Small Business Series No. 15: Verdigris

Our Small Business Series feature this month is on my top 3 list of favorite places in OKC. Please meet the lovely ladies of Verdigris, Kimberly & Melissa! They are the sister team that keeps the wheels rolling behind the beautiful shop Verdigris, and just this year expanded to a larger space on Hudson & 7th. Their business tagline is "recreate. repurpose. reinvent." which is right up my alley. I love finding old treasures and making a new purposes for them.  I had a great time getting to know the two to them through the SBS series, make sure to stop by and say hello during H&8 tomorrow!

Name: Kimberly Spicer & Melissa Graham

Business Name: Verdigris

Website: www.verdigrisokc.net

Favorite Dessert:

Kimberly – my mom's frozen strawberry dessert, my nana's turtles, my memaw's chocolate chip cookies, & mint chocolate chip ice cream

Melissa – Ditto...except no mint chocolate chip ice cream for me! I'll take chocolate meringue pie & banana cream pie any day!

Favorite artist/album:

Kimberly – I love all kinds of music!

Melissa – I love anything with a good beat!

When did you start your business: January 2011

What inspired you to start it? We grew up entrepreneurs constantly coming up with ideas, such as selling hand-made hair barrettes & jewelry stands, paint pen monogramming, having summer day camps for neighborhood kids & babysitting. We also spent a lot of time at our grandmother's (nana) interior design shop. We would hide in the closet and run blank credit card carbons through the credit card machine, play with the adding machine, and would “help” with cutting fabric. We also spent a lot of time at market. After going our separate directions during college and early adulthood, we finally came back together in OKC to combine our past & current interests to create Verdigris.

What would you say was your biggest challenge to overcome? The biggest challenge to overcome is balancing family life with self-employment in the retail industry.

Who/what was your biggest encouragement & why? Each other. While we both enjoy all aspects of the business, Kimberly is more right-brained & Melissa is more left-brained. Due to our differences, we rarely have conflicting views or concerns. We are constantly learning from each other which encourages us both to continue thinking outside the box.

What is your favorite part of the business?

We both enjoy being a part of the local business community & seeing the revitalization that is happening throughout OKC. We also love our customers & business partners that we have met along the way!

Kimberly – I enjoy hunting for unique pieces & then putting them together to form unusual displays.

Melissa – I enjoy the hunt & staging...but I would rather be in the office working on the accounting, payroll, media relations, or even creating a spreadsheet that we haven't determined we even need yet! :)

If you had advice to anyone who might be starting a business like yours? Find what you love, create a plan for your business, seek advice from professionals, and go for it! Plan to succeed, but it's okay if you fail!

Anything else about your small business that you're passionate about? We are both passionate about helping to incorporate the environmentally friendly business concept of reusing, recycling, repurposing, etc., into the everyday lives of others.

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I love, love, love that you were entrepreneurs from childhood! Loved that part of your story, thank you so much for being part of the series Kimberly & Melissa! 

Small Business Series No. 1: Birdie Blooms

First of all, I have to say that I've been adoring these Small Business Series shoots. It's so hard to hold them back and not share every single business all at once, but I'm going to try to be good and stick to my schedule of sharing them once a month. My first spotlight in the series is the sweet florist Katie Huskerson of Birdie.

I chose Katie to start with because she is talented, fabulous, oh-so-kind and gracious, but the main reason is because of this:

A couple minutes after I got to her workspace, she pulled into the hall to show me this portrait of her grandmother. Katie is a 4th generation florist. Framed and mounted she had a photograph of her grandmother, much like the one of Ryan's great grandfather that inspired me to do the Small Business Series. It made me feel close to this project and fall in love with it (and Katie!) even more.

So I'm asking everyone to tell me a little bit about their business, so here is what Katie had to say: Name - Katie Huskerson Business Name - Birdie Website - www.thebirdiesnest.com Favorite Dessert - Vanilla Ice Cream with berries and honey Favorite Artist/Album - Depends on the season but today I'm going with ...Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker When did you start your business? - October of 2009 What inspired you to start it? I grew up in my families flower shop in McAlester. When all my girlfriends began to get married, it felt natural to get involved with their flowers and create a business of my own. What would you say was your biggest challenge to overcome? Striking a balance between time with my family and work. When we made the decision to move our business to a studio setting, things just became more cohesive. It feels empowering to limit the amount of work I take on. My family time is cherished and then I am more inspired to exceed my clients expectations. What is your favorite part of your business: The flowers! I get to work with some of the world's most beautiful creations. I always look forward to the changing of the seasons and the flowers that follow. Left over flowers to scatter around the house is a nice perk too! Anything else about your small business that you’re passionate about? Theodore Roosevelt said “Comparison is the thief of joy.” That has been one of the single best thoughts for me to keep in mind as a business owner. You should have a solid business plan of course, but if you focus on being joyful and thankful you get to do what you love, the rest will fall into place.

Thanks so much for sharing with us Katie!