Hi everyone, this is Tamara from Lily Glow Boutique and I'm coming to you today to update
you on the brand.
We are 30 days in and it has been a wonderful, wonderful experience to see the brand actually
go from a table to a brick and mortar and it be successful.
Our opening night on October 22nd was wonderful.
We had a line out the door.
It was pressed to the gills and it was just a wonderful experience for everyone who supported
and showed up.
I'm coming to you today on Giving Tuesday because I wanted to announce that Lily Glow
has a crowdfunding campaign.
I was strongly against going with crowdfunding and even loans because I wanted to continue
to grind personally and make sure that I was able to put all of my efforts, all of my funding
into the brand.
But sometimes you have to be prudent.
You have to be prudent as a business owner and you have to actually ask yourself, what's
the best thing that you need for the brand to grow and not just survive?
Lily Glow has paid its own rent in its own utilities.
It can do it this month and I'm happy about that.
I don't want the threshold to just be where it's just paying the bills and we're kind
of waiting in water here.
I want the brand to be able to grow in a marketing phase where I'm able to actually put the designers
in front of people that need to see it.
Part of mouth has worked so much for this brand over time but as I'm going forward with this
brick and mortar, this actual boutique, I know that we need to do more than just social
media posts.
You actually see that I'm doing a lot of on-the-fly photo shoots as well as having events here.
Lily Glow needs to expand and it needs to do it in a safe way but also a great way.
The campaign that I am hosting right now on GoFundMe is called the Lily Glow Dream.
If you go to GoFundMe.com forward slash Lily Glow Dream, you will see that I'm asking everyone
to just pledge some money so we can get to our $18,000 threshold.
Just getting this store up and running alone costs roughly $10,000 just for it to be renovated
and for me to have great decals and the wonderful furniture around here, the light marketing
that I needed prior to that.
I'm even going to truncate Hype and Lavender into that because without Hype and Lavender,
I wouldn't be here.
So that's even going more than $10,000 that was put into this brand just for the store
alone.
The reason why I'm asking for $18,000 as a small brand, that's a ton of money.
That's a ton of money that can go to marketing and will go to marketing as well as light
operations.
Just to educate you on crowdfunding, it is not free.
I am not a 501C3.
That is not the case.
I do have to pay taxes on any money that comes in, income tax for that.
But anything that does come in will go to the marketing process of this.
You will see that in action.
You already see that I do a lot of work now.
So you know that anything that you choose to donate will be donated in great care.
On that website, on that GoFundMe campaign, you will see that we have about six highlights
for you to donate to.
That means that if you want to donate to a special number or a dollar amount, you can
do that and get a welcome kickback.
So I'm just going to label some of those out.
For $25, you'll get a warm thank you on social media.
I did this before.
Actually, last year around this time, I started a GoFundMe campaign and it was just a little
clunky because I had a full-time job.
I was actually making my decision to go forward with my brand on a full-time level and it
really wasn't thought out the way I needed it to be.
But because I'm a full-time business owner now and because I know that I have designers
and brand owners that are counting on me to promote their product, just like I did with
Hype and Lavender, I want to do that here with Lily Glow Boutique.
So with that $25 donation, you get a warm thank you.
I have my little clip notes here so you see me looking down.
For $45, you'll get a handmade hustle t-shirt if you were here for opening night or if you've
come here when I had that t-shirt on display, a lot of people really appreciated it.
They liked it.
They thought it was a quirky novelty item and it was not for sale.
So what I'm going to do is make sure that that item is for sale and at the store.
Up February, when this campaign kind of comes to an end, for $65, you will get a handwritten
personal message from me as well as a Lily Glow mug.
That may sound kind of kitschish, but it's not to me.
It's a present to someone who actually wanted to give at that price and it's something from
my heart to yours.
So a personal item that will be coming to you for $100, you'll get your name on the wall.
So if you see that vinyl decal back there, that is going to be what your name will look
like.
Not that big though, but it will be on the wall when you do come into the store.
The store is pretty open and airy so you'll be able to see that.
When I have a donor wall, I'm actually going to get that vinyl put up.
I put up that vinyl there as well as the vinyl decals in the window and that helped that
as well.
So you'll be able to see your name in action or live here.
For $250, you will get all of the above.
You'll get your name on the wall, you'll also get that shout out.
You'll definitely get that thank you message and that will definitely help us out.
Anything really helps.
You don't really have to go with these bullet points.
You can put $5 and $10 in, but the more that you donate, the better it'll be.
So I know at this time everyone is asking for money.
It's holiday time.
We just came out of Thanksgiving.
We're going into new holidays.
We're gift giving is really, really heavy.
You may not want to part from that money, but you may want to do something for the brand.
So two reasons why I am thinking about crowdfunding, not just to fuel the brand, but also for you
to connect with it, even if you come in here and all the products don't resonate.
I know a lot of people who support the brand and support what I'm doing.
They love what I'm doing, but they may not always connect to the products because they
may be a little bit more eccentric for them, a little bit more eclectic.
Men do not want to buy women's items unless they're buying it for their significant other,
but they really, really appreciate what I'm doing.
They appreciate the hustle and the grind, and they just want to help out.
This is your way to give that back and to be a part of the Lily Glow brand and that culture
that we're building around everything that's going on here.
If you're not comfortable with that because it's just your choice, there are some quirky
items that you can donate.
I am in love with sidewalk chalk.
I'm just stepping off camera for you to see this.
I use this daily when it's not raining outside to put a message on the sidewalk and passers
by 9 out of 10, sorry with the beeping out there, 9 out of 10, they stop.
Some take pictures.
Some stare in the store.
Some people come in, but it does call folks into the store and it's really fun.
Days when I have, I'm in a jokey mood, I put a joke out there.
People take pictures of it.
It's square.
It's hilarious, but it definitely connects people with the brand, and it's definitely
a community talking piece.
Outside of that, I like Asiatic Lilies, but you don't have to buy the real ones.
I'm asking you to buy artificial ones, and here's the reason.
That is my display window, one of them, and I try to keep them updated once a week.
I've been here roughly four weeks, going into five weeks, so every week or every other week,
I would like to keep them updated with something fun and something eye-catching.
I do not need a actual sign outside because my store is orange and it's bright, and the
windows really attract people's attention, especially when I'm putting new things in
the window.
The flowers will add to that element, and I want to do something really fun, probably
make a dress out of flowers or line with the framing with that.
If you want to go to Michaels or Jo-Ann's to buy just a bouquet of artificial flowers,
you can send them down to the store, a big bouquet of them, a bag of them, whatever it
is.
I would love that.
Asiatic Lilies and Roses, any kind of Roses, I'm a fan of Roses.
Just to give you a tidbit on Lily Glow, Asiatic Lilies, Lily, Lily Glow, so that's where
the name came from, and Glow is what I wanted my female customers to do and my male customers
when they buy from Lily Glow, and this was an idea in my head when it was just on paper
and it was just a table.
The last thing that you can do, if you're more inclined to donate an item opposed to
donating money, we upcycle, or I upcycle, jeans here.
Upscycling means you're repurposing something that was once new, now it's old, now you
need to give it a second life.
In the store I had a few of the upcycled jeans here that I did with Bleach, I would
tear out some of the seams, I would create skirts, other ones I would create bags, and
actually the remnants to that, they're really good for storage and stuffing, and you can
do a whole lot with jeans.
I will say anything that has too much grommets, or too many grommets, or too much stitching,
they're a little tough to deal with because you can't manipulate them.
So if you have plain jeans that still have some wear and still have some life and you
want to donate them, please package them up, bring them to the store, mail them to the
store, and I'll make sure that they will have a good home with someone else.
If I get too many of those jeans, I will not just put them in trash bags and put them on
the side.
What I'll do is I'll make sure I donate them to a charitable effort, if there's anything
going on in the Philadelphia area, a charitable clothing drive, I'll do that.
I'm really connected to my church, my church does a lot of outreach, so I'll make sure
that I ask questions about that, but you will be able to see what they're doing.
So as I said, our GoFundMe campaign is live now, it will be live until March 1st, 2017.
I'm asking for $18,000, I'm hoping to get there.
My goal is to get there, even if we don't get there.
It's just a good, good journey and a good process for the brand to get that marketing
out.
You're going to see things that I'm doing here, you're going to see different events.
We have a new event coming up soon with Camisha Martin, she's our silver smith, metal smith.
We have other artists that have ideas they want to bring into the store.
We have 11 artists in Lily Glow right now, and we have a waiting list, a waiting list
for Lily Glow for artists to come in here.
I'm excited about that, I did not expect that to happen.
I remember when I first got into the store, I was wondering how was I going to be able
to pull from the community to get artists in here to get stuff on the walls and in the
furniture, and I have people who are waiting to be here, they want to be in here, and I'm
actually running out of room.
That's a good thing.
So that's letting me know that there's progress, but outside of that progress, I want Lily
Glow to be a brand that has a lot more of tooth to it.
So I know that $18,000, that's going to be earmarked for something great.
Again, I'm posting this on my Facebook page, it is also going to be on the GoFundMe page
so people can know about what's going on with Lily Glow.
You can email me, I definitely will talk to you.
But all of the folks who've supported the brand, who've seen it, who've already donated
to it, I have people who've already donated to this, they believe in it, I am thankful
for you.
I would not be here because of that.
So in closing, I'm coming up to my 12 minute threshold, talked a little bit too long, but
I wanted you to know, thank you for supporting, for being here, people who don't even live
in Philadelphia, who's looking at the brand, and you're just happy that you're seeing
something different, or just happy that you see a small business rising a little bit to
the top.
I appreciate all of that.
So again, GoFundMe 4 slash Lily Glow Dream, and you can do any pledge that you would like.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at tamara.liliglow.com, and I'll be happy
to give you updates.
Thank you again, have a great night, and I'll talk to you soon.
