Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Katie Fritchle, founder of Box + Wood Gift Company, located in Dahlonega, GA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are Box+Wood Gift Company, a Corporate Gifting Company that helps industry-leading organizations and small businesses alike make an impact & spread their message through Corporate Gifting. Whether it’s a simple thank you or a full values relaunch, we manage the design, fulfillment, and logistics, so our clients (& their teams) can focus on their business.
We offer options ranging from Custom, White-Label Gifting Campaigns, to Ready-To-Send Gifts, in order to create Corporate Gifting Campaigns that support our client’s goals- both internal & external, while keeping their organization front & center. Basically, we send Corporate Gifts that feel like they are coming directly from our clients (if their teams were really great at creating beautiful corporate gifts).
Tell us about yourself
The story of how Box+Wood Gift Company came to be is one of just learning as we go and leaning into what we enjoy the most! My background is in weddings, so when I founded Box+Wood, I thought our focus would be wedding gifting. I planned on tapping into my vendor connections and hopefully providing vendor gifts and wedding welcome gift bags for weddings throughout the Southeast.
We opened a cute little storefront in our wedding destination town and were ready for business to roll in… just as COVID-19 hit. Like many businesses, this obviously had a huge impact on our plans, so we quickly shifted our focus to e-commerce, which eventually led us to custom corporate gifting. The fact that we opened a wedding-focused business just 1-month before COVID was nerve-racking, but I believe everything happens for a reason, which led us to exactly where we were meant to be.
Our corporate gifting business is primarily focused on custom-designed gifting campaigns, so our day-to-day operations include sales, client communications, project management, and problem-solving… all skills that I love to use on a daily basis. I feel so lucky that our niche lines up so perfectly with my (and now my team’s) talents and strengths.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is probably tied to the relationships that we have created with our clients. Our goal is to turn every client into a repeat customer, so the times that we have been able to get to know our clients and their organization on a more personal level and then be able to serve them better because of that have made me very proud.
I’m also really proud of some of the big-name clients that we have created gifts for; that has definitely felt like an accomplishment for me and my team!
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
I think the hardest thing that comes from being a business owner is the knowledge that it all comes down to you at the end of the day. Whether it’s a deliverable to a client or paying the bills, regardless of whether it is outsourced to someone else or not, it is all still your responsibility. Most of the time, I really like and relish this aspect of being a business owner, but there are always a few weeks out of the year that it catches up to me.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Find a group of positive, growth-oriented business owners to meet with consistently. I meet with my accountability group, made up of 4 other female business owners and me, every week, and they make such a huge impact on my life and business.
- Be comfortable reinvesting in yourself and your business. I am a big believer in reading business books, taking courses, participating in classes, etc. I am always eager to learn from someone who has gone before me.
- Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. It can be so easy to compare your business with others, but I think it’s best to put on blinders, unfollow any companies that you tend to compare yours to, and focus on your own work.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://boxwoodgift.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boxwoodgift
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boxwoodgiftco/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/box-wood-gift-company/
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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