Today we’d like to introduce you to Peyton Bowman.
Hi Peyton, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The dream of owning a boutique really started my freshman year of high school. We had to do an assignment about our futures. We put things like where we wanted to go to college, our dream job, dream car, and stuff like that. I put in my presentation that by 25, I wanted to own my own boutique.
Little did I know then that by my senior year of high school I would be launching Leo & Kay Boutique. The summer before my senior year I was getting the obvious question that every senior gets, what are your plans after high school. I have obviously been thinking about it but nothing seemed to interest me. I was talking to my mom about it one day when she said that I should start a boutique. I’m not sure if she meant right then but I was very intrigued after she said that and started researching everything I could about the fashion industry and owning a boutique.
Owning a business is nothing new in my family but the fashion industry is definitely a whole new world. Most of my family is in the railroad business as well as real estate, so I guess it was just a matter of time before I started a business as well. I was determined to learn everything I could about starting a business, from where to buy the clothes, marketing materials, business licenses, all of it. I was 17 at the time, so I myself could not apply for the licenses needed so one day I went to my mom with a list of licenses I needed to get and we started filling them out.
Besides the research, the thing that took me the most time to figure out was the name of my boutique. I had lots of ideas but of course when I look to see if the name was available it was not. I was reading an article one day about how to pick the perfect name for your business and it said to pick something meaningful to you and you will never get sick of it. Instantly, I thought of my great grandparents Leon and Kay. I then wrote in the notes app of my phone Leon & Kay and thought Leon sounds a little old for what I’m going for (sorry papa) so I decided to shorten it to Leo to make it sound a little more trendy.
To make up for shortening my Papa’s name in my business name I decided to launch Leo & Kay on his birthday, October 14th. He had passed 3 years prior, so I thought that would be a special way to remember him as well. So on October 14th, 2019, I launched Leo & Kay in my Entrepreneurship class in high school. I was very thankful to have so much support from my community and school which made my launch a success. Fast forward to after graduation and I was about to start college. My grandma had just bought a building on the square in Richmond and wasn’t sure what she was going to do with it.
She had asked me if I would possibly want a storefront for Leo & Kay. Having a storefront had always been a dream of mine but I knew taking this on at such a young age would come with some challenges and I would also be attending college in the process of it all. Shortly after starting college, I realized that I was always wanted to be back home and working on bettering my business. We were in the process of redoing the building that was going to become the Leo & Kay storefront and I hated being away from it all. I told myself I was going to stay in school for at least a year then if I still wanted to fully pursue my biggest dream then I would drop out.
Then came December… I was home for winter break and preparing for the grand opening of the storefront. After just a month of working at the store, I knew I absolutely loved it and wanted to continue learning everything about the industry but knew I would be heading back to school soon and wouldn’t have much time to devote to learning everything wanted while doing all of my school work. I then decided that I would not be going back to college at UCM.
I was going to devote my time to growing my business and learning all that I could about the industry. Luckily my family was very supportive of my decision because they knew how hard I would work for this business of mine. Now, a year later, I am still proud of my decision and proud of the growth in my business.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think in business there are always some bumps in the road but it is what you do with these challenges or bumps that matters. Especially in my first year of business, I have had many challenges that I had to learn how to work through. The biggest struggle I had was before I hired my first employee.
I was facing some major burnout, I was working all the time, and seeing all of the people my age out having fun and doing things that I just wasn’t taking time for was making me ask myself, “why would I take on this much responsibility at such a young age?” I now can answer this question… I took on this business or “responsibility” because it’s not working or a job to me. It is a passion and a dream that I am pursuing every day.
I think I just lost track of the goals and dreams that I have for Leo & Kay for a minute. I learned from this struggle that it is okay to take time for yourself and you are not failing or being lazy if you do so. In a way these mental breaks or “me time”, as I like to call it, help me be so much more creative for my business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a women’s clothing company but I like to say we are like your stylish best friend. We all have that one friend with the cutest clothes. We are here to be that for our customers. We love having a connection with our customers so they feel comfortable asking questions asking for style tips and so much more. Just like you would your stylish bestie.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
My passion, drive, and connections with customers and other small business owners have been important to my success. I enjoy being around other business-minded people to help spark creativity and to bounce ideas off of. In July of 2021, I connected with some small business owners in Richmond to create a fundraising fashion show called Fundraise on the Runway.
We brought together some other local boutiques to put together this event to raise money for a local boy for the Arthritis Foundation. This event was such a success because of our amazing customers, and community. Its events like this, and connecting with customers and other businesses in my area that has continued to help Leo & Kay grow.
Contact Info:
- Email: leoandkayboutique@gmail.com
- Website: leoankayboutique.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leoandkayboutique/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leoandkayboutique
Image Credits
GM Photography
