When your hobby becomes your calling – Navigating a Passion-Led Career Change | Hailey Smith, Simply Creative, Ep. 3

In my head I'm constantly thinking about these kinds of things.

So although it seems like it happens overnight, it really is long time thinking about it in the background and then one day it's okay, it's now or never.

I'm gonna do it.

So I sent an email at 2am I'm sure they thought I was crazy and I was like, hey, could I see this studio?

Literally the next day, 9am they email me back and I'm gonna go check this place out.

And I signed a lease that same day.

I was like, oh my God, this is kids met.

Hi there.

This is her Intentional Reset, a podcast for women in midlife, curious about whether the career they chose 20 years ago still fits.

Hear from women who've made pivots big and small.

Discuss the practical realities, the trade offs, and whether the change was worth it.

I'm your host Molly Wipperforth and I want to thank you for joining.

If you're new here, welcome.

I'm glad you found us in between episodes.

Join us on Instagram and Facebook at her Intentional Reset Co for Guest behind the Scenes and what's coming next.

Now let's get into today's conversation.

Meet Haley Smith, Owner, Simply Creative.

Haley is the founder and lead teaching artist of Simply Creative, a Minneapolis based art studio built on the belief that creativity is for everyone.

What started as a love for making has grown into a welcoming space where where people can try new skills, connect and create something they're truly proud of.

She designs approachable hands on art and craft workshops specializing in metalsmithing and jewelry making and creating classes where beginners feel right at home.

Through Simply Creative, she's built more than just classes.

She's created a space for connection, creativity and community.

When she's not in the studio, Hailey is balancing life as a small business owner and being a new mom, continuing to evolve both her work and her definition of success one creative idea at a time.

I am so excited to have Haley here.

This is her Intentional Reset.

Haley I've been following Simply Creative for a while now and I've brought my friends, almost every member of my family, and even my extended family to your studio.

You own one of the most creative spaces in the Twin Cities.

Tell us how this all started.

Tell us your story.

Sure.

Well, thank you so much for having me, Molly.

I'm really excited to talk about Simply Creative and how it came to be.

I was technically someone who had to show up to work anyways.

So it's funny because I had a lot of time to do things, but it wasn't during work hours, it was after work hours.

Normally I'd go to like a dance class or a yoga class.

I was suddenly trapped in my house and I was like, I'm gonna go crazy.

So I started making jewelry just for fun.

Initially, I saw a ring on Etsy and It was like 20 bucks.

And I was like, well, I don't really wanna spend 20, so maybe I'll spend a thousand on supplies and I'll make my own.

Basically what I did, I started making rings in my studio.

And it was a totally different process than what I do now, but it really inspired me to start selling things because I wanted to pay for more stuff.

I was like, if I start selling rings, I can buy more gems.

I got a little addicted to buying the gemstones for the rings.

And it kind of snowballed from there.

So a year or so later, the world opens up again halfway, and we're doing outdoor events again.

So I signed up to do the Minnehaha Art Fair.

I was waitlisted originally and I was taken off the waitlist the week before the event and went out, did the art fair.

And I had the most amazing reaction to my jewelry.

I had never really shown it to anyone before.

I've just sold it on Etsy, so I'd never had that in person reaction.

And it was this amazing reaction and it inspired me to keep going.

So eventually I got an artist studio and I was, okay, now I have to pay for this artist studio.

So I started teaching classes.

I was going to teach one just to six people, see if it went well.

And I got great feedback.

And so I hired a local influencer to come in, Kristen and Mn.

I'll shout her out because she was just so amazing.

And we're kind of Instagram friends now.

She came and took a ring class and had a great time and posted about it on her social media.

And it went viral.

A hundred thousand views, local.

People who saw it couldn't have asked for a better outcome.

Honestly, it was kidsman and that just inspired me to continue doing more classes and branching out into different mediums.

And then I got the store and that went on for about three years in one location.

And then we decided to expand and now we're in our bigger space than we've been here since March 1st.

So it's just been kind of snowballing ever since.

Quit my job midway through that whole adventure.

And here we are.

So let's start at the beginning.

What were you doing during the pandemic?

I was considered an essential worker and I was managing apartment buildings and different kind of like housing communities on site.

So I had to be in the office.

So I was just going to work and I need to do something with my free time.

Had you ever made a ring before?

No, I've never made jewelry.

I tried beating when I was a kid and I couldn't stand the tediousness of it.

I literally saw a ring that I was really inspired by and I wanted to create something similar.

So I did all the research on YouTube because I couldn't go take any classes.

Lots of trial and error.

And eventually I had a ring that I was proud enough to wear.

And that was kind of the start of everything.

I fell in love with it and from there I was like, well, let's make a necklace, let's make matching earrings, let's go crazy with it.

And once I felt confident with one type of jewelry making, I would add on like another layer.

It makes sense, the natural progression from learning something new.

And then to your point that you, you needed to start selling these rings to pay for all the supplies.

At what point did you start thinking, huh, this could be more than just an art fair, more than just Etsy.

When I really decided to bring it to a full time gig, it was a really gradual move towards that direction.

In fact, people asked me for years prior to doing it like, oh, would you ever quit your job and do this full time?

And I was always, absolutely not.

No way.

I'm not doing that.

That seems like a huge risk.

I'm not ready that I'll never be ready.

I don't not have a solid income.

I like my paycheck lifestyle.

And it was like 2am one day and I couldn't sleep.

And I always have my best ideas at 2am that's kind of like my golden hour.

So I was up and I was like, I guess I'll just peek to see what like an art studio at Minneapolis costs just to be around other creatives and there's never anything available.

Is what I learned that these studios have weightless miles long.

For some reason.

There was an opening for a studio on the Northeast Stars association website.

And I was like, oh my God, this is kids myth.

So I sent an email at 2am I'm sure they thought I was crazy.

And I was, hey, could I see this studio and just take a peek?

Literally the next day, 9am they email me back and I'M okay.

I guess I'm going to go check this place out.

And I signed a lease that same day.

I think in the background I have these moving thoughts of what would happen if I actually did this.

Then all of a sudden, one day I'm just like, okay, I'm going to do it.

I make the move to do it.

And at the same time, my job was in a state of something was going to start changing.

They were selling the building I was managing, so I would have to move on to a new building.

But I felt like if I was going to make a transition in work, that meant I was going to stay longer than I wanted to.

So it was perfect timing to be okay, I'm really going to invest in this.

My husband now, but fiance at the time, they had just gotten engaged.

So I asked him, if this goes sideways and I need to get another job and it takes me like a month or two, could you float the mortgage for that amount of time?

And he was willing to help me through that.

Thankfully, we didn't have to do that, but I had that kind of support from my family too, which was really helpful.

A safety net during that time.

What were some of the things that you were learning as a business owner?

Sure.

So as a business owner, I think I realized how important marketing was and I wish I could have had a time machine to go back and study marketing in school.

That would have been really helpful in the beginning.

It still would have been helpful today.

But I realized how important marketing was and so I did deep dive again.

School of YouTube and how to market my classes.

And that's when I reached out to those influencers to see if they'd be interested in making a video.

I kept seeing these things on Instagram reels.

I'm a scroller, I'm scrolling.

And I would see these top 10 things to do in Minneapolis this week type things.

And I was, well, I could be one of those top 10 things to do in Minneapolis this week.

We could come make a ring at Simply Creative, have people come in and take a class.

And I think it'd make good content for an influencer.

So then at what point after that studio that you had did you decide that you needed a bigger space?

Walk us through what that looked like.

So I think it was like six months into the one year lease I signed.

I started realizing very early on that these classes are taking up a lot of time.

And again, it was kind of similar to when property management was going to move me to a new building.

And that was A catalyst for me to take this full time.

Similarly, at the point where I was like, I think I want to get a storefront.

The art studio that I was working at, my personal studio was very small, so I couldn't fit my classes in there.

So I was using their community space for all my classes, renting it out every time.

I ran a class, which was twice a week, and that community space was getting taken over by a coffee shop.

But I knew I had limited time to offer these classes at the scale I was offering them.

And the coffee shop was moving in in a couple weeks.

And I was like, something has to change.

It's probably gonna take a long time to find a storefront.

I should start looking now.

And then I was driving around the neighborhood, just looking at storefronts, and of course I see an empty storefront with a phone number in the window.

And I'm like, just call and see how much it costs.

It's gotta be way outside my price range.

I talked to the guy and he was, oh, I'm in the neighborhood now.

I could come show you.

And I was like, right this second.

And mind you, I should mention, I was getting married in three weeks.

It was a crazy time to look for something.

And so I go in, I see the place, it looks amazing.

It needs some paint, it needs new floors.

But other than that, didn't need a build out.

And I was looking for kind of a turnkey situation.

So I ended up signing the lease the day before my wedding.

My fiance at the time husband, now was like, could it wait a week?

And I was like, it cannot.

Because it was perfect timing for us to move.

I did lose my deposit on the artist studio, which I understand.

Cause I didn't fulfill my lease terms, but it was definitely worth it to take it to the next level now.

One thing I did that I wasn't planning on ever doing was I opened a gift shop within Simply Creative, our new.

And that was important to me because I felt like it would be fun to connect with all the people I'd met through the artist community, through doing the markets and all the art fairs, and try to do a thing where I could promote those artists as well as the artists who were teaching in our store.

And it's always fun when you're somewhere and you can buy a little knickknack on your way out, like, exit through the gift shop type thing.

So that was a really exciting endeavor that I had never anticipated doing working a retail store.

And it was a lot more work than I anticipated.

So while simultaneously running the classes, I was also running the retail store.

It was a lot to manage at that time.

Okay, in your new space, you're not doing the retail anymore.

What aspects of that were challenging?

Sure, a couple.

So I think like foot traffic being minimal was a big challenge for us.

We were off the beaten path a little bit.

Most everyone who came to our store was coming for a reason.

They knew they were coming, they had their GPS ready to go.

No one ever happened upon us.

So that was one of our major hurdles.

The other one was staffing.

Now we had the most amazing staff at the consignment shop and the retail store.

But it was hard to justify paying wages when you'd have three people come in on a Wednesday and 80 people come in on a Saturday.

So Saturdays are worth it, Wednesdays weren't.

But you couldn't really be a store that was only open three days a week.

So staffing became an issue.

Uh, and then we worked primarily consignment, which was amazing because we had developed all these amazing relationships.

But there would be times when we couldn't get a vendor to re up their stock and their shelves looked kind of empty.

So keeping things rolling was always a challenge.

So that's one of our biggest challenges that made us kind of go, hmm, maybe we don't do a retail store in our next move.

Lessons learned.

So the theme that I'm hearing is that you move fast, whether it's kismet or fate, and your instincts aligning, your quick to make decisions on what step to take next.

Are there ever any moments of doubt or fear or anything that keeps you up at night where you're not creating your best work in this decision process?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

There's lots of doubt.

With all my big decisions that I've made, I think that I trust myself to have a finger on the pulse of what people are interested in.

Because my demographic is people who are similar to me, 25 to 50 year old women who are interested in creativity.

So I'm like, okay, I fall within that range.

I know what my people who are similar to me like.

So I feel like I can trust that people might like it, but then it's okay.

How do we go from just an idea to actually physically happening and make it sustainable?

So those kind of thoughts keep me up at night.

And I think it seems like I move really fast and I absolutely do.

My husband would say the same thing.

He'd be like, girl, slow it down.

He's very supportive.

But there's moments where he's like, could this wait a week?

But honestly, in my head, I'm constantly thinking about these kind of things.

So though it seems like it happens overnight, it really is long time thinking about it in the background.

And then one day, it's, okay, it's now or never.

So then tell us how you realized that from your original, simply creative location that you were ready to expand what had to be true to make that happen.

So I needed to make sure I could fill the studio with enough people to make it worth the rent.

And one thing that was really wonderful was that the decision to move wasn't so scary because even though we were taking on more than double the space, we weren't taking on double the rent because we got rid of the retail, and now our space isn't zoned as retail.

So the square footage rent is a lot cheaper.

Which I was like, okay, this makes it a little safer because I'm paying similar rent without taking the same amount of space.

It's much big.

A much bigger space.

So that had to happen.

The second thing that had to happen to make this work is knowing that I could fill these classes.

And we had proof that we could do that over the three years of hosting these classes and selling out.

And of course, the most popular day is Saturday and Sunday, so we've done it for two a week, really.

And that just wasn't enough to really feel like we were making a dent in the, like, the margins we wanted to make a dent in.

It didn't feel like we were able to offer as much to the community because they just weren't as popular those other times today.

So I thought if we had two classrooms, we could reach double the amount of people that we were reaching previously.

And also, I kind of fell in love with all the people who work at our store.

And I was like, I want them to be successful and them to have more opportunity so they could teach more classes.

Because I'm only one person.

I can only teach one at a time.

But it'd be great to have these wonderful people I've met through this whole process also be able to expand their own creative passion.

The things I didn't feel so confident about was, are we going to run out of people in Minneapolis who are interested in taking creative classes?

And the answer is probably no.

But it is a smaller market size.

It's not New York City, it's not la, It's Minneapolis.

So people don't love to travel outside of their little bubbles either.

I've noticed the Woodbury girlies don't want to come to Minneapolis.

The Plymouth girlies are like, oh, it's a little far.

It's more than 20 minutes.

So I had to make sure that we could reach enough people.

So again, that marketing aspect came into play where I was like, how can I market to the region that we're looking for?

Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs?

Those are our biggest hurdles.

Do you have a business background?

Not at all.

In fact, I haven't really mentioned, but I never finished college.

I did two years and then I was, quote, unquote, three months off to go backpack Europe.

I ended up being gone two and a half years.

I backpacked all of Europe and then I still had some money.

So I was like, let's go to Southeast Asia.

I spent nine months in Southeast Asia and then I met a boy and we traveled to Australia together.

He was Australian.

We did not end up getting married.

This is a different boy.

And I lived in Australia for a year and a half and had a great time nannying there.

That's when I ran out of money at that point was like, I need to get a job.

So I was nannying.

And then I was like, okay, I am now at an age where I'd be like older than everyone else.

And so school, if I went back to school and I felt really eager to get into the workforce and really start making real money.

And so I just never really went back.

I definitely for a long time felt very embarrassed of that fact because I grew up in a family where it was really important to get your education and that was the only avenue.

There was no trades, there was no art school.

It was like, you go to a four year university, you get a degree in something STEM that can propel your career, your future, and that's the only avenue.

And I discovered through a very unconventional path that there's actually a lot of different avenues to success.

Four year university isn't the only avenue.

And now that I'm a mom myself, I'm definitely trying to rewire my brain into believing that there are a lot of avenues to success.

I think that the sitting down in a classroom for eight hours a day was not an environment for me to succeed in.

So now that I have my own son, I want to cultivate his interests and his skills and not focus on putting him in a box and making him travel a certain path that I think is better for him than the ones that he naturally finds at this new studio.

You're doing this sliding scale pricing, you're offering scholarship fund.

It's Also ADA compliant.

You also mentioned how you want to make sure that you set up your artists that are helping teach classes be successful.

What's your why with how you're making these intentional choices with operating your business that way?

Yeah, thank you for asking.

The community building is one of the big cornerstones of Simply Creative.

I've always wanted a space where people can come on solo dates and leave feeling like they've made a connection with someone.

I'll definitely be offering these fun to scale classes again once I get the studio up and running.

Since we just moved March 1st and we do like a community event once a month where we have scholarship funds, so art is very accessible because some of our classes can get kind of pricey.

We're working with sterling silver, working with gold, and I want to make sure there's a price point that fits everybody's budget.

So even people with no budget, it's great.

We have scholarship funds for that.

And so I think the core pillar is to create a community of creatives who don't feel like they need to have a big friend group who's always available on the same day to come in.

They can come on their own, leave having made connections, feeling like they were supported and guided through a craft, but also connected with the people that they sat around.

And that's just really important to me.

To have an environment where everyone feels safe, to be creative, to be vulnerable, because creativity requires vulnerability.

And if you don't feel like you're in a safe space for that, it's not going to happen.

I love that philosophy.

Was building that community part of the mission right away or did this develop over time?

Probably a little bit of both.

I need a mission statement in order to get this approval for renting this commercial space.

They asked for a business plan and I was, oh yes, that would be important.

I might want to write that.

So I had to create these.

What are our pillars?

What is our focus?

What is important to me personally?

And to me personally, connecting with my community is always really important.

From a young age, I started volunteering at hospitals and one of the things that I actually volunteered with as a high schooler that kind of carried into my creative endeavors later on was this project called Cute as a Button where we would sew baby clothes and then give them to mothers who just had children who might not have the resources to buy baby clothes.

Now I'm really big into sewing and I'm trying to take sewing into Simply Creative now.

So it just kind of all came full circle with that.

But through helping people in my community and having been a recipient of help many times in my life, I felt like that was really important to me personally.

And then creating this business and being like, okay, we're a real business now.

People have expectations of how we're going to show up for our community and how we're going to behave.

And it was important to me to take that personal conviction and bring it into the business.

So it happened naturally and kind of evolved.

I didn't know a lot of your background, but everything that you say, the space that you've created is so authentically you.

And I think it's incredible how you've been able to reflect that in the way that you're offering classes, the type of classes that you're including, and the way that you do make everyone feel so welcome.

So what you envisioned, you're completely executing.

I just want to give you that kudos.

That is really kind of you to say thank you so much.

I have a hard time taking problems.

I'm just like, accept it, don't fight it, don't argue with it and just.

Say thank you and don't try to justify or minimize it.

We do as women too.

Absolutely.

You've just opened this brand new space.

You mentioned you have a four month old now.

Give us a high level overview of what your week looks like.

Absolutely.

So now that I have the baby, I'm like, I have to make a day during the weekend where I'm not busy, so me and my husband can be in the same room at the same time.

So my son doesn't believe that we only exist without each other.

So I have hired a couple people to help take over one of the weekend classes so I can be home at least a Saturday or a Sunday.

So throughout the week I'll have a million emails to respond to.

Now that we've had the word of mouth aspect grow, I think you need a couple of years in business to really get that word of mouth going.

Get maybe like six inquiries a day for private events which require very intentional and personalized responses.

So you can't just chatgpt.

That has to be something that you sit down and you really consider and you respond to.

I wake up very early before my son, which is not what I ever thought I would do.

You read about those moms that do that, you're like crazy.

But now I see the reason that people do that.

So I wake up an hour before he wakes up and I respond to a million emails from the day before.

Do that for Monday through Wednesday, Thursday, I really get into my work week.

I'll start prepping for classes.

I usually have a class on Thursday night and my husband takes the baby.

I go to work then Friday, my in laws have graciously offered to watch my son.

So I'm here From noon to 9pm on Fridays, working, teaching classes.

If there's a class in the evening and just getting as much as I can done and that might look like creating new classes, that's something I'm doing right now because every fall I try to release a couple new classes so I'm making mockups.

And then the weekends are jam packed full of classes.

So every week looks a little different.

Especially now that we're offering classes off site, connecting with different community EDs at their locations during the weekdays, in the evenings on Monday night.

That used to be free for me might now involve me going to the Plymouth Community center and teaching a class.

Evenings are busy.

During the day, I'm trying to respond to emails while I'm running to the bathroom, making lunch and feeding my baby.

That's a lot.

Do you ever have a day off then?

I haven't historically, but I really am making an effort to make that a possibility.

And that's why I've hired these new people who are going to help us teach classes so that I can prioritize personal wellness, family time, and just like me time as a new mom, me time is very scarce anyways.

But it's really important for me to carve that out.

There's been times throughout this last six years where I've had more time to devote to family, friends and myself.

And there's been times that there's been way less time for that.

And I'm in one of those way less time for that moments right now.

But I'm actively working on getting back to a time where I can really prioritize other things than work.

All right, Haley, what do you love most about your work?

Hard question, because I finally am in a position where I love virtually everything about my job.

I think my favorite thing though is when people come to class kind of anxious and they come to me and they're like, oh, by the way, I'm not very creative.

I'm not very artsy.

It looked fun.

I saw it on Instagram.

My friend said it was cool.

So we're here, but I'm not very artsy.

I might need a lot of help.

And I'm like, don't worry, you are creative.

We're going to find it.

You're going to access it and you're going to create something that you're really proud of.

And my favorite moment of the class and my favorite thing about my job is when all is said and done, we've created our project and people look at it and they go, I cannot believe I just made this.

And I'm like, girl, when people compliment you on that cute ring, when people compliment you in that awesome block print that you just made, you can say, oh, yeah, I made it, thanks.

Instead of just like, oh, I bought it from Shein or some horrible website.

So I think just seeing people connect their creativity and really become proud of themselves is my favorite part of what I do.

That's amazing how rewarding.

You offer so many different variety of classes.

So where are you finding your creative outlet?

So I think the something that really drives my creativity is the idea of creating a new class.

Or at least that's what I tell myself to justify the expense of buying new materials to make whatever it is I make.

And don't tell my tax accountant, but I do consider every piece of craft materials a write off.

Even though, yes, it's a write off.

So what kind of drives me to create new classes is people saying to me like, oh, I've taken this class, I've taken that class.

I'm kind of looking for a class like, blank.

And I'm like, okay, cool, that sounds fine.

Let me see if I can create that.

And sometimes it's a hit where I'm like, this is so cool.

I'm obsessed with this new art form, or it's a little bit of a miss for me, like bead embroidery.

But there's lots of different little mediums I haven't explored, and I want to try it all.

I want to taste every part of the rainbow.

You know what I mean?

Do it all.

So I think just like, the idea that there's something out there I haven't explored makes me go, let's do that next.

And as a scroller through Instagram reels, I get very inspired by the cutesy little projects I see people do.

And then I want to put my own spin on it.

So those are the kind of things that inspire me to continue creating.

I love it when you mentioned that you've been doing some sewing.

I enjoy sewing, so I can't wait to see what kind of classes come out of that for you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, that's so awesome.

Moving on to some of the practical considerations outside of that creative side that is inherent in you, in that entrepreneurial spirit.

What did you have to teach yourself prior to opening your doors.

Sure.

Anything involving numbers right away, that was something I was never good at.

I spent countless hours on YouTube trying to teach myself how to do QuickBooks.

And I very quickly realized after a couple months of trying and failing, that I would need to hire that.

And so delegating tasks has always been a real struggle for me.

Admitting that I needed help and accepting that I had to find someone to help me with this was challenging because I was like, no, I can do it all.

Not really.

There's things I can't do, and that's one of them.

On the flip side, again, outside of that creative space and that entrepreneurial spirit, what did you already bring to this endeavor that's helped you more than you expected?

I think my work ethic has been something that's developed throughout my life.

You know, I was that teenager who slept till noon every day on the weekend who wanted to sit inside and read a book instead of like you, anything.

Over time, though, that work ethic had kind of developed.

And what I realized was I'm diagnosed ADHD later in life, in my 20s.

So what I realized is when it's something I'm passionate about or something I'm interested in, I do really well.

And if it's something I'm not as into, I will not succeed in the way that I'm hoping.

What I needed to do was cultivate a lifestyle where it was things I was truly enjoying.

And then my work ethic just soared.

And now I've been practicing and using that muscle of working hard and being dedicated and motivated to succeed that even things that I'm less excited about, like laundry, still gets done in a timely manner because I actually have worked that muscle a little bit.

Moving on to some financial considerations for listeners.

Your story is so inspiring that it's like I want to start making a ring right now and see what happens out of it.

But the practical side of that, what were some of the financial realities of opening this business?

What did you have to figure out before you could say yes to this?

Absolutely.

So my husband is a data scientist, which is really helpful because he could crunch the numbers, run the data, see what's worked historically, see what doesn't work, and guide me into making decisions.

So that was helpful.

But I would say that there's two things.

One is I had a little bit of a nest egg from a business that I started within the ring making.

I also doing permanent jewelry.

And I did it very early on when the trend just started.

So four or Five years ago, when it was just coming out of New York, when Catbird started doing it, I was like, oh, I bet I could do that.

Bought the materials for it, scheduled an event at a brewery, it was a hit, kept doing it.

And being very early on to that trend, I was able to read this big following just through permanent jewelry that was separate from everything.

And having that nest egg that I created through that permit jewelry shoot of the company allowed me to have a little bit of freedom in making big decisions.

Because if everything goes sideways, I still have X amount of months of rent saved up or I can end my lease early, pay the buyout fee for ending the lease and go back to working this job in a five month span.

I can take five months to do this.

So that was really helpful.

Other financial considerations I had to take into account was really believing that what has historically worked will continue to work, which was kind of a gamble, honestly.

And so kind of is like every day I'm like, hopefully people see my, the algorithm likes me on Instagram, people see my content.

Hopefully people who've come have told their friends.

So financially it's always been a risk, but I've been very supported again by family just having that safety net.

Thankfully, I've never had to tap into it, but if I ever did fall, there would be a safety net which a lot of people don't have.

So I recognize that it's a very difficult decision to take that leap for sure.

But it also sounds like you were intentional in building yourself that safety net as well.

I also didn't spend anything for the first couple years.

The first two years I remember having to buy my tent for the art fairs and it was like, oh my God, that's $300 right there.

And then the boost fee is $300.

I'm $600 in and I have to spend something.

So it's very small steps.

In the beginning it was a short periods of time, short burst.

But it wasn't like the first day I went out and got a storefront for X amount of dollars.

As a business owner, how do you think about paying yourself?

What's your approach that's also evolved through time.

Originally it was just me and I didn't have any overhead.

Now we have part time workers who are super important to me.

So they are priority one.

Party two is rent and party three is me lower on the list.

And I think that most people who start a business will say, you won't pay yourself for three years.

Take that into account.

I was really fortunate to have that permanent jewelry business spike and was able to start paying myself immediately with that, which was kind of unheard of.

But of course I didn't have the overhead I do today.

Keeping your overhead really small was what allowed me to even ever pay myself.

And now that I have developed a business model that's been proven to work and continues to work, I am at a place where I can take on more overhead and still cut myself a check at the end of the month.

It was a long journey to get there, but we did eventually get to a place where we could do that.

So, last financial consideration question.

This is the unglamorous stuff, but real life stuff, retirement insurance, all of that.

How do you think through those things when you're making this leap?

Great question.

So insurance wise, we live in the us There are not a lot of great options.

I am married and my spouse has great insurance and so we get insurance through his work.

But I don't know what I would do honestly, if I didn't have that.

That would be a major consideration if you're looking to go off on your own.

As far as retirement, I really didn't have anything saved up before I started this business.

And then through this business I've been able to create a retirement plan.

So that's been really great.

So if the version of you who is still managing properties could see you now, they could see you hustling, working seven days a week, staying up late, waking up early to answer those emails before your son wakes up.

What do you think she would say about all this?

They wouldn't believe I wake up early.

First of all, that's a far fetched thing.

There's no way but I'm doing it.

I'm waking up early and waking up in the middle of the night feeding the baby and I'm still waking up at 5am Second, I think we'd be really proud of me.

And that's not something I could have said throughout my life.

You know, there have been times where I would have been like, girl, get it together, follow your dreams, stop messing around with this job that doesn't feel fulfilling.

Don't stay in this relationship that doesn't feel fulfilling.

There's definitely times where I haven't been very proud of myself.

But I think where I am now, little me, teenage me, backpacking year at me would be like, no way.

It all works out.

And so something I would say to my younger self is I've always been someone who's like, what's next?

Living for the future.

Instead of living in the moment, that's been something I've struggled with my whole life.

And so I would tell my younger self, live in the moment more.

The pieces are going to find their place.

Things are going to work out.

You're going to be running your own business.

You're going to be married to a great guy.

You're going to have an adorable baby.

It's all going to happen.

You don't have to worry so much about the future and let it happen.

And don't feel like there's only one way to be successful.

That's something I'd also tell myself.

If someone is listening to this right now and they're sitting on their own idea the way that you were sitting on this studio idea, what would you want to say to them?

Well, hopefully I'm not a bad person to ask because I'm an enabler.

You know, you want to buy that cute sweater, I'm going to tell you to buy it.

And if you want to chase your dreams, I'm going to say go for it.

I'm going to say, make a really good plan.

Think it through really hard trying to make a safety net for yourself.

But ultimately, I truly believe that everyone should do the thing, whatever that thing is that you've been dreaming of.

Create a life where that can become a possibility and take small steps and know that the journey might be long.

We didn't open up a store overnight.

It feels like it sometimes, but it did take three years, and a lot of times it takes a lot longer than that.

Depending on where you are in your life.

If you have that feeling you have children already, it might take a little longer.

If you just graduated school and you don't have a nest egg yet, it might take a little longer.

But there's no harm in that taking its time either.

There's things that you'll learn along the journey before you get to, you know, from A to B that will help you be more successful.

You do finally reach that dream moment.

Before I share something with you, I want to ask you, what do you think were the key strengths that you brought to this entire endeavor that's helped you be successful?

One thing that I've always felt insecure about is my overthinking attitude.

You know, I'll take a situation, I'll dwell in it for so long.

I'll think of all the things that could go wrong, all the things that did go wrong, and just get really lost in my thoughts.

However, I've realized through this whole process that actually Might be one of my superpowers is kind of overthinking things, thinking of all the different possibilities, all the different outcomes that could happen, and kind of planning for all the fires that might come up.

Way to harness that as something that helps you think through all the unavoidables that always are going to happen inevitably.

How we see ourselves sometimes is different than how others see us.

And most of the time, we, especially as women, undersell our strengths.

So I want to share what one of your colleagues had to say about you for our listeners.

Her name is Molly Olson.

What Molly had to say is, I once told Hailey that everything she touches turns to gold.

And I truly believe that she has this amazing ability to see all the possibilities and create amazing things out of nothing.

She never lets herself be limited.

Everything is possible.

She doesn't let fear hold her back.

She is incredibly generous with her time, talents, and resources.

She believes that there is room for everyone at the table.

And that is our job as artists and women is to cheer each other on.

Instead of being competitive, as often women are in business settings, she is a cheerleader for others.

Oh, my God.

Molly.

Molly Olsen?

Yes.

That was so touching.

And I am going to call her after this and just be like, you're amazing.

Thank you so much for being me in a way that I honestly don't even see myself most of the time.

That's beautiful.

She describes you as someone who makes room for others at the table.

Where did that come from?

Was that modeled for you or did you have to decide it on your own?

Sure.

Well, my mom and I are besties, and we have been our whole life.

She is a girl's girl.

She created me to be a girl's girl.

I always feel that there's room for all of us to have our creativity and to explore that and to even turn that into a business.

If there's someone who takes my ring class and they want a supplies list because they want to go home and make their own rings and maybe start selling them and do the same thing I did.

I'm like, you go, girl.

Let's do it.

Let me send you my supplies list.

I have a cute little PDF I'll send you.

It's clickable links.

You can do whatever you want to do.

There's room for all of us.

It was definitely modeled for me by my mom, but it's also something that's been important to me because there's been a lot of doors shut in my face, and I never want to shut a door in anyone's face.

I believe that there's room for literally all of us to be successful and I don't believe in gatekeeping.

We're going to transition to a rapid round because we're not all just career women.

So I want to ask you what has been your favorite age and why?

I think that my favorite age had to be the age that I decided to go to Europe because that was the first time I did something truly terrifying.

And if you knew me in high school, you wouldn't have believed that I was capable of making a scary move because I was so careful.

My whole life I had been very nervous and anxious and guarded.

I'd always dreamed of going to Europe and backpacking alone.

And I was like, I'm gonna do that one day and everyone's okay.

The girl who doesn't even like sleepovers is gonna go to Europe by herself for months on end.

We'll see about that.

So proving to myself that I was able to do scary things and actually enjoy it.

20 Has to be my favorite age because it was the year that I proved to myself I can do scary stuff and thrive.

Yes, that's great.

What is one non negotiable that you have for your well being?

One non negotiable just to keep myself going every day now that I'm a new mom, there's two.

One waking up early before my son so I can get some work done.

Two is washing my hair.

I have to wash in it at least twice a week.

I know it could be more but it's very heavily processed so we only do it twice.

But washing and curling my hair a couple times a week just so I can feel human and look human.

Non negotiables have to happen.

I love it.

Thanks for sharing Hailey and thank you so much for sharing your story.

It's so great to hear when this beautiful space that you have created also aligns with your values, your mission, and it also just reflects you and your personality.

If listeners want to come to a class and check out the grand reopening or just follow along with what you're building, where can they find you?

I would love it if you could follow us on Instagram.

I post there and I'm on there too often so you can follow us at Simply CreativeMN.

Make sure you add those MNS at the end for Minnesota and you can also check out our website which is simply creativemn.com we'll have everything you need to potentially book a class or just follow along to see if it's something you might be interested in trying one day with a couple friends or by yourself.

Great.

Thank you so much, Hayley.

And we'll make sure to link your Instagram in our show notes and on our website.

And I'm going to go to your grand opening April 11th as well.

So I hope to see some of our listeners there.

Great.

Well, thank you so much, Molly.

Yes, thank you, Haley.

And to our listeners, if this episode resonated, then subscribe so you never miss a conversation and share this with one person who needs to hear it.

Every subscribe and share helps the show find more women asking the same questions we are.

That's how we grow this community together.

And remember to explore on your own terms, because nothing changes if nothing changes.

One of the reasons why I wanted to have Hailey on the show, I actually reached out to her back in January when I was laid off and I wanted to connect just to talk about her business model.

I genuinely, absolutely love her space.

It was such a great concept.

I was toying around with the idea of is this something that I would want to pursue?

What's clear to to me, after talking with Hailey, the biggest difference with why I see Hayley being so successful in what she's doing versus, like, if I were to pursue this is just her passion.

Her jewelry making, making this store her passion.

While I love crafting, I'm not nearly as passionate about it as I can tell that Haley is.

Which then brings a bigger question that I'm reflecting on.

And that's to say, can you make your passion your career?

Right now there's a lot of talk about pursuing your talents over your passion.

Thanks, Reese Witherspoon.

But what I like about Haley's story is that it debunks that passion wins out.

And what I've been trying to figure out for myself is probably more similar to Joanna's story is the idea of pursuing your talents in your passion.

Before that, I first need to figure out, well, what the hell am I actually passionate about?

What are my interests?

I started my yoga training a few years ago and I feel like I did that at the time because I was trying to do something just for me.

Because it had been about the kids, the family, the career for well over a decade that I wanted to just finally do something for myself and start answering that question of, huh, outside of a mom, outside of a wife, who am I?

What am I interested in?

So I don't have all the answers and no, I'm not going to be a full time yoga teacher that will continue to just be a hobby.

But if today's episode got you thinking, I would love to keep that conversation going.

Sign up for my email list@herintentionalreset.com you'll get the latest episodes as they drop, additional resources from our guests and access to our community forum where women are keeping this conversation going in between episodes.

I'll see you there.

And I'll see you next episode.

Bye, everyone.