Hello!
I hope you are all enjoying your week!!
Today I wanted to share an interview with the sweet and talented
Sara Duckett of Sadie Olive with you....And she is rather gorgeous as you can see : ) I am in love with Sara's unique beautiful style....
Giveaway details will be at the bottom of the post.
Sara designed my shop website as well as my blog....
I can't tell you how happy I was with how everything turned out, I love Sara's work and highly recommend Sara's design services....
Sara truly is an inspiration to me in so many ways, that is why I am so excited to share her inspiring interview with all of you today... I hope you enjoy the interview and don't forget to sign up for the 600.00 Sadie Olive gift certificate giveaway if you wish to do so.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to start your design business, Sadie Olive.
I was always inspired by the small boutiques my mom and I used to frequent to buy home décor and knick knacks while growing up. I often dreamt of owning my own shop and imagined how much fun it would be to purchase inventory and stage the products that I sold. One weekend in 2007 I was reading a magazine about women entrepreneurs and I was literally compelled to jump up and make a go of it. I decided an online shop was the easiest way to start, so I filled for a business license, registered a domain name and the rest is history. It was supposed to start as a part time venture, while I worked full time in the mortgage industry, but a few short months after I started the business, I was laid off from my underwriting job. I was devestated thinking I had to give up on my dream, but after I was unable to secure another full time job, I started offering design work to my blog readers. Much to my surprise and delight, several of them hired me to help with their own blogs and soon I had fairly steady stream of clients coming my way.
I love the name Sadie Olive, is their a story behind the name of your business? Sadie Olive is the name Josh and I picked for a future daughter while we were struggling with infertility. When I started my business, I was terribly depressed, and the business was a perfect distraction from all of that heartache. I thought it was fitting that I use the name for my new venture.
Sara and Josh recently adopted a beautiful baby boy named Finn.
What type of design work do you specialize in?
I specialize in
blog and
template design for small business owners like myself.
On an average how long does it take to have a website built such as an online shop?
About a week. Most of my clients with online shops use a ready made site from Pappashop.com, the website and shaping cart are already built in and ready to use when I start my "design" process. So my job is to style the site and create a look that reflects the business and the owners message and personality. All of my designs are custom made for each client.
I will send a series of questions over along with instructions for signing up for their website. I usually ask for color preferences, font choices, and design notes on anything specific they might want. Then I will use those notes to create a first draft and let them critique the design. And once I received their comments, I will use those notes to make revisions until we get the site just right.
You also have an online shop, can you tell us a little bit about your shop? I have some retail products that I stock in my main shop on
sadieolive.com. I mostly sell linens, small home décor and some paper goods.
It's just a small collection of items that I hand pick to keep in stock.
Our Etsy shop focuses on vintage home décor and accessories.
You also have an etsy shop, what are the benefits to selling on etsy and what are the benefits to selling on your own website? My main shop is really just new items, while
the Etsy shop is all vintage. (Although some of the linens that we sell, do appear on both sites, as they are made from vintage fabric). I find Etsy is great for selling vintage. I love that there are always people on Etsy searching for vintage items, so I am able to reach some of those people just by being a seller there. Of course, with Etsy you do pay fees for each transaction, and with your own website you do not. However, the amount of money you can spend just trying to drive traffic to your own website is far more than any fees you pay to Etsy. With your own website, you can obviously customize much more than you can on Etsy. Like the size of your images, the layout, the categories, and more.
How do you keep from getting burned out creatively with all that you?
I get burned out ALL the time. But I try to switch my focus from one job to another when I get too burnt out. For example, I
will focus on my photography or my
vintage shop when I am tired of design work, and vice versa.
Do you have a favorite place you like to go to for inspiration?
Etsy is a big source of inspiration for me, as are blogs and magazines. I find inspiration all over really, other websites, at Anthropology, from a business card or a photograph. It doesn't take much to get my creative juices flowing.
Thank you Sara for taking the time out of your busy day to do the interview!
Now for the giveaway information!
One lucky winner will receive a $600.00 gift certificate to
Sadie Olive.com The winner will be allowed to use their gift certificate on
design services and or
The winner will be chosen by random.org
The giveaway will end at midnight on July 24th.
Giveaway Rules!
1. All you have to do to be entered in the giveaway is a leave a comment stating how you would use
your 600.00 gift certificate to Sadie Olive if you were to win....
OPTIONAL
If you would like to receive additional entries.....
(in order for additional entries to count please leave a separate comment for each additional entry)
2. Share the giveaway on your blog (optional)
3. Post the giveaway on facebook (optional)
4. Post about the giveaway on Twitter (optional)
5. Post about the giveaway on Pinterest (optional)
Thank you Sara!
Take Care,
Maria
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