This week’s Fresh Face is entrepreness Allie Carswell of Honey Bee Invites. Allie’s blog, The Secret Life of Invites, celebrates the beauty and art of invitations and fine stationary: where the come from, why they’re made, what people are celebrating or announcing and why they look the way they do. Every thought, paper, ink, sketch, letter, and color has a purpose. Every invitation is made with love.
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Genuine, creative, dreamer
What is your biggest goal for the future of your business?
To make invitations for a celebrity!!
In all seriousness my goal is to always build a relationship with the client. It is one of the best parts of my job. Of course, I love painting, calligraphy, and hand-crafting invitations, but I also really enjoy getting to meet the clients and reflect their personality in my work.
What is one thing you could not live without?
Paper & pen. Seriously! I am constantly thinking of random ideas for cards, invitations, etc. You never know when you’ll get inspired; sometimes it’s in mall or in the line at the DMV (this actually happened to me).
What is your favorite thing about living in Atlanta?
The food! Atlanta has the best restaurants. The Social House is one of my favorite feel-good spots.
What inspired you to start your business?
Years ago, I found my passion in painting and letters. And while reading an amazing book by Dan Miller I came across an excerpt from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
“Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you break bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.”
Gibran’s words spoke right to me. And I decided, if you aren’t doing what you love, then read, learn, invest and absorb everything about what you love, and make your passion your business.
What is your favorite part of being an entrepreneur?
That I am living my dream. It’s an amazing feeling to go after something you believe in, and watching Honey Bee Invites slowly grow has been incredible and very rewarding.
If you could have dinner and talk about business with one person, who would it be?
Ree Drummond of @thepioneerwoman. She is amazingly talented at many things and I think much of her successes cab be attributed to her business savvyness and go-getter attitude. I would love to ask her a million and one questions!
If you could give one piece advice to other aspiring entrepreneurs, what would it be?
Get involved with social media! Social media can help grow your business immensely. Coming from a background in PR, I strongly value media relations and with the new age of Twitter, Facebook, and blogging you can easily access and influence your target market.
Stay connected Allie and her business here:
@HoneyBeeInvites
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