Katie Williams: How to Sell Luxury Handcrafted Products

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If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build a successful business selling handcrafted products, this episode is for you! Katie Williams is the owner and seamstress behind Mississippi Stitches, an online custom designer pillow shop. Since the end of 2019, she’s helped her retail and interior designer clients provide the finishing touches they need for a more welcoming atmosphere.

In this interview, Katie shares the story of leaving her nursing career to go all-in as a seamstress, how she finds customers for her luxury products, and the one shift she made that had the biggest impact on sales.

Press play for the full interview or keep reading below!

Leaving Nursing to Start Mississippi Stitches

Katie took up sewing while she was in nursing school. She started a small side business, but quickly realized it wasn’t sustainable on top of her studies. “I had it in my head that I couldn’t charge what I needed to make enough money.”

So Katie set sewing aside. She worked as a pediatric nurse for 10 years and when she bought her first house, it inspired her to start sewing again. She re-opened her shop, this time as a ready-to-ship business instead of taking custom orders.

Although Katie loved her nursing job, by the end of 2019 she felt called to make a change. She left her full-time job and took a part-time position instead, but when the pandemic hit in March she was laid off from that too. “It’s just me and the pillows now.”

From 0 to $100,000

When Katie jumped headfirst into sewing pillows, she wasn’t yet making a full-time income. But that first year, she pushed hard and ended up making almost $100,000 in sales.

Part of that success came from not having a backup plan. She took the initiative to reach out to customers, build relationships with vendors, and figure out what her profit margins needed to be. “Pricing is always a struggle. It still is.”

If you’re struggling to figure out the financial side of your business, check out my course The Blueprint Model!

Blending Timeless Design with New Trends

A big turning point for Mississippi Stitches came when Katie realized she needed to diversify her fabrics. By using the same fabric and designer for the majority of her orders, all of her eggs were in one basket.

It felt like a risk to change things up, but she did it anyway – opting for timeless designs that she knows will never go out of style.

Sometimes a new fabric sells and sometimes it doesn’t. If a certain style isn’t working, Katie replaces it quickly and tries again. She’s always looking for new ways to innovate.

Selling Luxury Products

Katie knows her pillows are a luxury item. “Not every person is my client. I’m in a limited market.”

Because not everyone can afford to spend hundreds of dollars on decorative pillows, she’s been strategic about educating her customers on the investment, sharing behind-the-scenes content that helps them understand the quality workmanship that goes into each pillow.

One strategy that’s served Mississippi Stitches well is Katie’s dedication to her customers. She treats every customer equally, whether they buy one pillow or 30. “I have people that wait years to buy from me.”

If you’re selling to a small, luxury market, word-of-mouth is a powerful strategy!

Escaping the Instagram Comparison Trap

Katie comes from a family of accountants, so she’s always been good at managing money. Forecasting revenue and expenses for Mississippi Stitches has been more difficult. “The thing I love and hate the most about my family is they make me learn so I can do it myself.”

The best thing Katie has learned about money is to stop worrying about what other people have. “It’s easy to be judgemental or get stuck in comparison on Instagram. But not all of us feel the same way about money or spend our money the same way.”

Her best tip for other entrepreneurs is to focus on your income and expenses – and ignore the rest.

Enjoying the Freedom of Entrepreneurship

Katie has always been multi-passionate: she loved nursing almost as much as she loves sewing and running Mississippi Stitches. When she was growing up, her dad always told her to “Keep your doors open” and she took that to heart.

These days, Katie uses her flexible schedule with Mississippi Stitches to pursue her passions. “The point of running a business is to have a life I love and do the things I love to do. I don’t necessarily want to be a 7-figure business if it means working myself to death.”

In her daily routine, she stays flexible and open to change. “I know what I have to get done everyday but if something comes up at 10 am, I don’t fret over it. I can move things around.”

Take Care of Yourself First

Looking back at her successful nursing career, Katie says there were a lot of people who couldn’t understand why she would let that go.

If she could back to the 2019 version of herself who just started Mississippi Stitches, she would say: “If you don’t feel fulfilled, you don’t have to listen to other people. You need to take care of yourself first. Do the things that make you happy and don’t look back.”

More from this Episode

To hear the full story and more about Katie, press play on the player above for the full interview or click here to download the transcript.

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Katie Williams

Katie Williams is the owner and seamstress behind Mississippi Stitches, an online custom designer pillow shop. Since the end of 2019, she’s helped her retail and interior designer clients provide the finishing touches they need for a more welcoming atmosphere.

Katie has a passion for curating timeless patterns and colorways that will make your home the inviting space you desire it to be. She is the proud dog mom to her 5 year old vizsla, Ruth, who provides all the entertainment to her followers on Instagram. In Katie’s free time, you’ll find her in the field along with Ruth or in her vegetable garden trying to develop a green thumb!

CONNECT WITH KATIE:

Website | Instagram

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