Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Leopold.
Hi Kim, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My journey started with a dream to have my own bead store when I was young. I loved creating, teaching, and selling my jewelry and crafted items since I was about 7 years old. I did craft shows all the time with my mom and learned all about customer service, handling money, value, and quality at a young age.
I took a break from crafting, and I got my degree in Mechanical Engineering. After I was married, I started my business Dream Lily Designs LLC in 2008 while finishing my MBA to create and sell beautiful pieces of jewelry, hair accessories, and baby gifts at craft shows in my area. Over the next 10 years, I expanded into about 15 other store locations to carry my hair bows and jewelry in the state of Ohio.
As this business has grown, my desire to expand into home décor and other items has too. At this point, it was time to consider a storefront to house all my creative ideas and products, as well as help others do the same.
During my craft shows over the years, I have met so many amazing makers and artists. I love to help them grow their businesses through my advice and lessons learned as a full-time entrepreneur, mom, and maker. My engineering background comes in handy when it comes to project management, process flow, display layouts, product design, and quality control concepts.
In October of 2021, I opened Our Creative Marketplace. It is a shop for all of us makers and business owners to showcase our products and a place where I can help them grow their brand and business even more! That is why I named the shop “Our Creative Marketplace.” It’s not just my items but a collection of items from various makers and entrepreneurs like myself.
Our Creative Marketplace is a place to sell, share, create, teach, learn and grow as entrepreneurs and business owners – and to share our talents with the local community too!
The shop carries products for everyone of all ages, from bath bombs, hair bows, organic soaps, tumblers, T-shirts, home decor, candles, toys, and more!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been more of a lifelong journey as this dream started when I was very young, learning the ropes of entrepreneurship (good and bad) along the way. Many times, where I have failed and could have potentially given up, I carried on. Tried new things, learned new lessons.
From bad jewelry designs that tarnished or broke quicky right in front of a customer, to overblown tents and drenching rain on my displays, just to name a few. So many times, I think others may have quit right there – but I couldn’t. It wasn’t in my blood to not succeed (I am Irish/German heritage if that gives you a hint, lol).
Every day has challenges as a business owner – I am never finished growing, improving, and inspiring others to push through those hard days.
With Our Creative Marketplace as my storefront, I am not done yet. I could see it as a brand and series of stores across the country with the same goals in mind of providing locally made products to their communities and supporting all types of products, creative kids, and entrepreneurs along the way. My next challenge is to continue to grow and make that happen!
As you know, we’re big fans of Our Creative Marketplace. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
Our Creative Marketplace is the storefront of over 25 local vendors to the northwestern Ohio area. We specialize in reasonably priced items for everyone – many are handmade, but some are ordered, but all products belong to someone local trying to grow their business.
We carry great brands like Lego, Squishmallows, Disney, and more, plus have a wide range of products from children’s accessories, clothing, candles, bath and body products, home decor, jewelry, and stationery.
We are most known for our HUGE collection of Squishmallow stuffed animals as they are very popular right now with all ages – we have over 300 different ones in stock and they are always growing! We also have a giant hair bow and accessories wall for kids with my Dream Lily Designs LLC brand items and a huge selection of home decor items too.
At Our Creative Marketplace, we offer great gifts for anyone and so many must-have items for yourself too!
We hold creative classes for groups or birthday parties to do jewelry making and painting throughout the year. We also have many seasonal holiday events for the local community with kids’ games and crafts.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
If you decide to start a business, make sure you are in it for the long haul. I started with a card table at the farmers market, a small budget, and a strong passion for being an entrepreneur. I continuously re-invested my profits to grow the business, rarely taking any “paycheck,” – so make sure to start as a side hussle until you’re sure it can provide a full-time income. And if it is time to make that leap and you’re ready to hustle hard to make that dream come true, do it! You won’t regret trying if it’s something you really are passionate about.
Also – your business will continuously change if you keep improving, so be flexible, learn what works and what doesn’t, and keep going. Bring in others for new ideas and have a team of fellow entrepreneurs to bounce ideas off of too!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ourcreativemarketplace.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/our_creative_marketplace/
- Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/OurCreativeMarketplace
Image Credits
Kim Leopold
