Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in clothing but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Danielle Redner, owner of Taylor Danielle, located in Dorchester, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
If the shopping channel, social media, and a Canadian-designer boutique had a baby, that would be Taylor Danielle! We are a family business that brings those three things together. We find the BEST Canadian designers, we share them via three weekly LIVE shows on Instagram (and our website), and we have a ton of fun doing it with our neighbors, friends, and family as models! My 75 and 78-year-old parents ship every order (with a personal note). My daughter (Taylor) runs our back office, and my husband fits in random jobs for us around his career too. It's a full-on family affair with a heavy dose of community.
Tell us about yourself
After 23 years in the corporate world, a pandemic, aging parents, and grown-up kids, it was time to do something soulful, fun, and personal. We love to shop. We love to shop together. The pandemic changed that, so we set on a mission to make shopping a community sport, highlight Canadian designers and modernize how we do it. When a woman says, "I thought it was my body - turns out I was wearing crappy clothes,"... it's worth every single second! Canada has amazing designers to offer- we are honored to share & style what they have created with customers who don't know what they're missing... yet!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our greatest accomplishment by far is building our community! We don't think of our community as customers -- they are truly friends. We help them shop. We interact and get to know them. That community has created Taylor Danielle.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Honestly, we say every day that the opportunity to work together as a family is such a gift that even a hard day together is better than a great day apart. I suppose accounting is hard :) So we outsource that. :) I don't think anything is hard- it's just a matter of figuring it out until it isn't hard anymore.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Make sure it lights your soul on fire. If you can't stop thinking about it, planning it, obsessing about every detail, dreaming of how it will impact people - then do it. If you can stop any of those things, find something else. Working for yourself is 24/7, and that is a gift when you're obsessed! It would be torture otherwise, so be sure you really, really love it!
- It's cheesy advice, but be authentically you! We just passed our one-year mark, and I think we've become more and more true to our authentic personalities as we've gone. People respond to that. The world is full of guidelines and rules - when you have your own business, you can be less concerned about the rules and more about the heart.
- Sell something every day. It's easy to get distracted by the 100 hats you wear as a small business entrepreneur, but you have to remember that if you don't sell something, nothing else matters. I like systems that bake that in - set things you do on certain days that ensure it. At the end of the day, did you sell something? If you did, you're way ahead of anything else you could have done that day.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Extreme gratitude. To work with family, to meet new people, to have been embraced by the Canadian slow fashion scene - it's a dream.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://taylor-danielle.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylordanielleboutique/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-redner-856bb817/
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.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.
