Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashlyn Borden.
Hi Ashlyn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I feel like for me I have absolutely taken the long road to get to the place and space that I am now. I have always had a love for graphic tees and everything they can do for people and what they can represent for people. People use T-shirts as a form of self expression, comfort, and joy and I’ve always appreciated them for that, so to be making shirts just seems like a natural fit. But it didn’t become official until the end of 2022, when my husband decided to give me a very strong push to get me going and submitted the paperwork to make it official during a casual conversation one day. That’s when I had an actual business name, an LLC., and became a business owner. However, I didn’t feel like I was ready and was afraid of what was next. What if it fails, what if I’m no good, what if people just don’t like it, and the list of what if’s went on and on. But then one of my good friends asked me to make her a shirt and immediate panic set in because this was going to be my first official attempt at producing a product for a paying customer. Naturally I tried to get out of it and have her wait until I was “ready” but she already believed in me enough to know that I was ready and that I could produce a shirt for her. After a few sleepless nights, I finally had something that I could actually give her and she gave me actual money for it! But that’s how things have been so far, people believing in me enough to give me a chance and having that continue to build my confidence and skills. That coupled with the demand for school spirit gear that I felt wasn’t being met adequately within the city of Richmond Hill. By day I work as a Para Professional at Richmond Hill High School, but my children have attended and still attend school in Richmond Hill and we have always been a Wildcat family, but couldn’t find much in the way of spirit gear, until within the past few years. So that’s where I knew one of, if not my primary focus, should be. To have readily accessible and affordable Wildcat apparel and merch for the people in the community. I knew I still wanted to offer custom items to individuals, groups, organizations, non profits, etc. but still wanted the people who work in the schools that attend the students’ events to have another way to show their support and be able to afford to purchase multiple items at a time or frequently. So everyone from lunch ladies and custodians all the way up to the awesome people who work at the board office can express their pride working in our district. Even though I offer a lot of Wildcat items, I also provide images and custom designs for other school mascots and teams by request. Everyone loves the feelings they feel when they are wearing something they designed or was made especially for them, and being able to provide that feeling to them is something magical.
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?
The road has been about as smooth as the roughest sand paper you could find. There has been plenty of lost time, money, product, patience, and even hair (but that was kind of my choice). I knew that it would take a while for me to find my groove and figure things out, I just didn’t account for all the other ways that things can go wrong and things that can cause delays. Figuring out where to order, and even what to order, application methods and supplies needed for each, it was all new and overwhelming.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My daytime job keeps me more than busy with providing support for some of the most AMAZING high school students ever. But as soon as I get home, sometimes even to the car, then I lock in with the things that I need to get done with business. Sometimes this involves simply having the time and space to sit and create or work on customer requested designs, and the rest of the day goes towards fulfilling customer orders, and other typical business things like sending out invoices. But even though it can be tiring sometimes, the thing that keeps me going is being able to help people good people who are doing good things. The different school clubs and organizations, as well as some other groups and small businesses that have allowed me to make their shirts, give me tremendous pride! Just based on connection and doing a good thing for the sake of doing a good thing or just wanting to support for the sake of support.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Step out of the shadow of your own fear and just take that first step. Energy will always flow where intention goes, so everyday try to take an intentional step forward regarding your business or even business idea. If you find yourself questioning the process and doubting yourself because things don’t seem like they’re progressing, then try to find an actionable step that you can take to help give you a little push to keep going. Everyone wishes that someone would just tell them the “hack” or give them the secret sauce to success, but until you actually start doing something and being intentional about your vision and what you view as success, it really doesn’t matter what anyone tells you because you haven’t even started or even tried.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bsquaredapparelco.square.site/
- Instagram: @a_borden06
- Facebook: Ashlyn Borden
- Other: [email protected]
