Meet Jules Starling of Kansas City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jules Starling

Hi Jules, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Ever since I saw “The Craft” 1996, I have wanted to open a witchy shop. If you haven’t seen the movie, there is a scene where the main cast goes into this Pagan supply shop, and I loved it! I knew right then and there that someday I would have one! About 4 years ago, when Covid hit, I figured it would be a great time to get going on my business idea just in case my ex-husband got laid off. At first, Seidora looked a lot different than it does now. I was really concerned with appearing likable and making items that I thought the witchy community would want to buy. My logo was different, the products were different, my whole branding was light and rustic. I hated it! LOL I hated making labels, I hated making products I wasn’t interested in. I hated the whole experience, I was miserable. About 3 years in, I realized I had to make a choice, either quit altogether or change Seidora and make it what I wanted it to be, not what I thought people wanted. It was hard to be authentic. I was very scared that people wouldn’t respond to my dark aesthetic and style. I was scared that people would see the dark macabre products and think that it was “evil” or “bad” in some way (I absolutely do not subscribe to the idea that things are inherently evil). Where I have gotten some of this, the majority of the reactions to my shop have been extremely positive and I am so happy I chose to be authentic and really own my style. I believe that there is beauty in death and the macabre. I believe that spiritually, energies still exist in deceased remains, and we can utilize that energy in our practices. I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with this style of witchcraft, and I love teaching people about it and educating my community. Seidora has grown a lot (I have too!) in the last few years, it is now not only an online retail shop, but I also attend a lot of vendor events in the Kansas City area, and I have just signed my very first lease for a brick and mortar shop inside the Inner Space KC building! That will be opening in the beginning of September! I am super excited!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like many first-time business owners, I have had a very bumpy road. I don’t like to call myself a small business. The qualifications to be considered a small business are broad, to say the least. To be defined as a small business, you must have under 500 employees. 500. LOL. I have just me now. My ex-husband used to help out a little here and there, but we are now separated and getting divorced, so it’s just me. I like to call myself a micro business. This is a one-woman show! It feels very unfair to be lumped into businesses that have hundreds of employees. Doing it all yourself is hard. And there are a lot of late nights, tears, and literal sweat that go into running a micro business. My whole life revolves around this business, and being a SAHM for the last few years (my daughter is just now starting Kintergarder so yay), there has been very little time for anything else. Some days, I feel super guilty that I’m not able to spend more time with my daughter, but I know that what I’m working toward will greatly impact her future in a positive way and set her up for success as an adult. So I make the best of the time we have together and work my butt off the rest of the time so that Seidora and my family can succeed.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a Witch, and I love to make spells and teach people about spell crafting. I have just recently gotten back into making my hand-crafted home witchy products, which people love, so I will be expanding those. I am also an artist. I had been in the digital art field for about 13 years, but I really started to crave doing some physical art. So with opening Seidora, I was super excited about making things you could actually touch with your hands. My love for the macabre, the animism in my spirituality, and my upbringing from my father about not wasting anything from deceased animals sprouted into the unique art that I am doing now. I like to call my style Victorian minimalism. I love the gothic Victorian architectural elements in frames and pedestals that I use, but I like the focus to really be on the specimens I work with. Whether it’s bugs, bones, or wet specimens, I like to display them in a way that really makes the pieces stand out. And, of course, everything has to be black or dark and antique-looking. I love upcycling old frames and pedestals I find in my community. Not only does it help with suitability, but again, I like the idea of taking someone else’s trash and turning it into something beautiful that will bring people happiness.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
There are two things I wish I had known when I was first starting out. The first is to be authentic and sell the types of products (whether you are making them yourself or just stocking your shop) you truly love and are passionate about. Don’t worry about whether they are the best sellers or not. You will find your audience, and you will be so much happier! And the second is to price your product correctly! Don’t lowball yourself! Your time is worth money, your handmade products are valuable, and people will pay for them! Charge for overhead, and come up with a mathematical equation for figuring out your cost of materials and time, and how much you should upcharge for wholesale and retail. You will make so much more money, and feel so much better about your sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://seidora.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopseidora/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopseidora
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@shopseidora