Despite several, all-be-it flattering, attempts by others to reinvent the original flower baby hat, Jamie Rae has managed to lead this little industry niche and remain the “top hat”. How has she survived an unprecedented economic disadvantage and actually grow her entrepreneurial garden gallery? Organically, of course! Jamie Rae Hats was started with a brilliant idea and a bootstrap approach, both of which took amazing and unwavering resolve. Jamie understood from the start how important it is to tend to the customer and knew the roots of her garden would only grow as deep and widespread as her own commitment. A family legacy, not to be confused with your typical garden variety e-commerce business, being carefully cultivated through a conservative management style combined with cutting edge creativity, all her own. Outside influence was left out of the business strategy affording the slow, steady growth, deep strong roots require. It’s been 8 years now and this business of budding beauties has weathered everything from the driest drought to wild winds and stormy skies, but that organically grown customer base has held her ground and rooted all the more as a known and trusted brand. It’s been a journey driven by fierce passion and relentless creative energy, without the need for corporate mentality, dividends, acquisitions or mergers. Self-sustained growth requires the giving and taking of time, a luxury the get rich quick mentality never affords itself. That time provides opportunity to create culture and balance, a working harmony, if you will. It’s an American business dream still in the making but for the sake of the rhyme and reason of it all, I’ll leave you with this…
Maybe someday someone will ask
Or maybe no one will ever ask why
She’s chosen the seeds she has sown,
But know from the start
She started out smart
With her garden organically grown!

It never really seemed that Lady Luck was on my side. In fact, when having to make a lucky guess between heads or tails, or simply left or right, most often I went the wrong direction. Not exactly a handy trait when you’re out garage sale shopping but quite possibly enemy number one when it came to navigating a career path. It’s actually kind of funny now to look back at some of the career choices I found myself searching desperately to get out of. I say now because of the old adage, “One day you’ll look back on this and laugh, just not today.” Well, after nearly three decades of wearing out my career navigational tool box which would include some careful planning, a lot of guessing, way too much hoping and, of course, the far too many “Oh God! Please! If you give me this job I’ll never ask for anything else!” prayers of desperation, everything I could have ever wanted lands right in my lap through none other than sheer dumb luck.

“What’s in all those boxes?” That was the question that led from one thing to another and resulted in my starting work with Jamie Rae Hats in August, 2010. I have kept myself busy with different craft projects involving flowers and a glue gun most of my adult life and Jamie was offering to pay me to do that very thing and more. For a true crafter it really was too good to be true.  I came on board just after the back-to-school season had started and everyone was talking about and planning for the highly anticipated holiday season. The atmosphere was positively charged with high energy.  What a relief! After all but giving up on finding anything motivating, I felt like a worker bee with a real sense of purpose. Being part of a central work room production and assembly team was a new experience for me but the six weeks I spent there was essential to my understanding of the business operation. I kept my head down, my mouth shut and my ears and eyes wide open soaking up every little thing around me like a sea sponge. Soon, I would be doing office work and bouncing around on an as needed basis, a floater if you will, utilizing every skill I had picked up along the way from customer service jobs to marketing, bookkeeping, HR and office management. I’m doing everything I was ever even a little bit good at and enjoy. What more could you ask for?

Being a part of the day-to-day operations and watching this business grow is the best career opportunity I have ever had, mostly because it’s a business after my own passionate heart’s desire to be creative. That and the fact that all the career choices I ever made, good and bad, have contributed to my having the skills required to do my versatile job well and go home every day with a sense of fulfillment. It is amazing and inspiring to watching this dynamic and energetic woman, whom is ten years younger than I, run a successful business on what I call spontaneous “craftbustion”. In a word, even though it’s my own, that’s a fairly accurate description of me so I have a true appreciation for the endless pursuit of fresh new ideas and designs required to keep this business running in the black. Jamie Rae Hats is my perfect place to work because I can say, unlike ever before, that I am where I belong. By the way, I’m pretty sure Lady Luck is not dumb, but I know for a fact that she has a dazzling smile!

“If it’s your passions leading you to where you belong,

You will know when you’ve arrived.”

 

Jeannie Minor

Office Manager

Jamie Rae Hats, Inc.

Is it true? Seven years?

Seven years ago next month I sat down at my ancient computer to build a website for my new company, baby cappelli. Weeks before, I had made our daughter, Emma, a baby hat with a flower on it and the town went wild. After giving several as gifts and selling to our local boutique, I made the decision to purchase 2000 blank hats. I figured if they were selling in my town, the would sell anywhere. So it began………built a website, which I knew nothing about. Registered my business name with the trademark office, which I so carefully picked, baby cappelli (hats in Italian), and placed orders for materials. After sending out a few emails and post cards, it was not long before I had orders rolling in. The first year of the business was hard, as I was working from home with two children at my feet. I worked many late nights and weekends to get it all done.

After one year I  had built a real business from marketing my flower baby hats! I had enough money to convert the garage to a work shop and hire two employees. In Feb of 2006 I got the letter. It looked very official. It was from a company in New York that claimed the business name I had chose was too similar to their business name. I was worried, but knew that the trademark office would not have approved if that were the case….right? WRONG! Off to NY I went to defend my business only to find that it was not about the paper I had in hand saying my business name had been approved, but more about big business and who had the money to hire the better attorney. Everything that I had sacrificed in the past year, mainly time from my husband and kids to build something that I thought would ultimately give me more time with my family had been taken away.

I was physically ill and completely defeated when I returned home. I felt like I was not cut out for this nasty way of doing business. When I pulled in the drive, I was welcomed with a huge WELCOME HOME banner made by the kids and hung across my new converted garage that my husband had finished while I was away. I made the decision right then to keep going. I changed the business name to Jamie Rae Hats, it is my first and middle name and something I figured no one could ever take away from me. I worried about what my customers and boutiques would think and if the brand would survive the name change. Everyone was so kind and supported me through the transition. No one cared about the name, as long as they could get the hats and the service they had come accustom to.

Here we are 6 years later still going strong. It is thanks to all our amazing customers, boutiques, reps and employees! I felt compelled to share this, as I received a call from a customer that mentioned she bought an original baby cappelli hat years ago…and it made me smile. Many know the story, but many do not. Over the years we have received calls from other new companies or mompreneurs asking for advice. I have learned many things over the past 7 years, but the one thing that sticks out most and the advice that I share often is; do the right thing and in the end it will all come back to you! Conduct your business in a way the reflects the way you live your life. Creating a business and maintaining it is hard work and does not come with out challenges…mine just happen to come very early on.

Thank you all who have supported Jamie Rae Hats over the last 7 years with your kind words and orders! You have inspired me to keep going even through the hard times. We are grateful for where we are in the market place today and feel proud to be considered a leader in the baby hat category!

Looking forward to a fun year at Jamie Rae Hats! We have several new products coming out and are excited to share them.

Cheers, Jamie Rae