Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley DeFrees.
Ashley, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up always creating new things, doodling on my school notes, and scrap booking my memories. I idolized my Italian family of business owners and let’s just say playing office was my forte. I opened my company is 2009 after graduating from a University in central Indiana. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into! Fast forward though 8 years of research, creativity, and caffeine, we now have a team of 3 and a beautiful studio to showcase our passion.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I learned everything the long, hard way- by realizing what NOT to do. I had no mentor or educational background in business. So, I experienced all the things that can go wrong, and I made all the mistakes you can make. Once I realized that challenges were actually a good thing, I figured out a way to use them to my advantage. I made sure to keep track of what happened, what my solution was, and how I would make sure it never happened again. When I first hired employees that weren’t contractors, I didn’t realize I had to hold back payroll taxes. For the entire year of 2014 I didn’t, and it ended up being one of my biggest mistakes to this day. Being a business owner takes so much time, and serious dedication.
Please tell us about My Urban Invites.
My Urban Invites was born on the concept of custom stationery for all of our couples. Since then we have grown our custom line extensively and added ready-made invitations for our budget savvy couples. We specialize in branded wedding invitations designed to incorporate personal details about each of our couples. We achieve this with consistency in color palette, fonts, and graphics in our couple’s stationery suite. It starts with a logo, color palette, fonts, and design elements that are used to build excitement. We like to start with save the dates and take care of everything in between like invites, programs, menu’s, and so on for a look that is completely cohesive and personal.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have gotten a stationery job with a small business to learn how things are done. Having the right mentor is a blessing and I think I could have learned some things by first observing before attempting it all on my own right off the bat.
Pricing:
- Ready-made Album Line Invitations start out at $3 each
- Event Branding Line Invitations start out at $7 each
Contact Info:
- Address: 2855 Mangum Road
Suite 315 - Website: www.myurbaninvites.com
- Phone: 832-732-9848
- Email: creative@myurbaninvites.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myurbaninvites/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Urban-Invites/238278971561
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyUrbanInvites
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/my-urban-invites-houston
Image Credit:
Chrysta Elyce Photography
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