Betsy Beier’s handmade holiday and party decorations are whimsical and fun. After seeing her creations, you would be surprised to hear she used to work as a User Interface Architect at a large computer software company. That’s a big change for a technical person, but Betsy was looking to switch to a more creative environment. She took some time off when her children were born and decided to recreate her career when she was ready to go back to work.
For many years, Betsy was a successful software engineer working in a large software company. When she and her husband started their family, she decided to become a stay-at-home mom. Four years later, she thought about working again as her kids were nearing school age. She knew she didn’t want a corporate job, so she decided to try something different. Betsy wanted to make things that were useful and brought people joy. Busy with two young children, she also wanted a good balance between home and work. Since her husband was supporting them, she didn’t have to worry about making a lot of money right away. Betsy started down a path that would give her the flexibility to be home with the family and build a business that could possibly grow into something larger over time.
In June 2007, Betsy decided to make vintage-style decorations and gifts, selling them through local stores and craft festivals. Her plan was to take a couple of years to figure out how to build the business, growing it slowly. During this time, she could experiment with different business ideas while still taking care of her family.
Today, Betsy is still learning how to run a business and experimenting with many different creative ideas. She’s also spending lots of time with her family which is her first priority. She will slowly increase the time she spends on her business as her kids get older and her family demands decrease. She’s been running the business on a shoestring budget because there isn’t much revenue yet, but she’s found ways to do things “on the cheap.” Betsy has consciously decided to not grow her business too fast as she wants to have time to spend with her children. She’s taking the time to steadily build the foundation for her business so it can grow into something valuable in the future.
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