Story Behind the Brand Part 2 -
It all started in the green house on Capitol Hill. That’s where I lived when I started The Card Bureau. I rented a bedroom in the house with 3 other roommates. I loved my time on the Hill and it inspired one of my first cards about expensive rent. My venture began with a $120 investment on Vistaprint ($60 from me and $60 from my business partner at the time). I would spend my nights packaging cards on my bedroom floor and my inventory initially lived in one shoe box under my bed. After that, we just kept recycling the profits and growing the inventory little by little. I hired a bookkeeper at the time and she told me that the math didn’t make sense to start a greeting card business and it should just be a hobby. I ignored that very practical and rational advice and kept pushing forward. I started selling on Etsy, and then I pursued wholesale; I visited every store in my neighborhood and asked if they would carry the cards. The whole operation was very amateur. Store owners would ask me about my SKU’s and my minimum quantities, and I had no idea what they were asking me about. I owe it to Manny and Dennis at Groovy Cards who sat me down to explain how it all worked and became one of my first customers. After that, I expanded to more stores in the neighborhood. I would even build my own displays to bring in. If it wasn't for the small independent stores in my community that took a chance on me, I’m not sure that I would have been able to build my business from the ground up and eventually sell to big stores like Urban Outfitters, HomeGoods, Barnes & Noble, and Paper Source. So please give small businesses all the love. 