Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in arts & crafts but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jennifer Lea, Founder of Entry Envy, located in Omaha, NE, USA.

What's your business and who are your customers?

Handcrafted in Omaha, Nebraska, Entry Envy is the perfect solution to instant curb appeal, a welcoming entry, and a personalized way to identify a home. Each custom sign is personalized with the customer's choice of modern house numbers, last names, or monograms.

All our sign styles (exterior horizontal, exterior vertical, and interior) feature a small planter box. Our monthly subscription, Envy Refill Decor Kits, makes celebrating every holiday and season convenient. Entry Envy signs express in a beautiful and simple way...someone lives here, someone cares, and someone is loved.

Tell us about yourself

I am the founder of Entry Envy in Omaha, Nebraska, to help others create a welcoming entry with simplicity and convenience that also identifies their home for their guests and delivery drivers. My inspiration came after remodeling my home, which had outdated and hard-to-read house numbers.

My house is filled with love, two daughters, a dog, a red-footed tortoise, and fish. I have twenty years of experience managing professional service firms and a bachelor's and master's in business. My mission is to help empower more young women to consider the trade as a noble profession.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I knew I had a viable business on my hands a few months after launching in October 2021. The next step was the confidence I needed to quit my day job. I started working with a coach who counseled me, saying that Entry Envy would never be as successful as it could be unless I gave it 100%. Giving it 100% required me to quit my day job. This remarks, "Don't quit your job when you've replaced your income. Quit your job when you know how to replace your income." That statement made a significant impact on my direction.

I went through my financials and talked to my bank. I figured out that I could live for at least one year without a single sale from my new company if I pulled every monetary resource I had available. I would need to use every last penny to bootstrap the company and live until we reached "the black." I determined one year was my deadline to make it, break it, or bring in investors.

High risk? Yes. Calculated? Yes. I decided there would never be an excellent time to quit a six-figure position as a single mom with two kids and chase a dream. I will never regret this tough choice because I would have always wondered, "what if."

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

As of April 1, 2022, with my previous career behind me, I realized that I was entirely in charge of my life. My calendar, finances, stress, and deadlines. Talk about the word “responsibility.”

I am the most challenging boss I have ever had. I am the one who thinks it’s never enough. That I am not enough. The constant drive to do more every day and give me time off (even if only an hour a day to go to the gym) is a struggle.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Nothing will prepare you for how much work it takes to start a company on every level. It will cost you twice as much money, time, energy, faith, and mental and physical strength as you think.
  2. Start with the end goal in mind, and figure out how you plan to get there before you start. Is this a hobby? Then treat it as one. Is this going to a multi-million dollar company? Treat it that way.
  3. Don't go it alone! Hire the people and coaches you need to be successful. Hire people before you can afford to because you can't afford to.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://entry-envy.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/entryenvysigns
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/entry_envy/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ph/entry_envy/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferleafounder/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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