot of patience and passion to make it all work but when it does its the best thing in the world. So DO IT and be Smart about it!
Website: http://www.boutiquewebdesigns.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/boutiquewebdesigns
If you have had the pleasure of dealing with this business, please feel free to leave a review below.
(You can read more Spotlight interviews here. If you would like an ‘In the Spotlight’ interview for your business, please click here or more information.)
