Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Kirchner.
Michelle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always dreamt of working for myself. My dad had his own construction company my whole entire life so I grew up surrounded by it. I’m sure that’s where I get the drive. Thank you, dad.
Despite popular belief, I did not attend college at all. I’ve never been one to sit in a classroom and learn from lectures and tests. I’ve always been the person who had to physically do things and fail in order to learn. I like to get my hands dirty and I like to take chances.
I’ve had “normal” jobs my whole life. I’ve worked at Forever 21, Jamba Juice, an interior door company, a wholesale cosmetology company, a photo editing software company, etc. I’ve done my fair share of “working for the man” since I was 15 years old, and while I don’t regret ANY of those experiences because they’ve taught me so much… I’ve always longed to work for myself and be my own boss. I find that in that environment I work harder and I care more because the harder you work, the more opportunity you create. Everything is in your hands and you have the power to make as much or as little as you want. It’s daunting as fuck, yes, and there’s ZERO stability, yes, but I love it.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Good things are never found on a smooth road.
Ever since we were featured on Buzzfeed, we’ve been in a constant battle with copycats. We’ve had to lawyer up and fight the good fight in order to protect our ideas and that is never enjoyable. But, you should always protect what you’ve created. Always.
Also, sometimes designs we’ll be excited about don’t sell as well as you think they will, but that’s life. We pick ourselves up, learn from it and move forward. I think that’s the best way to view any negative situation – as a lesson.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Girrlscout – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’ve also always been a writer. I’ve always had some sort of blog since I was 13 years old. The thought of actually having a blog with its own domain, its own everything didn’t really enter my mind until 2014. I just wanted a home where I could write about shit… Thoughts, DIY crafts, my photography, etc. I had a full-time 9-5 office job at the time so I wasn’t in it to make some extra cash. Little did I know that one of my random DIY projects would spark our small business.
I created a makeup bag for myself one day. It was a plain pouch I found online and I hand painted the words “Face Shit” on it because… that’s what it was for. Am I right? It’s also wildly inspiration too. Anyways, I snapped a photo of it and put it on Instagram. I didn’t have many followers at that time but it took off. Spencer (my better half) tried convincing me for weeks to make a few of them and sell them since many people were asking, but I didn’t really want to. I was overwhelmed. I eventually caved and made 25 by hand painting them not even knowing if they would sell. In less than a day, they were all gone. (Well that was cool.) I did another run of 25. Gone.
About 3 weeks later, I was suddenly laid off of my job. I was frantic and stressed out. A few days later I was driving and got a text message from a friend, “Did you know your bag was featured on BuzzFeed?” Uhh, no. I pulled over and read the article. It was named number one on the Top 20 Gifts For People Who Love To Curse and it was trending. I still to this day have no idea how, but there it was. Linked to my site. We had zero in stock because it wasn’t a thought of mine to restock so quickly, so I frantically hit up our bag supplier and bought every single one she had. Which was 250. Sold out in one day. We found someone to help by screen printing them since god knows my hands would’ve fallen off if I painted them one by one. We hustled so hard and got out 250 orders before Christmas. This ridiculous occurrence sparked our business.
From there, we started working with a graphic artist friend of ours, coming up with designs that were not only inspirational/motivational but also represented me and what I would wear as far as style goes. I wanted something that represented positivity and made people feel good about themselves. It grew unbelievably quickly to the point where looking for another job would only hold me back, so I decided to keep running forward with this small business. It grew into clothing, accessories, hats, stickers, etc.
Here we are at the end of 2017 (2 years later) and just recently, Spencer quit HIS full-time job in order to help grow this business even further. We’ve worked so hard at being/staying 100% authentic and grow organically. I pride myself in the fact that we haven’t spent a dime on marketing and we rely on word of mouth & social media. We currently have over 10,000 organically grown mail subscribers and almost 100,000 followers online.
I’d like to think what sets me and our business apart from others is authenticity. I’m not trying to act or be any bigger than anyone else. I don’t view this experience as a giant competition. I don’t speak in third person; I do my best to respond to every message and every request because it’s *them that matter. The people. The customers. The followers. It’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.
It is so incredibly exhilarating and motivating to know that how far we take this is completely in our hands and I honestly can’t wait to see where this takes us.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Plans for the future are honestly, just to grow. I’d love to eventually have a few employees and be able to create more jobs for good people.
I’d just love to continue doing what we’re doing and reach more people every single freaking day.
Contact Info:
- Address: 22365 El Toro Rd Ste 441
Lake Forest CA 92630 - Website: www.girrlscout.com/shop
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girrlscout/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girrlscout
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/girrlscout
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
