Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Julia Crowe, owner of Air & Weather, located in New York, NY, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Air & Weather is a niche, indie perfumery of small-batch fragrances that I've taken a great time, care, and research to develop and create. My clients are those who deeply appreciate the transformative and mood-enhancing qualities of fragrance. Just as a beautiful piece of music can seduce a listener into transcending every day, fragrance shares the same uplifting and transporting qualities that make life enjoyable.
Tell us about yourself
I've always regarded perfume with curiosity and fascination and pursued professional, industry-level perfumery training later in life after earning a traditional AB from the University of Chicago. I discovered that I had the ability to correlate the language and structure of fragrance with music, painting, and color theory, given my background as a multimedia artist, author, and musician. For me, fragrance offers one more sensory dimension to work with in terms of storytelling.
I'm motivated by the joy expressed by my clients for my fragrance. Initially, I opened a small online shop as a quick, simple portal for friends who wanted to fund my tinkering with what I'd considered a couple of trial formulas. Over time, I became surprised by the number of strangers who stumbled upon the shop and turned into repeat buyers who've left glowing reviews. To have repeat buyers for a perfume speaks volumes and made me realize that I was onto something worth cultivating.
I truly believe that one's own joyful pursuits always bloom, as people are quick to discover and intuit when any product is made with care and craftsmanship. With our first fragrance release, Linden, I was inspired by the blooming linden trees in New York City's historic Stuyvesant Square Park, especially when considering how this scent served as a common thread through the decades that was enjoyed by several illustrious musicians and authors who lived near the park at some point in their lives, such as James Fenimore Cooper, short story writer O. Henry, composer Antonin Dvorak, and a young Madonna. It's the idea of how this one scent has carried like a timeless veil over such a diverse array of talent.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment is to be able to sell something that I truly love and watch that happiness grow exponentially through others who share the same delight with their discovery of it. I would always say that my other accomplishment is creating the Linden fragrance, as these trees bloom once a year within the span of two weeks, which offers a narrow window to work with. After the Stuyvesant Square Park trees lost their blooms to a week of wicked rainstorms in 2019, I had to wait another year before finally arriving at the formula for what I feel is the most true-to-life capture of the scent in 2020.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things for me that comes with being a business owner, is balancing the doing and the busy work with managing a consistent social media presence. I grew up without social media and am, by nature, someone who prefers to focus entirely on my work. What I do love about social media is the opportunity it presents to learn something new, so, though it takes time, I try to find something relevant yet off the beaten path to post, which lends a new perspective about fragrance and the olfactory.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
One, be yourself. Two, share what you love and three, create the buying experience that you would love to have for yourself as a customer. I'm filled with gratitude for my clients who have taken the time to express their appreciation for my fragrance because it allows me to get to know them a little better, too. It's a lovely exchange.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://airandweather.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/airandweather
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/airandweatherperfume/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AirandWeather
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/air-weather-perfume/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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