Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacey Haynes.
Hi Stacey, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In 2011, I began creating out of a need for simple, beach signs for myself, in my home in the middle of landlocked Tennessee. The beach was my happy place, and I wanted to bring that calm feeling into my home even though the actual beach was far away. It was hard to find signs that weren’t cheesy and poorly made at the time, so I thought I’d try making my own, even though I had no experience! I always knew I wanted to do something creative, and I tried a lot of other avenues before landing on beach signs! I didn’t start making them knowing it would be come a business!
Decorating my home in a coastal style, helped us create a happy and peaceful home for our family, even when life and the outside world got crazy! Of course, beginning a small business while having small children made things chaotic at times, but at least I could shut the door on my studio and the garage and enjoy my peacefully decorated beach house!
In the beginning, I sold to a lot of friends and family and then moved to doing small craft fairs. I realized pretty quickly that they weren’t always my ideal client, so I began researching and visiting barn sales and vintage markets. This was when farmhouse style was hugely popular, so I also begin selling farmhouse style signs and lots of state signs for Tennessee and the surrounding area.
A few of my seller neighbors at these sales owned retail stores also, and began carrying my signs in their stores. This lead to eventually selling at wholesale markets and focusing more on selling online and to retail stores across the country (and a few abroad!). As the number of stores carrying my signs increased, I began focusing more on developing my coastal lines, and now have sold to over 300 stores!
In 2020 when lockdowns began, we decided to pack up our family and move to Fernandina Beach, Florida to continue raising our family! I still supply some of my original stores in Tennessee with farmhouse style signs, but it has been amazing to go from a pretend beach house far from the beach to now having a beach house 1 mile from the ocean! I have to thank my business for bringing me and our family here! We love our little small town and our beaches!
I love helping customers create a home that is beautifully decorated with reminders of their favorite vacations. I love doing custom signs, and have created a whole collection of them, or doing special touches such as adding a beach or lake town to one of my anchor signs, or adding an anniversary date to a shark tooth hunting sign!
I wouldn’t have been able to grow a business I am proud of without the support of long time customers and new ones!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has absolutely not always been a smooth road! In the beginning, I tried to figure out all the legal stuff you need to start a business, and I got shooed away from the town chamber of commerce back in TN as if I was just a little mama making crafts no one was going to ever buy. I still think about finding that man and letting him know how many signs I sold that year!
I’ve had a lot of other ups and downs too such as my first wholesale show in 2018 appearing to be a flop. I spent thousands to be there and didn’t even make $1000 back. That was so disheartening when I was used to retail markets with a line for 4-5 hours straight selling signs! But I gained some amazing relationships from that market and it opened up a whole new area of stores outside of the southeast for me. It helped me create connections with shops in the north east that still carry my signs!
It also has been really hard the past year or so with so many small retail shops that carry my signs closing their doors or placing less frequent orders. Tariffs and the rise in prices of almost everything have put a lot of strain on small businesses!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I hand paint all of my signs. Each and every sign runs through my hands (and often my husband helps out too!), a minimum of 10 times from cutting, sanding, painting, stenciling, and shipping!
I am really proud that we have kept my products fully handmade and using made in America products such as our paint, hangers for the backs and more! I absolutely love making them, I don’t think I could be in this 15 years later if I didn’t! Of course, I get tired sometimes, but I don’t tire of making signs!
I of course love making my beach signs. I get really excited when someone requests one of my sharktooth hunting signs or my “Coffee Beach Wine Repeat” sign.
I think that keeping things small and simple really helps set me apart. I don’t do elaborate designs, or crazy sayings. Looking at my signs, I want you to see a piece of me. Because that is really how it feels- I’m sending out a little piece of me and the “peace” of the beach in every sign I make.
Another thing that sets my coastal signs apart from others is I make them for every season! After all, the beach still exists in fall and winter, so I have coastal fall and coastal Christmas signs and even a coastal love collection that can be used for Valentine’s Day but is simple enough for every day to show off your love of the beach!
When things get really busy I have several local moms I reach out to that can help me. Growing my business by supporting other women and other small businesses has always been important to me, and something I try to always keep top of mind when searching for other small shops to work with!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Never giving up. I get discouraged often when sales are low or life is busy and I feel like I don’t have the time to keep up with all the small behind the scenes things it takes to run a small business.
I have learned that I just need to take a break, go work in my garden, go walk on the beach, snuggle my kids, or just go to to bed early and start again tomorrow instead of giving up.
I have always determined to keep going, no matter how many times obstacles have popped up in my way!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://anchoredsouldesigns.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anchoredsoulsigns
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopanchoredsouldesigns
