Meet Shella, Owner of Sweet Threads

Who owns the cutest kid’s boutique in Cali, with both amazing vintage finds and highly-curated handmade clothing? Our next guest Shella. 🙂

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Shella, and she is as nice as she is talented.  And she is talented; not only does she have the perfect eye for buying treasures for her shop, but her clothing line Paush has some of the cutest kid peices I have ever seen … [and I see a LOT of kids clothes].

I hope you enjoy hearing the behind the scenes of her journey!

 

Hi! I’m Shella Garcia. I own Sweet Threads, a New + Vintage Children’s business selling unique items for your little ones including our very own in-house girls brand, Paush. I have a degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising and 10+ years of fashion industry experience. Many of you might think I was inspired by my children to start my business but that is actually not the reason. I don’t yet have children of my own. Instead I was inspired by my own realization that if I was going to work this hard, it was going to be for myself. I teamed up with a friend who wanted to start a children’s fashion business while I wanted to start a women’s vintage business. So to compromise, we came up with the unique idea of children’s vintage fashion. We researched and noticed there wasn’t a big presence in this area. So we went for it.

#pressplay below to watch our recorded Skype interview, and check out her answers in written format as well as pictures of her beautiful creations.  Enjoy!

What did you do before Sweet Threads? How did you decide to start your own business?

I was the Women’s Product Development Manager for Seven for All Mankind, a designer denim company. After working years of stressful and long hours in the fashion industry, I came to realization that if I was going to work this hard, it was going to be for myself.

Can you give us a brief history of Sweet Threads? How long have you been in business? What has your growth looked like? Can you tell us a story of some of the “unglamorous” moments just starting up?

Sweet Threads has been in business for 4 years. We started selling vintage kids clothes on Etsy in 2011 and within a few months of selling there, had an opportunity to use a friends start up company, Madefreshly, a Platform to help build your ecommerce. We moved our shop officially onto this platform in 2012 and added the “New” products, offering a unique assortment of New + Vintage Children’s Clothing.

On weekends we also started selling at flea markets out of our Ice Cream designed VW Bus while working our day jobs during the week. We started to get noticed and at our first flea market, baby blogger, Ashley from The Stork and The Beanstalk stepped into our booth. She wrote a blog post about her mini vintage finds from Sweet Threads and we were just the happiest and giddiest bunch of  aspiring entrepreneurs. We thought we made our big break but soon realized it was a long, hard, uphill  journey we had to make. Finally in 2013, I made the decision to go full time with my business and opened up the Brick & Mortar edition. After selling some vintage pieces on our Instagram, I noticed a high demand for the vintage. I realized I had a good problem to have. I had these amazing vintage pieces that everyone wanted, but I only had one. That’s when I decided to create a vintage inspired line called Paush in 2014. And in 2015, we outgrew our first brick & mortar and moved our business into a bigger location.

What’s your big picture WHY? What motivates you to work hard and build your business? What is your ultimate lifestyle goal?

Our “BIG” picture is to grow both Sweet Threads and Paush worldwide with multiple locations. I love being able to share our unique shopping experience where you can find one-of-a-kind heriloom pieces for your little ones. It brings me pure joy to see the reactions on our customers faces when they walk in the door. Knowing they are enjoying themselves from what I created makes me just as happy and would love to share that wherever I can.

I work hard because I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I may not have had a background in business, but I want to show others but ultimately myself that with hard work, dedication and passion, you can do anything you want. It’s a big world but if I can make my imprint before leaving this world, then I’ve accomplished my goal. As Oprah once quoted, “Everyone is seeking the highest, truest, expression of yourself.”

My ultimate lifestyle goal is to live a positive, spiritual healthy life by finding calm and inner peace.

Where did you find your mentors, or resources to help learn about entrepreneurship and running a successful business?

I had a friend who was also an entrepreneur who was my mentor starting out. I also utilized our local SBDC (Small Business Development Center) as a resource. This center also assigns a mentor to help guide you along the way of building your business.

Can you tell a story of a specific failure you encountered while building Sweet Threads? What did you learn from it? What would you consider are your strengths as a business owner?

I wouldn’t necessarily call this a failure but more a learning experience. I once had a partner who was a really close friend. Starting a business is hard. Starting a business with a friend is even harder. Along the way I learned that we wouldn’t always be on the same page and like any relationship, that is key to a healthy partnership. I learned I couldn’t expect others to work just as hard as I did and soon came to realize that mixing business with friends or family is truly not a good idea. I would rather cherish our friendship than to go into business with someone I care for to end up ruining it. When it came time to open the brick and mortar edition of our business, she decided she would not be joining us in that journey. I realize that was probably the best decision for not only the business but for our friendship. I am happy to say, we are still good friends to this day. I would say my strengths as a business owner are tenacity and intuition.

What does your business structure currently look like?

I have employees. My advice about scaling my business and outsourcing responsibilities through hiring to help grow is to choose the right people for your team who share the same vision and work ethic. Give your employees responsibilities they are good at and enjoy. If they hate doing the task, don’t expect to get good productivity.

*Make your standards clear by documenting them.

*Train your employees the way you would want to be represented through demonstration and role-play.

*Inspect the quality of work and correct them when needed.

*Reward and thank your team. Everyone wants to be appreciated ☺

How many hours per week do you work? How do you balance family life with work?

I work about 80-100 hours a week. Honestly, there are days where I have balance and there are days I don’t. Finding a healthy work and life balance is one of my goals.

I’m Like Brave is about creating an uncommon life. What does an “uncommon life” you love look like for you? How does your business help create this ideal lifestyle?

An uncommon life is being able to do what I love for a living while still being able to find a work and life balance so that I can grow a family of my own who I can support through my business.

What has been the most exciting thing to happen to your business so far?

The most exciting thing to happen for my business was the opportunity to work with Tori Hendrix for our Paush line. It was amazing to see what influence she has and inspiring to be a part of her love for children’s fashion. It was by far our most successful release with a result of our website crashing. She is and will continue to be an inspiration to our business.

What is your ultimate vision for your business in the coming year? Where do you see Sweet Threads in 5 years?

Our ultimate vision for our business this coming year is to find a larger space. We have already outgrown our newest location and would love to offer workshops and services that the community can enjoy in a much bigger space. We see our business growing into a 2nd or 3rd location and our Paush line growing and being sold in different children’s boutiques.

What is it that you need help with right now, and if you could get free advice that would solve your problem right now, what would it be?

What’s holding us back from our goal is we haven’t yet found the right location for our business. What we need help with right now is being able to marketing. I do 99% of all aspects of marketing and social media which is where the majority of my time is invested. I need to be able to pull away from working in the business as opposed to working on the business.

If you could sit down with any entrepreneur for a 2 hour lunch and pick their brain, who would it be and why? What would you ask them?

Sophia Amoruso because I think she is interesting and has a unique story of how her business became successful. She also happens to be good childhood friends with my in laws and have heard some interesting stories about her. She seems intriguing.

What advice would you give your “just starting a business” self knowing everything you know now?

The advice I would give my “just starting a business self” is to be patient. Don’t be in such a rush to jump right into it. Take baby steps to building your business. Everything will eventually fall into place.

Jamie Tardy, podcaster at “The Eventual Millionaire” says millionaires share 2 habits: they all journal and they all have a morning ritual. What does your morning ritual ideally look like?

Each day is a little different but my morning routine usually consists of a cup of coffee, opening and answering emails, reviewing my To Do’s for the day, checking Facebook/Instagram to catch up with what’s new while having some kind of “work” music playing in the background like jazz. I love Louis Armstrong or Billie Holiday! On certain days like Monday and Friday mornings, I take a TKB class to release stress and get my energy flowing on and on days like Tuesday, I watch Marie Forleo’s Q&A Tuesday Shows! I like to mix it up!

If you could do anything in the world, with no possibility of failure, what would it be?

I would travel the world and see and experience it with my own eyes.

What’s been the best business book you’ve read?

The best business book I’ve read is Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

What’s your favorite success quote and why?

“Adore your Detours” by Marie Forleo because life is ever changing and you need to trust the process.  As cliché as it sounds, I truly believe there is a reason for everything.  

If you had asked me if I always knew I wanted to own my own business in Children’s Fashion, I would say no. Life just led me here and I’m having a whole lot of fun doing it!

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Well if you didn’t already know about Shella and her business before, I’m glad you do now.  You can find her online store here, and on instagram @shopsweetthreads.

Be Brave,

Hillary