Today's Field Research interview isn't overtly food related, in fact Sara Selepouchin isn't even in the food business. For the past few years, Sara has crafted a small, handmade online business, girlscantell, at first selling everything from knitted goods, to hand-sewn bags and wallets, to homemade lip balm. These days she focuses on her line of hand-drawn diagrams that she screenprints on pretty much anything you might want - tote bags, t-shirts, notebooks, placemats, kitchen towels, and pot holders. Lately Sara has even included some really amazing food / kitchen diagrams like a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, utensils, a bbq grill, and her latest - a burger homage to In-N-Out's double double, that was commissioned by me for Fries With That Shake's recent one year anniversary.
What interests me most about Sara's story is that she has gone from formally-trained architect (safe) to working for Etsy when it was still a relatively unknown startup (scary) to running her own successful Etsy shop full-time (scarier), all in a matter of a few years. What freaks me out the most about the prospect of going out on a limb, leaving a steady paycheck and insurance behind for the unknown, is well...the unknown. And having known Sara for almost five years now, I really wanted to understand her progression from structured employee to unstructured business owner and how she's been able to bounce back when things don't go the way she may have planned. Even though she's not necessarily a food entrepreneur, she grasps and continues to learn how to build a small business and make it thrive, even in tough economic times. Check out the interview below for more about Sara, her lip balm-making phase, and how she feels about sandwiches and ice cream.
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