Lindsey Brown, Owner of A Day N June

A Day N June – Secret Garden Tube Dress

I had the opportunity to chat with the girl next door Lindsey Brown, owner of A Day N June online vintage store. She represents our hometown of Baltimore and uses dope references and puns to add character to her site, which was created for all “It” girls, stiletto slayers, vintage hunters, fashion heads and lovers of originality! Make note of her business tip of saving a little at a time until you’re able to fully launch your business. Most of the time baby steps are all you need when you’re just starting out. Read on to see what decision sparked Lindsey to start her online store!

Location:Baltimore, MD

Year Founded: 2015

Education/Background: Retail management

Favorite quote: The purpose of life is a life of purpose. – Robert Byrne

Website: adaynjune.com

Social media: @ADayNJune (Facebook | Twitter) –  @EverydayisADaynJune (Instagram)

Most of the time when you take that risk it works out for you in the long run. It’s real wack to just sit around and think about things and not take the risk. – Lindsey Brown

On an introduction to A Day N June…
A Day N June is a very small one woman army online boutique. We specialize in all types of fashion for all different types of women. The site is very real, raw and blunt. We’re learning right along with everyone else. It’s not suppose to be a professional kind of site. We want to be like the girl next door.

On decision to start vintage online boutique…
I started online store because after working in management at different retail stores [Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Anthropologie and Uptown Cheapskate] I realized I loved it. I loved working for all these different brands, but I was working 50-60 hours a week just to learn how to lie to people and pretty much how to sell stuff. I was teaching people how to fall in love with an unrealistic lifestyle of luxury, which you know I couldn’t afford. Most of the time they can’t afford, so as the manager I’m suppose to push this brand and tell people this is the most awesome thing ever when I know this stuff is crappy as Forever 21.

Even the staff I had, I wasn’t able to train them how I wanted. They just wanted me to train them how to sell jeans, shirts and etc. These girls that work at these stores work there because most of the time they are interested in fashion. They go to Towson or Morgan and they’re majoring in fashion and they want to learn about the business of it. They want to learn deeper into it, not just how to come here and sell stuff – that’s not why they’re here and I wasn’t able to do that. I think that’s just the corporateness of all of those things and I thought it would be really cool if I could have my own site and sell what I want you know – be real, be honest. I don’t have any now, but eventually I want to get employees and be able to teach them what they actually need to be successful in the industry. I want to be able to take them to trade shows and have them buy and create a platform for people and let them know what I’ve learned.

On starting company (Funding, branding and Advertising)….
I started the company with no funding whatsoever just by the grace of God – thank you Lord. I quit my managerial job at Anthropologie probably about three months ago. I quit and went back to waiting tables which was obviously a big pay decrease because I wanted to open my own store. The hours I was working it just wasn’t enough time in the day. I couldn’t get a loan, didn’t know anything about loans or business plans, but I didn’t let that stop me. What I did was every time I got paid or had extra money I’d buy one piece for the site. I did this for about a few months. What you see on the site now, those are the pieces I brought with the money I saved. I can’t afford advertising right now, so I just use Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I usually post in between my breaks at work. When I get off, I do all the social media posts and photo shoots, so I just do everything myself and do it on the lowest budget possible and hope that it comes out looking better than it actually cost.

On what was surprising about this process…
Being online surprised me because I’m used to working in stores dealing with people directly and having that interaction. Having that dialogue to decide on what looks good, but online you don’t necessarily have that interaction with people. The key to it is you have to constantly market and I didn’t realize how much I would have to do. I just thought I would sit behind a computer and take pictures. I didn’t want anyone to know who I was because I’m still a new business owner. I didn’t want people when they see me or find out I own an online store that I now have to dress up in designer clothing all the time – you know because that’s not the type of life I live. I’m getting used to putting myself out there talking about my brand and all of the marketing that I have to do. I post to Instagram, Facebook & Twitter between 3-5 times a day before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning, so not complaining because I like doing it, but it’s a lot, a lot of work.

On learning about self in regards to starting business…
In the whole situation it has humbled me a lot. I learned that you should never ever… ever… ever…ever…ever give up. Every time I talked about what I wanted to do before I opened the store people would just look at me and think I was crazy. They would say “why do you want to do that, there’s so much competition out?” Everyone is trying to do that now, so I definitely learned that you have to believe in yourself. If you don’t believe no one else will. I learned excuses are not going to pay the bills and excuses are not going to help achieve your goal. I made a lot of excuses for a long time and people would say “are you going to do it” and I would say “I don’t have the money.” Then finally I talked to one person that kinda lit a fire under my ass. They was like “you need to be about it” and thank God they did because the feeling that I have accomplished it, whether successful or not just knowing that I did is indescribable. Being new no one told me anything about starting a business. I was Googling everything on things that I needed to get up and running. It was a long process and it has taught me a lot about business, myself and what it takes to be in the industry.

On most excited about with brand…
I’m happy that I have now created a brand that is very much appealing to normal people. Normal people you see walking down the street, whether they’re high fashion or they love vintage clothes or they love whatever. They don’t necessarily speak proper you know and it really appeals to the girl next door who’s real chill and isn’t super professional, she likes to think outside the box a little bit. I think it’s very fun when I write a blog post or post pictures when I do the photo shoots. I’m like – I just want you to look as crazy as possible and some girls are like “well that doesn’t match and I’m like it’s not suppose to match – it’s a photo shoot, it’s suppose to be fun.” I want people to be like this looks ridiculous, but they can’t stop looking at it because the colors are so bright. I’m excited about the freeness of it and I want people to learn from that and realize you have to play with your look. Fashion has evolved so much that no one can tell you that you did that wrong. It’s about you and what you want to do with your personal style.

On “it” moment – accomplishing goal set for brand…
I haven’t had that “it” moment yet. However, anytime someone sees the site and they come up to me and say OMG I visited your site and it looks amazing that makes them smile and laugh, so for me that’s my “it” moment, anytime someone can say kudos. Even if they don’t buy anything that for me is enough because it lets me know I’m on the right track and doing something right. Things I thought people would think was totally ridiculous and they wouldn’t get – people actually get and they like it.

On stepping out from behind self doubt and words of encouragement…
You have to go forward and take your craziest daydream or the craziest story that you don’t want to share with people and share. Because honestly you’ll never be truly fulfilled in life or as a person, so just go forth and don’t worry about. When I went back to waiting tables I didn’t know how this was going to work. I was so unhappy and so ready to be happy and smile everyday and live like a normal person and love what I did. You have to get to that point with yourself and once you do it’s the most amazing feeling to wake up everyday. I still have a job and the purpose of me having a site is not to not work or to be rich. It’s very fulfilling to know that I’m going to go to work, but when I get off – I’m going to have a photo shoot and I’m going to make somebody feel good. I get to post these clothes that aren’t a thousand dollars that will maybe help someone. Someone who’s going on date night or somewhere and they don’t have enough money to go to the mall. Take the risk because you’ll never get anything in life if you don’t. Most of the time when you take that risk it works out for you in the long run. It’s real wack to just sit around and think about things and not take the risk.

On productivity tools used to get work done…
I use Square Space for my website, but what guided me a little bit was the site ‘Nasty Gal’ the clothing website by Sophia Amoruso. Her site was what I looked at when I was developing mine. She curses a lot – like she’s just a real person and I was like this is the kind of feeling I want my site to have. She wrote a book Girl Boss, which I read four times and that has also helped. It didn’t really give me the structure of how to build a website, but it was more about how she started an eBay store and now has a multi-billion dollar company. Just about how not to be afraid to start and gaining your confidence. I use my $400 Toshiba laptop (God bless it) and a hotspot. I use my friend’s Nikon camera for the photo shoot and my Galaxy Note 4 smartphone.

On A Day N June in the coming years…
In the coming years God willing, I’d like to do pop-up shops in every state every month. I want to do woman and men clothes – vintage and new. Hopefully, that will turn into a location here in Baltimore and other places. I want to start sponsoring events and do a lot of things in the community as far as donations or just donate to families in needs. Like random, I really want to get Baltimore to be known for that and really get involved. We’re in the development stages now, but I just did a plus size photo shoot. I got some plus size pieces, so that’s coming sooner than later probably in the next two weeks or so. Hopefully, in the fall or middle winter I’ll experiment on men’s clothing because they’re just a hot mess and they’re hard to figure out. Handbags are coming as well as pieces from local designers and artist, so there are some good things to come.

Anything else you’d like to add…
I always want to encourage people to check out the donations page. I’m looking for a small local non-profit organization or charity that customers will have the option of donating to every month. Every month the cause will change, so one month it could be we’re donating to animals and the next month it could be Northern High School to fund books, etc. I don’t take any of that money there’s a separate funding page that goes directly to the organization.

Be sure to check out A Day N June and follow their social media channels.