Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriela Padilla.
Hi Gabriela, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I started my business in April of 2020 a little after everything was shut down due to the pandemic.
My husband and I had both been laid off and I knew we needed to make money. My daughter was a big inspiration since I had never been into crafts. I decided I could do something cute for her and sell to other moms who wanted the same. I decided in the middle of the night, Bows From Jade was going to make a debut. I had zero experience and zero expectations, but I had the courage to start it off and hoped for the best.
Over the months, I expanded my small shop from bows to baby clothes, to women jewelry and accessories. After including more things to my shop we changed to Jade’s Bows and More. This year, my husband and I made the decision to include gifts for men as well.
We hope to be able to start early November with our new items.
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?
It may sound hard to believe but it hasn’t been a smooth road! I totally wish it was. I believe because of the pandemic a lot of people got into crafting. It caused an overflow of bow shops. Despite this, we have persevered and grown.
Besides from just trying to make it financially, I had a point where I needed to pause and take care of my mental health. I think we overlook that we have to take care of us as well. I had closed my business and I took a break to seek counseling and focus on myself before continuing.
As a business owner, no matter how big or small the business is, there can be a lot of stress added to your daily life. Not only was I managing my business, but I also had my daughter to take care of and my home as well.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I make bows and head wraps for babies and toddlers by hand! My making focus on my business is the bows. I have added more to my business but I will always put my bow shop before my other accessories.
I’m proud of receiving messages from our customers. It’s an awesome feeling to get a thank you message from a satisfied customer! We even get messages asking for a specific item that we sold to a friend of a friend. Being contacted to request an item many shops may have feel amazing. It’s good to know that we get some preference despite all the bow shops in Houston alone.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
There are a lot go things that make me happy, one is making my daughter happy and another is living.
Growing up, we had what we needed. We didn’t grow up struggling but we didn’t grow up with everything we wanted. I strive to be able to do both for my daughter, not only to give her what she needs but also what she wants.
It fills my heart with joy to be able to gift her anything and seeing her eyes light up with happiness. Being alive and healthy also makes me happy. I used to be very negative, I used to fixate on the small insignificant negative things. I slowly learned that simply waking up another day is a blessing itself.
I wake up everyday and thank God and the universe I’m alive, I get another opportunity to live my life…
Contact Info:
- Email: Bowsfromjade@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jadesbowsandmore?utm_medium=copy_link
