If it's both terrifying and amazing you should definitely pursue it -- Erada.

It has been a hectic last month. We have been so busy with custom orders coming in and going out. This weekend is the dance recital for my kids at the local studio. We'll be celebrating our 2 year anniversary in a couple weeks. Our little puppy pal has been a little under the weather. We've had visitors and still visitors to come. We've had spring planting nights. We have our first summer season show coming up in about 2 1/2 weeks. And I quit my day job. 

This is huge for me. In South Dakota you can work at 14 so since the day I turned 14 my parents had been pushing getting a job on me like you wouldn't believe. Never did I. I didn't even drive until I was only a month from being 19, so how would that even make sense. I didn't get my first "paying" job until I moved to Pipestone, I was 23. Paul always said to me that when you have a job you always find time to do the things you want to do and need to do; once that money hit your bank account you'd just keep wanting more. I am quite frugal and a penny pincher, so he was right. I have been working there and the studio for a year before I started selling my pieces. There are days I would go to work 8:55am-5:30pm to teach dance from 6pm-8:15pm and come home and do a few things. I did this constantly. I would be exhausted, but in order to make this work, I had to. If I had a day off I would have little motivation to do anything, I just wanted to sleep in and relax. That wasn't working. I've had family, friends, coworkers, customers, and even students tell me to quit for the last year and a half.  I needed to take my own advice for once. You gotta do you. I needed to find the time to do my dreams before I was older and regretting not doing anything for myself.

I always have been someone to look for inspiration, a guide, buy books I never had time to read, even a Google search for answers or some kind of guidance. I'll never forget the time one of my friends had that same kind of moment in college. I remember walking into her room one summer day to her looking at me saying, "What am I supposed to do with my life?" she herself was Googling "What to do with your life when you don't know what to do." I now feel like I am having a midlife crisis moment at 25.  I keep going between being extremely terrified, asking myself "What the F did I just do?!" to absolutely relieved and knowing this is the time to run head on into my dreams and I wasn't going to be miserable at work. Not miserable because I hated everything about it, but because I loved every one of my coworkers and all of my regular customers, but my creativity was put in a box and my dreams were put on extreme hold. I have these big dreams for myself, my business, and my community, but by staying there and not being able to say that I at least tried was really disheartening. I was just busting at the seams and wearing thin.

The night before I quit Paul was at the farm late and I was at home Googling all those questions on how to make this work, what to do, and reading things that help you figure this out. I sat there and just cried. I think that I finally realized at that moment that summer was here, shows and big opportunities were knocking on my door and it was time to pull the trigger. I went into work that day and my manager just happened to be in the back. We stood there crying, but she reassured me that I wasn't going to fail and that I was going to be successful at my business. That I needed to do me. She told me I was always welcome there and the door will always be open. This was all reassuring to me being that Ive never had to quit a job and I felt like I was shutting the door and burning the place down. Maybe I will be back there, but I won't know if this adventure will be one that will forever change my life and my dreams will come true or at least have the reassurance that I tried my damned hardest.

So... I have 3 shifts left at my day job and a dance recital this weekend. Then until dance starts again in about 3 weeks, I am only employed by myself and my business. It means I will be dedicating all my time to my home life, my business, and myself. I will probably be covered in sawdust, paint, stain, and of course, dog hair. My office will be my basement or garage and my only employee will be my husband. I have been very fortunate to have someone like him. My dream has become his; we are meeting this adventure hand-in-hand and he is supporting me more than I could have ever asked for. I am one lucky lady. Bring it on summer. If you see me I probably will be wearing a smile on my face because I am still terrified and overwhelmed, but for all good reasons. Trust me, you really don't have to have it all figured out to move forward.  Thank you to every single person who has supported my adventure by purchasing pieces from us, a helping hand, advice, and telling me I have a lot of talent to not pursue my dreams; it all means so much.  It sure is nice when a career and a passion come together.

Next up: Luverne's Buffalo Days on Saturday June 4th. As we near the next ones, we will announce them and trust me, theres lots more!

A whole year!?

That's right, it has been a whole year since I decided to try this whole "business" thing. It has been better than expected. Shall we reflect?

So, I decided it was time to start this whole thing. I had a passion burning inside me that needed to get out. I was tired of building other peoples dreams and not my own. Well, I still am building other peoples "dreams" that probably don't support me building my own, but that is a whole different story. Anyway, it was time to do something for myself. If you have gathered I am a person who makes other peoples success and failures, fuel my fire. Not saying that I feel like I need to feel superior or like to watch people fail, but I do watch what is successful for them or may not be successful for them and apply it to myself. A live and learn situation. So I started, but didn't bust out until Watertower Festival. 

"...We had heard about your business, LC Design, that will be debuting at Watertower Festival, we would like to do a feature article on you, if that is something you'd be interested in..." Those were the words left as a message for me on my voicemail as I was going into work June 8th. How do I remember? Because I still have the voicemail, haha! Who would have thought that the word would have found it's way around town in that short of time and I hadn't even sold a single thing to the general public yet?! I still have people to this day come up to me at my normal day job saying they saw me in the paper. Maybe they should do a follow up? 

Then came Watertower Festival. People still barely knew we existed. Like 200 Facebook likes if we were lucky. It was pretty successful for a first show and we had a lot of people coming to stop and chat about pieces, the paper feature, and being new(er) residents of Pipestone. Still, I wanted/needed more. I made a point that every season we would have at least one sale, boy is that changing. 

Kind words continued to flood in from community members, complete strangers, near and far fans, and business people. We even started doing window displays at one of my favorite places, Reggie Gorter Performing Arts Studio. We have taken a break with the cold season and sealing the windows up. But hopefully get something in there again soon. 

Our next big sale was Luverne's Winterfest. It was great! Just like every show we have found out there is dead points, but people were just hauling our stuff out and by the afternoon we were looking pretty sparse. We have also found out that after every show for about a month we are swamped with orders. We. love. it! 

The Christmas season was sooooooooo good to us! People were ordering gifts non-stop. I am glad we were stocked up. Nothing makes our hearts warm and asking ourselves what is the next big thing, like that. We always want to push ourselves to give everyone something cooler than last time.  What were the most popular, trees and pillows. We sold more pillows than imaginable. We now have a huge pile in our guest room closet just to stay on top of it. We also started shipping stuff! If that isn't crazy?! We had an order from New York City going to the Twin Cities, order going to California, lots going to the Twin Cities, and recently Texas has been very good to us. This. is unbelievable. There are some people who don't enjoy the whole online shopping experience because it takes away from the "shopping local" aspect. Trust me, this is just as great. You are helping an extremely small business who isn't in a brick and mortar hopefully get to that point. You are doing great things by ordering from us.  

The end of the "year" came, so here came taxes. It was kind of nerve wracking to say the least. We knew we sold a lot, but we also know to start selling 6 months prior that we had a lot of expenses that we were probably far in the hole. A lot of business don't expect to take any money home in the first year, or second, or fifth, maybe even tenth. Well, we did! Though it wasn't a whole heck of a lot I felt good about it. With having to buy less tools and less "supplies" it should make out for an even better year. We have no one else to thank besides everyone who has made us a successful, small, home based business owners, than y'all! 

We then started stock piling for the next shows ahead of us. In the meantime, I weighed the pros and cons of becoming a Pipestone Chamber Member. I felt it might be weird to become a chamber member only being a home-based business and only doing shows or selling through Facebook. So far Erica and Tom have been great getting the word out there that we exist. We attended the annual Chamber Banquet and being the new kids on the block was pretty awkward, but as we sat in the corner, by ourselves, we watched people mingle in their groups of friends and knew at that point that these are the people to reach out to and to hold ourselves up to. Don't get me wrong, we were frightened to talk to people who are old enough to be our parents or our grandparents, that we didn't really put ourselves out there and welcome ourselves into their groups to chat. So thank you to the few people that did talk to us, haha. Im sure it was just as awkward talking to people your children's age as it was for us to sit there as the new comers. In the end, we looked at it as these people are business people of Pipestone and so are we. We thought to ourselves if we went around the room asking each person what they were doing at our age they probably wouldn't be saying sitting at a Chamber banquet as a member or even having a business. It also helped that Patri, my boss at AcV2, saying "I would've sat with you. I would've been beating people to be at your table. Don't give up. You got this!" Sometimes you need that reminder that people do believe in you when you feel like the out of place new kid. I bet this experience will only go up from here! 

Any who! The next show was this month, April. It was in our own town so we decided to only bring our top selling items and the new creations. We did great! The show was kind of slow, but people were just dragging stuff out and leaving us big holes and big impressions! It was great hearing everyone so excited to come out and see us or say they were only coming because they heard we would be there. I am sure my big smiles freaked people out, but my heart was so full. Not to mention I got to (re)meet a fabulous woman who dropped off some of her junk on my porch this past summer and made us have the biggest looked at Facebook post for us, ever. Our yoke light reached 1.543 people...we don't even have that many Facebook friends! Because word was getting out, our next post with a peek at what things we are bringing to the Spring Fling: 3,867 people reached! That is cruising up to the population of this town! 

So now what is next? This is where I said "each season having a show" is changing. This summer we are so busy. We know for sure three shows we will be in, contemplating two others. Summer is the key time to hit these shows. Our customer base expands, as it should, every show so it just keep getting better. Also, we have been considering opening an Etsy shop this summer for our smaller, popular items. We are still hoping to see the building we have our eye on, to open up. I say to myself everyday "Why can't I just have a shop?" I know that in time it will tell and we will open outside of shows and our basement. It has to be the right time and the right place. Currently, we have 485 likes on Facebook and growing literally everyday. Everyday we are doing a new project just to keep up or to keep a stock pile for the next show. We are living and learning this and totally loving it. Spring is now upon us and we are about to hit the planting season so things will be slowing down in one area and picking up in the other. It will be a two-ish- three week of idea turning and figuring out what is the next "thing." As I scroll through these photos and this post I cannot believe how far we have come from just a wild idea to a real fan base and requests for new pieces. We have reoccurring customers from near and far. We couldn't be happier with where this adventure is taking us. 

Next show: Buffalo Days in Luverne. See ya there! 

Entrepreneurship:If It's Both Terrifying & Amazing You Should Definitely Pursue It!

entrepreneur noun -[ahn-truh-pruh-nur] 

1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

2. an employer of productive labor; contractor

When I was a senior in college, I remember sitting in Julie Bell's office, she was my advisor the last 4 years, she asked if I wanted to get an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. I couldn't get a minor or a major so I stopped listening after that. It also wouldn't really count towards much, but taking more of my money. I remember thinking to myself I will NEVER own my own business, like ever. Little did I know... I also had to take so many credits in Business, why the f did I care? Still, never going to own my own business. I took a few that were awful and made no sense. How could organization and management be hard, I am the queen of organizing? Well, it was and it was awful and anyone can attest to how awful it was. Luckily, for me, my husband had to take quite a lot of business classes to get an Animal Science Business major. Let me tell you, he is the only person I know that manages money like a boss. I know no adult who is financial established and savvy like this man and like I said, I am damn lucky for him. 

Now to the answer of "Why do I want to be an entrepreneur?"

My summer spent with ACV2 architecture I got to watch a woman go from her basement office and getting her foot into the door to being one exclusive woman who is busy with her family and the office. How could I not be inspired to be something or someone? It will forever stick in my mind that they predicted my future after I left - - and it is exactly what I am doing now. 

Some say being so busy and making the sound of being exhausted from hustling [for your business] is a bad thing, we are putting that look on a per say pedestal. I am not the person to say that to. I work three jobs, one being my own business that I have built myself, I have a beautiful gray highlight coming in I am learning to embrace and a lot of insomnia (that's the thing about creative people, we never seem to sleep). But I am not just a number, not just 1 of 4,157 people just "living" in Pipestone. I do not want to just be a number. I am 25 year old, educated, woman that has an upcoming, successful business and nothing is more invigorating as that. I think we need to step back and look at what it takes to get what you want; that you may need to run on fumes and have sleepless nights to succeed and build your dreams. You cannot sit on the sideline and watch it slip through the cracks. In college we were getting time management pounded into our brains, but still, if you didn't have sleepless where you felt at your wits end you wouldn't find yourself walking down at commencement. Moral of the story; I wanted to work hard and knew I had to become an Entrepreneur. 

I moved to a new town with a fresh face, a fresh look, and a fresh mind; I had to put it to work. I am passionate about what I do and it is important for me to push myself to the limits to make it successful. I went from being no one here to a familiar face, I had a name, and I was impacting my community in some way. I don't ever want to be in big box stores, I don't want mass production; but I do want to be a part of my community, I do want to be entrepreneur who built her own business, who can do a little relaxing because she worked her tail off to get where she wanted to be, and be a Pipestone area household name.  In less than three years, I was featured on two blogs for two different topics, I was featured in the newspaper, I became a role model to my beautiful, young kids at the dance studio, I became a face at a local retail store that is greeted with smiles and stories about the grandkids, I redesigned one of the places Pipestone prides itself on, I became a Chamber member, I've sold products from one coast to the other, and I became more than "that Prunty Farm's girl." Moral of this story: I am becoming more than just someone, I have become an Entrepreneur. 

Soooooo, what is the big answer? 

I love the sense of accomplishment when someone says to me that they couldn't wait to see what I had come up with and take it home with them. I love being my own boss and the freedom of being able to be creative how I want to be and on my time. I love the excitement I feel every time we make something unreal and it becomes a hit. I love that I can be completely nuts, entrepreneurs are some of the biggest risk takers, we pretty much sit there with a handful of cash and lay it all on the line without knowing what could happen. I am always learning, always researching, and always on the look out for things to fill my brain with, to see what could be next thing. I love being able to work with clients/customers that share the same love for things. The list could go on, but that is why I wanted to be an entrepreneur. 


With all that said! 

This last week we had a sale, it went absolutely great for us! We hear the buzz around town that people heard about us, their friend told them about our products, they saw it on Facebook, they came just for LC Design; what a great feeling! As always, we are still making custom orders and requests for people after the show. It happens every time and we love it! Tonight we have the Chamber banquet and this was a great day to reflect on all the why's of what we do.
Also, we went from 380-sh likes on Facebook last week to 426 this week. That's kind of a big deal. And one of our posts reached over 1,500 people....also a pretty big deal for being a non-brick and mortar business that started less than a year ago. We already have plans shows this summer, details to come as they near. 

xoxo

How I Fell in Love with a Farm Boy...

It is Valentine's Day week! And we haven't updated since the beginning of the year. This post will be a little different then most being it's the week of love. I felt it is important to recognize all the things that I love and what comes full circle making LC Design possible. 

Let's start here...

I didn't plan on falling in love with a farmer...

It is just that true. 

I never in my life...ever... thought it was a possibility to become the wife of a farmer (or a farm hand as he refers to himself, but I disagree being he makes choices, sticks his arm in places most don't, feeds mouths more than his families, and shows up everyday snow or shine). 

I've said it a thousand times, he showed up in my apartment wearing cowboy boots and I knew it wasn't going to go much further than just being friends. Clearly, it wasn't love at first site. We both had just ended a relationship; mine a pretty drawn out, ugly, and emotionally straining 'thing'? So the last thing we really needed was rushing into something. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. Texting, Skyping, long distances, late nights of studio, harvest dinners in the tractor... 

What.the.heck?! I know! How did this happen?!

A lot of people knew that I came from the armpit of the Black Hills, 'Where You & the West Are One.', where the best Midwest 4th of July celebration is, and where cowboy hats and Dodge trucks fill every street. I was far from wanting to see this everyday. I was a girl going to school for Interior Design, interned at an amazing architecture firm, had big city dreams. Life would have only worked out that way, right? 

Nope. 


December 31, 2012 - - Paul came to visit me at my parents after Christmas. I had a doctors appointment that morning he took me to and he went to meet my friends at The Green Bean coffee shop. I knew something was up, I even told my doctor that I think my boyfriend was up to something today. We did look at rings months prior and I knew it was getting made. He then picked me up and wanted to drive into the Hills because 'he hadn't seen them in the winter snow,' I also noticed he gelled his hair, what farm boy does that? We got to Spearfish Canyon Falls where we walked down the trail and I was greeted by my two friends running across the woods with cameras and rose petals...hmmm. After that it was all not even a question. We didn't even discuss what would happen after college, I knew what was next and suddenly it wasn't a weird 'issue.' 

There came a point I knew something was more important than another. 

Fast forward to May 31, 2014 

It was a beautiful morning with a chance of rain. Well, the chance of rain turned into a wind storm with rain and dust. We were taking our wedding pictures and we watched this wall come straight at us. It blew over 10 minutes after the wedding was scheduled. It cleared, the sun came through and the music started.

Happy tears filled my eyes and ran down my face the second I started out that door, arms locked with my just as teary eyed dad, and my big white dress swishing in the grass. I saw my farmer, my soon to be husband, smiling, crying and waiting for me to meet him at the end. I heard 'A Thousand Years' by Piano Guys surrounding me but you really do get tunnel vision; all I saw was him. At this time you get that feeling like 'this really is the beginning of the best adventure of my life and I am taking this head on with this handsome man in front of me.' We'd come so far. For some reason, God's plan was to take all doubt and show me that I was going to marry a hog farmer.  

(Photo Credit for Wedding Photos: The Photography Shoppe) 

If you were wondering...it rained some more :) 

Now here we are 5 years later, 5 seasons of planting and harvesting, a new (to me) town, a new 102 year old home, a new business, a puppy, the death our first fur baby (bless his little soul), Disney World Honeymoon, and a thousand I love you's later. 

Being okay (now way more than that) with becoming the wife of someone who hangs out with hogs all day everyday is not that different than any other life I would have imagined. I never want to forget that it was scary at first, there were lots of questions, lots of research, and lots of first with it for me. I will never forget the day I first saw worms in poop, cleaned troths, pigs being born or brought back to life, driving a tractor, and a big ole pig running down the shoot at me and the look on my husbands face. I still have so much to learn and so much to overcome but I love it all and I cannot wait for the new firsts. 

I'm so glad that Paul has stuck with me, with my potty mouth, my crazy ideas, my dreams, my out of control, close knit family, and my love for dogs. 

This is how it comes full circle. There were nights I was sick or behind on a project Paul was always there lending a hand. I'll never forget the night I was laying on his futon in his dorm on the verge of what felt like death and he was up all night building the details on a reception desk (sorry Angie ;)) for a project so that I could hand it in the next day. This is how I knew he was in it for the long run. I think both of our college majors rubbed off on each other. He loves the details and the 'blue prints' of everything to do with projects. I love being an AGvocate. He loves my new business adventure as much as I do and wants nothing more than it to succeed. How lucky am I? You have no idea on the assembly line in sewing pillows we have, he is way better at the machine than I am. I am so unbelievably thankful that the farm allows him and me to spend time in the shop building things and using scrap. One day, I suppose, I will have to learn how to weld or use the plasma cutter. But without this farm life this could, probably would, be just a twinkle in my eye. 

As Valentine's Day comes upon us this weekend I am grateful for the love I get to experience with my knight in shit covered pants that get drug across my floor. I am grateful for the love of my business from him and the experiences we get to have on and off the farm because of it. This is absolutely not what I had planned for love and life but it has become better than what I could have imagined. It's real and it's ridiculously fun. Through all the busy nights of planting and harvest, the old house fixes, the puppy stages, the 3 jobs I hold...it makes us better. Our differences always make us come closer and life more real. 

It is crazy to know that in the end God has always known exactly what we needed and when we needed it the most. 

 

 

 

And there you have it. Love for design and love for farming came to mesh together as one, funny how it happens and how passionate you become of something you just immerse yourself into something. 

Happy Valentine's Day (week). Next up will be the announcement for the next sale! We sent off the application/registration today! So stay tuned! 

Top 4 Exciting Things of 2015!

So as the year comes to an end I thought I should give a run down of the 4 most exciting things that have happened to me and the LC Design life.



4. Historic Calumet Inn.

In February is where things kicked off for me. We came home from our DisneyWorld Honeymoon and went to the Calumet to eat dinner. I had been sent a link from another boss about the adopt a room project at the Calumet Inn in Pipestone and it was probably the smartest decision for my business to use to push off. I talked to the owner of the hotel, told her my background, and in February we started our redesign process in a room over looking Main Street and next door to the infamous haunted room (which I think, I can confirm). I immersed myself into researching for a month long, applied it to the space and came out with a beautiful boutique hotel room. All this lead to the next big step...

3. LC Design.

This year I started LC Design in June. Yup, that was only 6 months ago! I feels like longer because we have so many people we have got to know and have used our talents to make projects life. I have always dreamt of this life, the business, and using my talents (and my husbands) in a creative and great way. Here we are pumping things out (with also the help of my mommy, who can live without them?!) to make Christmas gifts, wedding gifts, anniversary gifts, birthday gifts, and gifts to yourselves, possible! Ever purchase makes the dream of a brick and mortar a glimmer at the end of a long tunnel. Because let's be honest, that the ultimate dream. With all the love and support came...

2. Features.

I have been overly blessed with the support of many! I cannot began to explain how warm and fuzzy it feels to be asked to be featured in something or your face to show up somewhere you don't expect, even if you are. In June, I was featured in the Pipestone County Star newspaper for LC Design and my life transition here. The exposure was great and the kind words from communities members plastered the biggest smile on my face. It feels great. Also in June, I was featured on AcV2 architectures AcV2(sday) blog piece, Shoot for your Dreams: A Conversation with Linsey Prunty, of course, another story about moving forward after design school, living in a small town, and LC Design. Fast forward to November, I was featured by Minnesota Farm Living for their piece called '30 Days of Minnesota Agriculture: Linsey Prunty, From City Girl to Farm Girl.' This feature was a little different, but also a major part of my life. It was all about my transition from life before and moving into the country lifestyle. It was pretty exciting because all had ever been said about my life is the design portion. This was also shared by the Pipestone Chamber of Commerce, which was super exciting!  In return, I got a lot of this...

1. Support.

There has been an enormous support from everywhere and it does not go unnoticed. If I could take a picture with every person that has purchased from us, gave us so many kind words, and said 'we are behind you 100%'...I would make a scrapbook and carry it around in my purse to show everyone like is a wallet full of grandchildren pictures. It is hard to say this is mine because there are so many people that contribute to it; whether it be supplies, talent of craft, or just a lending hand to push me it becomes we or us because of all of you. I thank you all from the bottom of my junky, creative overflowing heart for all your support!

We are so excited to see what 2016 brings because if it is half as good as 2015 we'll be ecstatic and welcoming it with open arms! It can only go up from here...we are sure of that.