Mixing Business With Friendship – How We Founded An Online Boutique: JLacel

These ladies managed to turn a friendship into a partnership and formed J Lacel, an online fashion boutique.

Learn how Naomi Lacel and Jessica Campa put their out-of-the-box ideas together, took a leap of faith, and formed their business. Oh, and check out these cute shorts I’m wearing! Note: they’re from J Lacel. 😉  

How did you come up with J Lacel?

J: She [Naomi] is best friends with my brother. It came to the point that we’d stay up all night and talked about our dreams.

N: Yes! There was this one night that I said “Hey, Jess. Let’s open a boutique.” We talked about it that night and never talked about it again. “

J: And then in February, she came over to my dorm and seemed pretty serious about the whole boutique idea, so we decided to have a business meeting that same night. We brought our laptops over, took notes, and drafted a business plan. We even thought of a name! We originally had a different name: Jess Lacel. Our plans were to start blogging, but I was so close to graduating. I wasn’t going to be able to focus on blogging; instead, we started an Instagram.

N: School started and we placed our dream on a hiatus. My dad kept pushing the idea, but I didn’t want to do it alone. He kept telling me to get my business registered downtown, but we never got around to it. I realized we just kept talking about it, and enough was enough. One thing is saying it, another is doing it, and so I contacted Jess back in May 2015, got together, and did everything in one day. It was an impulsive move, but J Lacel was in business!

J: When we went to get our name registered, they asked us what we were naming our business, we looked at each other and simultaneously said J Lacel, even though we originally had Jess Lacel.

Is that a new arrival, I see? Follow @JLacel on Instagram for more details! Pssst… it’s $34.00

In three words, how would you describe you boutique’s style?

Unique, fashion-forward, and affordable.

How does it work? How do we go about ordering something from J Lacel?

J: We will give people a head’s up about an outfit for pre-orders. Usually we will post the item more than once and remind our customers throughout the week. They can comment on the picture, text us, e-mail us and voilá! Same thing with Facebook. When we post an item, we try to stay on our phones until we have our orders in. We usually deliver, but it’s getting to the point that we’re getting a lot of people, that we now allow people to come over to our place for a fitting.

N: Yup! Ordering off Instagram can be tricky because you don’t know how it fits, so we decided to host fittings during certain times at no obligation. Whatever you want, we place on hold regardless. We have had a few random people come over.

J: We love it when we see fresh faces! We get to ask how they heard about us, what works and what doesn’t, and we get a lot of great feedback. This makes us so happy because they’re not buying from us because they have to; they’re buying our clothes because they like it! It is very rewarding and exciting.

N: Not having a website does make a it a little difficult sometimes, but if we had started with the website, we wouldn’t have the follower base we have now because we’d be too focused on perfecting the site as opposed to our social media marketing, which is crucial. We love establishing customer relationships and social media helps us do just that. It’s sort of like small friendships between our customers and us.

How do you market/promote J Lacel?

N: For the most part: Instagram.

J: We started with about 10-15 people. We followed people but no one was following back because we didn’t have anything except “J LACEL COMING SOON” with a logo that looks nothing like our current logo. It started growing when we’d post an item on our profile and asked our followers for feedback. We now have over 600 followers! So, it is growing. Our views reach over 1,000 people on Facebook, too. Since day one, our progress has been pretty much at 100%. We’re very happy about that. Also, if you post and tag us on your first purchase, you’ll receive a one-time 10% discount from the second purchase. This really helps because our customers tag their friends and their friends follow.

N: We are very exclusive to just social media, but we want to be available to everyone, so we are looking to get a website up and running within the next few months, but that’s still in the works.

How you do manage your business together? What are your responsibilities?

J: She’s the positive one. I am the realist. But it works out because we balance each other out. For example, I worry about return and investment. I’m always thinking what could go wrong. Either way, we won’t do anything without asking each other. We compromise everything.

N: We really do. When I was in New York, we had our second shipment out to Dallas, and I had no idea what I was doing because Jess did the first one. I was sitting outside the post office searching how to mail out an item on my phone. I mean, I had never been to the post office! I don’t do that! I even called my mom who told me to get a box, but I told her “no, Mom, Jessica didn’t do it like that!” – laughs – Eventually, we got the hang of things.

What type of customers do you get?

J: We have a lot of local shoppers. In the beginning it was just our friends and family, so we weren’t sure if there were buying our stuff to make us happy or if they actually liked them.

N: We have a diverse group of women who buy our products. It ranges from local high schoolers to people like my mom (laughs). My mom managed to make a coral dress into a shirt by wearing leggings, for example.

How do you find your pieces? That part sounds like so much fun!

J: It was actually very difficult at first because we have different styles. It’s hard to incorporate our individual taste while keeping up with the latest trends.

N: I interned as a fashion merchandiser and learned a thing or two there. The hardest thing was probably our first purchase. We were totally new at this. We had no idea which vendors to use, but we figured it out eventually. A lot of thought and work goes into this. We have to ask ourselves what colors and styles are trending, if the pieces run true to size, prices, etc.

How long does it take to come out with an outfit?

N: Oh my. We once sat at Starbucks for six hours because we couldn’t decide on what pieces to choose. We really do not want to pick something that looks like you can get anywhere else at a more affordable price. But it’s a lot easier now that we understand each other’s style.

J: Yeah, it doesn’t take very long now that we know what we like.

What is the price range of your clothes?

J: Everything ranges for about $30 to $40. Basic tanks and t-shirts are going for about $15. We haven’t had anything over $40, for instance. We’ve seen boutiques who sell a pair of shorts for about $150.00 – of course, the quality may be great, but $150.00 for a pair of shorts is a lot. We don’t want to be that boutique. We don’t want overcharge. We want to be the boutique with the nice image at an affordable price.

N: Once we get overhead, you may see an increase, but we’re not going to be too crazy about it. I’d rather make a 5% profit or break even on some pieces and have a lot of people wearing our stuff, than make a large profit and have a handful of people wearing our clothes. Overall, we have gotten a lot of great feedback!

How do you come up with prices?

N: Easy! We ask ourselves what we’d pay for the item(s). We want to make sure we’re not charging more than Ross for a similar item, for example. We sell a lot of casual at the moment, but we’d like to incorporate a higher-end product at least once a month. Like something you can wear to a wedding, for example!

What’s in store for the future?

N: We’d like to take J Lacel to First Fridays. We are currently looking into that, so that’s exciting. We want to partner up with local fashion designers to get that unique exposure. We so many ideas!

J: We’d love to add a men’s line at one point. Men’s boutiques are hard to find, so we’d love to incorporate that to J Lacel.

N: We’d also like to have an actual store someday. This is all in the 4 year plan we created.

Would you recommend starting a business with a friend?

J: Yes and no. You have to be very open-minded and understanding. Naomi and I are both very strong-minded individuals. Sure, we’re stubborn, but we stand our ground. It’s not always a walk in the park, but get through it.

N: I don’t think J Lacel would be as successful without each other. We complement each other. I wouldn’t say not to open a business with a friend, but pick them wisely.

J: If you do plan on partnering up with someone, you have to put everything on the table right from the start.

Do you have any advice for those who are looking to start their own business, or boutique?

N: Do it whole-heartedly. I do not worry about the profit. I have wanted this since I was a little girl. There are going to be times you doubt yourself, but if you do it whole-heartedly, meet the right people, and stay focused, you have nothing but success in front of you.

HAIRFLIP HAAAYY

J: Also, DO. YOUR. RESEARCH. Get to know the industry. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, at first, but if you have a positive mind-set and good support, your business will take off. Everything will fall into place. Oh, and don’t let people’s negativity affect you or your decisions. Stay as positive as you can and don’t compare yourself to other people. The only competitor you have in the end, is yourself.

N: If I didn’t have Jess, it would be my dad investing his money into my business, and I’d feel like I’d have to rely on him for the decision-making, but with Jess, we both share our ideas and collaborate. It’s OUR baby.