Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Gallier.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My business, All Gussied Up Boutique, started with a simple Google search for a Liz Claiborne wallet I was looking for to match a purse I owned. And I found one on a site called Poshmark, which is social commerce marketplace. I joined and bought my wallet and began to explore this new site. I thought it was so cool!
You can easily buy items at great discounts and sell your own items you no longer use or have sat in your closet forever which are brand new and still have the tags attached. After selling ten items, I took the Boutique training on Poshmark and began buying through their wholesale portal just as an experiment to see how it went. See in my younger days, I had to choose a path in college. My heart wanted to follow my passion for clothing and fashion. I wanted to become a buyer for a department store and get a Fashion Merchandising degree. But instead, I followed a different path and got a BBA in Business Administration with a degree in Accounting which is still my full-time career. But Poshmark has given me the opportunity to follow my long lost passion as well and I have high hopes my boutique will grow and expand!
After buying wholesale through Poshmark for a bit, I decided I wanted my boutique to be more unique and stand out from others so decided to get a business license to be able to purchase from other wholesalers as well. I chose the name for my boutique because that is great Southern phrase I used when I would get dressed up for a fancy event. After a DBA search, I applied for my license through the state of Texas and not long after I became an official business! I officially started ‘All Gussied Up Boutique’ in January 2018. My motto is ‘Fashion Finds at Affordable Prices.’ I believe women should be able to buy and look great in quality clothing without going broke and still be able to pay their bills! My boutique consists of new and gently used clothing, purses, accessories, jewelry and makeup tools.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been smooth. I definitely have had many learning curves. When I first started out, I just bought items randomly. Not all of them sold quickly. So, I began to do research on the coming season’s trends and colors that will be popular which helped my sales tremendously. I also had hit and misses on vendors to buy from. I only want to sell quality merchandise and some of the items I bought were not up to par and ended up being returned or donated. Taking quality photos of my items is also a challenge with the limited space I have in my apartment and lighting issues. A lighting kit will soon be an addition to help with that issue.
I also tried to do everything myself and quickly learned that I needed help! I learned I needed to delegate. For instance, social media is not my strong suite but vital to businesses today. It just so happens my daughter, Andrea Gallier has a degree in Journalism and currently works as a Marketing executive for an international hotel chain so I enlisted her as my Social Media Manager. She took over my Instagram page and created a Facebook profile and Twitter account for AGU. Now all I have to do is give her my ideas of what I want done and she creates my posts. That is awesome for me and frees up my time to do what I love which is buying and selling for my company.
In addition, there were some business-related learning curves such as learning my accounting software I use which is Quickbooks online and learning how to organize and maintain my inventory. I’m still in search of the perfect inventory software. So trying to master all the above while having a full-time job has been a challenge! I spend many lunch hours working on my business matters as well as evenings and weekends.
Please tell us about All Gussied Up Boutique.
My company All Gussied Up Boutique sells new and gently used clothing, accessories, purses, jewelry, and makeup tools at affordable prices. I specialize in buying great quality items that empower women by making them look great at prices that make them smile knowing they still have money to pay their bills! All Gussied Up’s motto is “Fashion finds at Affordable Prices.” I’m proud of being able to provide a place for women to shop and achieve the above and this sets me apart from others.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Well, shopping has always been in my blood and started long ago when we would visit our grandparents in Fredericksburg, Texas. My grandmother would take us kids to Main Street in Fredericksburg to Dooley’s 5, 10, & 25 Cent Store. We would get to pick out our favorite toy which in my case, was usually a Barbie doll. These trips always ended at Dairy Queen down the street. And I still love their dipped cones!! Dooley’s is still on Main Street and I think of my grandma every time I walk by it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://poshmark.com/closet/allgussiedup18
- Email: allgussiedup18@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allgussiedup18
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/allgussiedup18
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllGussiedUp18
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