I had the pleasure of meeting Stacey last September while in Brooklyn for the June and January City Kid PopUP shop event.  Sometimes you meet those people who are totally genuine and warm, and they make such an impression.  I’m happy to see Stacey’s family business flourishing, and one look at her wooden rattles and you will be planning your baby shower gifts for the next thousand years.  As someone who worked with my husband for 5 years, it’s also always nice to hear about other “couple entrepreneurs” making it work!

#pressplay to watch our recorded Skype interview live, and then check out the written Q&A below with behind the scenes pictures of Stacey’s workplace and product.

https://youtu.be/o0i0kZqB-8M[/embed]

Meet Stacey!

“Hi Guys!  I’m Stacey, a mom of 3, wife, and entrepreneur.  Before marriage and kids, I moved all over the USA being a live-in nanny and taking my time with college, I now have a degree in English Literature and together my husband and I own and operate Bannor Toys from our Des Moines, IA Workshop. ”

What did you do before Bannor Toys?  How did you decide to start your own business?

Before Bannor Toys (and the first 3 years of it) I ran an in-home daycare so I could spend more time with our kids.  When I was still in the typical corporate world I worked for a bank and also in a surgeons office.  I’ve had LOTS of jobs since high school though….Bath and Body works, Curves, a flower shop, a daycare, a restaurant hostess, a front desk manager for a resort, concierge at a hotel, bartender, live-in nanny, Boston Harbor Cruises, delivering newspapers…it took me a long time to figure out that I didn’t want to work for someone else, even if that meant working more.

Can you give us a brief history of Bannor Toys?  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?

Bannor Toys started in October of 2011 with a $100 scroll saw and my grandpa-in-laws old drill press; a few small craft shows and some listings on etsy. Our first sale on etsy was November 19, 2011,  Christmas on etsy had gone really well and January surprised us…we made about $652 that month and thought that was amazing!  So amazing that I convinced Jesse to quit his corporate job and do the toys full time, I would work on them after my daycare kids went home at night.  From there it was a full on roller coaster ride!  Over the past 4 years we have moved from our basement workshop, to our garage, to a leased warehouse space in downtown Des Moines.  We offically closed my in-home daycare in July of 2014 and haven’t looked back, this is both our full time income.  As far as unglamorous moments starting…there were stretches of weeks at a time where I got 3-4 hours of sleep at night,  we were growing, but not quite ready to take the plunge and close daycare.  So I would get up at 630am when the kids arrived, watch them tell about 5pm, have dinner with the kids and Jesse when he was done working at the shop, then head to the shop from about 730pm-2am to get my part done.  It sounds insane, and it was.  The holiday season is still that crazy, even with help!  But I love it, this is truly the first job I’ve had that isn’t a job.

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?

My “uncommon life” that I love looks like traveling with my husband, taking our kids on great adventures (like camping all over the USA for an entire summer!), spending time checking off my bucket list and running Bannor Toys still.

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

I just started looking at other shops, on IG and etsy.  I joined some great mastermind type facebook groups and have found myself an incredible little “pack” of moms who run successful businesses and we’ve all become friends in the process.

Can you tell a story about the biggest business “lesson” you have learned so far?

There have really been 2 big lessons that I’ve learned so far in this business owner world: 1.  Say YES to opportunities.  Your business isn’t going to grow is you are always saying no or sticking to your comfort zone.  It might take money to say yes to some of them, but in the end I really think it’s worth it.

2.  A more narrow focus does wonders for a company’s growth.  When we started Bannor Toys we offered a TON of items, and in several different types of wood.  It wasn’t easy to keep up with everything, especially the painted blocks and cars.  When we paired down our offerings, our sales shot up though!  I still miss some of the items we used to offer, for me this business is like a child so to decide to stop selling some of our stuff (even though it clearly makes sense) is hard.  To get around that sad feeling I got, Jesse came up with Toy Tuesday (we put one specific item on sale every Tuesday March – August), so I could bring back a couple of the toys we had gotten rid of for one day only.  Its helped me see that while they do well on Toy Tuesday, it really does make more sense not to offer them year round.

 How many people do you employ?  What does the infrastructure of your business look like?  Any advice on when or how to hire or outsource?

The infrastructure of Bannor Toys has changed a lot in the past 9 months.  For the first 3.5 years of this company it was all Jesse and myself doing everything, with some help from friends and family at the holiday season.  When we took on a huge 12,000 piece wholesale order we knew we would have to hire help though, so we hired 2 part time people.  We were quick to hire them and they didn’t last more than 2 months.  So we hired some temporary holiday help to get us through the Christmas 2014 season and took a fresh look at our needs in 2015.  We now have 1 gal that helps us in the office, shipping and engraving the toys; we also have 1 guy that helps us in the shop part sanding and routering toys.  In addition to the people we have in our workshop, we have also started outsourcing some of our parts to woodworkers here in the Midwest.  They are small wood shops that we are supporting and that was important to us, our toys are still handmade and 100% in the USA.  The two woodshops help us make some of the parts for the toys, the parts come to us and we still assemble and finish each and every toy.

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

Our hours at the shop really vary, depending on the time of year and how busy we are.  We are now down to working about 30-45 hrs a week since we began outsourcing some of the work.  During our busy season (September – January) we work about 50-60 hours a week at minimum to keep up.  This year may be different as we have more help.  As for balance, I don’t think there is such a thing with a business and family.  There are days when the kids don’t get enough attention, the dishes sit in the sink overnight, and I have to re-wash the same load of laundry because I forgot about it.  Then there are days when emails go unanswered and what was on my to-do list goes un-checked.

Working with my husband in owning Bannor Toys is both good and bad for our marriage, sometimes after dinner ends up being a 3 hour talk about where the business is going; and other days we are so busy that we don’t get a chance to stop and just say hi to each other.  I find it to be a constant battle of who and what needs me most and I just hope that I’m doing the best I can.

 If you were to teach a college course on entrepreneurship, what would the course be titled?  What is one lesson you would teach us?

I would probably let my husband come teach it to be honest.  He has found so many incredible ways for us to be efficient and has cut our workload down by over 50%!  Hes great at batching jobs.  Where I try to multitask, he seems to have more free time getting his stuff all out of the way early on and at once.

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

We were on etsy wholesale while it was still in beta and not open to the public when Nordstrom emailed us and said they wanted to carry our State Rattles in their stores for the 2013 holiday season!

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

In the next 5 years Jesse and I would like to have our company at a place where we could be gone for a month at time if we wanted to be.  To have employees that can run the business without us there, we want to travel and take our kids on adventures!  We are slowly getting to that point and will no doubt be there within the next several years.

What is it that you need help with right now in order to take your business to the next level?

Marketing.  Getting Bannor Toys into magazines and having more than out social media followers find us.  Word of mouth about us has been great, but it only takes a company so far.

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?

Amy Richardson with June & January!  I love her company, her philosophy, and how available she has made herself to smaller companies.  We have been lucky to collaborate with her a few times and I am excited to actually get to head out to NYC and meet her this fall!

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

Say YES!  I wish we would have started saying yes to more opportunities earlier, saying yes to collaborating with other earlier.

 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?

I wish I had more of a morning ritual, that is a goal of mine this year.  Even thought Eli is 18 months old, I don’t think he has slept through the night more than a handful of times yet….so, a morning ritual beyond hitting the snooze button until I absolutely can’t anymore has been challenging.

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

Jesse is more of the business book reading part of us, I love to listen to podcasts while I work!  My favorites are Being Boss, She Percolates, and Entreprenure on Fire.  I did pick up Girl Boss and Jesse has said good things about ReWork and 4 Hour Work Week though.

What’s your favorite success quote and why?

“Good Things Take Time.”

“A Brand is no longer what it tells its customer it is, a brand is what its customers tell each other it is.” – Scott Cook

The first one because I constantly have to remind myself that we are getting there, that we are where we are supposed to be.  And the second one because that really is what it comes down to.  We can tell people all the good things about Bannor Toys, all the reasons wooden toys are good for your children and development/imagination/creativity…But in the end it doesn’t really matter what we say; it only matters what our customers tell each other about us.

Closing thoughts to other entrepreneurs or those on the verge of starting a business:

Go for it!  So many people hold back on what they want to do or what they think they should do because of money or other things.  If it’s something you really want to do and can’t get it out of your mind, go for it.

And be original.  If you copy someone else, they are always one step ahead of you from the get go.

Risks are worth taking. Go for it.

So awesome.  I’m in LOVE with Bannor Toys.  You can find Stacey on instagram @bannortoys and shop her website at www.bannortoys.com.

Stacey is offering 10% off for all readers with code FREEBABES (excludes furniture).

Be Brave,

Hillary