Hatch Tribe Hero | Caroline Staley
Q: What is your favorite part of being an entrepreneur?
A: I love that my schedule is very flexible. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do "off the cuff" pretty well. I also love that I can work from home, while my kids are playing in the yard or late at night when everyone else is asleep.
Q: What keeps you up at night?
A: New ideas about what I can paint next and how to improve pieces that I am currently working on. There are times when I'm working on a piece and get stumped, so I'll set it aside until I can figure out where I want to go with it. I usually figure out how I'm going to complete it in the middle of the night and can hardly wait to attack it the next day!
Q: What ignited the spark in you to start your business?
A: It actually just naturally evolved into one. I studied Studio Art in college but never did anything with it. I got a job straight out of college as a flight attendant, traveled for several years, meet my husband, got married and started a family. After we had our 3rd child, I felt like I needed to do something that I really enjoyed. Something for me. So I started painting again. It started out as a few pieces for our house, and then friends started sporadically asking me to paint pieces for them. Then, we had a friend that offered me a free booth at his event just to see how it went, and it just snowballed with the connections that I made from there.
Q: What personality trait are you most proud of?
A: I'm proud of how I am able to connect with people. I've always been interested in other people...who they are, where they came from, and where they are going. Each person has a unique and interesting story, and I genuinely enjoy making connections.
Q: In one word characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
A: #TallOrder
#empowering
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: "Control the controllables." One of my best friend's told me this, and I find it to be so helpful. As an entrepreneur, it is hard to find balance between business, family, friends and mental and physical health. If I can do my best to "control the controllables", I've found that everything else falls into place.
Q: Name a women entrepreneur past or present you admire, and tell us why.
A: Dee Ruel (http://www.deeruel.com) She has really taken me under her wing and given me some amazing business advice. She was someone who really helped to rally and inspire me to keep pushing forward as an artist from the second I met her. I met her at that very first festival that I did and I feel like she kind if adopted me because we're so much alike! She offered to have me display my art in her store at one of her shows. From there, I made other connections and she's still my main "go to" for advice, other than my husband.
Q: Where do you find inspiration?
A: Everywhere!!! I love looking at rooms that designers put together, seeing the colors and shapes that they use, and creating from that. I also love, love, love the amazing colors that you can simply find in nature. Talk about inspiring!!!
Q: How do you handle fear?
A: I think I'm pretty good at facing fear straight on. I've always felt like if I get the fearful stuff out of the way, the rest is cake.
Q: What would you do with one extra hour in the day?
A: If I had an extra hour in the day, I would go have lunch with my husband, Sam, who also owns his own company named Bidr. We have 3 children and between our schedules we don't get a ton of uninterrupted time. He's like my rudder and has really been my biggest supporter since day one. So any extra time with him is always good for my heart and soul.
