What camera do you use to shoot your product photos?

I use a Nikon D3100. I got it in 2012 so it's obviously old. It hasn't started wonking out on me, so until it does that, then I'll upgrade. 

How did you start acquiring all the vintage you sell? Where do you find your vintage clothes?

When I was first starting out I would find pieces here and there at thrift shops, antique stores, resale stores, and estate sales. As I got more established I started doing bigger buys at flea markets and would ask the vendors if they would "wholesale vintage" to me... basically if I could get a discount if I bought in bulk. This lead to a few key relationships and some vendors would start setting aside pieces that were very "mypiggywiggy" looking.... so anything romantic, feminine, lace, Edwardian, and basically pretty... Then people started hearing about my shop and I would get contacted to do buying appointments. Another source, though I don't really recommend it if you're just starting out... is to source vintage on eBay. A lot of bigger online etsy vintage sellers do this because they're seasoned sellers and can find the perfect things for their shop's aesthetics. You're most likely buying from another vintage seller so unless you're more established and have a bigger buying budget, I wouldn't suggest this route. 

What are the Top 3 Things you've done that have made your business so successful?

I know it sounds cliche, but I never gave up, I work really, really hard, and I stayed true to myself and my aesthetic. 

I'll unpack this a bit more because I know when I hear business women say stuff like "I just never gave up, I just stayed authentic, I just DID the work" I kind of roll my eyes... LOL. So this is what I mean by Don't Give Up, Do You, and Do The Work. 

For a couple of years, like mid 2015 most of 2016 and half of 2017 I was really getting tired of selling vintage clothing. It felt monotonous. I didn't feel inspired anymore. It didn't excite me. I just felt like the joy of owning my own shop was being weighed down by the NITTY GRITTY of being a business owner. I was getting tired of the routine. The kind of vintage I wanted to sell was getting harder and harder to find. And all of sudden everyone and their Instagram cats were starting their own vintage shops. I remember thinking, "Augh, what else can I do? Should I just build websites for people? Do web marketing and SEO? I'm good at that, I know I could make a lot of money doing it..." But you know, NONE of that sounded fulfilling. I'm good at it, but I'm not passionate about it. 

Here's the thing, when you're PASSIONATE about what you do... you'll do whatever it takes. You'll work until 11 PM at night. You'll give up weekends. Social time with friends. Eating decent meals (seriously, at certain points I was eating fast food like x3 a week!) 

Another thing... stop comparing yourself to other people. Seriously, get over it. If you are spending a lot of time and energy focusing on someone else, you're not focusing on you or your business. Now, this isn't to say you shouldn't be AWARE. I am well aware of what other businesses similar to mine are doing, but then I just keep moving forward. Move along, nothing to see here. People are going to copy and mimic what they admire and want to be like. Kind of like that saying that copying is the sincerest form of flattery? I don't think it's sincere honestly, I think it's kind of lazy. When you compare yourself to others you'll find ways to think of your business as not enough or not quite like and you'll wish it was different or more whatever... focus on YOU and YOUR business and work and how to make it stand out. 

There is a vintage seller (Fab Gabs) who does a really amazing job at staying true to herself and what she likes (and she also has amazing vintage!) She has her own aesthetic and has built a following that's specifically her tribe. While it's not an aesthetic I adhere to personally, I appreciate and admire what she does and the content she produces because it's so unique to her and her shop and she's consistent. 

Knowing all you do now, what advice would you give yourself when you started out?

Hire an accountant as soon as possible. LOL. 

What advice would you give to someone just starting out their business?

I'm assuming a vintage clothing store... so I'll answer with that in mind. 

Keep your inventory low. I learned the hard way that acquiring TONS of inventory and SITTING on it (i.e. hoarding it) is actually a big No-No in Tax world because you can't write it off as Costs of Goods Sold until you've actually sold them! 

Write out a simple "business plan." I didn't write one, I still don't have an official business plan. I have a notebook with my "goals and dreams" 1 year from now, 3 years from now, and 5 years from now. I also make Pinterest boards for my 1 year plan, 3 year plan, and 5 year plan because I like visuals. 

Is it hard running your own business?

Yes!! I don't think people realize I do almost ALL THE THINGS on my own! Owning and running your own business is NOT easy, if I make it look easy, it's because I'm good at my job :) Is it rewarding? YES. Does it make me super happy? Heck YES! But it isn't easy and guess what, you take ALL the credit and ALL the blame depending on how things go. So you have to build a tougher skin with certain things, there is a lot of personal growth that happens when you're running your own show. A lot of self reflecting. A lot of jumping between dreamland and reality. Some people get stuck in the dreaming stages. You have to be able to balance both. And speaking of balance... life and work balance? Yeah, I'm not awesome at that. I don't know if I ever will be, lol!

"I would like to know if your vintage inspired dresses are sustainably made. What fabric do you source and where does it come from? Who makes your clothes, what are they paid, and what are their work conditions like? I really love the look of your clothes, but I want to buy them with a clear conscience."

My response was pretty lengthy... here it is copied from our email conversation.

"Thank you for your email! This response is kind of a long one, so I hope you have some tea or coffee next to you!

All of the vintage inspired clothing in my shop are sourced from different designers and makers and are not made solely for mypiggywiggy. Every brand I choose to carry are small indie brands most being companies with less than 15 employees, I've carried one brand that was started by two sisters and their entire company was 5 people. Hehe, but then again, my entire shop is run by just me :)

Some items are manufactured overseas and some in the USA, every product description will state this. I understand your concern about making sure workers are paid a fair wage. I worked for a fashion production company in Los Angeles that produced/designed some clothes for companies like Nasty Gal and Mod Cloth for example. I can't speak for every company, but the company I worked for, we had one manufacturing company in China and our CEO visited every season and knew everyone's names and the working conditions didn't differ from any well managed and maintained manufacturing companies I have visited in the USA.

Basically, what I'm saying is, each company is going to be different, but the larger the volume of clothing (think Forever21, H&M, Zara) then the working conditions could be questionable. Poor working conditions isn't just an overseas problem either, there are several Made in USA companies that don't pay their workers fair wages and have horrible working conditions.

I'm really happy more and more people are becoming conscious about where their clothes are made. I started selling vintage clothing online back in 2004 and I always say the best way to be ethically fashion conscious is to wear vintage and also choose clothing you will get a lot of wear of (classic silhouettes and prints and colors) that way you're not always buying new clothes.

I can completely understand if you choose not to purchase from my shop if your conscience feels conflicted, though I'd like to add if you do decide to purchase something from mypiggywiggy you are supporting a small woman owned business (haha that's me) and I donate 10% of my monthly sales to DonorsChoose.org, TumainiInternational.org, and RefugeeCareCollective.org.... I hardly talk about it on my website because I'm a little uncomfortable with marketing that involves philanthropy. Though, totally sounds like I'm pitching at you right now! I'm not :) just want you to know that a regular gal trying to make a simple living and trying to give back to the world in some small way exists behind the mypiggywiggy virtual shop doors.

Thank you for your email! This topic has actually been on my mind lately and I may do a blog post on it in my Shopkeeper Journal! It's important to think about and be aware of!"

- - - 

This was her response:

"Thank you so much for your thoughtful response! This was very helpful. :)" 

And she DID end up purchasing a dress from my shop. Yay!