Julia Barton shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Julia, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I am just beginning my senior year at the University of Kansas, although it is bitter sweet I have been loving all of the “lasts”! My last first day of school… last first football game… I just know this year is going to be filled with amazing memories and I’m excited to learn and grow with some of my favorite people!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My business, Believe. Dream. Imagine., is a 3D printing e-commerce shop that my brother and I started in June of 2017. This 8 year journey started when my brother got his first 3D printer and started creating fidget spinners (back when they were all the rage for kids). He sold them at our high school and I got in on it by selling them at our middle school (was 12 at the time). From there our business grew to focusing on magical 3D printed fashion accessories and home decor! I (Julia) am now 21 and run the family business as CEO after my brother stepped away a few years ago. At BDI we believe in make believe, dream of great big beautiful tomorrows, and imagine the impossible, aiming to bring magic into peoples everyday lives!
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My mom has always known me better than I know myself (even when I deny it). She has been the biggest supporter of the business from the very beginning. She was the one who encouraged my brother and I to open an Etsy shop to try and turn our idea into something real. Even after we opened up shop she was always there to encourage us, when sales didn’t come at the beginning, when a product didn’t hit well, or just when we were running dry on motivation. Not to mention her literal help with the company, spending hours of her day making sure we get our products to the customers as fast as we can and at top quality. My mom always saw myself and this business clearly, couldn’t have done it without her.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
When growing a small business at such a young age there are going to be a lot of people that doubt you. They will literally tell you to your face that “it will never work”, “people will never pay actually money for that”, “you are too young”, “you are probably doing it wrong”. Luckily my brother and I never let that get to us, in fact it pushed us to try harder and made us want to prove them wrong. The time when we almost gave up came financially. To many peoples surprise COVID years were actually very good for small business, meaning lots of people were spending money and the business was doing great. Unfortunately when there’s an up there will also be a down, and this down came for us (and a lot of other businesses) a couple of years after COVID. People really just stopped spending money, and when you make a product that isn’t a necessity to live it becomes very hard. All of our marketing efforts were failing, cash flow was low, moral was low, it was really hard to stay motivated. This would later become a very pivotal point for the company because at this point we had the chose to dig deeper and put all our effort into pulling this company out of the trench, or simply take the 5 years of a successful small business at such a young age as a win and move on to our prospective careers. This is when my brother decided to focus on college, take his amazing accomplishments from BDI, get his degree, and move on to something else. Being a few years younger than my brother I was still in high school and didn’t have a degree to focus on yet so this is also when I decided I wanted to keep fighting for this business, I had a vision and I wanted to run with it. So that’s what I did.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends know how deeply I care about being original. As a small business owner, and entrepreneur in general, it is really easy to follow what other people are doing, or follow the trends, it is a lot harder to create original unique ideas, but those ideas are the ones that count. Being original will always be my biggest tip for those trying to start their own business, it is so much more fulfilling and rewarding, and in my opinion originality is the only option.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope people are able to say I created joy for others. My goal has always been to make others happy. I am a very happy and positive person myself, and if others were to say I was successful in spreading that joy that would be a life well lived in my book.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bdiproducts.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believe.dream.imagine?igsh=MWVqMWIxaTJ5bWJzYw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
