Insider to Insider: Nole Garey, Founder & Editor of Oh So Beautiful Paper
For a paper lover and aficionado such as myself, Oh So Beautiful Paper is the holy grail. Woweeeee! As editor of the blog, Nole Garey, is also curator of all things lovely in the stationery world. Every post is more exquisite than the last. You can sigh all you want about lovely wedding gowns on such-n-such style blog. That doesn’t interest me as much as lovely paper. And, Oh So Beautiful Paper is the creme-de-la-creme in the stationery world. I applaud Nole for her vision with her site and for bringing the beauty of paper and stationery to its very own spotlight.
And, make sure to check out Nole’s other site United with Love, a collaboration with Julianne Smith (of Garter Girl fame). The site provides fresh inspiration for DC-area weddings.
Nole Garey
Founder & Editor, Oh So Beautiful Paper
www.ohsobeautifulpaper.com
Washington DC
Established 2008
Why did you start your business?
I started Oh So Beautiful Paper just a few months after my wedding in 2008. I was looking for a way to channel the creative energy that I developed while planning my wedding, so my husband was actually the one that encouraged me to start a blog to share my inspiration with others – but I just didn’t know what to write about! A few days later, it just came to me. I had fallen in love with wedding invitations during my wedding planning process, but was frustrated by the lack of available information about small, independent design studios that specialize in custom wedding invitation design. So I started Oh So Beautiful Paper with the goal of providing a resource for other engaged couples specifically focused on wedding invitations, but it slowly grew over the following weeks and months to include a broad range of paper-related content.
What book do you recommend to new business owners?
I’m afraid I’ve never read any business books! This isn’t a book, but I found Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement address at Stanford University to be incredibly inspiring from a business perspective. I think the central message of that address applies to anyone, regardless of whether they own their own business or not. Everyone should love what they do for a living, and the only way to feel satisfied in your work is to believe in the work that you do.
Do you have any cool goal-setting tips to share with us?
My approach is to decide on an eventual outcome, then figure out what steps need to happen along the way and break those down into a series of smaller goals. I know I always feel better when I feel like I’m actually getting things done, so having a series of small goals always feels better than one big (and occasionally overwhelming) goal. I also take my time when pursuing new goals and projects – I’m the kind of person who would rather take the time to think things over and do something right the first way, rather than rush to get something done quickly and make unnecessary mistakes along the way.
What do you find to be the biggest challenge as a business owner?
My biggest challenge is probably stepping away from the computer and taking a real weekend for myself. Working from home, there’s often very little divide between work time and personal time, and sometimes work doesn’t even feel like work! Someone once told me that an entrepreneur is someone who would rather work 80 hours for themselves rather than 40 hours for someone else, and I know that definitely applies to me, so I really try to take at least one full day off per week.
If you were starting your business all over again, what would you have done differently?
Not much, actually. My blog started as a hobby and evolved very naturally into a full-time business with few challenges along the way. I’m very lucky! Looking back, I think the only thing I would have done differently is consult a professional accountant much earlier. Because my blog started as a hobby, it took me a while before I started thinking of it as a viable business and treating it accordingly. I think it would have made things a lot easier if I had done things properly from the very beginning.
Thanks Nole!