Jennifer Bowman's Story
When people ask me what I do for a living, it’s always fun to see the look of surprise on their faces. I design and make faux desserts. “But why?” most of them ask. Well, why not?
A little over a year ago I saw something I fell in love with while I was visiting my home state. It was a small pedestal plate made with a vintage china plate and a glass candlestick. I hadn’t seen anything like that for sale around my area. When I returned home, I went to my favorite local boutique and drummed up the courage to tell the shop owner about what I make, hoping that she’d like to sell some of these items in her store. She loved the idea! All she wanted was something to display on the plates so customers would know how to use them in their homes. My first faux desserts were born. And they weren’t very pretty to look at!
A couple of months went by and I was still enthused about the whole plate idea. My husband and I moved back to our home state for the summer. We were staying with my parents and I told my mom about the strange little desserts I had made to display on my pedestal plates. Of course we had to make some together because every time we see each other our creative juices start flowing parallel to one another and our ideas are bouncing off each other going in a million different directions.
We thought our first set of faux chocolate truffles were the cutest things in the world and we knew a package of them belonged at every checkout counter at every major retail store in America. We stayed up long past midnight just admiring our handiwork. Loving your product so much that you can’t keep your mouth shut about it is the key sales.
Within the next couple of days I had a list of all of the shops in the area that would possibly like selling Jenni B Originals Faux Desserts and Displays. While I was working my full-time job, my mom contacted most of these shops by phone to ask who the owner was and the best time to speak with them about purchasing new products. Then we set aside a day to visit the stores we could. That day was full of lessons and disappointment. But the success we found at the very last boutique was worth it all. The boutique owner loved my items so much she bought everything I had with me then and there!
Once I had my product in a store, I decided to try my hand at an online shop. I had no idea what I was doing! I came across a website called Etsy and saw that you could set up your own shop and have a direct URL and it all looked fairly simple. Plus, there was a whole online community that was friendly and helpful and encouraging. Too bad I had only made 7 sales the first three months of business!
And then it happened. One day at work I received an email through my online shop from one of the Assistant Producers of “The Martha Stewart Show”. I thought it was some kind of cruel joke! Who would get someone going like that? She had left a number and asked me to call. I immediately did so. No answer. And then the voicemail came on and validated her position with “The Martha Stewart Show”. I am surprised the message I left was recognizable since I was so giddy and excited. When I hung up I started jumping up and down. My coworkers really thought I was crazy!
A few months and a LOT of late night hours and hard work later, I appeared on “The Martha Stewart Show” on live national television with my mother and sweet in-laws in the studio audience. Scary? YES! But worth it? Definitely. Teaching the domestic diva (and the rest of America) some of my faux food techniques still tops the list of my short crafting career. And just being able to say, “Yes, I was on ‘The Martha Stewart Show’” has given me courage that I didn’t know existed inside of me. And that courage extends far past my career.
So maybe spending a little camera time with Martha was a lucky break for me. It surely has opened a lot of doors. But I’ve also had to work hard getting my name out there and take every opportunity to grow my business. A few months ago I was selected to make over 500 jumbo faux cupcakes for a major appliance manufacturer for a tradeshow. They had no idea about any of my past experiences when they hired me.
As I stated before, loving your product is the key to getting the word out about them. Blab, blab, blab about what you do. Evolve your product to the market. The cupcakes I make now look a heck-of-a-lot better than they did when I began!
Get involved in an online community. Open up an online store. Have business cards made up and then hand them out like crazy. Get family support. Once they’re passionate about your products they start conversations about what you do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been embarrassed by my mom when we’re at a store and she just starts telling complete strangers about me.
And finally, be honest in your business dealings. Be straight with the Shop Keepers you meet and watch your success take off!
All the best to you!
To view my site please visit Jenni B Originals.
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