Mamaprenuer: Dana Regehr
Business: Janie Lane Studio
Site: www.etsy.com/shop/janielanestudio
Instagram: @janielanestudio
Dana is offering a 10% discount to our readers! Just use the code BBM10 at checkout for 10% off. Expires December 5th.
About Dana:
My husband and I have two young boys. We love to spend time outdoors and to make things together. Our boys make with Legos and art supplies, my husband does amazing things with wood, and I love to play with fabric.
About Dana's Business:
Janie Lane Studio designs, creates and sells camera straps, key fobs, clutches and accessories that help you be beautiful, comfortable and organized as you capture life with grace. We want you to have the beautiful tools you need to be poised to accomplish your life well.
Why did you decide to become a mamaprenuer?
JLS started as a feminine outlet in my house full of boys. Now it enables me to stay home with a flexible schedule and do the things most important to me – caring for my family, ministering to young women in my church, and making home. I love that I can serve others with what I create and make.
What is the greatest challenge you’ve experienced in your business?
It seems like there is always something new to learn and never enough time to learn it!
How did you overcome that challenge?
I've chosen to go slow. I believe God is sovereign over this business and He is the one growing it. It might not be growing as fast as I'd like, but when I really stop and think about it, it's growing at exactly the capacity I have because He knows what I can handle. Now that my boys are in school, I'm slowly adding in time to learn to really use tools like Pinterest and Facebook and grow my email email list. But I've also learned that slow is not bad. Slow means I can do it well and not rush through making decisions that I might regret one day.
What is your greatest win as a business owner?
For about a year and a half I sold camera strap covers. They sold well, but I was always getting asked for camera straps. Camera straps scared me! What if the hardware I provided failed and someone's expensive camera broke? What if no one wanted them? This last summer I settled down to design straps and source hardware and materials that I felt super comfortable with. I went through the design process, had an awesome tribe of women test them for me and launched them! Just getting them out there has felt huge. I discontinued the strap covers, which meant removing all of my most popular products from my Etsy shop. I feel a little like I'm starting over with a new shop, but I know it just needs time to grow.
Describe your ‘day in the life’.
Even with my boys in school, every day is different. But on a typical work-only day my boys go off to school before 8:00, and I take about an hour to work out, do something to get dinner started and do a couple chores. Then I get back to my studio at 9 and work till they come home after 3. I'm learning to use my BBM time blocking sheets to stayed focused!
What’s your great big dream for your business?
Every year my business has paid for a little more around our home. One year it was a small part of a remodel, the next our vacations, this year it has paid for our vacations and a remodel. I hope to continue to grow it so that we can continue to give generously and possibly send our boys to Christian school when they hit high school.
Share a tip with your fellow mamapreneurs.
It's okay to go slow. You don't have to be “the next big thing” to be successful. Remember that your family and your home are priorities and there are seasons in life. You CAN do this! But you don't HAVE to do it all NOW.
Share a funny, crazy, or disastrous Mamapreneur moment you’ve had.
I started out making bags and totes. Then a photographer friend asked me to design a camera bag for her. When I really started working on my Etsy shop in 2014, I made a few sales but not a lot. Then I thought I'd put the camera bag in the shop just to see if anything happened. I remember thinking “watch this be the thing that takes off” even though I really didn't want it to because they took SO long to make! Within a couple of days I sold one and before long the camera bags were my “thing”! Of course! Then came a customer request for a matching strap cover to go with a bag and so I added camera strap covers to the shop, and they began to sell too! In the fall of 2015, I discontinued camera bags for the sake of my sanity and for my family. I'm super thankful that camera bags got me into the market I sell in today, but I'm also so very thankful I don't make them anymore!!
