How Lafayette Woman Turned Lampshade Hobby Into a Business
Source: PHOTO: Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock
LAFAYETTE, Ind.–Ashlee Barclay of Lafayette was decorating her home six years ago and realized she wasn’t able to find lampshades that gave the “pop” she wanted to the rooms.
Everything she liked could only be found in the United Kingdom and they either didn’t ship to the United States or it was too expensive for her to have it shipped, so she decided to make her own lampshades.
Barclay showed her work to her friends and family. They liked what they saw and encouraged her to turn her hobby into a business.
“It was really at their suggestion that it could be something bigger. I never saw myself as a businessperson. I don’t come from a business family or anything,” said Barclay in an interview with Inside Indiana Business.
She found an organization called Score Indianapolis, which provides mentoring and lessons on how to run a business. They connected her with a mentor named Brandon Roger. Barclay called him a “godsend.”
“He questioned me a lot just based on the things that I was telling him,” she said. “‘Ashley, is this a hobby, or are you ready to make it a business?’ So just kind of talking me through all of that stuff, and giving me the foundation…to make sure it was something I was really into. That’s how I decided we can do this if I just go slowly at my own pace, not trying to push it really fast or anything.”
Roger connected Barclay with an interior designer who liked her products. She was featured in the trade publication Designers Today in August.
“I went to the NY Now trade show; that was a big boost. They found me there and immediately featured me in their trade resource magazine the very next month. That was huge,” said Barclay.
Barclay’s company is small, but she wants to keep her clientele pretty exclusive. Growth is still on her mind, though.
“I do want to get into designing my own fabrics to use for my lampshades. Right now, I have some fabric resources that I use that are very nice fabric resources. They range in prices from lower end to the higher end, just to cover my client base. But I would really like to design my own fabrics and be able to use those,” said Barclay.
Her passion is what keeps her going.
“All I can do is take it day by day, and in doing that, I’ve seen that it has proven to be the most beneficial. I don’t press anything or try to force any opportunities. Just kind of taking it day by day, word of mouth, people talking, that’s been what’s pushing me to keep going forward,” said Barclay.
