Hi friends. Welcome to the Life With Loverly podcast. I’m Brittany, a wife, mom, and lifestyle entrepreneur here to help you discover your best daily style and encourage you to try new things when getting dressed each day. I took a tiny following on social media and turned it into a community of over one million amazing women, and I am so glad you’re here. I’ll be sharing my heart with you beyond the 15 seconds on Instagram, so we’ll be diving into things like personal growth, friendships, motherhood, marriage, and of course, the business of blogging. Really, this space is here to serve as your go- to resource to building a life you adore while sprinkling some kindness to others along the way. Grab an iced coffee and let’s do life together. I’m Brittany, and this is the Life With Loverly podcast.

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Hi, friends. Welcome back to the Life With Loverly podcast. Today I’m sitting down with fellow content creator and brand owner, Erin Schrader from Living in Yellow. With now over 300,000 followers on Instagram, her own clothing line plus a storefront, Erin has paved her own path to success. Tune in to hear us chat about her journey into blogging, why she stayed at her nine to five, even after hitting seven figures in her business, the super savvy business advice on how she grew her team and her insights on the social landscape change over the last 14 years. This conversation was a fun one. I think you’ll learn a lot about the business side of things if you desire to build your own brand too. Here’s my conversation with Erin Schrader. Hi, friends. Welcome back to today’s episode. I have Erin from Living in Yellow with me today. Hello, Erin. How are you?

Hi, Brittany. So good. I’m excited to do this. I think I’ve been on one other podcast in my life, so they kind of terrify me a little bit. My heart’s over here racing, but you’ll be great. No, I’m really excited. So thanks for having me.

Okay. Well, I was thinking back while I was prepping for this, and I feel like the last time I saw you was when we were in Seattle for the Gibson Look brand trip one week before the world shut down for COVID.

Yeah, that’s right.

Because remember the first outbreak in that nursing home was in Seattle while we were there.

Right.

I know. How crazy. Yeah.

Yeah.

That is when I met you for the first time.

Yeah.

Yes.

Such a fun … I feel like there are so many things from that trip that I remember and just conversation with other influencers and creators on just how to have a business in this space. I remember you and I think it was Anna. Y’all were taking this class.

Yes. We did a mastermind together.

Yeah. Yeah. I always think back to things that you guys mentioned from that class. Did that end up being beneficial?

It was, yes. I just think anytime you can come together with other Influencers, because what we do is so it still feels new. I don’t know if you feel like that. I feel like this industry still feels very new and can be isolating at times. We’re just on our computers in our bedroom shooting photos. And so anytime there’s an opportunity to come together with other like- minded entrepreneurs and learn from one another, I think always is beneficial. So yeah, I loved doing that mastermind. I would love to do something like that again because ever since COVID, I haven’t actually invested in any more of those in- person retreats with other influencers or anything. So yeah, I would love to get back on that.

I know. It’s always, like you said, just so great to pick people’s brains, like what’s working for you. Last year I went to a event or an event in Las Vegas with Amazon and there were a lot of other Amazon creators. And I think I learned more about not even Amazon related things just in having conversation with others. And I was like, “We got to do this more.” Yes. Especially with just the times are just changing. Social media is evolving. There’s so many platforms you can be on and it’s kind of hard to keep up sometimes. Right.

Yes, totally agree. Yeah. Well, I went to an Amazon one. That’s funny you said Amazon too, because I went to an Amazon one a summer or two ago and it was just through other influencers talking about deep linking and I hadn’t jumped on that train yet. And they were all talking about the success they were saying. I was like, “What is this you’re talking about? ” And it changed my business tenfold overnight.

Totally.

So I was like, that is worth every penny of going to these retreats. Even, I didn’t learn a ton about Amazon or from Amazon specific, but it was the people that were there. So I would love to spend more time with influencers in the flesh. I’m in small town Indiana. I mean, there are fields out my window. There are not influencers where I live. So yeah, I would love to make a point to get out there more with other influencers. Talk about what’s working for you, what’s not w]orking for you. Because like you said, it’s always changing. And so-

Yeah. I think so many people crave that interaction. It’s funny, there’s a few newer creators that I started following earlier this year, and I noticed that two of them met up in person and they were so excited about meeting. I knew this person online and now I’ve met up with her and it’s just been so good for the soul to talk to somebody in person about this journey. And so for those of you who are listening, who are content creators, encourage you to connect with people to set up these meetings because it can be so beneficial even if it’s just brainstorming together. Yes. And I feel like you have a team, I have a team. So sometimes I feel like I do a lot of that creativity brainstorming within my own organization, but that’s not everybody’s story right now. So it’s always encouraging.

I’m sure obviously for you too, we both just started out ourselves bringing all this out and Googling all the things and trying all the things.

I know.

Yeah. And there is a lot of beauty in that too. I don’t know if you ever feel like you missed those scrappy days of-

Yeah, kind of.

Yeah. And there’s something beautiful now about having a team and having it all pieced together. But yeah, sometimes there’s parts of it where I’m like, “Gosh, I kind of just miss having to figure this all out.”

Yeah. Almost feels like simpler times.

Yes. Well, yeah because I’m sure you can relate where so much of your time is now in meetings and planning and you’re not just doing the task.

Right. It does change it.

It does. It totally does. But yeah.

Okay. So you are the creator behind the brand and storefront Living in Yellow, which is a women’s clothing and lifestyle brand. Let’s start from where did your name come from?

Yeah. So when I started my blog, it was back in 2011, and I had just started reading other blogs and just thought that this was so cool that these women were just sharing their daily lives, very online diary format. And so I was working full-time at a credit union and just thought, I would like to have a place where I could just document my memories and look back on … I started really with the intention of sharing with nobody and obviously that changed. So when I went, I remember it was like a snow day in Indiana. So work was shut down and these were back in the days where I was bored, didn’t have kids. I didn’t have a blog. So I sat in our office at the time and there was this yellow sweater hanging in the closet in my peripheral vision as I was trying to create this blog and I was like, oh, yellow, I always gravitate towards wearing that color. In Indiana, we have a lot of gray days. So if I knew I’m going to need a little boost in my step today, maybe I start my period and it’s just like, I need something. And so I would just reach for yellow. And so I kind of sat on that. And obviously yellow just means happiness and sunshine. And so living in yellow, really like translation is like living with joy. And so just kind of like finding the good and the fun and the little moments. And so that’s how I landed on it. It was a yellow sweater in a closet and the rest is history.

Isn’t it so funny how we went through this process of, okay, we need to name this blog. And people don’t realize that is a lot of pressure.

Oh yeah.

What if this becomes something? And I feel like I didn’t even really think about it like that. What is a cool, like a name that just that makes sense means people ask me where’d Loverly Gray come from? And my dog is a wireaner and she’s gray and I always like wanted something to do with her name, which is Birdie. But at the time I was like, “I don’t know. ” And I always gravitated towards the color gray, so a little opposite of you. And so then I’m like, “What words go with gray? My dog is gray. I like the color gray, love gray, I love gray. What are other words for love?” And then you just stumble on something that sticks. But I had a note in my phone that was like blog names and a list of just like, what are some weird names they could throw together that would equal a fashion blog.

Yeah. And then you are. So when people meet you, do they think your name is Loverly or Brittany?

Yeah. People a lot of times think my name is Loverly.

Honestly, I thought your name was Loverly for a long time.

So many people do. Even the other day I was somewhere and I gave my email to somebody at a store and she was like, “Ooh, what a cool name. Loverly Gray.” And I was like, “It’s not my name, but it’s okay.” It’s just like, yeah. Yeah.

I know, but whenever people meet me, they’re like living in yellow and YouTube, you started back in those early days. You never think, oh, someday somebody approached me on the street calling me this name that I’m choosing in this moment. So I’m kind of glad though that I had no foresight to like…

I know. …

This will be a thing because then I would’ve put the pressure on. This is just like, oh, what do I want to see every day when I log into blogspot.com?

Oh my gosh. Man. And it feels like all of 2011, you were really like the height of the OG bloggers because that’s sort of like around that Pinterest era where people, like at the start of Pinterest where people would put pictures on their blog and link them to Pinterest and that’s how people would get discovered. I mean, you’ve lived, it almost feels like such a social lifetime in those last, I mean, I guess, what is that? 14 years? 14 years.

14 years, which is wild. But yeah, Pinterest, that honestly is now that you say that. So Stitch Fix, I don’t know if you ever said anything with Stitch Fix, but I was like a religious Stitch Fix subscriber member. And so I would get my boxes every month and then I would take the photos of that month’s box, post it on my blog and then pin them. And so much of my following in those early days were people saying, “I found your Stitch Fix boxes on Pinterest and that’s how I got to. ” And now I kind of like even forget that exists. So it’s crazy how certain moments, I don’t know, like Stitch Fix led to so much of my growth, but in hindsight, I wasn’t even doing that intentionally. It just, that’s how it happened. But yeah.

So you were working when you first started and it was just kind of like a fun outlet. Did you have any idea or like, I mean, I feel like you blew up on Facebook.

Yeah. So Facebook was … So I started in 2011 and I really just like very online diary. I would write the craziest embarrassing stories and I really, I did just want it, I kind of treated it almost a little bit like I had this gratitude journal prior to starting my blog that I would write in every day. And I loved just like flipping through that journal and being like, “Oh my gosh, I remember that. ” And so I kind of treated my blog for a while as like my gratitude journal of like, “I’m just going to talk about what happened today. So in three years I could look back and remember this crazy thing.” And so it wasn’t until 2015, I remember I went to a conference, I forget which conference, but like a blogger conference and I was listening. Do you know what Beautiful Mess? Do you follow? So they, I think it was them, I think, were on stage and had some of their team members with them. And I was like, “Oh my gosh, they’re big enough to do this thing and hire people to help them do this. ” And she was talking about her income and I was just like, “Whoa, I have never treated this blog like it could be a career for me. ” I very much approached it like, “This is a fun side gig and if I make $200 a month, that’s awesome.” And so after I left that session and I was with somebody I know and I was like, “I’m going to make six figures from blogging this year.” And I was just like, “I don’t know how I’m going to do that, but I’m going to do this and treat it like a big girl job or something.” So that was in 2015. And so I was like, “Well, how am I going to do this if I’m saying I’m going to do this? ” When I kind of started learning more about affiliate marketing and it was like, “Okay, I’ll give this a try.” Because I noticed people had already kind of been asking in blog posts like, “Oh, where’d you get that shirt? What jeans are you wearing? Where are those pillows from?” And so at the time, I think LTK was just starting or it was out, but that was Instagram based. For me at that time as a consumer, I was like, “Gosh, that feels really annoying to have to like something and then get an email and then go to my email.” I value efficiency in my life.

I just need it now.

Where is the quickest way for me to get these links somewhere that they can just click? And so Facebook at the time was that platform. So in 2015, I was like, “I am just going to pour the heck out of myself into Facebook. I’m going to post consistently.” I got really skilled at Facebook ads and boosting posts. And so I just poured myself into that and grew that Facebook following and that first year by 100,000. And so I had just this community all of a sudden that was coming to my Facebook page to see what outfits I was wearing, what sales were happening. And it just grew pretty rapidly, word of mouth then. Friends were telling their friends. And so Facebook was the platform for us. And it has served us really well, honestly, over the last almost 10, well, 10 years now. So yeah, so it’s kind of an untraditional route of a lot of influencers because obviously so many are Instagram heavy or even TikTok now. And now, I mean, we are definitely learning the importance of getting on Instagram and like, okay, video’s not going anywhere.

I know.

We better freaking learn video. I’ve resisted it for so long.

So did I. I was like, reels are so dumb. I’m not doing that.

Yeah. And for somebody who values efficiency, I’m like, “I am not spending my time doing this.”

And now it’s kind of going back to still images and I’m like, “Ugh, but it’s so much better to just do a video and tell people, talk through it or whatever.”

Yeah, I know. So I mean, the world of social media and all the swings, but yeah. So anyhow, I don’t even really remember what your was, but Facebook has been a really awesome platform for us where that’s where we’ve grown the majority of our audience. And we still show up and serve her every day there. All day, every day.

I remember back when I was first starting, I started at the end of 2015, so I was just going to say 2016, and there really weren’t a ton of people sharing affordability, sale alerts, and I know that’s something you were doing, and to me, I’m like, that just resonated with so many people when I started to do that. And now it kind of seems like that’s the way of … Everybody’s like, “Oh yeah, now this is on sale or get this here.” You know what I mean? Because obviously sales sell, but that wasn’t the case back then, because it was still a lot of pretty pictures and look what I’m wearing and kind of … And I think there must be something to that because you were kind of like a leader in the industry doing that.

Well, and I think there’s such a … I think it could go on all spectrum. There’s … What am I trying to say here? Basically where I have wanted to live is, yeah, we do share, we share the sales, we share pieces that are on sale, but I’ve always wanted to infuse my life into living in yellow as well, where I know there is a place and a space for strictly sale platform. But what has driven me and what I love the most about what I do is that connection with our community. And so that has always been at the forefront of that is I want to feel like they know me and know what’s going on in my life and then … But yeah, weaving in the affordability has been a big component to it. So yeah, I think it’s just been a good balance, I guess, of figuring that out over the years of sharing what I’m wearing and then also talking about what my newborn is eating.

Well, and I mean, I think the beauty of it too is creating a platform and a place to where you come and show up for your community and then you are also like, people are wanting to know where your shirt’s from. So you show up with the day being like, “Here’s the things I want to talk to you about that is happening in my life.” And, “Oh yeah, okay, let me give you the link to this. ” It’s such an authentic way to show up for your community. And honestly, if you’re a creator or wanting to be a creator listening, that’s a great tactic is just share yourself, share who you are. And people, as they start to follow along, will naturally just be like, “Well, what is that? What is that? Tell me more.” Because people want to know all the things.

Right. But yeah, I think it’s just so true. We’re living in a time period where people want to buy from people.

Totally.

And so that’s what … I mean, as influencers, we’re in just this great time period of where people would rather … They trust people versus big brands or retailers and we get to be this voice in between the brand. And I don’t know, it’s a really cool opportunity that we’re given that our audience trusts us and then brands trust us also to represent them. And yeah, such a cool job. It’s such a-

Yeah, it really is.

Yeah.

Okay. So when in this journey did you decide it was time to start growing your team and how did you know it was the right time?

Yeah. So like I mentioned, so four years into blogging is when it was like, okay. So I had set that goal in 2018, I’m going to make six figures. I bought a pair of shoes at Nordstrom and my husband was like, “What in the world are you doing? Those are $100. Why are you spending $100 on shoes?” I’m like, “Honey, just trust me. ” And so I wore the heck out of those shoes and would post links to them and soon enough they paid for themselves. I was like, “Okay, I think we’re onto something. This affiliate marketing can be profitable.” And so that next full year, I hit seven figures, not six. And so I was like, “Okay.” But I was working full-time. I was working full-time at Credit Union. Meanwhile, making more money than I had ever dreamed of. And so I was like, “I probably should hire somebody,” but I wasn’t ready to quit my job. So I loved what I did. I loved leaving the house every day, having people around me, being social. I was like, “I don’t think that I can just sit at home and do this. ” Yeah. All by myself, I’ll be so bored. And so I was like, I’m going to … It’s so funny looking back, I’m going to keep working full-time and I’m going to hire somebody full-time to work on LIY. And so stayed at the credit union for a while, had an employee. So It’s like in my lunch hour, I’d be able to get on the phone with my employee and be like, “Hey, could you do a newsletter today or something?” And so finally I was like, “Okay, Erin, this thing keeps growing. I need to choose here. I want to do this full-time or I’m calling it quits.” And I knew I didn’t want to call it quits. So 2017 is when I left the credit union. And then so that year of 2017, I had already hired one person and then I think in that same year I ended up hiring three more people. So by the end of 2017, I think there was a team of four of us, but I would just write lists of every single thing I was doing and then I’d circle the items that I felt like I loved and needed to do and then underline the items where I was like, “Okay, somebody else can do this. It doesn’t need to be me. ” And so I just kept creating positions based off of these lists that I would make. And now there’s a team of 10 of us on the LIY side and five on our shop side. So I think you are similar. Do you have like 15-ish?

Yeah, we have 15 right now and it’s wild. I kind of never thought it would be where it is, but I’m sure you might feel similar. Sometimes I’m like, “I could create more jobs.” I’m like, “We could hire somebody else to do X, Y, Z, or let’s get another person in. ”

Well, and I think we’re probably both wired in the sense we’re idea generators and we have visions and so to be able to know like, “Oh gosh, here’s an idea. If we would just hire somebody, we could execute this. ” So I think it’s a mix for me of hiring was a mix of like, here’s current needs, but also here’s wishes. And so some of those wishes and dreams bred more employees. So I mean, hiring was scary at the start, but gosh, once you start doing it and you start delegating and you see how much more is possible, that has been so instrumental in growing, living in yellow. So yeah.

I tell people all the time, I’m just like, as soon as you feel like you need to hire somebody, you go ahead and start the process. There’s never going to be the right time. And hiring your first employee can be kind of like daunting and hard because it’s like you almost get in your head and you’re like, “Well, I can just keep doing this myself.” Delegating can be hard, especially if you’re goal driven and you’re like, “I just want to hit the next milestone or I’m already in this rhythm.” But taking a step back and just being like, “Okay, but what if I got somebody in here and we could double everything or triple everything that would be smarter.” Because obviously you didn’t start this with these intentions. How has the leadership been? That was something I feel like I had to learn to be a boss of people, a manager of people. And that was like, there’s definitely been some struggles along the way of, am I doing this right? I don’t know how to do this.

Oh yeah, definitely. It is so interesting because all of us influencers, we start just with this, it’s us. It’s this one person show. And then obviously as it grows, it’s such a blessing. But yeah, then we’re put in these positions all of a sudden of like, holy cow, I am now responsible for 10 people and their job satisfaction and, oh crap, I have to work on my communication skills. And so it has been a learning process, which I’m sure you probably feel like that, especially in the early days. I was just one of those people pleasers and never ruffle the feathers and like ya know.

We just don’t have to talk about it.

And not that I’m now yelling at people and stuff, but I have learned the importance of a friend told me a while ago to be clear is to be kind and I kind of like lived in this like, oh, I don’t want to be too direct, but I’ve learned how much employees really value just that direct communication. And so I think I’ve grown a lot in my comfort levels of leadership and delegating and empowering our staff, but I would say it’s the hardest part of what I do for sure is- And I have amazing, amazing team members, but it’s still like,

Yeah,

That’s the hardest part of what I do.

Yeah, I get that. Okay. Obviously you are a goal setter, setting your goal of like, “I’m going to get six figures,” and you’re like, “Nope, better make it seven.” Do you have any process that you go through when you set goals? Do you like to set really long-term goals or short-term, or is there anything special or unique you do in that process?

Yeah, so that’s a good question. I mean, on the business level, we have … So a strategy team, there’s four of us on that strategy team. So as we go into the next year, we’ll spend a lot of time in our little meetings. We’ll have input from the entire team of what went well last year, what didn’t go well, what’s something you would like to see us accomplish. And so we take all that feedback and then we put a plan in place. And then we have an annual vision day where we have the team and we present, here is the direction of the next year. And then we meet … Well, I mean, we meet weekly, but once a month we have what we call our monthly reflection meeting where we review, here are all the goals that we talked about doing at the beginning of the year, where are we at with them? So we’re constantly checking in because we all know we can set these goals, but if you forget about, if you’re not checking in on them, you’re done for. So that is one way on a personal level. So we all So create and sell our own planners. And in our planners every month it has where you can write down three goals for the month. And so I just write my goals and then one thing that I’m going to do to accomplish that goal that month. So yeah, I do love goal setting, but I will say I had a child in the last year and I feel like some of my goals and he has definitely taken precedence. So I’m like in my setting anymore. I don’t know. Did I survive the day?

You’re like, see, surviving exactly.

Yeah. No, but yeah.

Okay. How has that been? Because you guys were on a journey to have your son.

We had a long time. So Chip I got married when I was 20. I’m now about to be 39 and we just have a child. So we waited 18 years to have our first kid, which was kind of wild, but it also allowed, I say living in yellow is really kind of my first child.

Yeah, totally.

I’ve poured into that for a lot of years. But yeah, so we finally made the decision that, okay, we’re going to do this. And then it took us a while to have little crew, but he’s here. Great. But it’s definitely been eye-opening or I don’t know, just to like pre-crew, I could pour so much of myself into living in yellow. And I’ve just had to come to terms with like, that isn’t me in my stage of life right now and that’s okay. So he has been incredible, but yeah, my weekends aren’t just spent on the computer posting on Facebook. I’m crawling around on the floor with a little toddler.

It definitely changes your perspective too. And almost I feel like having, because I’ve got two girls, six and four, and even when they were like younger, there were so many times where I felt like I almost had to choose between like, do I do this for the business or do I do the present mom thing? Yeah. And obviously I always want my children to be like my first choice, but there’s some times where I’m like, this deadline or like they’re okay. And it pulls on you so emotionally because you have work, but you also have kids. It can be a tough balance.

Yeah. And I think it can be so hard. I think for a period of time I was in this, I don’t know if this is society or me projecting this, but almost like in this place of like, okay, I feel like I have to … I think I was trying to convince myself that I should be a stay at home mom and I should be happy with that. And why am I not choosing that?

Yeah.

But I just had to come to terms of like, no. I mean, I want to be an excellent mother, but I really love having this career and I want to do this. And so for me, it’s just been about establishing very clear boundaries. And so for me, that looks like I work from nine to four and once four o’clock hits, I am on baby duty.

Yeah. It’s just wild too, because I feel like there’s just help needed in certain areas. I felt like I had to rely more on my employees to do things or it almost forced me to delegate knowing like, okay, I have to be present at home, but there’s things going on with the business. And in our world, social media is twenty four seven. And you can schedule things and you can … But if something happens, who’s going to fall back to be the point of contact for checking that or making sure the link is correct or whatnot. So I feel like there’s just a lot of shifts that have to be made and that kind of has to get ironed out over time.

Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah. I think it has been a great thing in reassessing priorities for myself in the business and kind of going back to the drawing board of like, okay, what are the things that I really need and want to do and what are the things that don’t need to be on my plate now that I do have bigger priorities? So yeah, I think having a child has been an amazing thing and yeah, has really only, I feel like helped me in my business.

Totally, totally. So I’ve noticed that on your page a lot on Facebook, you have some of your other team members showing things as well. How has that been? Does your audience enjoy seeing maybe it’s multiple different body types, age ranges? Has that been something that you’ve found has been really successful?

Yeah. So that was a decision that I made, oh gosh, it’s been several years of where I wanted the team to have a little more presence on our platform. It’s so interesting because I don’t know if you ever think about what is your long-term plan here when it’s like something kind of like, what is the exit route for influencers?

Right. I know. Is it just like, “Okay, bye. Have a nice…” Because there have been some that have just been like, “Hey, I can’t do this anymore.” And they just cut off and go and that’s wild, but I mean, I don’t think that’s possible for us.

I know. Yeah, because I mean, we’ve built these brands and these communities.

So much more than just a Facebook post or an Instagram reel.

Yeah. And so I think years ago, it was kind of, not that I have any exit plan, but it was kind of this like, okay, in 20 years from now, do I want the business to still look like just me or do I want this to be, I don’t know, something bigger? And so yeah, we decided to bring on the team so they all get this personal budget that they can shop and find things that they truly love, but it has been awesome for our audience to see multiple sizes and body types and hair colors. And yeah, so our audience has embraced it really well. And just one of our team members right now is on vacation at the Atlantis for spring break and she’s like, “Oh my gosh, I just had…” We call our community Jennifer is our alias. So Jennifer just came up to me and she recognizes me from LAY. And so yeah, I feel like our audience has just been so supportive of the collective team. And I think people are just so curious about like, “Wait, you have a team. What do they do? How does this work? How do they fit into this puzzle?”

Totally.

So yeah, I think people are just curious and yeah, it’s been super helpful to our audience just to have more body types and styles and have different age ranges. And so yeah, it’s been a really good thing.

I love that. Yeah. I feel like also there’s not a ton of influencers or content creators who talk about their teams in the way that you do or the way that I do. I mean, and so sometimes it’s kind of like you look at all these people and you’re like, “How are they doing that? ” And now at this point, I just assume people have a team helping behind the scenes just because I know I do, but it’s always … I mean, I can’t do it all by myself and I would never want anybody to be discouraged that they couldn’t get into this because it looks like I do it all, because that’s not the case. But I think it’s always fun to just see a behind the scenes of people’s teams and like, “Oh, what is the dynamic? What do they do? What do they call themselves?” It’s always just really fun

I know I love it. Our whole team has loved following your Life with Loverly Instagram account because we’re like, “Oh, look at their office. What do these people do? ” I was telling some of the girls today, I was like, “It would be such a goal of mine if … ” I’m putting you on the spot, but I’m like, if sometime we could go visit your office office and just learn, how do you guys run things? What are your people doing?

Let’s do it.

Versa. Yeah, because it is a newer industry where I’m just so curious. We have our processes and systems and ways of doing things, but I’m like, how do all these other influencers run it with their teams?

I know. Well, and it’s so fascinating too because we built out this office space where everybody sits, but we’re even like, okay, maybe we should have done it differently or maybe we should have done not so open air. People really do kind of need a smaller … I mean things we didn’t know and now we’re like, how do we rework what the space that we do have? Yeah.

Well, your office looks beautiful.

Well, thank you. I love that. And let’s talk offline about this idea because I think that could be really fun and I know my girls would love that too.

Yeah. Yeah. That’d be great.

Okay. So the storefront, that is new within the last few years, right?

Yeah. We opened that two years ago this May.

Okay. So if somebody is coming, what are they seeing at the storefront? How is it different from what you show on socials and on your other platforms?

Yeah. So like I mentioned earlier, I live in small town, like Amishville, Indiana. And so my sister, she has a really cute store that she has had operating for several years in our little downtown area. And so for a while she’s like, “Oh, you need to open a store here and bring more people in. ” And I was always like, “Eh, I don’t know. It seems like just another thing.” And so a space came available for rent and we were like, “Okay, maybe we should do this. ” I love, I’m such an experienced tangible in- person person. And so I was like, how cool would it be to actually create a physical space where people we could invite our local community and our online community in and just like how can we create just a super fun shopping experience. So yeah, our storefront is so cute. We bought the yellow striped awning. You walk in, I don’t know, right now we have surfboards in there, music playing. We offer everybody really fun drinks. Our staff is awesome. And then it’s just filled with clothes that we were buying, obviously wholesale, that we love. And so I get to have a hand in the buying and so that’s been really fun. But yeah, we have people come in from all over the country just tell, it’s so cool that they’re experiencing this tiny little town, but having a great time. And so yeah, we’re just kind of like, I feel like my sister and I are like little like Joanna Gaines trying to put Waco on the map. Let’s build up the town. We probably put Middlebury, Indiana on the map. So we’re like, “Make Middlebury great.” So yeah. I love it. So it’s been really fun to … Yeah. And then we do … So we have the physical storefront, but then we have shoplivinginyllow.com where anybody can shop online at any time and buy what we’re selling as well.

That’s awesome. I’m going to add that link to our show notes so for our listeners, they can pop over and check it out. That’s so fun.

Yeah. So I would love to create more in person of spaces, which you have. Don’t you have one?

We do. We have a photo studio that we rent out. A lot of local photographers use it for branding sessions, mommy and me photos. We kind of like rotate what’s in there. And that really just started because I needed a photo space. I was like, “I just need a clean place to make some reels or take outfit photos.” And so we had this extra space when we were doing our build out and I was like, “What if we made a photo studio that we could rent to other people when we weren’t using it? ” Because I wasn’t going to be using it twenty four seven. And now we don’t even use it really for ourself anymore. It gets rented all the time, which is great because it’s really pretty just airy space and people have parties in there. There’s all sorts of stuff that they can do, but I want to open a second location. I’m looking and have been for a little while. I’m like, “We could keep this going. ” Yeah. I mean, I feel like there’s always just ideas. I’m like, “Should we do a loverly great coffee shop? Should we do a lovely great storefront?” I’m like, “What else do we need?” My husband’s like, “Calm down.”

You have such a fun brand and such a loyal following. It’s so fun to follow you. I’m such a fan of you personally, but I just feel like everything that you do is beautiful and just invites people in. And so yeah, I’m like, “Create more of you. ” I know.

It is.

Oh my gosh, your new home is.

Oh my goodness. I am obsessed and I am so glad that I’m there where … So I built a office space off of my closet so all the clothes could just be like … That was always my complaint. I just want the clothes to be in one place, but accessible when I’m doing a try-on in a pretty spot. And now I work from home four days a week and I love it because I’m like, I love my house so much I don’t want to leave. And so now I’m just so thankful I can do my job from home and just enjoy all the aspects of it.

That breakfast room.

It’s my favorite. Yeah. I think that’s my favorite spot.

Reels in front of there.

No. I know. And I just feel like it’s such a pretty aesthetic. It just feels … When I’m in there, I just feel like it’s like a hug. If your home could hug you, that’s the space I feel like it would be, which is so silly to say.

Yeah, awesome.

So does your husband work with you guys too?

Yeah. So he left this-

He’s part of the brand.

Yeah. He left his job in 2020. It was so funny because we were like, “Man, if you would leave your job, we could travel so much.” And then-

I said that to Chris too. Literally.

Does he work with the brand?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He left in January of 2020.

Okay. Sean, same. Same exactly. Yeah.

I think that Seattle trip was Chris’s first brand trip with me.

Oh yes, he was there.

And then the world shut down and he was like, “Huh, this isn’t exactly what we were hoping for. ” Right? I know. How has that dynamic been of you guys, the two of y’all working together?

It’s overall has been good. We do very different tasks in the business. So Sean, he is very behind the scenes, taxes. He does, I don’t know-

All the operations.

Yes, operations, all the maintenance on the properties. It’s just all the things that they need to happen, but I am not going to take the literally what’s going on there. He and Chris would get along great. Yeah. Yes, I’m sure. So yeah, he’s very like, “I don’t need to be on camera. I don’t want to be on camera. You do your thing. I’ll do mine.” So overall it’s worked out really well. I think it’s now just balancing this like, man, I mean, we try to be in different spaces during the day, but we’re also just around each other a lot. And now obviously we have a child and then we have a nanny in the home. It’s just like, okay, there’s people in my space all the time. And so just trying to like … We’re learning how to give each other space more, I guess

And it’s so interesting. I feel like we have to go through those type of … It’s just growth and sometimes growth, there’s tension or just it feels like, how do we work through this? It’s just life stages of where you guys are right now too with the little one at home.

Yeah. But yeah, it’s been amazing to have Sean work with the Living Yellow brand and it does offer us so much flexibility and freedom to just go wherever we want to go. Yeah. So it’s been awesome. So

Yeah. Okay. I have a few little rapid fire questions for you that are just kind of fun. Okay. What is your favorite summer cocktail?

Last summer, I really got into Aperol spritzes and I’m going to carry that with me to this summer.

Okay. I love it.

Yeah.

What is your go- to summer outfit?

Okay. I am like big … I always say one and done dressing. Give me a comfy romper. Or I think Zella has these last year, they had some really great just one piece rompers, kind of athletic material, just comfy, but still looks cute. So yeah, I’m going to say that.

I love a one and done.

Yes.

Cute look.

Yep.

Okay. Any favorite bathing suits for summer?

Gosh, postpartum bathing suits.

I know.

So fun. Gosh. Yeah. I just bought one from Albion Fit. Is that the- Oh

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Theirs are kind of like higher rise. They’ve got really fun prints, I think.

Yes. Yeah. It’s like a little more modest, which for right now, the stage of life I’m in, I’m like, okay, I’m fine with embracing that a little bit.

Okay. A brand that you should look into, Hermosa. I don’t know if you’ve ever-

Okay. I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t tried it.

Okay. So their whole thing is livable mom suits and the coverage is really good. I’m going to give myself a little plug here. I actually have a collection with them coming out in a few weeks.

Okay. This is exciting.

So I will send you one because the material is so good. It’s not super cheeky, good pieces. Okay. Yeah. But check out their other one pieces too, because they just dropped some in March that are really cute and super comfortable.

Okay.

Yeah. And they’re good mom suits.

Well, that is so exciting for your collab.

Yeah. I’m very, very excited for that. So I’ll let you know when that is getting a little closer. Okay. What about, do you have a tinted moisturizer that you love?

I use Tart. I think it’s called Skin Treat. It’s their tinted history. I don’t know. Yeah. It feels like a cloud. I don’t know how to explain it, but it just feels amazing.

Okay.

I think it’s called Skin Treat.

I need to try that one.

Yeah, definitely try.

What about your favorite summer activity?

So in the summer we live on the water and hang on boat, so we love to just be out on the boat, hanging out with friends.

I love the lake, the boat. There’s just something that just feels like summer is here when you’re on it.

Yes. So yeah, floating on the lake.

What about your favorite mom item or favorite item for crew?

Oh gosh, that’s such a good question. I feel like he’s changing every week right now is a new thing.

I know.

I mean, honestly, the Duna stroller has been a game changer because we travel quite a bit. So we take that thing on the airplane with us. So to stroll it through the airport and then just plop it down into his own seat, put him on the airplane.

It’s so convenient.

Amazing. So I’m going to say the Duna.

Whoever came up with that, I’m like- I know. Everybody I see around with a newborn has a Duna. And it’s so … We had one for … So my oldest, the Duna was kind of made a little bit after she was born. And so I did have it a little while into her when she was a baby because we traveled with her some too. And then my second was born during COVID, so we really weren’t going anywhere. So we didn’t use it as much. But now my best friend just had a baby last year and that’s all they use. And I’m like, this is so convenient.

It is.

Just like one and done stroller situation.

Right. Yeah. I know. I feel like all the moms who had babies 30 years ago like, “I wish I had that thing because I had babies.” I’m like, “Yeah, it’s nice.”

Yeah. That’s so funny. Okay. And then I have one last question and I wrap up all of my podcast interviews with this question. It is, what is one random act of kindness that somebody extended to you that has had a lasting impact on your life?

That is a very good question.

It’s kind of deep. We go deep to it.

Now that is a good one. No, that’s a great question though. Honestly, I feel like I’ve had … I mean, there’s a lot of things I could say here, but sticking it kind of in this business sense, since a lot of our conversation was focused, when I started my blog, I was going to keep it a secret. I think I just didn’t have the confidence that anybody would be interested in it. And I remember going to my sister’s house and I was like, “So I started this blog. Do you want to read a couple of these posts?” And she read it and she was like, “Oh my gosh, you’re such a good writer.” And do you know Pioneer Woman? Do you know who? Yeah. Yeah. So she’s like, “I feel like you could be the next pioneer woman.” And she said that and I was like, “Seriously? You think that this is good?” And it was just her speaking words of confidence into me, that’s all I needed to then want to share this with the world. And obviously it’s had such a … I mean, it’s been such a blessing and it’s had such a positive impact on my life, but it took just somebody speaking something in her mind, she probably doesn’t even remember saying this, but I think it just goes to show how our words affect people so much. And when you see somebody that you see that skill or that talent in them, just to speak that life into them, you do not know what they could do with that. And so I’m forever so grateful that my sister just spoke those words to me because without those, I don’t think I’d be sitting here right now.

Yeah.

Thank you to my sister. Yes.

That’s beautiful. I think too, it’s, like you said, such a great lesson and reminder to give encouragement, offer up that words of wisdom. You never know how that could change somebody’s life like it did yours.

Yeah, exactly.

I love that. Well, Erin, this has been so great. I have truly loved talking to you. I know my listeners are going to love hearing your story and some of your background as an entrepreneur and business owner. Will you tell everybody where they can find you on socials and your website?

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me. It was so fun. Of course. I’m glad that I said yes to it.

I know.

Yeah, you can find us at livinginyllow.com and then on socials living in yellow. And then our shop is shoplivinginyllow.com.

Perfect. I will leave that for you guys in the show notes and we will talk to you soon until next time.

All right. Thanks.

Hi, friend. If you’re loving the show, will you go find that follow button on your podcast app? This will ensure that you won’t miss a single episode. I love having you in this community. Until next time. This season of Life with Leverly is produced by Elizabeth Evans Media Productions.