Shelton Business Spotlight: Word Couture

Every local business has a story worth sharing with the community. And that’s the belief behind this exciting series we’ve kicked off at Patch — to shine the spotlight on all our favorite local businesses, and to learn a little about the ones we may not know that well.

Business: Word Couture
Owner: Tracy Piccuillo
Website: www.wordcouture.com
Address: 166 Soundview Avenue, Shelton

How did you come up with the name?

Well, “couture” means designing and making something fashionable to a customers specifications and that’s what we do with words! We remove the bottoms of recycled wine bottles, personalize them with monograms or “sayings”, and provide a flameless candle to put underneath. When it glows at night they are gorgeous!

Why choose that location? Why start a business in this town?

I work out of my house so I can be here for my 6 and 8-year-old boys. I’m able to work at night, on the weekends and while they are at school and have the flexibility with my hours to be there when they need me.

Briefly, what business are you in?

Personalized wine bottle hurricane lanterns.

What’s the most difficult moment or challenge you’ve faced as a business owner?

The most difficult decision was to leave my job as a Director of Corporate Compliance at United Healthcare--a well paying, secure and challenging job, to embark on a new business venture like this. When you own a small business, there are difficult challenges almost every day. Can I pay the bills? Cash flow problems. Did I make the right choices? Having to learn all about all aspects of running a business-accounting, marketing, taxes, operations, sales, etc. You need to be the expert in all of these things! However, the biggest challenge I have had so far is whether or not to invest more money to make my business grow or be satisfied with the level at which I’m working now.

Were there any challenges that made you second guess your decision to be an entrepreneur?

I have often second guessed my decision to leave a successful career to take on this adventure. From a financial standpoint, it’s certainly risky to lose a steady income. There are no “vacation days” when you have your own business and many days it’s hard to work when you are trying to take care of two kids at the same time! My “office” is in my dining room and I’m often juggling making the boys breakfast while talking to a customer about their wedding centerpieces, or someone’s order form was mixed up in my PTO paperwork. Second guessing my decision is a daily occurance when dealing with these challenges.

What’s been your favorite moment or proudest achievement since opening?

By far, my favorite moment was receiving a call from the editor of Brides Magazine asking if we would send some items to their offices for consideration in a photo shoot for unique lighting at weddings. Sure enough my lanterns were used and featured in the article and we had a huge spike in sales based on that. Opening a popular glossy national magazine and seeing your stuff photographed so beautifully was truly one of the proudest moments in my life. It validated all of my insecurities of my business plan, my idea, everything. I felt like if nothing else ever happened with this business, at least on this one day someone with style thought my product was great.

What’s the most innovative idea your employees or customers have had that you put into practice?

When I first started, I had our products only on the website Etsy. This is where a lot of artists and crafts people sell their items. We did really well there but the limitations of their site didn’t allow for the customization that our product needs. Therefore it was suggested by a customer that we develop our own website in order to provide that customization. We didn’t have a large bank account to hire someone to design a site so I took it upon myself, someone with no IT skills at all, to create the site. Many sleepless nights and tears later, I finally had a site and immediately saw a 250 percent increase in sales within 3 months.

How do you deal with difficult customers?

Many of my customers are brides. They use our product for decor in their weddings. Brides can be indecisive, emotional and, at times, difficult to work with. I try to remember that this young lady has been dreaming about this special day all of her life and every detail needed to be perfect to her. The way she may be acting now is not representative necessarily of her “normal” state and I need to work hard to give her what she needs to feel great about our transaction.

How does your business give back or get involved in the community?

We are constantly asked to make donations or provide raffle gifts for all kinds of charity events. We are happy to do that! I rely on my community to support my business and I am more then happy to do that when they ask as well. It’s an important part of why I like having my own business. In addition I donate 10 percent of all of my sales each quarter to a charity close to my heart--The Boys and Girls Club.

Would you like to see your small business showcased in this series? Email wendy.mitchell@ patch.com.

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