My Entrepreneurship Story: The Erica Bow

To be extremely honest here, I don't really remember how my entrepreneurship story began, but I do remember when it began: January 2013. Now I'm going to ramble about hair bows for the next few minutes. 

The first two "Erica Bows"

For some reason, anxious and creative seventeen-year old Erica decided to make a few hair bows for herself one afternoon because she saw them on Pinterest, thought they were adorable, and decided to give it a shot. I went to Wal-Mart's craft section and picked out a few yards of fun patterned material and hot glue sticks. I'm not going to lie, it took a few tries to get the hang of making the "perfect" bow, but I found it enjoyable and challenging -- in a great way. This part of the story isn't surprising because I've always liked crafting. 

At the time, I was a senior in high school, but I was also president of the student body. On any given school day I had many interactions with faculty, teachers, and plenty of my peers. I started wearing my handmade bows in my hair to school and girls lost their minds over them. 

I was getting compliments and requests from my friends to make some for them. I received texts, and DMs on Twitter from girls asking if I was selling my hair bows. Then it hit me. I could SELL my handmade hair bows! 

The picture of fabric options I would
send to potential customers

This is where the story takes off. I did the math -- how much fabric each bow needed plus the barrette and hot glue to put it all together and how much that would all cost. I remember running the numbers in a small notebook over and over again and decided to sell two bows for $5. Then I went back to Wal-Mart and invested in my hobby-turned-high demand product. 

I took pictures of each fabric I purchased and edited them together in a photo collage app on my iPhone. Whenever I received a text or DM from a friend asking about bows, I sent them the collage picture of the fabric options and took their order. I designed personalized gift tags and tied the two bows together with ribbon and the gift tag. 

Most girls would order just one set of bows (2 bows) but orders of two, three, and even four sets were very common. My bows were getting so popular that for the greater part of the months of February and March I made bows everyday (or every night that is, after I finished my schoolwork). It became very overwhelming at times. I was always running to Wal-Mart to buy more barrettes or more fabric or running to the bank to deposit the stack of $5 bills I had stashed in a small tin box in my desk at home. 

Basket of "Erica Bows"

Each bow set was made with so much love and received with so much excitement. Girls LOVED them and I LOVED seeing them wear my handmade bows so proudly around school. They posted pictures of them on their Instagrams, which only grew my business even MORE. People started calling my bows, "Erica Bows" and it caught on very quickly. 

I would carry all of my bow orders of the day in a small wicker basket. They were always quite the conversation starter. Most of my teachers thought it was the neatest idea ever, but I was just nervous about getting in trouble with administration for running my own business during school (for the record, I never got in trouble for it -- thank goodness). 

Matching "Erica Bows" on me and
my little cousin

Although this is all just a distant memory to me now, I remember the fun I had with it. I sometimes look back on it and think, "Did I really run my own hair bow-making business my senior year of high school?" and then I think, "Why yes, yes you did, Erica and it was AWESOME." 

My bow business faded out by April of 2013 since I was graduating high school and moving to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida. That's where this entrepreneurship story ends. 

However, I like to think I'm starting a new entrepreneurship story with this class, ENT3003. As a junior currently studying advertising at the University of Florida in the College of Journalism and Communications, I am required to have a concentration of study or a minor. I chose to have a concentration in business and, if we're being really honest here, that is the reason why I'm taking this class; to complete my business concentration this semester. Although I am practically "required" to take this class, I am already looking forward to diving into the material and learning all there is to learn this semester. 

Lately people have been losing their minds over my hand-lettered canvases and art prints. Maybe this class will inspire me to revive the drive and passion I had when I made and sold my "Erica Bows" and just maybe I'll start selling my hand-lettered artwork. We'll have to wait and see!